Mark 14 -Watch and Pray

I don't know how much emphasis you put on prayer but I will share my stance on it; without prayer most things we do will be worthless. Jesus was in his final hours before being betrayed and led off to his gruesome death. He went to a sacred place, the Garden of Gethsemane. He began to pray diligently for the strength, endurance, and will to continue because this was the hardest act in human history. Learn from the folly of the disciples, "could you not keep watch for one hour. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak." Watch and pray... Prayer is huge. Prayer moves mountains. Prayer keeps us focused on God's will and not ours. Prayer equips the saints. Prayer nourishes our souls. Jesus believed in it and we need to be diligent in our praying. Pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Pray because your flesh is waging war with your spirit. Pray because God will hear from heaven and take action.

This is a quote has motivated me towards praying more. It is a quote about a man by the name of Joseph Alleine whose wife wrote this of him; "At the time of his health, he did rise constantly at or before four of the clock(am), and would be much troubled if he heard smiths or other craftsmen at their trades before he was at communion with God; saying to me, 'How this noise shames me. Does not my master deserve more than theirs?'" (Lectures to My Students by C.H. Spurgeon page 48) Prayer is important. Far more important than the work of other craftsmen and our master certainly is more deserving than any other master. So we need to set our faces like flint to pray. We need to be steadfast in prayer. Without much prayer CSM is worthless. I cannot save souls. I cannot strengthen people to be a better Christians. I can not convict people of their sins. Only God can do those things. He is the one with the authority and power and if we don't employ Him through our prayers then we are simply laboring in vain. God is accessed through our prayers. We need to be people of prayer. CSM should be a ministry that is built on prayer. Watch and Pray, then God will move.

Bible For Dummies

I had fun with this one... it might have been the strangest message that I have ever given. Not that the content was weird, just the time leading up to it. I fell asleep when I should have been diligently studying the scriptures preparing to preach. Then I awoke, "you sluggard! Consider the way of the ant and be wise" (Proverbs 6: 6). Rushing to the church I began to repent, "what a wicked and lazy man I am, sleeping in the midst of difficulty." Then terror struck when I realized that I could not find my bible!?! I had it earlier that morning as I did worship prep for big church and now I realized that I might have left it in the dream center, which I do not have keys for!? I found myself in the middle of a battle without my greatest weapon...

This all struck me as very odd because I have been reading Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, and my story paralleled the main character's predicament. Christian from Pilgrims Progress falls asleep and is awakened, "go to the ant; you sluggard. consider her ways and be wise." Realizing his folly Christian quickly wakes up to continue on his journey. After traveling a great distance he reaches in his cloak and realizes that he misplaced his sacred scroll. In the story Christian is able to go back and find his scroll and likewise I retraced my steps to find my bible. God redeemed both Christian and myself by aiding us even more than usual after our blunders.

I cracked the Sacred Scroll last night and asked God for his supernatural equipping and I preached as boldly as I could about His Book and all of its benefits. I hope that it helped our students to fall in love with the Word. Blessed is the man ...who delights in the law of the Lord... and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1-2)

Mark 13- You Will Be Handed Over and Flogged

I was just talking to Pastor Joseph (children's minister) about how the Gospel is unpopular. There are things in the bible that make me angry and I believe them to be absolutely true. I obey them no matter how uncomfortable they make me because I believe God knows a little better than me. Now, when you tell those things to people that do not want to hear it they are offended and think your message is crap. You will receive persecution on account of Jesus. The apostle Paul says it like this, "if I were trying to please man I would not be a servant of Jesus" (Galatians 1:10). Paul recognizes probably better than anyone that the Gospel is the absolute truth, and that it makes people uncomfortable, and that it might cost him imprisonment or beatings or you name it if he continues to preach the truth. Jesus says it like this, "You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them" (Mark 13:9). This verse is talking about the end of the age but I am certain that it is a picture of trials we might suffer even today. It is unpopular to stand firm on your convictions at school. To tell people that Jesus is the only way to heaven. That people have broken the commands of God and that they stand eternally condemned and desperately in need of a Savior. It is unpopular to tell people that the world doesn't revolve around them. So expect persecution. Paul did. The saints before us all did. But please please please do not shrink back from the Gospel. Do not water it down or try to make it easier. Because Jesus didn't water it down. He died a brutal humiliating death to rescue me, the least I can do is proclaim accurately what he did.

Take 2- I Want Jesus More Than a Full Belly

Do you ever say something like a bonehead and then 5 minutes later or even immediately after saying it, you realize what you should have said? I had that happen recently. I was fasting and someone asked me, "why are you fasting?" They were wondering if there was a specific reason? Like some people fast for direction, some fast for breakthrough, my reason; "just 'cause." What a stupid response. I blurted out, "just 'cause." Then immediately after I thought in my noggin, "that is not why I am fasting. I am actually fasting because I want Jesus more than I want food. I want to know him intimately and I want to cast everything off that hinders me from knowing him more." I wish I would have said that instead of, "just 'cause." Hindsight is precious.

Mark 12- Uh Oh

I say uh oh because this is one of those texts that I read this morning and as I read it, it was a deeply convicting text... Mark 12:1-12 is a parable a man who built a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers then went away on a journey. At harvest time he sent some workers to collect from the farmers fruit... but the farmers beat the workers sending them away empty handed. Then he sent more whom they beat. Then again he sent one that they killed. Finally he sent his son thinking, 'surely they will respect my son.' But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

Now as you piece this parable together you can see that the owner of the vineyard is God. He has left the estate, creation, in the hands of farmers (people). God then begins to send his servants (prophets) but they are beaten, disrespected, and even killed. Then in the greatest act of history, God sent his Son, who he loves and surely people should respect him. But, even his Son was despised so the Jewish leaders devised a plan to kill him thinking, "the inheritance will be ours!"

Wow. I realized how easy it is to ascribe a teaching to others. I find it particularly easy to look at the pharisees and think, "silly pharisees! Why would you kill the Son of God? That is foolish and I pity you!" But, here is the crux of the matter. The same wicked selfishness that is in each of those pharisees resides in me. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it (Jeremiah 17:9)? I have a great capacity for evil... in fact, I heard recently that the only difference between me or you and a murderer is a narrow margin of escaping several foolish choices. You are always a couple steps from making a huge blunder and falling headlong into sin. When we look at this parable we have the gift of hindsight. We can see the tale play out and we can say to ourselves, "poor pharisees." But honestly we all make decisions like them. We all have the capacity to look at situations and selfishly try to serve ourselves. And that wickedness is brewing in each of us. That is why God was so gracious to us! He saw the utter state of despair that we were in and instituted a rescue mission. You are unable and unwilling to turn from your sin and he came down to free you from the chains of sin. He went to every measure to rescue you! Praise be to Jesus Christ!

Am I Doing This Right?

How do I know that I am doing what God wants? It is a tricky question. I mean I pray that God will have his will with me, but then I question if I am really living it out? This is a question that I have been asked recently and I gave my best answer I could on the spot. But, then after thinking about it I realized there is a whole lot more to be said on the topic and I can point you to some more informed people than myself to help too. Some of the concepts that I will write about are from a sermon that I recommend you listen to called Decision Making in the Will of God by Ben Stuart from Breakaway Ministries. Here is the link http://www.breakawayministries.org/j/content/view/50/51/
I also learned a ton from John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life chapter 5 titled Risk is Right: It is Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It. So, that being said let us endeavor to unpack this important question of how do I know I am doing God's will? The first piece of advice I will give is that if you are a God fearing Christian that has given your life completely to God, if you have been baptized, if you tithe 10 percent of your income, if you study the Word, if you love Jesus and what he did on that cross, then your mind might be under attack. When a good Christian brother or sister has doubts on if they are in the will of God it might be because Satan has employed all of his cunning abilities to discourage a servant of the Most High God. Satan wants to make us doubt our commitment. He wants us to be downtrodden, to be upset, to be uncertain, and to question our decision making. If he can make us immobile with fear, he wins. Be aware of that spiritual aspect. I realize however that some of you reading this are not under attack but actually don't know God's will so let me give you some sage and practical advice... search the scriptures. If you want to know what God desires for your life, he isn't trying to be tricky. He actually wants you to understand his plans and purposes so search his scripture. Do not make uniformed decisions. All too often Christians will make really poor decisions because they have no clue what God says about a subject. They don't know that he has a strong and important opinion on certain things and it is for your benefit if you listen to him. Search and know what God says and you will be more qualified to know you are in the will of God.

Live life. That is my second big piece of advice. Sometimes you pray, read the scripture, and then you live life. There is a saying written by a theologian that says, "God doesn't steer a parked car." Sometimes you just have be moving and be confident that God will direct your steps (Proverbs 20:24). This is displayed in a few bible stories that I want to share with you. In 2 Samuel 10 Joab is the commander of Israel's army. There are two opposing forces on two sides of them. So he tells his brother Abishai to take some men and to lead them against one group while Joab himself takes some others to fight against the second group. He says that if one sees the other faltering that they should aid one another. But, he says these important words in verse 11: "Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight." He made no promises of victory. He made no bold claims on behalf of God. He just said, "this is our plan... the Lord will do what he wants with us." Live life, God will do what is good in his own sight.

Another story that has the same impact on me is that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego found in Daniel chapter 3. The king had issued a decree to worship an idol that the king had fashioned and these three vowed not to bow to anything other than the Living God. So the king threatened their lives saying that he would throw them into a blazing furnace if they would not worship the gods he served or bow down to this gold idol and their response continues to blow me away:

"O' Nebuchadnezzar(The king), we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from you hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

What?!? They didn't know what was going to happen to them!? "Our God has the ability to save us... but even if he doesn't, we will not bow down." That is a bold faith. Uncertain of what God will do these men made the God-honoring choice to serve him and not a created image. That is the sort of faith that I want you to experience. One where you are uncertain of what the outcome will be yet you commit to the plans God has laid before you. You might not be certain of the outcome of your actions but you know you serve a God that is mighty and able to rescue you from the flames of the furnace! And, that is exactly what happened. The angry king ordered the furnace to be heated as hot as possible and threw those three men in. The furnace was so hot that the soldiers carrying out the orders were killed by the flames and heat. But, the three men were spared... not only three men but a fourth was in the furnace with them that "looked like the sons of the gods." The king realized that those three served the real and living God. But, isn't it interesting that they were promised nothing. They didn't have a revelation from heaven that things would be fine. They didn't know what the outcome would be yet they remained faithful even to the point of death and God spared them!?

Sometimes we need to just live life courageously. Pray, obey the scriptures, walk with Jesus, and then live. Don't be a Christian that makes the mistake of leaving the last part out. Don't be timid with your faith but instead make decisions that honor God and then walk them out boldly! God will direct you.

Mark 11 -Clearing of the Temple

Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned tables of the money changers and benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:
"My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'
But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'" (Mark 11:15-17)

Sometimes Jesus just needs to clean house... In our wickedness we allow so many things to impose on the temple. Worldly things. Jesus comes in and overturns the tables. As a youth group we need to be aware of this. There are practices and things that we do that could be looked at as repulsive to Jesus. We need to invite him into our temple to clean house. To strip us down to the bare essentials so we can just focus on God. And we should make every effort to be a house of prayer for all nations. We need to make the basement in our church, where we meet, a house of prayer for all nations. Where we can do the intercession needed for our family and friends, for our city, for the surrounding area, and for the nations. Let's search out Jesus' desire for our youth group. Let's allow him to clean house and realign our focus on the things that matter.

Mark 10 -Give it up

The rich young ruler comes to Jesus and wants to know the way to inherit eternal life... what an important question. Some of us rush through life without asking about that important and pressing issue. But this man does and what he finds out is not favorable. Keep the commands. Which he did a good job of doing apparently, but Jesus stepped it up a notch. "Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me." The man went away sad because he had great wealth.

It is so easy for us to read that story and think what a dummy. He should sell his stuff ... I am glad I am not rich. Jesus wouldn't ask me to do that because I come from a middle class mediocre income family. I am by no means rich.... I need to tell you something. You are abundantly rich. 60 percent of the people on the planet right now... this very second, live for 2 dollars a day or less. The majority of people live on less than the amount we would spend on a value meal at McD's. You are filthy rich. And would you be able to give it up for the sake of the Kingdom? To inherit eternal life? Would you be willing to give all your possessions away. Live simply? Make sacrifices financially so that you could give more to the poor? Some of us give our 10 percent to the church and feel pretty good about it. Jesus is calling us to so much more. Give it all away and give to the poor, then come and follow Him. Is that the kind of faith you live? A reckless, sold out, all in faith? Or are you like the man who goes away sad? I will be honest it is hard to live this out. I don't want to be the tightfisted rich man in Mark 10... I want to be the Joy filled all consumed sold out guy in Matthew 13:44 The kingdom of heaven is like a man who found a treasure in a field and in his Joy sold everything so he could purchase that field! So he joyfully gave up everything? You mean he willingly sold everything? He didn't even have to be asked he just did it? That is what I want to think about my Jesus. He is worth the whole darn thing. I would give it all up just to have him. My hope is that you see Jesus as that treasure. That you see him as far more valuable than anything else and you are willing to sell it all just to have him!

Mark 9 -The Glory of Jesus

What do you picture visually at the mention of Jesus? A Jewish teacher wandering around Israel with his band of followers? A man that had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him (Isaiah 53: 2)? Or that wouldn't even be recognized had the spirit not revealed that he is the Son of God (John 1:33)? Do you picture a mere man? I do. And, that is how the bible constantly described this God man who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped... being made in human likeness (Philip 2:6-7). He was a man, that ate and drank and slept and cried and got exhausted and felt pain and looked like everyone else.... while he was here for a season... While he was on earth he looked like an average man, BUT not so when he comes again. You can mistake him for an average teacher now but make no mistake when he comes in his Glory with his angels you will realize that he is God! His transfiguration gives us indication of how glorious that will truly be! His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them (vs 3). Peter, James, and John, when they looked at their Glorious Jesus, did not know what to say, because they were so frightened (vs 6). Jesus might have clothed himself in humility and human-ness for a time, but when he comes on the clouds we all will bow our knees and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father (Philip 2:10-11). There will be no mistaking who the Lord is when he comes on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory (Matthew 24: 30). Learn from the transfiguration the Lordship and Beauty of Christ. It would be a huge oversight on your part to realize at his coming that you didn't know you served a God like that. It would be utterly foolish to realize on that day, that you didn't give him the respect or honor that he deserved because you thought he was merely Jesus and not The Glorious King we are talking about here! Many Christians treat Jesus like a peasant. He does my bidding. He helps my life and heals my hurts and saves my finances or marriage. A Jesus to suit your needs. When you see him in all his Glory you will soon realize that He is God. Not you. That He is King. Not you. I hope that you learn that lesson on this side of eternity! Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Wrestle with that until you have come under his Lordship! Because the sting of finding that out too late is something none of us can afford!

Mark 8 -Don't be Spiritually Stupid

"Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod," Jesus warned them. And, their response was, "is it because we have no bread?" Just several verses before Jesus took seven loaves of bread and fed four thousand. So he began to ask them, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven." (verses 17-20) These guys had been with Jesus, seen his miracles, witnessed his teachings, heeded his warnings and rebukes, and now when he is trying to teach them a lesson, they draw a spiritual blank. Do you have eyes to see but fail to see? And ears but fail to hear? Are you spiritually blind, deaf, or stupid? Sometimes I feel like Jesus is teaching me something right under my nose and sometimes I think I look to my peers and say something dumb like, "it is because I forgot the bread?" Often times I feel like he has to correct me, "No Cory, listen to what I am saying, think about the things I have done before." These are his close followers so we can expect the same. I think the best thing to avoid these spiritual blunders is to pray often for spiritual eyes to see and for spiritual ears to hear what God is up to. Then when he asks, "Do you still not understand? (verse 21) We can say, "oh yeah... I get it." Pray often that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better... and that the eyes of you heart may be enlightened (Ephesians 1:17-18).

Mark 7 -Stupid Traditions

This is an important lesson to learn... It makes me sad to see Christians who have reduced their Christianity to a couple of stupid rules: Don't let your hair go over your ears if you are a boy, no dancing, no drinking anything that has alcohol in it, don't cuss, etc.. etc... it makes me sad to see people put such an emphasis on things that Jesus doesn't emphasize. Jesus is far more concerned with what comes out of the heart than with your rules. (vs 20) He rebukes sharply the pharisees who are so concerned with unimportant things, "you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions." I am not advocating that we do whatever we want. Rules are a good thing to help people who have a hard time governing their own actions. And, laws set by authority are not meant to be broken. (Romans 13) But, please please do not allow Christianity to be belittled to a couple of stupid traditions. I am sure that it breaks God's heart when he sees that we are more concerned with our "christian rules" than with just being in relationship with Him. So search your heart today. Are there any practices that you have that are not instituted by God. If there are confess them openly and ask God for guidance.

Mark 6 -Sent Out

I clung to this scripture when I moved to Florida... I had a little green diesel Volkswagen full of my stuff. And, I had no clue where I was going stay or what the next few months of my life was going to look like. The only thing that was comforting was that I knew I was being sent by Jesus. "Cory, where are you going to stay?"... "I don't know." "What are you going to do for work?" ... "I don't know." "How are you going to survive?" ... "I don't know." "Why are you even going then?" ... "Because Jesus is sending me." Everything else will work itself out because Jesus is sending me. Sure enough I had a place to stay and I had a job within a few weeks and He provided me with everything that I needed to accomplish the task at hand. Now I look back and I praise him for making me trust him so much.

Jesus wants to send you out. Maybe not physically from this location. I am sure some of the disciples didn't travel far. But he wants you to preach that people should repent.(verse 12) He wants you to boldly proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is near. Proclaim it in your schools and jobs and the surrounding area. Please please don't shrink back from the opportunity. Don't shy away because you are unprepared. If Jesus says go then he will provide everything you could ever need to accomplish the task he is calling you to. Go boldly and proclaim the Good News!

Mark 5 -Touch Jesus

I think the lady in verses 21-34 knew exactly what was important. She had been sick and exhausted all her efforts to get better and hadn't. She had visited doctors and spent all she had. But, when she heard of Jesus she went to him just to touch him. And by her faith she was healed.

That is my desire for our ministy. Our goal with Central Student Ministries is simply to touch the cloak of Jesus. If we could just get near enough to touch his garment His super natural power would transform us. So, I challenge you to just push back your chair from your computer and bow your head. Pray for our ministry that we would reach out and touch Jesus. That he would transform our ministry and we would sit at his feet trembling and worshiping.

Awesome!

God is so good... sometimes it slips my mind how incredible he truly is. This week he showed himself to be utterly good. He always does that. So I want to share with you a couple of awesome praises that I have experienced recently... We had our retreat over the last weekend and it was good. Sometimes when you are in the thick of things it is hard to assess how it went. When we got back on Saturday I was a little concerned... "did they really get it? Do they understand God's love? Did I do a good enough job of explaining it?" It took a couple days to sift through those thoughts and I have arrived at this, our retreat went perfectly. God did exactly what he wanted to do in the hearts of those that he brought with us. I know that a lot of students were touched by the hand of God during our retreat and I praise Him for the work that was accomplished!



After Sunday night I was extremely encouraged. I preached I'm in Love part 4: God's Love Equips Us for All We Need. The story of Peter and how God's love reinstated him. There were 3 main things that stood out to me about the story. 1) Jesus knows that we will mess up (Luke 22:31) 2) Jesus prays for us (Luke 22:31, Romans 8: 27, Hebrews 7:25) 3) Jesus' love seeks us out (John 21)



I got to talk with a few people Sunday night and it was awesome... A newer girl asked for a bible. She has only been attending for a few weeks but she has a desire to read the Word! That means we are doing something right! A couple others that attended Love Fest came to me and wanted prayer because they want to stand firm in the faith. They want to be used mightily by God. They want the love of Jesus to comepletely transform their lives. There is nothing better than praying for the equipping of warriors for Christ! God will certainly use those two as ambassadors for the Kingdom! And lastly, my friend came to me and expressed her desire to be baptized!? She is taking the step. She is committing completely! I love it! I love my job!?!?!?!?!

Mark 4 -Producing 30, 60, Even 100 Times as Much!

The word of God has been sown... if you are reading this blog the mysteries of the Kingdom have probably been told to you(seeds have been planted in your life)... So take warning of the things that make the harvest unfruitful in Mark 4. My parents own a tree farm. So, I have learned a lot about harvesting through the many years that I have watched them manage the farm. They have to plant so many seeds preparing for the harvest. A Christmas tree actually grows only a foot a year approximately. So, they plan for 6, 7, even 8 years down the road when the trees will actually be ready. Then every year there is work to be done. Every year the trees have to be shaped a little to help them grow into beautiful trees. And, then there are many crops lost. Through drought or animals or weeds or poor soil, many trees are lost.

Your heart is like a Christmas tree. It needs water and nourishment. It needs to be placed in setting where it is least likely to lose its fruitfulness. And, you have the ability to choose your soil. You have the ability to pull out weeds. You have the ability to make your roots sink deep in the word(psalm 1). You are without excuse. Prepare yourself for the harvest. The theologian Jonathan Edwards said it like this, "Endeavor to promote spiritual appetites by laying yourself in the way of allurement." This means set yourself up for fruitfulness. Lay yourself in the way of allurement. Put yourself in situations that will water your soul. Listen to sermons on your ipod, read old christian authors, study the word fervently, worship often, retreat to solitude to pray, and whatever else you can think of to help the seed of the Word to multiply 30, 60, even 100 times as much!

Be warned of the things that kill the seed. Satan can easily take away the word sown in you when you don't sink your roots in. Listening to one sermon a week will not suffice! God has blessed you with the ability to read his Word every day. Some people will never hold a bible in their hands. You have one on your nightstand or your shelf. Use it! Sink your roots in. (psalm 1) If you don't have that depth in your relationship with God than you will be uprooted by the storms of life. Verse 17 says "when" not "if" troubles come. When troubles come if your roots aren't sunk into the Word, then you will quickly fall away. Persecution and trouble will come. Be prepared to fight it with the Word.

Do not let the worries of the life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke out the word. (vs 19) Satan wants to use those things to crush your faith. Fight those urges with an eternity mindset! Fight the fight with the sword of the Word. Do not worry about your life! If you give up your life you will gain it (Matthew 16:25) ... Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19) Do not love the world or anything in the world. (1 John 1:15) Keep your mind focused on eternity and God will grant you the grace to overcome. To him who overcomes he will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Rev. 2:7) I want you to bear fruit. I want you to succeed! Please, put yourself in situations that will nurture and water your soul. And God will make you produce such a great harvest!

Waking up

This morning everyone was sleepy... so Lana led us in some callisthenics. This is some of the students executing perfect jumping jacks. hehehe

Will You?

It continues to blow my mind that Jesus is in love with me! This weekend has been an awesome opportunity to just reflect on the fact that Jesus is in love with us. That he gave his everything for me!? That is crazy! When we take communion we are actually saying yes to the Almighty's proposal. That is incredible!

"I will"

Love Fest!

We are about to leave on our weekend retreat... I am super excited! The theme for the weekend is falling in love with God. We want our students and ourselves to be completely enamored with the Almighty God. I want to gaze upon his beauty every day and worship him. I want to love him with all that I have and we want our church to feel the same way... so this weekend we will be stepping away from normal life to try to encounter God in a new and fresh way. Call it a honeymoon with Jesus.

Please pray for us because this is a big endeavor. Helping students fall in love with God is the greatest calling ever but we want to do it with excellence so please pray for our leadership this weekend. And, this is selfish but please pray for me. I will be preaching 4 times throughout the weekend and I have a baby dedication on Saturday night. So, if you wouldn't mind I am inviting you to hold up my hands like the tale of Moses. (Exodus 17:8-16) And I will be able to look back on the weekend and say, "The LORD is my banner, for hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD went to war." (Exodus 17:16 paraphrased) I cannot wait to see the outcome of God's working in our students.

Mark 3 -Out of Your Mind

Mark 3: 21 "When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'"

Serving God is crazy. It comes at a cost: ...everything. When Jesus entered a house and was swarmed by the people, his family said, "He is out of his mind." They were concerned about his health, his well being, his sanity, his rest, there are too many people trying to be with our son. He needs his personal space. He needs his own life. He can't always fix everyone elses'. From a family's stand point, those are all very loving, caring, responsible responses to what Jesus is going through. But, it is not the will of the father. Jesus recognizes that sometimes doing the will of the Father is taxing, exhausting, seemingly unreasonable, but it is always the best way. So when his mother and brother stand out side calling him, he simple says, "whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." (vs 35) Do you have that sort of commitment to God's will? Would you be willing to pursue what God wants over what your parents think is best for you? This is tough because your parents want good things for you. But God wants something better. And, he has an eternal perspective that might not make sense in this world. Many Christians across the world could be put to death today for their beliefs. Do you have that sort of allegiance? Where you wouldn't deny the name of Christ even if it cost your life? What about everyday? Do you live your life for the will of God, or do you deny him in the little things? I am praying that we as a church would have an unswerving allegiance to the King of Kings at any cost! Even if other churches and family and friends say, "They are out of their minds!?" Then, we can answer them soberly, "No, we are in the perfect frame of mind. We are commited to doing the will of Him who called us."

Mark 2 -Not The Righteouss but the Sinners

Who will you have dinning with you at your table?

I was talking with Pastor David yesterday and his wisdom is always encouraging. What he was saying was that he loved the new chairs down in the basement and our reasoning for doing it was noble. We want a welcoming environment for new-comers. But, he said we should always be planning evangelism. The chairs are good and it is good for us to be ready for new people, now go and find them. Just like Jesus said in Matthew 28, "go and make disciples of all..." We need to be intentional on proclaiming the good news to those that are "sick." And, the wisdom of Pastor David's many years of doing ministry were showing through in his statement, "you can prepare messages, return phone calls, counsel students, prepare worship experiences, and miss out on the greatest role of being pastors... go and make disciples[evangelize]." Jesus did it. He was eating with "tax collectors and 'sinners.'" When the "religious leaders" saw this, it actually made them question Jesus' disciples, "why does he eat with them?" They can't understand why a rabbi would waste his time with those sorts of people?! And Jesus' sharp response was, "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." As a youth group we need to be constantly asking ourselves, 'if we have the greatest message ever told, why are we not sharing it with as many other people as we can?' It should excite you to tell others about your Savior. It should be a message that you could not contain if you wanted to. Tell others. Hang with the sinners. Tell them about Jesus and invite them to come and hear the Word. We do not want to be focused on us. We want to love others as ourselves. That means that you should want your spiritually dying friends to come to church just as bad as you yourself want to come. It should break your heart when your head hits the pillow, that you have family and friends that don't know Jesus. We have to be a church that is focused on the Cross. Focused on helping others fall in love with Jesus. And, we should be intentional about who we spend all of our time with. If you are always hanging out with the righteous, who is hanging out with those that need Jesus the most?

Mark 1 -John the Baptist

I love John! He is a stud and Jesus loved him too! "I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." (Luke 7:28) John was a man who was crazy for the Kingdom. He actually was thought by scholars to be part of the Essene Jews. The Essene Jews were passionate about their Jewish religion so they seperated themselves from normal life and dedicated themselves to the study and preservation of scripture. But, if that is the case (we are only speculating), he basically got sick of living removed from people and felt he had a message for the people. "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 3:2, Mark 1:4) He was: "Preparing the way [for Jesus], making straight paths for him." (Mark 1:3) Baptizing them with water to show we are far from God. We have sin and I need to turn from it because, "the kingdom of heaven is near." The messiah is coming, you had better be ready! Prepare yourselves for his arrival. And many went to him. "The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River." (vs 5) His message was and still is compelling. Prepare for his coming. Rend your hearts. Turn to him.

I once had a good friend prophesy over me that I have the spirit of John the baptist... I am not sure that I could ever live up to that but I will say I would love to spend my whole life preparing people for meeting Jesus of Nazareth! I would love to say that I had one mission in life: To prepare hearts to meet the One. To prepare the way and make straight paths for the saving work of Jesus the Christ. He is the one that I am unfit to even touch his sandals! I must decrease and He must increase!(John 3:30 kjv)

Matthew 28

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing then in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus conquered the grave. Read again slowly. Jesus conquered the grave. He got up and exited the tomb with all authority and revealed himself to many. He is God. He conquered death and he reigns victoriously! And, with all the authority he has commissioned us... Make disciples. Baptize them. And teach them to obey all that He commands. What a rush! We have been given a mission by the King. And, he promises all that we will need. (His presence in verse 20) You want to know God's will for you life, here it is: make disciples, baptize them, and teach them Jesus' commands. If you do that it won't matter what college you go to or what your profession is. You will be satisfied. "Soulwinning is the chief business of the Christian." -C.H. Spurgeon

Matthew 27

This week, the cross has crushed me with all its weight. I can think of two times this week when I thought about what Jesus did and literally I was sobbing. Tears streaming down my face, totally broken at the foot of that old rugged cross. And, there were many other times where my eyes welled up with tears. This is not normal for me. I am not a big cryer. I am a man. I grew up on a tree farm. My toys were engines and chainsaws. When I broke a limb it was inappropriate to cry... "walk it off." Me and my brothers are all that way (4 boys- you can read ''MEN"). Unfortunately that makes us slightly clueless about girls, but none the less, crying is foreign to me. And, this week I have done a lot of it. When you read about Jesus in Matthew, you realize how completely horrible the whole thing was. This was a man that was faultless. All he had ever done is help and heal and teach people. He was so selfless, so caring, so compassionate. Yet, in Matthew 27 we find him standing before accusers, and being ridiculed, and ultimately being crucified. And, the only crime they could post on his crucifix was, "King of the Jews."

I hate reading about the public humilition of Jesus. When the soldiers are mocking him and spitting in his face, and slapping him, and pulling out his beard, I want Jesus for just one minute to display his Godness. I want him to display his utter power and crush his adversaries. I want him to show them that he is the Living God. But, like a sheep is silent before the shearers, Jesus did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53: 7) He took it all. At Central's staff meeting last week we looked at how intense his suffering was. All of the gospel accounts display how horrid the time leading to his death was. And the reason that Jesus had to suffer in those ways is because of the wrath of God. God was pouring out on Jesus the fullness of His wrath. He was exhausting completely his wrath on Jesus. And, the thing that gets me the most is that I deserve it! He was faultless but I am guilty. He is an innocent man, but I have blood on my hands. My savior endured torture and ridicule and punishment that is due to me?! So when I have taken communion this week and thought about my Jesus being slapped by roman soldiers and ridiculed and spit on, my heart breaks. That should be me. Not him. Not him at all.

Vision Part 3

Last night we just finished up our third part of the series called Vision. The purpose of the series was to give you a feel for the CSM leadership and to let you know what we feel like God is up to. I am very careful to say, "this is what God is doing." Because, his ways are beyond my ways and I promise that most days I am completely clueless. But, as Lana and myself have prayed for the future of CSM and our individual involvements, we are super excited! I think we are on the cusp of something huge! That God is going to do some incredible things with our group of students. I pray that we fully grasp that concept of servant hood that the apostle Paul talked about in Romans 1:1. If we all agreed to that sort of commitment I wonder what our youthgroup would look like? If we all called Jesus lord, master, rabbi, what would God do with our group. It is that total commitment that God is looking for in each of us. He wants us to name Jesus as Lord. It is not enough to just know about him. "Even the demons believe and shutter." (James 2:19) He is master! Whatever he says, we do. Complete submission to the will of God at any cost. Imagine with me, what would a group of rowdy highschoolers look like, that is totally committed to the ways of God? Think about it?!? Even if one person took Jesus as serious as Paul, what that one person could do?! If God has complete control over your life I wonder what that would look like? What would he have you do today? Right now as you finish reading this article, what would he have you do after you got up from the computer? That sort commitment is exactly what we are going for at CSM and I am completely confident that God is going to do amazing things with our group as we lay down our lives and the King of Kings picks them up!

Matthew 26 -Reckless Abandon and The Art of Failing Well

Reckless Abandon: I love the text Matthew 26:6-13. It is an account of a woman who pours perfume on Jesus as he is reclining at the table with his disciples. It is interesting because in the eyes of reason what she did does not make sense. A whole years wages?! Think about what Blood: Water Mission could do with my salary for a year!?! How many wells and how many people could be blessed! But, she pours the perfume on the head of Jesus and he says, "she has done a beautiful thing..." Now my question for myself and you is this, "are we that crazy in love with Jesus?" Have you ever felt like you worshiped him in a way that it didn't matter what others thought, or in a way that could be looked at as reckless? With your time? Money? Energy? Life? Honestly, I have a hard time with this. I want to be known as someone who loses myself in worship to Jesus. And, I want our church to be an expression of this too! A whole group of people who would blow a ton of resources on our Savior! And not even think twice about it. Reckless abandon!

Failing Well: Many of us have been Christians for a while. The truth about being a christian is that it is hard. If you think being a christian is easy than I think you should examine if you are really living up to the calling. Have you died to yourself? Daily? Taken up a heavy cross? Endured suffering? Peter had. Infact, for 3 years he followed Jesus and abandoned family, friends, and his profession to follow his Rabbi (Jesus). Jesus was Peter's best friend and he respected him dearly. But, Jesus was honest when he talked to Peter in verses 31-35. "You will disown me..." Peter you are going to fail. When Jesus wants him to be most couragious, supporting, loving, Peter fails him in the worst way. He not only scattered, he literally denied even knowing who his rabbi, teacher, best friend is!?! Peter failed and the thing about this story is you can expect to fail too. Don't be surprised that as a christian you will mess up. Your flesh is waging war against the spirit and Satan is cunning! Jesus knows this! In fact he prays for you when this happens. In Luke 22:31 Jesus says, Simon(Peter) satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you. The "you" in that verse is plural in the greek. Satan wants to sift you as wheat. To destroy your faith. But, Jesus is praying for you. He loves you so much that he is constantly before the father asking that he spare you! (Hebrews 7:25) Not if you fail, but when you fail, I want you to know that Jesus is cheering for you! He is saying, "when you return" (Luke 22: 32), when you turn from your sin he is there waiting with open arms to not only recieve you but to give you more responsibility, "Strengthen your brothers." (Luke 22:32)