Train Up: Part 4

Proverbs 22:6 NKJV

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

A few weeks ago we started our 5 part series on a VBS that I'm working on. Today we'll look at the fourth step in Training Up in Christ. But first let's review steps one through three.
Step 1: Listen to Him
Step 2: Obey Him
Step 3: Submit to Him
Our fourth step in Training up comes from the book of Daniel. "Serve Him." To me Daniel is the perfect picture of unfailing service and worship to God regardless what life throws at you.

Daniel 6:4-10,16-17 NKJV

4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” 6 So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever! 7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. 10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

...

16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” 17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.

In this passage we see that men plotted to have Daniel thrown in the Lion's Den. Often like Satan and the world does with us, these men set Daniel up to fail. In our lives we face no real danger in serving or worshiping Christ. For Daniel that wasn't the case. If he chose to serve and worship God he would be asking for a death sentence. However, Daniel showed courage and served his God during the good and the bad. My question for you (and myself) is why don't we have a heart of service like Daniel's? How do we expect to grow and train up, or even have a relationship in general with Christ if we aren't ready to serve and worship Him. Every relationship takes constant work. The work in a relationship with Christ is service and worship.

Make is a goal this week to strengthen your relationship with Christ by spending more time with Him. Whether that's prayer time, Bible Study, Church Attendance, Praise, Worship, Music, whatever. I encourage you to get a blend of all these in your life, but any of these is a great start.

Thanks,

Bro. Austin

*Next week we will look at the fifth & final step in training up in the Word: Share Him. 

Ownership - His Life in You part 3

For me, living is Christ... - Philippians 1:21a

Wow. What a bold statement from Paul. How could Paul say such a thing? How could he so callously and unashamedly declare that Christ IS his life... that the entirety of his existence focuses on bringing honor to Christ?

It's all a matter of ownership.

One time several years ago I made a purchase at a store in the mall. They asked me if I wanted to be part of their members’ rewards club or something. I had to pay like a $15 membership fee and I got discounts on future purchases. Since I shopped there frequently I did. I didn’t really think much else about it. I got quite a discount on the things I bought that day.

About six weeks later, I received a magazine in the mail. I thought it was sent to me by accident. Here’s what I found out… the subscription to the magazine came with the membership. When I paid for that membership, I also unwittingly signed up for a year’s worth of marines to collect dust on the coffee table.

Listen, the payment gave me ownership. Even of some things I wasn’t aware of.

Well, Jesus paid for you. It was a payment. A payment with His own blood. But Jesus didn’t just pay for your sins. He purchased you. There you go. There it is. 

He purchased you. You belong to God.

His payment secured not just your pardon from sin, but he took ownership of you. He has come to live in you, to take over your life. Your priorities, your perspectives, your decisions. Everything. You belong to Him now.

Sound intimidated? Don't be. Don't get me wrong... we are slaves of Jesus. Paul refers to himself as such on multiple occasions.

Yet, Jesus doesn't address us that way.

I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master[a] is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father. - John 15:15

He owns us, yet treats us as friends. His burden is light. His requirements are few. All he asks is that we give our lives to Him out of gratitude.

Tullian Tchividjian shares this story:

In the time from Civil War days before America’s slaves were freed, a northerner went to a slave auction and purchased a young slave girl. As they walked away from the auction, the man turned to the girl and told her, “You’re free.”

With amazement she responded, “You mean, I’m free to do whatever I want?” 

“Yes,” he said. 

“And to say whatever I want to say?” 

“Yes, anything.” 

“And to be whatever I want to be?” 

“Yep.” 

“And even go wherever I want to go?” 

“Yes,” he answered with a smile. “You’re free to go wherever you’d like.” 

She looked at him intently and replied, “Then I will go with you.”

You see, it's all a matter of ownership. 

The amazing grace of Jesus purchases us. It is this grace, not duty or fear of punishment or religion, that compels us to loyalty. It is out of gratitude and thankfulness that we, like Paul, can say, "living is Christ."

By His Grace,

Adam

The Relationship between Truth and Unity pt. 4

In my last post on the relationship between Truth and Unity, we discussed divine inspiration and how the world sees us if they do not perceive that we are trying our best to follow the Scriptures. Also, this is a shortened version of a longer post, so if you get the chance, feel free to check it out!

            In this post, let’s tie the power of our influence together with divine inspiration. Let’s take a brief look at what the divine inspiration of the Scriptures means for us as professing Christians. If we believe that an almighty, all-powerful deity created the Bible (which we do), and we claim that it is absolute truth (which we do), and we claim to follow it (which we do)…

Follow it. We must follow it as close to “perfectly” as we can. Christ will intercede for us with the Father when we mess up but the pressure is on, brothers and sisters! We must follow Christianity as it is written in the Bible or all of the claims we make regarding the truth and benefit of Christianity are worthless.

To illustrate my point: nobody’s going to listen to you if you say “do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit” as you stumble by, slurring your speech, with a beer can in your hand. Nobody’s going to listen to me if I say “in marriage the bed is undefiled, but adulterers and fornicators God will judge,” and then go stay the night with my girlfriend.

That’s just not how it works.

We can sum this whole thing up by saying that if God says something is good, whether directly (“And Jesus said…”) or through divinely inspired writers (i.e. letters from Paul), we definitely need to do it. If He says something is bad, we definitely don’t need to do it. Whenever I have difficulty with something in my life, especially with sin, I always come back to this:

If God says it is:
Good = yes I should do it
Bad = no I should not

 Basically, I’m just stating the obvious: we must back up every claim we make. We must be united in truth and in spirit. Practice what you preach. Be genuine. However you want to word it – we must step it up. The world and even the current state of "Christianity" is a wreck. For example, there are thousands of different and contradicting teachings about the Bible practiced by thousands of denominations. We have a lot of work to do.

It is at this point in a discussion on truth that some people may ask “speaking of the world, why is the world such a wreck?” What they are asking, presumably, is why the world is so full of bad things: sin, starvation, disease, death, discrimination and hate, etc.

Well, it’s our fault.

In the Garden of Eden, everything was perfect. Read the beginning of Genesis and see what kind of a place God had originally created for humans: there was unlimited free food (sounds great to a college student like me), freedom from sin, and freedom to choose whether or not we wanted that perfect life. The only responsibility humans had was to take care of the garden. Imagine if that were our only purpose in life – be with the people we love, live forever, and preserve the place where we lived. That sounds amazing.

Seriously, stop and imagine how your life would be.

The best thing is, we can return to a place of perfection after we die. As we know, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and brought sin and death into the world. You see, before Adam and Eve ate from that tree, the world was perfect. Every problem you see now in the world is a result of their choice to eat from it. Bad things happen in the world because people choose to make them happen. Natural disasters happen because we no longer live in the Garden.

Thank God that we have the solution to this problem. God, the loving Father who created us in a perfect world and who created a perfect world for us to go to after we die also gave us a way to make this world better. He gave us the Bible.

We can make this world a better place too. God has provided, in all stages of our existence, ways for us to be happy and at peace within ourselves. Our current lives here on this Earth are no exception; by spreading the love of God and by living our lives based on his love, we can reform the world and bring Christianity into the majority. Imagine if 80% of the people in the world were loving, caring, and compassionate Christians who tried their best to be sinless.

What a beautiful world that would be.

Everybody has the potential to be saved and be a part of God’s beautiful kingdom, both in this life and in the next – all we have to do is spread the word. It’s up to us to make that happen.

Thanks for reading!
With Christian love,
- Ethan

Fundamentals of Our Faith Pt. 5

   Last week, we looked at the importance of inspired Scripture.  This week will discuss the importance of the Bodily Resurrection.  Scripture says that 'the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men & be crucified & on the third day rise' (Luke 24:7).

         Why was this important?

   Paul says to the Corinthians that 'if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain & your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, & you are still in your sins' (1 Cor. 15:12-17).

   According to Paul's writings by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection of Jesus is pretty important.  It's important for us to understand this because there are groups who do not believe in resurrection at all, which includes the resurrection of Jesus.  There are also others who view resurrection contrary to Scripture.

   Jesus' resurrection conquered death & without that we are still in our sins.  If Christ isn't risen, then we cannot be made alive through Him.  And we need life because Ephesians 2 says that we are dead in our trespasses & sins.  We are not merely bad people who need to be made good; we are dead people who need to be made alive.  Life comes from Jesus!

    Are you alive?  Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus?  How do you respond if someone says they don't believe that Jesus rose?

Saved by grace,

Bro. Eric

Trials According to James

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds" (James 1:2).

First, James (in his letter) dives right into exhorting his readers to do something: to count their trials as joy. However, before we can discover what James is saying by this, I think it is beneficial to discover what he is not saying:

James does not say that joy is the only response to trials. He is not suggesting that Christians facing trials will never have any other response to them but joy. Christians have many different responses to trials—perhaps anger at God, shaking their fists at Him, begging to know: “Why did You let this happen?” Sadness is often a response to the trials Christians face. Exhaustion perhaps because of so many trials faced at one time. The response I have had so often to trials is just desiring to escape—I just wanted to get out. But James says that the response we are to have towards our trials is joy—we are to count them as joy.

Further, James is not ordering all-encompassing joyful emotion during severe trials; nor is he demanding that his readers must enjoy their trials, or that trials are joy.What he is saying is that trials should be an occasion for genuine rejoicing because we know that they produce perseverance in us (vv. 3-4).

Joy isn’t the only response guys, but it is the biblical response and you had better regard your trials as joy if you are to reap the full benefits. Joy is different than happiness. Joy depends on your relationship with God—while happiness depends on your circumstances. Happiness comes and goes, but joy remains. We are to have this “joy outlook,” on our trials.

Have you ever looked through a pair of 3D glasses? It’s alters your perspective. When you watch a movie, you see what seems to be real objects and real things happening to you in a theater.
We need to put our biblical glasses on and view our trials through the lens of joy.

Bro. Brandon

From Having Coffee With Your Trials by Brandon Bramlett: Listen to the full message here

Training Up in Christ: Part 3

Proverbs 22:6 NKJV

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

A couple weeks ago we discussed the first step in training up in the Word: Listening. We discovered that Jonah had a bit of a listening problem and decided to go opposite of God’s plan. In lesson two we discussed the next step in training up in the Word: Obeying His Commandments. We looked in Gensis as we watches Noah blindly and faithfully not only listen to God but obey Him. Today let's flip over to the new testiment and discover step 3 of traing up: Submit to Him. When I think of submitting to God I think of the Saul/Paul Conversion. 

Acts 9:1-19 NKJV

1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It ishard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision,“Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas forone called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” 13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

Paul here is th perfect example that it's never too late to follow/submit to Christ. Paul who was once the most feared hunter of Christians in the world had a life changing experience with God. After turning to Him he was no longer "Saul the mass murderer of Christians" but instead was "Paul the beloved evangelist of God." My thought is if God can use someone and "bad" as Saul who openly killed and beat Christians, surely He'd accept us and use us. It doesn't matter what you've done, who you've hurt, how bad you've been, with Christ if you listen, obey, and submit to Him, He will make you a new creature and you'll have a fresh start. 

Thanks,

Bro. Austin

*Next week we will look at the fourth atep in training up in the Word: Serve Him. 

There's a Reason: His Life in You part 2

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:6

Last week, we said that God has unfinished business with you. He's committed to making you like His Son, Jesus. He has promised to grow you. He has promises to finish the work He started.

He has made an unwavering, unalterable commitment to you. This verse is as good as it sounds.

There are a lot of implications of this truth. Knowing that God is actively working to grow you and will never give up on you... well, this leads to some other truths.

Here's one... life's circumstances have a purpose. Allow me to show you how the two truths connect:

But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. - Philippians 1:12-14

Paul says, "Look, my imprisonment and suffering have actually served a purpose. The gospel is flourishing, I'm getting opportunities to share it here in prison, and other believers are growing more bold and fearless."

In other words, Paul realized that there is purpose in his circumstances.

We want to believe that. We really do. Sometimes it's hard, especially when there is a tragedy. We may not understand, we may not find out why, and we may not be able to give people a reason. But we know that there is a purpose.

Life's circumstances have a purpose... this becomes clear when you embrace Philippians 1:6. When you realize that God is committed to growing you to be more like His Son, then life's circumstances become opportunities to grow.

Paul realized this. He realized that the suffering he was enduring was all part of God's "completing the good work in him." This enabled him to press on.

It's His life in you. Take a few moments and thank God that He hasn't given up on you and that He is committed to molding you into the image of His Son.

Thought for the week: Life's circumstances have a purpose. They're part of God's process of sanctification

By His Grace,

Adam

The Relationship between Truth and Unity pt. 3

Over the past few Saturdays, we have covered some answers to questions like
“how can we be united as a body of believers?“ 
“why do I believe (or not believe) in the Bible?” 
“what do I believe about different Biblical concepts” 
and
“what does the Bible actually say?”

We will continue our study based on the assumption that each of us
1. Has studied the Bible and other works which could shed light on its validity
2. Has come to the conclusion that the Bible is absolute truth
3. Is studying different Biblical concepts in order to ascertain the truth
4. Wants every believer in Christ to be united

In our last discussion on the relationship between truth and unity in the church, we discussed the errors that we can run across when we place a specific interpretation of a Biblical concept before the actual scriptures as they are written. In this post, we will continue our study by delving into the implications that our belief in the divine inspiration of scripture has for our lives.

What exactly does divine inspiration mean?

Put plainly, divine inspiration means that the all-encompassing deity whom we call God (consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) inspired the writers of the letters, books, etc. of the Bible by bringing His ideas into their minds (in ways which we do not fully understand) so that there are no contradictions. 

We do not know the exact methods which He used - the subject is actually a subject which is still debated among some - but the conclusion that we all agree upon is the same: it happened, and that’s what matters.

            Now that we have laid that groundwork, let’s get into, well, why it matters. It’s easy to claim that God wrote the Bible, and then claim to follow it, but think about what that claim actually means. When I claim that God wrote the Bible, I’m claiming that this little book sitting on my desk, open in front of me, is the only truth which exists, to the exclusion of every other theory or religion about how/why we’re here. 

That’s a pretty big deal. I’m claiming that this book was written by the same force which created the entire universe. 

Claiming that the Bible is absolutely right automatically implies, even though most people who make that claim don’t intend for it to, that anyone who disagrees with that statement is absolutely wrong. This matters. A lot. 

When we make such a grand, sweeping claim by claiming that billions of people all over the world are incorrect in the beliefs around which they base their lives, it’s easy to see why so many people who aren’t Christians despise Christianity.

It’s easy to see, especially when the same people who make these all-encompassing claims don’t follow it.

Yes, you heard that right.

Everyone who believes in Jesus and professes that the Bible is absolute truth doesn’t follow it perfectly. Everyone. At least, that’s what the world sees.

You see, what the world sees and remembers was that person who laughed and scoffed at a homeless person when they walked past.

That person who goes to church right down the street and wears a cross around his neck.

They saw on the news where someone threatened to kill all of the homosexuals in the world.

Someone who was quoting Bible verses as if she had the power to decide who lives and dies.

Do you see my point yet? The rest of the world holds us, as Christians, to an incredibly high standard. We claim that
God is love,
that we love everyone in the world as He did,
that we, exclusively, know and follow the absolute truth, and
that Christ died so that we can all be saved and go to a place of happiness.
We also claim to be the salt that seasons and preserves the morality of the Earth.

That’s a lot of weight to carry.

With great power comes great responsibility. We’re expected to be so much as a group, and we succeed so often – there are so many wonderful Christians in the world – but all it takes is one bad sheep to make all of us look like pompous hypocrites.

And, sadly, there are a lot of bad sheep.

           

            This post was a downer, I know, and I appreciate you taking the time to read and consider the things I’ve presented you with. Next week, we’ll talk about why this matters to us since we are seeking Christian unity and how we can fix it. And, just to offset the down-ness (is that a word?) of this series of posts, we’ll also discuss how beautiful the world is and how much more beautiful it will be when we band together.

As always, thanks for reading!
With Christian love,
- Ethan

Fundamentals of Our Faith Pt. 4

   Good morning, everyone!  I trust that God is blessing you in some way (remember, you are alive & reading this post).  This morning, we are going to look at the 3rd fundamental of our faith: Inspired Scripture.
   There has always been skepticism & controversy hovering around the Bible.  We read throughout the New Testament of the people being reminded to stand firm in sound doctrine, don't fall victim to these false gospels, don't forget your first love, etc.  See we didn't just start fighting a false gospel when Joel Osteen came into the spotlight.
   Our foundation as Christ followers is the Word of God; Jesus is the chief cornerstone, but the Word is the foundation that we stand on.  Scripture attest to itself that 'All Scripture is breathed out by God & profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, & for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work' (2 Timothy3:16-17).
   So the question is: does it matter if Scripture is inspired or God breathed?  Of course it does!!!  If the Scripture is not God breathed, then it is just like every other book.  However, the Bible is full of history, poetry, songs, science, math, etc.  The origin of Scripture is God, Himself.  Written by 40+ men over 1500 years on 3 continents about hundreds of topics but 1 theme in common.  That 1 theme is Jesus!
    Scripture is where we learn who God is, what He is like, & how we can serve Him for His glory.  If you are not consistently in the Word, I would encourage you to study it.  If you don't know where to start, begin with the Gospel of John.  It will change your life.


Saved by grace,

Bro. Eric

Remember When You Were an Alien?

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19).

Paul, writing to Gentile believers says that they are no longer strangers and aliens. Now there are some of you out there who are Sci-Fi fanatics, and when you read this you immediately said, “Oh ho! Aliens do exist!” Now even though cosmic aliens do not exist, maybe understanding why we call those green guys aliens in the first place will aid our understanding of what Paul means here. Aliens are those outside earth, according to those with superstitions. And the term is also used often times to describe those who come into the United States from an unknown country—illegal aliens. Interestingly enough, the Greek term for aliens here is paroikos, meaning “foreigners.”

However, as a result of Christ’s reconciling work on the cross (2:14-18), this is what happens for you: “you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (v. 19, emphasis mine). Paul’s Gentile readers had been strangers and aliens in relation to God’s people: “. . at one time you Gentiles in the flesh . . . were . . . alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise” (vv. 11-12, emphasis mine). But now, their position has changed dramatically. They have a privileged place in God’s new community.

That's who we once were, but because of Christ’s work on the cross by dying for us, we sinners are transformed into a new being—which makes a new community—the church. What’s more is this: we are not even second-class in this new community, but we are now “fellow citizens with the saints.” That is, with all believers. And even more we are “members of the household of God.”

Do you see yourself that way? Do you see other members of your church that way?

Adapted from Brandon's Desk: Not a Brick Temple—Never That Simple by Brandon Bramlett

"For among them are those...burdened with sins and led astray by various passions"

Hello everyone! In Bro. Michael’s absence, I will be filling in for him. 

Today, I want to talk briefly about a certain type of person. Turn in your Bible to 2 Timothy 3. At the beginning of this chapter, Paul talks about the difficult times that will be coming in the last days. There have been countless sermons and devotionals given on the difficulties we face in the last days, so we’re not going to discuss that in much depth right now. Instead, I want to talk to you about the people Paul describes in verses 6 and 7. He describes these people as “those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (ESV)

                Now, don’t think that this passage is describing women as being weak, because it’s not. The point being made here is that there is a type of person who feels an insatiable desire to fill the lusts of the flesh –these people are burdened by sins and led by their passions – and, because of their lack of self-control and their unwillingness to accept Christ’s forgiveness, can never truly feel the truth as it is.

Think of the world we live in. Millions of people, every day, are led by their lusts and desires to wherever they can get their next “high.” Usually, the lust, desire, or passion stems from a root need – the need for stimulation. These people need to feel stimulated at all times – they need the newest this, the most exciting that, a different type of those. For these people, life is not so much about helping others and obtaining a clear conscience as it is experiencing new and stimulating things. 

Unfortunately, this desire leaves these people empty and broken, and it is because of this brokenness that they are described as “those who creep into households and capture weak women.” We live in a generation where many people do not care who or what gets in their way, as long as they get the pleasure and stimulation that they desire.

We usually refer to this type of person simply as selfish. 

                This passage has always made me sad because I know people like this. Their lives aren’t about being selfless, serving others, and showing goodness and generosity to others as Christ did. They spend almost all of their short and unpredictable lives chasing a feeling of stimulating newness (for lack of a better descriptor) that they never can quite reach. Because of their unique mindset regarding the world, they learn more and more about life, especially through experience, but they never find the truth. Being selfless and serving others doesn’t appeal to them, so they live their whole lives empty and unfulfilled.

I mentioned this passage to you today because I see so many people in the world like this. These people may even wear the name of Christ, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (vs. 5, ESV). In our modern, materialistic world, I’m sure we all have felt the pull of this mindset at some point in our lives. I know I feel it just about every time I turn on the television. All I have to do is start watching TV and immediately I start thinking “man that’s a nice car..I’d love to have that. Or, check out that beach! I’d love to go on another vacation. And man, that’s a cool phone. I need to start buying more cool things so I can live life as it’s meant to be lived! The American dream, right?”

We should always be on guard against this modern mindset – working more hours to get the newest, biggest, best _______ (when the one that I have works just fine) is a huge hamper to the selfless, generous mindset that Christ requires of us. How will I be able to give more to others when I spend so much time working so I can get more for myself?

                There are two types of people in the world – givers and takers – and we need to constantly build each other up and work as a united, Christian, spiritual nation to fight back against this mindset and show the world what it truly means to be selfless. If you know someone that is fighting these same problems, encourage them, exhort them, lift them up – show them what it really means to live. 

Show them what it means to live for others.

Show them what it means to live for Christ.

Thanks for reading!
- Ethan