True Corporate Worship

Consumerism in our society has really been disheartening to me recently. Especially when I see how much it has tainted my own heart. Everything we do seems to be for our own benefit. We are so critical of how we received messages, that we lack an intimacy with God due to our own selfish perspectives. Who are we to be the judge of every sermon and music that is selected? Heaven forbid our churches don't apply directly to our personal needs while playing our favorite worship songs. Are we really knowlegeable enough to understand what makes the Holy Spirit stir or not due to the amount of speaking expertise? I am not saying we shouldn't guard our hearts against false and unbiblical teaching. That is essential. I am simply proclaiming that we view the leaders of our church with grace and mercy. Their job demands a lot as well so be considerate and encouraging instead of writing them off because they aren't dynamic enough. These problems are not just in the church either. Just be an instrument of light, not darkness.

I want to relate this to our consumeristic view of worship. My World Mission's prof asked us to change our perspective of how we worship. Worship is a time where we join together to praise our God. God's purpose for the earth is that every one of His people join together and worship His name. Every tribe, tongue, and nation. In Revelation 4:8 we see the picture of the creatures sitting around the thrown crying out the praises of God forever. Let all the nations praise the Lord. So instead of wondering if the worship song is your favorite or not, be joyful in the fact that we can lift our voice with our brothers and sisters around the world. We get to sing the praises of our Lord, just as He intended, and it is pleasing to Him. Those without music are still singing the praises of the Lord in their native languages. What a beautiful picture of christians all over the world are praising the one and only Lord and savior.

John 3:30 says that He must increase, and I must decrease. Our Lord and Savior washed feet. He hung out with the broken and needy. He gave His life for us, so that we may have life. So let's not value things by what we get out of it. Examine your heart. And let's become less so that He can be known by all on this earth. Then we will join with them, singing His praises all the more.

Take My Heart and Make it Clean

Psalm 139 is a beautiful message of how our Creator views us.  The intimacy He has for us is almost overwhelming and you can almost grasp how He could send His innocent Son to take on the sin of the world.  He knows us and loves us deeply.  He hurts when we run away from Him or act like we don't know Him.  It is amazing to think that our awesome God views us in such high regard despite all our downfalls.

I want to focus on the last two verses of the chapter.
Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.  See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way."

This has been my prayer for the last few days and will continue to be.  Isn't it amazing to see the ugliness inside Godly people?  Isn't it horrific when the evil inside our own hearts is revealed?  We need to constantly ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and our motives.  The devil is very powerful and can blind certain things from us.  Ask God to strip everything away from you if it means that He will be revealed through you.  Don't harbor evil in your heart but seek the way that is everlasting.  If you ask Him, you will receive answer.  God loves you with everything He has, so in response ask Him to purify your heart so that you can have the same affection toward Him.

I Am Not Enough

I had a conversation with a friend about feelings of inadequacy.  My mom tells me she feels inadequate to teach Sunday school.  I feel inadequate to preach when I speak in front of people.  Why should people listen to me and what I have to say?  Furthermore, there are so many people ridden with guilt that feel unworthy of identifying themselves as a child of God.  They spend their whole lives trying to get right so that God will allow them to commune with Him.  This is such wrong thinking. 

Praise God for our feelings of inadequacy.  I hope we never feel that we are worthy of anything on our own.  You might be thinking that's a little harsh.  For don't we want to be confident and happy and successful?  Let your boasting come from the work the Holy Spirit is doing in you alone.  Realize that everything that you do or that has been given to you is a gift from God.  The reason we feel inadequate is because we are.  Realize that you serve a God who loves to demonstrate His power through you.  Realize that you serve a God that loves to take broken things and make them new.  Through this brokenness and feeling of inadequacy we recognize our need for God and His power.  Through this need we gain stronger then ever because the work of the Lord will never fail and He will give us all we need.  So if you don't think your strong enough, trained enough, or good enough to serve the Lord I am here to tell you that you're not.  Yet, because you believe and are a child of God even a broken vessel like you can be used to glorify God.  I hope you pray daily that pride doesn't creep in and divert God's glory to you.  Inadequacy will always be a struggle, but remain faithful and trust in the Lord.

On a side note, I was talking to AM last night and made me realize just how much the relationships I have were sent from the Lord.  I am so thankful for God's grace, especially the family and friends He has given me.  We take so much for granite in this life and are so easily angered and distracted.  Let the blessings you have stay on your mind this week and always be thankful.  Because when you see how the Lord your God has so richly given you all things, you can't help but be humbled by the thought.  I love you guys and hope your faith increases daily.

How do we let pride creep in?

Pride is described as the deadliest of sins and everyone has struggled with it.  Yet, we have absolutely no reason to be proud if you sit and think about it. 

God created everything in the world, including us.  So everything in us (personality, physical attributes, etc.) is from God.  God also gave us the ability to work, to accomplish, to succeed, so all of these things are also from God.  The word also tells us that every good thing is from the Lord.  So if you're proud of your own achievement and giving credit to yourself either its not really from you or it isn't a good thing.

Secondly, everything we can achieve for ourselves does not last.  Death is something that none of us can avoid.  I hate to be cynical, but it's a pretty obvious fact.  So if you have a lot of money, it will one day disappear and amount to nothing.  If you pride yourself in your athletic ability, you will grow old and be unable to perform.  If you pride yourself in relationships, unless it is an eternal love given by God it amounts to nothing in the end.

I am not saying to never feel accomplished about anything.  But as 1 Corinthians 1:31 states, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."  You may work extremely hard and do so many things so just praise God for giving you strength.  God gives you love to pour into relationships.  God grants you success athletically and academically.  Yet He is sovereign and deserves the praise.  And He freely gave us His Son to pay the penalty of our sins so that we could be set free!  Boast in that.  Remember we are to bring glory to God in everything that we do.  And God wants our all.  So live humbly, recognizing that you're God sent His Son to give it all for you.  He has equipped you and prepared you and will give you everything you need.  So as you go on boasting, do so in Him.

Love all of you and hope you have a great weekend!

When Satan Attacks

We oftentimes fail to recognize when Satan is attacking us.  I am going to share something that has been going on in my life, and how the Holy Spirit led to overcome it.

Something had been off with me for a couple of weeks while I was at school.  I doubt many people realized it because I tend to internalize things.  I just wasn't as focused on bringing joy and serving others and didn't have the same passion and desire to worship God like I usually do.  I just felt like I was in a funk and I couldn't figure out the reason for it.  So I remember talking to Elyse on the phone and talking to her about it a little bit.  She was laughing at me because I think she knew how frustrated I was.  I tried to think maybe it was me struggling with relationships, or not having ministry responsibilities that I am accustomed to, or maybe I just had too much free time on my hand.  I still enjoyed being around my friends and everything was fine, but something just wasn't right.

So I go home for two weeks for break.  I had so much fun and it was great to be around family and friends.  Something still wasn't right with me though.  I was getting in the word but just had a hard time staying focused and getting stuff out of it.  I analyze myself a lot and it was messing me up trying to figure out why I felt the way I did.  I had been praying about it for a few weeks.

Then last night it hit me.  I had tried to justify the way I was feeling with everything imaginable and it was Satan that was telling me these lies.  Before I went to bed the Holy Spirit convicted me of the sin I was struggling with.  Now I am going to be vague because I don't want to post it on a public forum, but when the Holy Spirit revealed this to me I immediately knew this was the source of my struggle.  Satan led my mind to believe that something I wasn't doing was okay and it kept me from living in the holiness of God.  Once I prayed God has forgiven me and just rejuvenated my spirit. I just want to say that if something isn't right with your soul, ask God deeply for truth.  Pray that He will reveal it so you can conquer it.  All day today my spirit has just felt so fresh and good again.

I know this isn't the most helpful thing due to lack of specificity, but it is something I needed to get off my chest.  And Satan can fool you into thinking everything is okay when you know deep down it isn't.  Because I felt completely normal, especially around friends, but something was just out of place.  So constantly seek to be holy and combat whatever you are warring against.  Because I promise once you give it to God it is such a liberating feeling. 

I love you guys so much.  Thanks so much to my family, friends, and church for making me feel so loved when I came home.  Ya'll are a huge part of my life.  Always rely on God and seek Him for answers.  It may seem overwhelming, but just try to learn a little more each day.  And if you just chip away I promise you will fall more in love with your Savior then you ever thought imaginable.  Let me know if you ever need anything or have prayer requests!

Still With Me

"I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  It is right for me to think this way about all of you because I have you in my heart and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and establishment of the gospel.  For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.  And I pray this:  that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:3-11

So I know I may have shared this with some of you, but I want you to know how my move to Dallas has kind of affected me.  I feel that Paul's prayer in Philippians captures how my heart feels so well.  When God puts something on my heart it overwhelms me.  I typically pursue it without even looking back.  So my move to Dallas was sudden and unpredicted.  Yet, I knew God would be faithful through it because He has proven to me time and time again that He is faithful to what He lays on my heart.  I knew it was what I had to do.  Another thing about me is I care about relationships a lot.  My family and friends have impacted my life so much and they mean a lot to me because of that.  I knew I had to leave them and I was kind of scared of what would happen when I would go.  It's funny to see how God works.

First of all I want to say that the way I was sent off to Dallas was incredible.  I got to hang out with loved ones, got a book of prayers from some best friends, got some gifts, got to watch a slideshow of all the good times we had together, and got prayed over.  Earlier after I had preached at the church, I was surrounded by family and friends and church members who showed me enormous amounts of love.  Just knowing I had that kind of support (especially in prayer) was so comforting.

Then, I get to Dallas and all the new changes begin.  Yet, I was able to contact so many of my friends and ya'll were all so interested in how I was doing.  Just the fact that you were excited to hear from me meant so much to me.  So even though I missed you guys so much, your encouragement helped me have comfort in where I was.

Lastly, when I went home for Hud's wedding I was overwhelmed by love once again.  It was as though even in the short days we were together we hadn't skipped a beat.  We laughed like we always have and the love was still overflowing.  That's why Paul's prayer captures my heart.  When relationships are formed on the love of Christ they are strong and not easily broken.  So even away from you guys I can rejoice in your successes and grieve in your sorrows.  We are aiming towards the same goal, fighting the same battle, spurring each other on along the way.  That's what our ministry did.  I am growing more then I ever thought possible and from talking to ya'll it is awesome to see how God is working in your lives as well.  As it says right before our favorite verse in Hebrews, 10:23 says "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful."  Let's keep fighting the good fight till the end and God will guide us through all along the way.  And always seek for ways to build one another up.  We are all together in pursuit to bring glory to God's name.  God gave us the love we have for each other and I pray that it bonds us together for the rest of our lives.

I am getting the chance to pour my life into many people in Dallas.  They are pouring their lives into me and it is just awesome to see how God can use such little things for such huge purposes.  Just know that probably everyone that is reading this has invested something in me that is forming me in my spiritual journey.  I love you guys and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you're friendship.  Always remember one another in prayer and push each other to be like Christ and to bear much fruit. 

Ecclesiastes 4:12- Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

It Wasn't Me

The number one question I get from being in Seminary is "What do you want to do when you get out?"  It's a very good question and I tend to ask people the same thing.  Now I know have certain gifts and know certain things I'm good at.  Yet, sometimes it's hard to practically place these things to form a career.  I don't feel like I'm a very dynamic speaker, so I question whether or not preaching is what I'm called to do.  I am currently planning a ministry that is so far over my head I have no business talking about.  Yet, deep down I expect greatness.  I expect to make a difference in this world.  So how do I feel so inadequate to serve, yet have so much confidence in the future.  It is because my God and Holy Spirit is so much greater than anything I could provide.  I do have strengths, but they are given by God.  Let me give you some examples of how this message sparked and I gained a lot more trust in the Holy Spirit the last few weeks.

Many of you know I like writing letters of encouragement to people.  About two weeks ago I had it on my heart to communicate some things to a few people, but they weren't necessarily like my normal messages.  One was to a person I've never written too before.  It was encouraging, but I wasn't sure how they would accept this message.  A second letter basically was written to bring comfort to a struggle that I wasn't even sure was occurring.  I told this person to follow God and seek His guidance in something I merely assumed they were dealing with.  I later thought to myself, Alex you're an idiot.  You don't know what's going on in their life.  The other I just had a overwhelming desire to show my appreciation to one of my friends.  We don't share our feelings much, so I wasn't exactly sure how he would respond.  I say this to illustrate that after I sent these messages I had doubt and even regret to some extent to sending them.  I just wasn't sure how they would respond.  Then their responses came. 

The first person told me that they hadn't had their usual joy at work and had even been snappy with a couple of people.  They said they went to the break room and read my e-mail and were reminded of who they were in Christ.  They told me that their students noticed a difference in their demeanor immediately when they got back to the classroom.  They even asked where all the joy came from.

The second person confessed to me that they had been struggling with exactly what I had assumed.  They said they needed encouragement and it just really motivated them to know someone was identifying with them and praying for them. 

The third person said that they were getting so caught up in their studies they began to lose sight of their purpose.  They said my e-mail helped him realize his purpose in their hard work.  He said it was exactly what he needed to joyfully press on.

All three made a statement that they knew my message was from God.  I have preached a couple of sermons and some more messages in small groups and always received great feedback.  I watch my videos and am almost embarrassed about my nervousness and how I stumble through messages.  It isn't good.  But God works through them.  The Holy Spirit is in my conversations, guiding my heart, and letting the Words of God transform lives.

So I say all this for a couple of reasons.  First, if you think you are weak and only capable of simple things and that you can't impact the kingdom, then I praise God for your humility.  But never doubt that God created you for a purpose and will use you to glorify His name.  If you have identified you're strengths and are using them, I pray that you always remember they are from God.  Keep giving thanks and using what you've been given to win souls for Christ.  Thirdly, recognize that the Holy Spirit is using mundane tasks to reveal God to people.  Recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life.  If you are obedient to the word of God you will know how to wisely approach the world and to live.  If you are desperately praying for God  you will form an adoration for Him and a humility about yourself.  By seeking after God, He will delight in sending His Spirit to work through you.  Take confidence in this because He can do mightier things through you than you could ever do for yourself.  I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I know it's going to be great and God will use it somehow.  I am just going to closely listen for His direction.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31  "Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not may were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: 'Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.'"

If all you know is Jesus Christ and Him crucified then that is more than enough.  For our wisdom comes from Him.  So boast about His name because though we are weak we will shame the strong.  I pray that each accomplishment we have we will recognize how God simply used us to bring glory to Himself. 

I have a few things on my mind right now so expect some more posts in the next couple of days.  Love you guys!