Gospel

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Couch potato faith

Can faith really be faith if it has no expression? 

James 2:14-16 is the most quoted passage on the subject:

14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about putting actions to your faith:

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

Years ago, I went to a church that adopted “Faith is a verb–live it!” as a reminder to the people that faith requires action. 

IMG_1563Putting feet to your faith means that your feet might get muddy. You might actually have to sacrifice something to walk it out.

The more I read about the early church–the church fathers and martyrs–I am convicted of my own selfishness. 

Am I really ready to give up everything?

What am I still holding back?

Do I talk about what I believe more than I demonstrate what I believe?

I’m just gonna stop here because there’s not much more I can say except that a read through the New Testament doesn’t leave any room for argument. 

Couch potato faith is not allowed.

 

 

 

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Thursday Night Lights

I made a new friend today. 

Well, I made several new friends today because I had the opportunity to serve during Thursday Night Lights. 

Every Thursday a group of believers come together to serve and eat dinner with the homeless. 

A local missionary to the homeless brings a truck and trailer loaded with picnic tables and other supplies. 

Different groups volunteer each week to prepare dinner. It truly is a collaborative work within the body of Christ. 

My favorite part was hanging out with the men and women. One of my new friends is a little girl–let’s call her Joan–who is the same age as my sister Sofia. 

She was super shy at first but by the end of the night I got her to smile at me. 

Her smile was beautiful and it absolutely broke my heart…

What’s her daily life like? 

What are her dreams?

These are the questions that were burning in my heart. And if you know me at all, I will ask her these questions in due time. 

I’m reading through Matthew’s gospel and already there have been 3 times that Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes. 

My heart was filled with compassion today. I never want to look at a man or woman and not see them as Christ sees them:

Loved. 

Accepted. 

Worth every sacrifice. 

I know that there’s a stigma about the homeless, but my goal is to take all my preconceived notions and throw them in the trash. 

It’s not my job to sit around and rank the people according to their various levels of poverty. 

Who is that helping?

My only job is to love people, to be their friend, and keep pointing them back to Jesus. 

Joan’s smile is still in my head…

All I see is the bright future that Christ has in mind for her. I look forward to getting to know my new friend and helping her see it, too. 

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The Color of Grace

The Color of Grace by Bethany Haley Williams is a great book. 

Be warned: It’s intense and some of the stories are tough. 

Bethany is the founder of Exile International. 

She works with former child soldiers to overcome their grief and trauma using art therapy. 

These kids, despite their pasts, are full of hope, a hope that what’s in front of them is better than anything in their pasts. 

These kids love God and thank Him everyday–even though many are orphans living in an impoverished area. 

I walked away from the book totally wrecked…

The redemptive power of Jesus Christ is much more powerful than what we see and hear about in the West. 

There is no difference between the Jesus of the developing world and the Jesus of the West. 

Only a difference in the mindsets of the people. 

 I encourage you to check out The Color of Grace. 

Just be prepared for your perspective to shift. 

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Goals for May

Hard to believe May is here! 

We’re 5 months into 2016…

With a new month comes a few new goals. I’m trying something new, which is really helping me build my consistency muscle. 

I’m tackling goals in monthly chunks. 

If I want to do something, I set a goal to accomplish it within a month.

You can do anything for a month, right?

This May I am reading through the gospels and journaling daily for 10 minutes. 

When I started daily blogging, I dropped daily journaling and that’s just not okay, especially because there’s a lot of things to think about right now. 

I need some dedicated space to say whatever comes to my mind and not filter my thoughts. 

My goal in reading through the gospels is simple: I need to spend some time with Jesus and study more closely what He did and said. 

Jesus told His followers that as He is so are we in this world. I want to look at what that means more because there’s a lot of teachings out there on what Jesus said and meant. 

Why not just read the Bible and see for yourself?

Is it wise to poke and prod at what to take literally? 

If Jesus didn’t mean everything He said, we are left with a lot of scriptures to interpret by ourselves, which is dangerous. 

These are the questions I’m asking myself as I read. 

What are your goals for May?

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Being Present

Hard to believe school will be finished up in 4 weeks! 

My first 2 terms at Rhema have been awesome. I’m learning a lot and it’s going to be weird to be done until September. 

But there will be plenty to do until then. 

I’ll be working full time and my summer reading list is taking shape. 

Several of my favorite authors have books out, so I plan to read as much as I can. 

For now, I’m buckling down and enjoying the term to the fullest. 

Something I’m learning is how to be as present as possible wherever  I’m at in life. 

I like The Message translation of Matthew 6:34:

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Jesus’ advice to be present was to not only safeguard us against worry but also to help us not miss out on what’s right in front of us. 

There’s nothing worse than waking up one day and realizing you’ve wished your whole life away. 

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Change of Address

Letting other people make their own choices is tough. 

Are you sure that’s what you want to do?

I have some great ideas for you! My plan is much more solid than yours.

It’s hard for me to sit back and watch someone self-destruct, especially when I know they could do better. 

They know the truth, but are unwilling to endure the pain of change.  

There have been plenty of times that I knew what I was doing was not the best plan. Thankfully, my friends and family didn’t walk away and throw up their hands saying, “I told you this was a bad idea!”

That came later. 

At first, they helped me up and dusted me off. 

The sting of the consequences wasn’t gone, yet I knew that I would be okay. 

Obviously not everyone gets that kind of support. They fall hard and no one is there. 

No matter the support level, no one is meant to change their address to 1234 Rock Bottom Street. 

I am a firm believer in hope. 

If you are still breathing, there is hope for you because Jesus loves you so much that He will help you move out of Rock Bottom. 

The hope of a change of address is available to us all. 

Jesus wants us to move into His house because His Dad is the best and there’s always room. 

What if we walk with our friends and family–all the way to Rock Bottom if necessary–and tell them about a better future, a better direction to head in?

A course change midway is easier than an upward climb. 

But remember that the choice is not up to you, so wear comfortable shoes just in case (you’ll want to be prepared no matter how short or long the walk).

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Speak up!

In 7th grade, I struck up a conversation with a friend of mine in math class. She wanted to talk about faith and the differences between my faith and her faith. 

She was not Protestant or even Catholic–I’m not going to say what group she’s in because that’s not what’s important to this story.

“Tell me what you believe, Audra.”

So I gave her the gospel in a nutshell: 

Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfectly righteous life that fulfilled every requirement of the Old Testament law, was crucified by the Romans because of the Jewish leaders lies, died, and rose 3 days later. Accepting His free gift of salvation takes away our sins and credits us with His righteousness. There’s nothing at all we can do to earn this gift.

It was the simplest way I knew of to tell her about Jesus. (This summation is much, much better than the bumbling version I presented back then.)

Now it was her turn…

I said, “Okay, friend, tell me what you believe.” 

“Well,” she said, “I can’t tell you.”

By this point, I was confused. 

“You can’t tell me because you don’t know?” I asked.

“No, I can’t tell you because it’s hard to explain, but if you call so-and-so he can explain it to you” she handed me a piece of paper with the name and number of a church leader.

I’m pretty sure my response could’ve been better, but I simply told her the truth.

“I don’t want to call him. I want you tell me. I’m friends with you and not him. Besides, how can you believe in something that’s so complicated you can’t explain it to others?”

Every Christian must be able to share the gospel. 

It’s not enough to bring people to church.

It’s not enough to give people a book.

It’s not enough to show people a video.

YOU must be able to share with your friends and family the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Is there anything wrong with church or books or videos?

Absolutely not! 

But evangelistic tools can never replace our Christ given mandate to OPEN OUR MOUTHS and share the gospel. 

 

 

 

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The Power of Jesus in Us

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

My friend, Pastor Gwen Dreger, of Celebration Life Church in Surrey, British Colombia, Canada is in Tulsa this week!

I saw her Facebook post earlier today and was able to go hear her preach at Higher Living Fellowship. 

She taught on the power of Jesus living and moving in and through His children. 

Jesus is the Word of God and because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every Christian, the Word–Jesus–becomes flesh in you and me. 

We are one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Christ in us is the hope of glory!

This reality is sometimes too much for me…

He adopted me as a daughter and commissioned me to work alongside of Him in this world and the world to come. 

All I can do is say thank you, Jesus!

I was so encouraged by Pastor Gwen. She prayed over me, my studies at Rhema, and the calling of God on my life to serve Him in missions and ministry. 

Another thing she prayed over me was the book inside of me that tells of all the mighty deeds God will perform through me…

Wow. What a testimony to the love of God and His redemptive work in my life.

I am thankful for Pastor Gwen and her friendship over the last several years. 

God is using her mightily in Canada and I look forward to what He has in store for Celebration Life Church this year!

 

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Seeing the Truth

Do you know what I love about God?

His ability to see past our current state in order to focus on who we are, who we can be, in Him. 

Jesus, God’s son and the perfect picture of His dad, was really great at seeing the best in others. 

  • I think about 12 unlikely guys trained to be ministers. 
  • I think about the Samarian woman with her long list of broken marital relationships given a fresh start. 
  • I think about the demon possessed man who was set free and then led the whole town to Jesus by sharing his testimony. 

2 Corinthians 5:15-16 says:

And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 

As Christians, we are to look past what our eyeballs see. 

Homeless?

Atheist?

Druggie?

Prostitute?

Gay?

Alcoholic?

Prisoner?

I hope we see past these labels because that’s not what God sees when He thinks of these men and women. 

All He sees is potential because Jesus came to give us life. 

Yesterday we talked about life unlimited. 

Guess where that life comes from?

A relationship with Jesus Christ where all who accept by faith the gift of salvation are given a new life.  

I am convicted of my own lack of vision. There are times all I see is the label, which is the lie that keeps men and women bound. 

I am praying for my spiritual eyes to be opened everyday to share Jesus and see Him do great works in the lives of the once hopeless. 

I encourage you to do the same. 

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Redemption Stories, Part 2

I enjoy listening to other people’s stories, especially men and women  who really love Jesus because of their redemption from a rocky past.

I think about the lady who annointed Jesus’ feet with perfume and washed His feet with her tears…

All of her sins were forgiven! She was so thankful. 

I know that I can look back  over my life and see all my past sin, pain, guilt, shame, and hurt–I’ve been healed from so much!–that God’s goodness is overwhelming in comparison. 

Some people get really uncomfortable about such open displays of gratitude. “Can’t you tone it down a little?” they ask. 

All Jesus says is, “It’s okay. I really appreciate your act of worship, your sincere devotion.”

There are many Christians who feel like they did Jesus a favor by accepting Him, but what did we have to offer?

Enough baggage to fill a cargo plane? 

Empty attempts to gain the approval of others?

In Romans 8:17, it says that we are joint heirs with Jesus, meaning that we are each other’s inheritance. 

This is awesome news for us because it means that all of God’s blessings are given and not earned. Though,  it got me to thinking:

Jesus got the bum end of the deal. 

 I don’t mean this disparagingly, either.  It’s just that in light of His great sacrifice it’s hard for me to be real uppity about how awesome I am. 

Without Christ, I am nothing and I have nothing, so all I have for Him is gratefulness and a heart full of worship.

This is why I get so excited to hear redemption stories and to share my own. 

We were redeemed at great cost and the chance at a do over is more than we could ever imagine.