Preach It!

There is something about the mystic of preaching that never ceases to amaze me.  I embarked this past month on preparing for my first Sunday morning sermon.  I have actually known for almost 6 months that I would be speaking, but in the middle of the summer I realized that what I was originally planning on speaking on was not what the Lord wanted, so instead I went where I've always felt lead for my first sermon.

My topic however is not what I wish to blog about today.  The entire process behind preparing to speak in a church setting is wherein the topic of todays blog lies.  As a person prepares to speak on a spiritual topic, they have to prepare themselves mentally and spiritually for the heaviness of the topic.  They must remove all other distractions.  This is something that I have had a hard time with in recent times.

I feel at this point that these distractions are meant to take my focus off of the topic at hand.  For me as should be with every speaker you have to be practicing what you preach.  Or at least working towards it.  In James, (The Message) it says:

 "As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don't do it, that, for you, is evil." James 4:16-17 

 This takes it to an entire level.  It actually scares me somewhat.  Because I get so caught up in life, that I can forget what I'm here for.  I can even forget what things may be considered "wrong". 

I keep praying that the distractions will leave me, however I feel that as long as I am still sitting border line with where I am, then they will stay; continually tempting me to sit where I am, or fall in the opposite direction for where I need to be.

Weekend at Burnies

Below are three articles encasing the Quran burning incident.  All of these were written/filmed before the event was "cancelled."

The cnn article focuses on how General Petraeus replied to what Jones was planning.
The Aljazeera article takes the views of different religious leaders and assesses them.
The Daily Show is a satirical view of the issue.

I enjoyed looking at how the three of these articles looked at the issue at hand from different angles.  The CNN article focused on the first big name response to the issue, focusing on the affect it would have on American troops in Muslim countries.  Aljazeera focuses on getting the opinions of other religious sects as well as showing the reaction of the largest Muslim country in the world.  The Daily Show then brings in the humor of the entire ordeal, closing out the three articles.

All three of these reports focus on the main news source, the pastor in Gainesville, but they each get comments from different sectors to add their piece to the story.  Aljazeera shows an international view on the issue, CNN with a military/American view and then Daily Show with personal views on the issue at hand.

Each of these stories seeming un biased in their reporting.  These articles are probably some of the most diverse that could be found on the issue (short of finding biased articles).  That's really why I enjoyed picking these three articles to post and discuss about.



http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/06/florida.quran.burning/index.html?hpt=T2

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Weekend at Burnies
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Decisions: Application

As followers of Christ we feel an inherent need to please Christ.  After all if we did not feel this need then we would probably need to reconsider whether or not we are truly followers of Him.

At the core, pleasing Christ comes through our decision making.  If we are pleasing Christ with out decisions then we are not sinning and we are enacting life change in ourselves and others.

So how do we begin in seeking Christ in our decision making?  We must first be willing to abandon ourselves to those decisions that Christ has planned for us.  Then we must listen for those plans.  This is where the prayer and supplication comes into action.  God guides our decisions through other means of communication with Him, however if we are not grounded in prayer then we will question whether we are doing what we want or what Christ wants.

You may sit back and think, Christ making decisions for me; that's crazy.  However I can tell you from first hand experience as well as second hand stories that following Christ direction is a real thing.  Not only can his confirmation of decisions come through prayer, it can also come through scripture, worship, communication with other believers, and communication with nonbelievers as well.

I say all of this knowing full well that this is something that I myself need to work on.  Most of the time when I blog about things, they are thoughts that apply to myself, and I feel the need to share.

Decisions: How To

We sit here and wonder, how do I make a decision based on what God wants.  Well scripture tells us that this comes through prayer and supplication (appeal).  We also however have to be on a journey together with Christ, growing closer to Him everyday.

The latter is tougher to swallow at times.  While we have no problems going to God in our time of need, actually taking the time to journey and align our lives with Christ is another matter in itself.  I even have issues at times, with drawing near to Christ.

As humans we see this need to do things ourselves.  We are a "me" people.  This is an issue with Christ.  He wants us to be a "others" people.  He wants us to live for Him and then to live for others.  When we begin doing these things, a life of selflessness, in devotion to Christ, then we will see the complete realm of what decisions Christ wants us to make in our lives.

However, I am not saying that Christ cannot guide us in our decisions if we are not following him with everything.  He can still guide us as He pleases (He is God after all), but we may not be able to see the big picture, or we may miss out on blessings exceedingly, abundantly, above anything we could hope or dream.

Decisions

 As students we are continually bombarded with new things.  Things to do, things to buy, things to learn, ect.  Each individual option could be a great idea, however due to the amount of things presented to us we have to pick and choose what we accept and what we reject.

Making decisions can be tough things, whether it's what to eat, what to wear, what to study, each carries its own weight.  While we may not spend a lot of time on different decisions, what we choose can affect us in the long run.

As followers of Christ we hear the idea of taking everything to Him.  Instead we tend to just take things to Him that we ourselves have issues handling.  What we need to consider is that if we took everything to Christ what change we could bring upon our circles of influence.  Taking everything to Him shows a kind of devotion that is not seen in Christians today.  When we are making decisions based on what Christ wants and not what our own sinful nature wants then people will notice a difference.

Consider This (More to come throughout the week)

Life Plans

I am an Alien

Trendy, Indie, Relevant, Hipster,
These are what people aspire to be called
or Popular, Athletic, Preppy, Cool,
However I aspire to be none of these.

I wear bandana's because they keep sweat out of my face

I wear Toms because another kid gets a pair of shoes (and it's an excuse to not wear socks)

I use mac products because they are durable
I wear military hats cause they look good on me (or so I think)
I wear two v-necks cause I bought them for $3
I listen to an artist because of their lyrics (not if they are "in" or not)
I wear converse because they don't look ridiculous like sneakers do
I wear a fedora and trucker hat cause they were free

I drive a sub-compact car cause it was cheap in price and on gas

I wear plaid shorts because they look classier than jersey shorts
I wear vibram five fingers cause they make me look like an alien

and

I am a follower of Christ, not because that's what everyone else does
not because we live in the Bible belt.
I follow Christ because He is real and has a calling in my life.

In short, I am an Alien.

Hebrews 11:13b "And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on this earth"