This year in missions I really learned a lot from the time there. I believe God really showed me a lot of things that I want to remember. Today I want to talk about faith. On the way to Mexico we experienced a lot of difficulties. First of all our flight got delayed which caused our group to arrive in Mexico on three different days. There was even a point when a person said that we might not even be able to go on the trip. I was a little disappointed but I was determined not to let myself feel defeated. Then I remembered my VBS key verse; "Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt (Genesis 45:8)". I was reminded of the theme of my message, God's hope for you. God doesn't have small plans for our lives, He has big plans that He wants us to fulfill. We can't do that on our own so we need faith. The bible says that "and without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6)". God wants us to have faith so that we can carry out the plans He has for us despite the obstacles we face. Joseph had many problems in his life but he never let them stop him from having faith in God and His goodness. In Mexico we also broke some musical equipment that actually caught on fire. We decided to pray that it would still work. That seemed impossible because the thing was smoking and on fire, but "with people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27)". We can have faith in God because He can do all things. We also broke a water heater in Mexico, and some of us were afraid we would have to buy a new one. "But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, 'do not be afraid any longer; only believe...' (Luke 8:50)". We did end up buying them a new one, but I still believe that having faith drives out fear, just as love does. At the end of the missions trip, we got a lot of hugs from the people in the village. I wondered why they would appreciate us so much even though it seemed we only did so little, but I was reminded of a verse given me before the trip. John 6:8-9 says "One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 'there is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?'" Andrew only brought a little bit to Jesus, but Jesus was able to multiply what he gave. Sometimes it seems we only give a little but God can multiply what we give if we believe He can. Just give to God what you have in faith. Matthew 17:20 reads "For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." A similar verse says "have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him (Mark 11:22-23)". All we need is a little faith and we can move mountains. After reading these verses I was really encouraged because I know that God is able to remove anything that stands in my way no matter how big it is. I just need to have faith in God and He will move mountains. I believe God is waiting for those people who will have faith. I think God is excited and wants to move mountains. Sometimes it may seem like the mountains are too big. We shouldn't be telling God how big the mountains are, we should be telling the mountains how big God is. All we need is faith in God and amazing things will happen.
-Smart
God's Holy Love
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
-John 3:16
This post combines the last three posts together. How? Well, the title is called God's Holy Love, so you might think that it only deals with the post on God's holiness and His love, but consistency plays a role in God's holy love as well. God is a consistent being. He never fails to be who He is and is faithful to Himself. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; He never changes. What does this have to do with His holiness or love? Everything. God is holy; therefore He cannot stand to be in sin; He is sinless. He is consistently holy, so He can never sin or be in the presence of sin or sinners. God cannot ever change His holiness so therefore He can never be in the presence of sin. Next, God is love. He loves us without us doing anything for Him. He loves the people that He created, and pursues after them. His love actively chases us and God wants to be with us. This is the problem- "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)". We are all sinners, and God is holy. Because of that God cannot be near us, because we are sinful beings. However, God is love also, and He wants to be with us. More specifically, God in His love cannot bear to leave us in the state we are; He cannot bear to be away from us. He has to stay consistent to both His love and holiness. So how can He be with us? The answer lies at the most amazing moment in history- the cross. God sent His son to die for our sins so that He could both love us and remain holy. This is able to happen because Jesus took the sins that we have committed and suffered the punishment that we deserved for it. He has taken our place in God's wrath; we have taken His place in righteousness. God is able to remain holy because He punishes sin, and is able to love us because we are considered righteous. The cross has saved us from our sin and has allowed God to love us and still be a holy God. Now this isn't the only reason that Jesus died on the cross, but I can't get into other reasons right now. How do we receive this love? Believe that Jesus has died for your sins and saved us from death, and the bible promises you will have eternal life.
-Smart
-John 3:16
This post combines the last three posts together. How? Well, the title is called God's Holy Love, so you might think that it only deals with the post on God's holiness and His love, but consistency plays a role in God's holy love as well. God is a consistent being. He never fails to be who He is and is faithful to Himself. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; He never changes. What does this have to do with His holiness or love? Everything. God is holy; therefore He cannot stand to be in sin; He is sinless. He is consistently holy, so He can never sin or be in the presence of sin or sinners. God cannot ever change His holiness so therefore He can never be in the presence of sin. Next, God is love. He loves us without us doing anything for Him. He loves the people that He created, and pursues after them. His love actively chases us and God wants to be with us. This is the problem- "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)". We are all sinners, and God is holy. Because of that God cannot be near us, because we are sinful beings. However, God is love also, and He wants to be with us. More specifically, God in His love cannot bear to leave us in the state we are; He cannot bear to be away from us. He has to stay consistent to both His love and holiness. So how can He be with us? The answer lies at the most amazing moment in history- the cross. God sent His son to die for our sins so that He could both love us and remain holy. This is able to happen because Jesus took the sins that we have committed and suffered the punishment that we deserved for it. He has taken our place in God's wrath; we have taken His place in righteousness. God is able to remain holy because He punishes sin, and is able to love us because we are considered righteous. The cross has saved us from our sin and has allowed God to love us and still be a holy God. Now this isn't the only reason that Jesus died on the cross, but I can't get into other reasons right now. How do we receive this love? Believe that Jesus has died for your sins and saved us from death, and the bible promises you will have eternal life.
-Smart
God's Love
"This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
-1 John 4:10
Sorry this post is overdue but I was on a missions trip to Mexico recently which was a really great experience (recap post coming soon). A couple weeks ago I talked about God's holiness. Today I want to talk about the flip side of that, which is God's love. This is a very difficult topic to talk about because the love of God has so many aspects to it. I can't even begin to cover all of the love of God because it is so vast and deep. God's love is like no other love that exists on this earth. How? God's love is unconditional. What does that mean? This means that there are no requirements to receiving His love. Anyone can receive the love of God, it's given to all. Most love that we experience is conditional, meaning there are things we have to do to get love. For example, when a guy "loves" a girl, he usually has a couple conditions for continuing that love for her. For many guys it is that she is attractive, and if she loses that, the guy will no longer love her. God's love isn't like that. He loves us regardless of our condition. Another aspect of God's love is that it pursues after us. It's not a kind of love that is only received by us, but it is given to us by Him. What I mean is that we don't have to go to Him to receive His love, He goes to us and gives it to us. There are many instances in the Bible where people ran away from God but He chased after them. A great example is Jonah. There was a nation that had fallen in sin so much, but God wanted to redeem those people. God sent Jonah to be the prophet that would go to that nation and preach to them. However, Jonah refused, and ran away from God. Jonah went away from Nineveh to Tarshish. A storm arose on the ship, and Jonah realized that he had to get off the ship because he was the one causing the storm. After he was thrown off, a fish swallowed him up, and spat him up in 3 days. Jonah finally went to Nineveh and spoke the word of God to the people there. What can we learn from this? God showed His love to Jonah. Even when Jonah literally ran away from God, God still saved His life and allowed Jonah a second chance. God's love pursued after Jonah. But that isn't all. God also saved the people of Nineveh who sinned greatly against God. God didn't let Jonah's disobedience stop Him from loving the people of Nineveh or from loving Jonah. God's love is truly unconditional. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
-Smart
-1 John 4:10
Sorry this post is overdue but I was on a missions trip to Mexico recently which was a really great experience (recap post coming soon). A couple weeks ago I talked about God's holiness. Today I want to talk about the flip side of that, which is God's love. This is a very difficult topic to talk about because the love of God has so many aspects to it. I can't even begin to cover all of the love of God because it is so vast and deep. God's love is like no other love that exists on this earth. How? God's love is unconditional. What does that mean? This means that there are no requirements to receiving His love. Anyone can receive the love of God, it's given to all. Most love that we experience is conditional, meaning there are things we have to do to get love. For example, when a guy "loves" a girl, he usually has a couple conditions for continuing that love for her. For many guys it is that she is attractive, and if she loses that, the guy will no longer love her. God's love isn't like that. He loves us regardless of our condition. Another aspect of God's love is that it pursues after us. It's not a kind of love that is only received by us, but it is given to us by Him. What I mean is that we don't have to go to Him to receive His love, He goes to us and gives it to us. There are many instances in the Bible where people ran away from God but He chased after them. A great example is Jonah. There was a nation that had fallen in sin so much, but God wanted to redeem those people. God sent Jonah to be the prophet that would go to that nation and preach to them. However, Jonah refused, and ran away from God. Jonah went away from Nineveh to Tarshish. A storm arose on the ship, and Jonah realized that he had to get off the ship because he was the one causing the storm. After he was thrown off, a fish swallowed him up, and spat him up in 3 days. Jonah finally went to Nineveh and spoke the word of God to the people there. What can we learn from this? God showed His love to Jonah. Even when Jonah literally ran away from God, God still saved His life and allowed Jonah a second chance. God's love pursued after Jonah. But that isn't all. God also saved the people of Nineveh who sinned greatly against God. God didn't let Jonah's disobedience stop Him from loving the people of Nineveh or from loving Jonah. God's love is truly unconditional. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
-Smart
Consistency
I was going to write another post to follow up the last one but I recently went to a retreat and learned something that I feel is important to remember and share. Before I talk about it I want to briefly share why I have this blog. This blog may seem like it is used to share my thoughts and hopefully encourage other people, which it is, but there is another reason I started it as well. I want this blog to be a place where I can write down different things that I learn and can look back on. I want to be able to read this blog down the line and remember important things that I have learned. Anyway, at the retreat I went to, known as the Grace Retreat, I learned a lot of things, but one thing stuck out; consistency. Consistency is being true to principles or ideas that we have. In other words, being true to yourself. People who are consistent usually don't do things that are unexpected, and they are usually reliable and trustworthy people. They are steadfast people; people who are firm in their purpose and unwavering. Being a consistent person is very important because being true to your values is critical. It's also important because a consistent person is able to be trusted by others because they know that when you make a commitment you will deliver. A consistent person doesn't contradict himself/herself, and always adhere to what he/she believes. There are many people in the world who aren't consistent people, because they always change how they act or feel, or even what they believe. One day that person is happy about something, the next day they are sad about it. One day they have a viewpoint, the next day it changes. Consistent people do not change who they are or what they believe very easily. This doesn't mean they won't experience different emotions, because everyone does, it means that consistent people know what they believe and are able to control themselves better. So how do we become more consistent people? First of all, we need to have core values that we really believe in. One core value mentioned at the Grace Retreat was being positive. If you believe that you need to become more positive, really try to live it out. Say one nice thing to somebody everyday. To be consistent we also need to find out who we need to be and become that person. Those core values should help you achieve this. We also need to do things that will help us be consistent. A great example is reading the bible. I personally want to read the bible everyday, so I can learn different things that will help me be a more steadfast and consistent person. There is one person who is a great example of consistency- Jesus Christ. What do I mean? Jesus was the same person everyday, every minute and second. I will talk more about this and connect it to my previous post later.
-Smart
-Smart
God's Holiness
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is filled of His glory"
-Isaiah 6:3
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't really thought of anything to write about. Today I wanted to talk about holiness. What is it? Many people who go to church hear that word a lot, because it is used in the bible many times. What does it mean though? Being holy means being set apart, or being sacred. A holy person might be known for being saintly or godly. I understand the second definition, but what I really like is the first one. Holiness is being set apart. Why do I like this one better? I think it describes who God is in a better way. Yes, God is a sacred being, but that is what makes Him set apart. God has so many qualities that we do not have. He never sins, lies, and He always loves. We cannot even compare to the greatness of God because we always sin, lie, and we don't love like God does. Even the best of us can't compare to God. His character is so much greater than us. We are like a shirt that has permanent stains on it, God is like a shirt that cannot be stained. If you were to see the two together it would emphasize the ugliness of the shirt with the stain. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn't have to two shirts in the same place because you might ruin the good shirt. This is obviously a flawed example because we really can't ruin God, in fact, He would ruin us. If we were to see God as He is in our natural human state, we would die. This is the reason He is set apart, because He can't be near us, or more realistically we cannot handle His awesomeness. No one in their natural earthly state has seen God, because He is holy. In the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah sees God sitting on His throne, and seraphs (I guess angel like beings) said "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty." Notice that they say holy three times to stress God's holiness. Even these seraphs had to cover their faces because even they could not handle being in the almighty presence of God. Then Isaiah said to himself "Woe is me! I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." The prophet Isaiah could not bear to be in God's presence because he was a sinful man. As I said before, being near God emphasizes the ugliness of ourselves. So what can we do about this? How can we have a relationship with a holy God who cannot be with us? Well, actually He can, but that will be covered at a later time.
-Smart
-Isaiah 6:3
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't really thought of anything to write about. Today I wanted to talk about holiness. What is it? Many people who go to church hear that word a lot, because it is used in the bible many times. What does it mean though? Being holy means being set apart, or being sacred. A holy person might be known for being saintly or godly. I understand the second definition, but what I really like is the first one. Holiness is being set apart. Why do I like this one better? I think it describes who God is in a better way. Yes, God is a sacred being, but that is what makes Him set apart. God has so many qualities that we do not have. He never sins, lies, and He always loves. We cannot even compare to the greatness of God because we always sin, lie, and we don't love like God does. Even the best of us can't compare to God. His character is so much greater than us. We are like a shirt that has permanent stains on it, God is like a shirt that cannot be stained. If you were to see the two together it would emphasize the ugliness of the shirt with the stain. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn't have to two shirts in the same place because you might ruin the good shirt. This is obviously a flawed example because we really can't ruin God, in fact, He would ruin us. If we were to see God as He is in our natural human state, we would die. This is the reason He is set apart, because He can't be near us, or more realistically we cannot handle His awesomeness. No one in their natural earthly state has seen God, because He is holy. In the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah sees God sitting on His throne, and seraphs (I guess angel like beings) said "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty." Notice that they say holy three times to stress God's holiness. Even these seraphs had to cover their faces because even they could not handle being in the almighty presence of God. Then Isaiah said to himself "Woe is me! I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." The prophet Isaiah could not bear to be in God's presence because he was a sinful man. As I said before, being near God emphasizes the ugliness of ourselves. So what can we do about this? How can we have a relationship with a holy God who cannot be with us? Well, actually He can, but that will be covered at a later time.
-Smart
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