Nothing...

To use that word often creates a bold statement. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do… Nothing can be done now… Nothing will ever change this… You get the point. Many times we use words like nothing without realizing the big meaning it brings with it. Have you ever told (or been told) there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, I love you. There’s a good chance that at some point you asked this person to jump off a bridge they wouldn’t do it. However, there are instances in the Bible where the word nothing is appropriate. Take a look…

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39 NKJV

There is literally NOTHING that can separate us from God and His immense love for us. To say that He just simply loves us, doesn’t accurately display His emotion to us. The English language doesn’t have a word to describe it. For example, I love ketchup, I love my brother, & I love my wife and son. I think (I hope) everyone would understand that I don’t love ketchup the same way I love my brother. Also that I don’t love my wife and son the same way that I do my brother. Yet for all three we use the same one word, love. God’s love is best defined in the Greek language, agape= unconditional love. This is far greater than my love for ketchup, my brother, or my wife. Some would argue the closest love we understand is the love between a parent and a child, but even that doesn’t scratch the surface of God’s love.

I’m a numbers guy, so let’s say my love for ketchup is ranked at a 4, my brother an 8, my wife a 15, and my child 25. (It’s hard to rank these loves because they are different types of love, but I’ve ranked them for the purpose of this illustration). If these numbers are accurate, God’s love for me and for you on this same scale would be roughly 1 billion. I think now you can better understand how NOTHING can separate us from God and His love. If this is truly the case, the least we could do is love Him back and tell someone else about how much God loves them.

Knocked Out

On November 15, 2015, UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey entered her sixth title defense against heavy underdog Holly Holm. Just 59 seconds into the second round, Holm shocked the world when she landed a left kick to Rousey’s jaw, knocking the champ unconscious and ending her three-year reign on top of the sport.

MMA fighting moved on. The sports world in general moved on. The fans moved on. Rousey, however, didn’t. She appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on February 16, 2016, delivering these brutally honest words: 

Honestly, my thought in the medical room, I was sitting in the corner and was like, "What am I anymore if I'm not this?" And I’m literally sitting there thinking about killing myself. In that exact second, I'm like, "I'm nothing. What do I do anymore? No one gives a s--- about me anymore without this. [edited for profanity]

Confession time: my initial, gut reaction when I heard this on ESPN, was to roll my eyes. “Get over it,” I muttered, probably accompanied by some complaint about how much professional athletes get paid to win or lose at a “game” (we Christians are especially self-righteous when it comes to professional athletes).

But then, it hit me. Once I cut through my smug self-righteousness and stopped thinking about Ronda Rousey - the defeated ex-champion - I thought about Ronda Rousey - the human being. I get it. Because I’m just like her.

Really, I am. Now, I haven’t contemplated suicide, but Rousey’s question, “What am I anymore if I’m not this?” is exactly the same question I’ve asked myself in recent months. I search for meaning in what I do. I define my worth by my performance in various avenues of life. I am a preacher. I am a teacher. This extends to my roles as husband and father as well. I extract worth from perceived successes in these various arenas of life and think less of myself when I fail in one of these areas.

The thing about this thinking is that it’s not unnatural. In fact, it’s the way of the world. The way of normal, everyday life. We are defined by what we do. We search for happiness, meaning, and acceptance in our performance. It even manifests itself in the church. My Twitter feed is an endless barrage of “Ten steps to being a better pastor.” Blog after blog after blog tells me what successful preachers do (or don’t do) and what unsuccessful ones do (or don’t do). Each Sunday, most Christians receive yet another checklist from the pulpit, the Bible being primarily used as a moralistic guidebook in the never-ending rat race to "live the abundant life."

So yes, I'm like her. The very fiber of my being is inundated with performancism. Guess what? You’re just like her too.

Things will really start to look up for you when you get that promotion. Your life would be complete if he’d call you back. If your kids can turn out okay, then you’ll have officially “made it.” The merry-go-round never stops. There’s always more people to please, more steps to follow, and more goals to achieve. And when everything you’ve worked for, you’ve built yourself up to be, you’ve defined yourself as being, is taken away with a kick to the jaw, how can you blame her for a fleeting thought of despair?

Here’s one thing I’m learning about Jesus, and one reason that Ronda Rousey is closer to the Gospel now than she was ten seconds before getting her lights knocked out. I’ve been taught most of my life that Jesus is in the business of helping us set goals, achieve dreams, become stronger, and become successful. I don’t believe that anymore. I’ve sinned, suffered, and struggled too much already. I’m terrible with to-do-lists and can’t do the “ten steps to a better life” sermons anymore. Instead, as life has knocked me on my back I’ve realized  something different about Jesus: He’s in the business of allowing us to get knocked out. He brings us to the absolute end of ourselves, where we are laying flat on our backs, watching everything into which we’ve placed our meaning fade to nothing.

We realize how sinful we really are, and how we can't seem to shake it. We devastatingly face the fact that the promotion doesn't satisfy. The person we married didn't fulfill the deepest longings of our soul. We realize the pulpit checklists are as futile to the preacher as they are to the parishioner. We stare up at the lights, watching the championship handed to another, and just soak in the defeat and despair.

It’s then, only then, do we hear a voice. It says, “Come.” He reaches out His nail-pierced hand and makes an offer…

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. - Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)

He looks like He's been through His own fight. He's got the scars to prove it. But there's something kind in His eyes.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

He gives us righteousness, a right standing with the Father. Love. Acceptance. Meaning. Everything we ever wanted and couldn't get for ourselves. I don't have to win anymore. I don't even have to fight anymore. I'm His.

In his book, It is Finished: 365 Days of Good News, Tullian Tchividjian says this:

The gospel declares that I don’t need to save myself, defend myself, legitimize myself, justify myself, or free myself. The gospel frees me from the obsessive pressure to avoid the judgment of joylessness, the enslaving demand to find happiness. What I need and long for most has come from outside of me in the person of Jesus. (April 1 reading)

“What am I anymore if I’m not this?” I am His.

Adam

Suffer Hardship

There are many passages within the confines of Scripture that give us different descriptions and perspectives on persecution. One of my personal favorites is found in the book of II Timothy.

II Timothy 2:3 "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."
-When we face the coming persecution, we must suffer it as a good soldier.
-So, how does one suffer as a good soldier?

II Timothy 2:4 "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier."
-Just as soldiers keep focused on the tasks at hand, so must we remain focused on our task: Spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.
-Remaining focused on the spreading the gospel will help us to endure the persecution we face.
-Now that we have addressed how to endure persecution, why exactly are we urged so strongly to endure the persecution as good soldiers?

II Timothy 2:10 "For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory."
-There are two main reasons that Christians must endure persecution/suffering as good soldiers:
     1.) So that the gospel will be lived out before the persecutors by means of the persecuted.
     2.) So that by our faithfulness to the gospel, young believers will see our example and remain steadfast through the persecution.
-After observing verse 10, we can then look back on verse 9 and have a deeper appreciation for what it says.

II Timothy 2:9 "...for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned."
-Remember that even when Christians are being persecuted, the gospel will still prevail, and ring throughout the nations, as there is nothing that can hold back the Truth.
-Finally, two questions can be derived from this short study:
     1.) What if I never face persecution?
     2.) Does God really allow His people to face persecution?

II Timothy 3:12 "Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
-If a person is truly regenerated in Christ, they will indeed be persecuted either by the world or by principalities.

In conclusion, though we face persecution, our Message is worth everything, and will prevail. God will give us the means to endure persecution, so long as our faith resides in Him.

Test the Spirits

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Bu this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming , and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. Bu this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 

1 John 4:1-6

This blog page is made up of Godly men that are pastors, youth pastors, and students of the Bible. That being said, we are still human. We are full of error. Although I believe that the Holy Spirit leads us to write these posts. But in order to write without error, I believe that God has to be present. It is like Salvation. In order to do good, God has to give us a new heart. In order to write things without error, God has to change our motives, attitude, and minds. 

In this passage we see where John is telling us to always check what people say with scripture. It says to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God." The reasoning to do this is: "because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Unfortunately, there are many who claim to be Christians that are not. We have to test the spriits, we have to test everything somebody says, to see if it is scriptural. 

In verses 2 and 3, John tells us how to tell if a spirit is from God or not. A christian will believe that "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh." A nonchristian will believe the opposite, John calls it "the spirit of the antichrist." In verse 4 John tells us that "we have oversome" those nonchristians. Why? "Becuase greater is He (God) who is in you than he who is in the world." The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. I have been listening to an evangelist on youtube for a while. He says that there should be an overflowing of God's love to a lost and dying world. He also says that a aChristian should not focus on the darkness in the world. That is because we are light, and when a ligt is shown in darkness, there is no longer dark space. We, as Christians, are a light to the world. When the Spirit is in you, then the world should botice a difference. 

On the contrary, in verse 5, John says "they (nonbelievers)are from the world, and the world listens to them." The nonbelievers don't know or understand the Holy Spirit. 

In verse 6, John says that "we are from God." John also tells us how we can know wether or not a spirit is of God or not. John says, "By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." What does by this mean?  The answer is by verses 4 and 5. 

I am just going to tell anybody reading this post, and the posts to come, to always look what we say up for yourselves in Scripture. That is how you can grow. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us. 

I am really excited to be starting this blog up again. It worked well the first time we did it, but we are coming back bigger and better than before. Share the word that we are back. 

Inflamed Revival

2,300+ blog views, 150 devotions, & 1 year later we are back in business. Inflamed Church was a major success in 2014, and we are ready to kick off 2016 stronger than before. Each person on our ministry team and guest bloggers took time off from Inflamed to focus on our full time ministries, but are excited to announce that Inflamed Church is coming back, bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. We will be introducing some of our original ministry team, along with some new faces throughout the year. We will also be doing more than just blogging, there will be video devotions, podcasts, and more! Be sure to follow us on Facebook.com/inflamedchurch as we look to grow this 21st century ministry in a day and age where we need God the most. Join me in praying for our current team of ministers along with the other future Godly Men that are called to assist us in the future.

Adam Stephenson

Eric Trout

Brandon Bramlett

Zack Olvera

Michael Chadwick

and myself Austin Chapman

Also if you feel led to join our team please contact me.

broaustinc@gmail.com

Thanks and God Bless!