Paid

Oh Praise the One who paid my debt

and raised this life up from the dead


Colossians 2:13-14

Building Up

There has been something that has been laid on my heart over the past few weeks. I'm taking New Testament (amazing class), and also reading through Ephesians on my own. It seems that the more and more I study the NT, especially Paul's writings, I come across this idea of encouraging or building up of other believers. Here's some examples:

• 1 Thes. 5:11- Encourage to avoid worldly things
• Romans 1:12- Encouraged through each others faith
• Colossians 2:1-5- Paul is at a struggle to... Encourage the hearts of others, through their hearts being bound in love, so that they can reach the full understanding of Christ (sorry if that's confusing... it makes sense in my mind.)
• Romans 15:1-6- Support weaker believers, encourage them, and live in harmony.
• Philippians 2:1-11- Read this passage if you don't read any of the others.

These are just a few examples of Paul talking about encouragement of believers. This is a major topic and it needs to be discussed. How can we encourage? This is open for discussion but I have come up with 4 ways to do so...

• Encourage to abstain from sin
• Encourage through personal stories of the Holy Spirit's work in your life... with humility
• Through love, serve others unconditionally.
• Aid in the spiritual growth of others (mentoring, discipling, etc.)

Through these 4 things, and others you might have, we as believers can reach our goal. That goal is to live in the unity of our mind and spirit, so that we can function together as component parts of the Body of Christ, as well as achieve a full understanding of Christ, which ultimately glorifies God.

I came up with this equation to apply it to our lives... placing others above ourselves plus encouragement equals glorifying Christ in 1 accord.

I hope that this post does 2 things... First, I hope it sparks action. My prayer is that each one of us will look for opportunities daily so that we may encourage other believers. This should be a spiritual discipline just as important as our quiet time in my opinion. Secondly, I would like to hear your opinions and thoughts on this topic. May we be mutually encouraged through discussion over this issue.

water

I was watching Planet Earth the other day, and words can't describe some of the things that that series has captured on camera. One of my favorite episodes is "Pole to Pole". It covers the whole earth but it has a large focus on how the sun and the water constantly interact with each other to bring life to every part of the world. One part in particular describes the life giving power of water in the desert plains of Africa. To summerize the water that melts from mountains travels thousands of miles over 5 months, and provides life to millions of animals in the center of the Africa. My jaw hit the floor when It showed the satelite images of the desert becoming a lush green oasis. I thanked God for the beauty of His creation. The story doesn't end there.

The next sunday the pastor taught out of Psalm 1, and water was brought to my mind again. It was obvious God was trying to teach me something, and He did. It was later that sunday night that he revealed to me His sovereignty and power. I looked at such verses as John 4:10, John 7:37-39, and Jeremiah 17:5-8.

The use of water throughout the bible from the old testament all the way to the new testament is a great picture of how God works in our lives. When Jesus mentioned that He was the living water, the jews immediately new that he was comparing himself to the life giving streams of psalms and jeremiah. We also know that now just as those trees in the scriptures (or blessed men) are sustained by the water, we as believers are now sustained by the Holy Spirit or according to John 7:37-39, The Living Water. this is amazing stuff. Better yet the streams of the old testament produced fruit on the tree by the stream, just as the Holy Spirit is what powers the growth of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. pause and thank God before we look beyond the scriptures.

As stated by Planet Earth, and confirmed by my genius friend John Weston, a biology major. "No life could exist on earth without water." So in other words God created the earth totally dependent on water. That's when His Power and Sovereignty hit me like a ton of bricks. God created a world totally dependent on water, so that we could understand that we need to be totally dependent on Him. take a pause to ponder and praise Him for this.

This is great stuff right but just knowing this won't benefit us that much, how can I apply this revelation to my life? The streams of the OT produced the fruits of and sustained the tree. So also the Holy Spirit Produces and sustains in our lives as believers. but what are our roots, how do we tap into this life giving water. I pondered on a few. of course there is Prayer, Meditation, studying the Bible, but I feel that the edification of other believers and the sacrifice for others are also 2 major ways to connect with the Holy Spirit and tap into the Living Water.

My hope is that I can continually have roots in the Living Water, so that God can be glorified through the fruit that He has produced in my life.

2 vs 3

North Carolina vs. Duke

Dickie V makes his return

Let's Go Heels

Jeremiah

Imagine that the light from the left of the painting is coming from the flames of the Temple as it is being destroyed. Now visualize as Jeremiah (above) begins to write Lamentations. It's seems uncomprehensible that he could write about God's Faithfulness and Sovereignty at the sight of women and children being murdered in the streets. just some food for thought. Meditate over the book of Lamentations, you be blessed for it.

Diversity Day

There are dates or events that we call flash bulb memories. We remember every detail about that day because it had a lasting impact on our lives. Today I experienced a day such as this. I spent the day at Central State University, an HBCU, for what I titled Diversity Day. This diversity day was much different than the one you might be thinking of, The Office that is. No we didn’t wear cards on our head and explore stereotypes to discover what race we belonged to. Instead I was submerged into a group of multicultural educators who genuinely cared for the future of urban children.
Coming into college I had a good idea of what I would like to do with my life, and it involved sports. I further explored my passions and gifts that the Lord blessed me with, and I began to understand that the way of teaching and coaching was for me. So I thought that I had it figured out, but a passion that was deep within me, sparked by choir tours throughout my years at porter, began to call for my service in an urban environment. I’m still not sure completely how this will unfold but I know that God will use me for His Will.
Today was the beginning of that journey to follow Him in my career. The Urban Education Conference at Central State University opened my eyes to a desperate situation that will impact the future of our country. I learned how I could use my love of rap to reach children. I learned strategies to motivate kids that seem to have nothing to live for. I learned to break down walls that stand between me, a white middle class teacher, and a class of diverse low income students. The lessons learned and the passion it has sparked in my heart; I hope I never forget.
The day ended with a celebration of diversity between Central State University and Cedarville University. Students and faculty joined together singing praises to our Lord. One speaker mentioned something, which helped put the accomplishments of MLK into perspective for me, and will help me to appreciate his achievements this coming Monday. “…It is not too long ago that some of us would not be welcome into this building, other than to clean it... Thankfully today we can stand together under the banner, “children of God”, and praise Him who created all men equally.”

Pray for me as the Lord equips me these next few years to serve him through urban education.

?

Why do we plan street evangelism, but walk the same streets in silence everyday?
How come Christians turn evangelism into an event instead of a lifestyle?

recently i've been rolling these questions through my head and i can't figure out a way to get them out other than this... a free-write. after this sentence i'm going to turn the monitor off and just type what i feel, please excuse any errors, i'll go back and change only major ones.

Friday nights in cedarvile ohio have become outreach night for my friends and i. we have gone out to different socal locations i.e barnes and noble and looked for oppurtunities to evangelize. this is great but my problem is the planning of this "event". why has it been reduce to an event and not a lifestyle. we go into stores and movies nad bars (jk) and socialize about nonsense most of the time, if we eeven socialize at all. why on't we share the hoppe within. why don't we save people from HELL!!!!!!! that was anger!!!! and personal frustration. sharing the gospel should be an outflow of our lives . it should come out like vomit after you drink that stuff that makes you throw up immedaiately. carrying this strange thought out we should "vomit" on everyone we come iin contact eith. but i digress. the challenge is to make evangellsim a lifestyle. so many people have all the doctrinal nad theologicaal knowledge but don't apply it to everyday life. share the gosple, apply what you know about christ. no excuses play like a champion!!!!!!!!!

that my friends is a free- write. no preconcieved planning or organizing. just what's on my mind.