butt bruises

So as most of you know, I live in the farthest outskirts of society, in Frederick county. It's a great place, it really is. There is plenty of scenery and fresh air out there. The only problem that I have to travel great lengths to get to shopping malls worth going to. The time it usually takes for me to get to Montgomery mall is 30 minutes. Today it took almost 2 hours! This was partially because of traffic and partially because of my impatience. While waiting to take exit 1, I couldn't stand the wait so I tried to bypass it by going to the next exit. Right after I passed the exit, my gps told me that it was 2 MILES until the next exit, IN BUMPER TO BUMPER TRAFFIC. It was crazy, the first time I had to endure such hopelessness and powerlessness. Yelling or throwing fits did no good.

Something good did come of it though!!!! This test of patience was very beneficial in teaching me to bear responsibility for wrong decisions and to see the positives in negative circumstances. I've never been so frustrated in my life (that may seem astounding) but somehow after talking to pops a peace came and comforted me. Then I turned on Christian radio which definitely helped too.

The pain of driving didn't end there as the way home took another 1 1/2 hours cause of crazy congestion.

LESSONS LEARNED:

1. when it snows, don't travel tremendous distances

2. hang out in Frederick even though it may be less attractive

3. PATIENCE is a fruit of the Spirit which i need more work on

Turkeys, Turkeys, Turkeys, Outreach?, Turkeys

Thanksgiving is here and it's time to reflect on the things that we are thankful for. I know God has blessed me in numerous ways through friends, family and physical needs but of these things, salvation is the most important. While all these blessings are great and need thankfulness, we tend to forget the most important person God has blessed us with: Jesus. Last Saturday I had to privilege of going to Turkey Outreach with a group from the Gathering and Frontline. Frontline has been doing this program where it hands out turkey dinners and share the Gospel to the less fortunate folks for a few years. Since I had football practice later that day, I could only stay for two hours, enough time to help unload turkeys from the truck.

While unloading the turkeys, one thing kept going through my mind. "Don't waste this time by talking to your friends from school who are always available, rather spend it sharing with someone you may not see on a regular basis." I was given this opportunity for a purpose and wasting it was not an option. I was convicted to go talk to someone with the purpose of sharing the Gospel. There was a group of dudes just hanging off by themselves in a corner. They didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the Frontliners so I approached them after taking a couple of deep breaths.

After a couple of preliminary questions, prepared myself for the awkward stage of turning the conversation into a spiritual one. To my surprise, there was no such stage. The individual that I ended up talking to was actually a believer from a drug rehab center. He has recently gotten himself clean and was a new believer. What was really amazing, was that he was struggling with the same thing as me, sharing our faiths to the ministry in which God has placed us. For me, I have difficulty sharing with my peers and with him, he has recognized that God wants him to reach his fellow rehab patients. What fueled the conversation was being thankful for salvation. Just talking to this guy was a continuation of what God has been trying to say to me. "When we are truly thankful for salvation, we can't help but talk about Jesus, we can't help but read about Jesus, we can't help but think about Him."

When I was driving back to football practice, I realized that though I didn't exactly share the Gospel to one who's never heard it, the Holy Spirit used that conversation to encourage an individual is able share the Gospel with even more people. It's awesome to see God's divine plan in work.

Now that's something to truly be thankful for, not only at one time a year, but rather all the time!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ocean City Missions Trip

What a week it was in Ocean City. It was truly a blessed time full of stepping out of our comfort zone for God, preaching and dramaing on the boardwalk. I learned so much on this trip and I would like to share some of the happenings.

First of all, I am really thankful. Paul Adams and his crew of evangelists were so instrumental in preparing us for the boardwalk. They were kind and helpful, walking us through the ins and outs of the Open Air Campaigners (OAC). OAC uses a sketch board to convey the Gospel message.

They go to Ocean City and other various campuses to share the Gospel. I have a lot of respect for these men who sacrifice their entire lives to bring the good news to unbelievers. They taught us all the letters and the riddles that catch people's attention. They then showed us how to neatly transition int

o the Gospel message. Much thanks to Carmina as well for teaching us the skit. The skit was a tremendous success and attracted a lot of people.

Secondly I can see the power of the Lord. Throughout our missions trip, I continually prayed for God to give me the words to say, the courage to stand in front of unbelievers, and the strength to be bold. I truly felt no fear for my strength was grounded in the Lord and his saving work. I did not fear persecution for we should

count it as a privilege to suffer beside our Lord. When people attack you while you're giving the Gospel, they attack the author of the Gospel. I was truly able to see first hand how God can use a weak, needy servant for the furtherance of His kingdom. This week is probably my most meaningful week in terms of expanding God's Kingdom. The first week I preached the Gospel with no fear. I could feel the Holy Spirit give me clarity of speech. Every second that I spent sharing the Gospel was so joyous. I've never experienced such satisfaction in the Gospel and I pray that I continue to find joy in it. I pray that this evangelism thing wasn't just this week but the next chapter in my life where I look for opportunities to share.

Thirdly I was encouraged. Whenever I gave a message, I was blessed to have a lot of believers in the crowd that really encouraged me after the message was finished. I really get the "edification" of the body now. I want to be the same way, encouraging and spurring others on towards the Lord. I was also encouraged by the people I spoke to on the board walk. There was one person in particular and his name was Chris. He grew up in the Christian home just like me and really didn't have a relationship with Christ - basically not living out the Faith. He had fallen away for a couple years and the message on the boardwalk really hit him. It was as if God was continually pursuing him all these years. I pray that I can be faithful in encouraging him to live for Christ. What was also awesomely encouraging was seeing others step out in faith too. Watching Greyson and Mikie preach with conviction was amazing. It's really encouraging when you see people that love God preach God's love. Seeing Yolanda, Mary, and Alisa perform the drama and talk to people one-on-one about the Gospel really showed how each one of them have grown. How they were unafraid and unashamed of the Gospel. THIS IS HOW WE MUST LIVE!!!!! UNASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!! We must find ultimate satisfaction in the Gospel and cling with all our might to it.

Application Time

So now that I'm home and back to into my normal environment, there are many things that I need to work on. First of all, I need to get into the Word more. When speaking to people on the boardwalk, I encountered a jehovah's witness. I must be able to defend the Bible and it's truths. I must also not be so naive in thinking everyone has a firm grasp of the Gospel and what it means to be saved. Given this, I need to preach the Gospel to Christians, my friends, non-believers, and also myself. The Gospel is the basis of our Christian faith. Therefore, we need to be living a Gospel-centered life, fueled by prayer.

So these are just a few tidbits from OC. If you would like to hear the details, just hit me up. I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE MORE!!!!

BTW...I haven't forgotten about my notes from WorshipGod. I shall be posting them up this coming week before school starts.

WorshipGod Conference Part 4

The Fourth Session was given by Thabiti Anyabwile and is titled: "The Church of Worship". This dude is an author and also the senior pastor of The First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman. The main focus of Anyabwile's was the church and how it is essential, critical, and central to your spiritual well-being. I am guilty of previously coming to church out of duty, going because I had to. Up until last summer, I viewed church as a chore. Now I realize how important the church is to my spiritual walk. How the brothers and sisters are there to encourage us and spur us on in Christ. Anyabwile presents this equation: church = people, community, body.

2 Corinthians 12:12-27 describes the church as a body with each individual being a member of the body. In this body, each member has a different part to play. The body cannot function without all the parts together. The well-being of the entire body depends on the spiritual health of the members. In vs 26 it says that if one member suffers, all of the members suffer. As members of the same body, we must take care and watch out for each other.

Anyabwile lists 5 reasons as to why we need the church:

1. Because it's God's workmanship

Christ is the one that joins us to His body. He elects each and every single one of us. Therefore we all have a purpose in being in the body.

2. Because we need to be cared for

Every member of the body cares for each other like I mentioned before. One of the challenges he gave us was to have a meaningful conversation with everyone in the church. I am definitely guilty of aimless conversations. We need to dwell on things of consequence, our spiritual health. Love in the church should abound out of our doors so that when strangers step into our church, they can experience the love of Christ through us. We were also warned about individualism in the church. It can be dangerous when people isolate themselves from the members of the body.

3. To be equipped and matured for the Christian life - Eph 4: 11-15

When we edify the body of Christ, we are encouraging others to pursue God. Worship at church should fulfill this purpose while being glorifying to God. Becoming spiritually mature and to be like Christ is the goal of the Christian faith. The church is instrumental for individual growth. Think about it, can an arm severed from the body continue to grow? No! It strivels up and rots! You see why we cannot mature in Christ independent of the local church?

An illustration he gave was this: We cannot cut out the body and just love the head, in the same way, we cannot cut out the church and love Christ.

4. We need God's grace

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:"- 1 Peter 4:10

God's grace is channelled through God's people. God blesses us through His people.

5. We need God's love

"⁹Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." - 1 John 2:9-11

Whoever loves God must love his brother. We are command to love the members of His body!

LISTEN TO THE SESSIONS ONLINE!!!!

http://purechurch.blogspot.com/

WorshipGod Conference Part 3

The 3rd main session at WorshipGod Conference was given by Jeff Purswell, a pastor at Covenant Life Church. His talk was titled, "The Leaders of Worship". The talk was focused on answering the question, "Why do we gather?" Scripture is taken from Hebrews 10:19-25.

Purswell starts of by saying doctrine must precede practice. We must have a firm grasp of Biblical doctrine in order to worship correctly. Theology has an enduring effect on how you worship. If you have convictions of what you are doing, faith will come.

He names a couple reasons as to why we gather for corporate worship.

1. To encounter God - Hebrews 12:22-24

The purpose and nature of the church is to gather in God's presence. We are able to gather in God's presence no matter what type of facility it is as long as we approach the Father through the Son. When we worship on Sundays or any other day, we are worshipping with the angels in heaven and entering the presence of our Heavenly Father. We cannot take this lightly for something of eternal consequence is occurring every Sunday.

2. To respond to God

We cannot by our own means draw near to God. Rather, Christ's redemption allows us to draw near. All true worship is a response to God, to how He has showed himself to us. When we are worshipping, we are not adding anything, giving anything, or offering anything to God. When I heard this, I was shocked. When I worship, I always think that I'm the one giving God the glory. But as sinful beings, our worship cannot be meaningful without God. Therefore, our worship is given on behalf of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is then the mediator between us and God. The Gospel yet again!!!!

Something else that I never realized was that worship doesn't stop with the singing. Listening to the pastor give his sermon is also part of worship. Purswell put it this way, "In singing we are addressing God, in preaching God is addressing us." In fact, there's nothing more central to worship than preaching God's Word. This is why the pastor can technically be called the primary worship leaders since they are speaking the words of God to us. True worship is learning how to please God to the best of our ability as well as giving God all the glory by praising Him.

3. To strengthen each other for the glory of God

Gathering together in a corporate setting is for the purpose of building each other up in spirit and truth. We cannot run the race alone. As Christians we must pick each other up when one falls and rejoice when one triumphs. This past year, I have really been blessed with close brothers and sisters who are willing to fight this fight with me. It is even more refreshing to see God's kindness and care through them. As God's army, we our goal is to display God through revealed truth and to set forth His excellencies by deepening each other's knowledge of God.

Further God's Kingdom!

WorshipGod Conference Part 2

John Piper's second session was titled "The Heart of Worship". He starts off by reinforcing points he made the night before. John 17:1-5 describes Jesus praying right before He is arrested. In His prayer, he prays first for His glory, then for the disciples, and then for all believers. Jesus first and foremost prays for His own glory through the cross, so that people can see His glory forever before anything else. Through this we see that God's glory is of utmost importance to Jesus.

Piper goes on to talk about the relationship between the Gospel and His glory. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 talks about the Gospel as light. God is the one that enables your heart to percieve light. The Gospel is revealed to the elect. Satan doesn't want you to see the Gospel which is also the glory of Christ. And only God can reveal His glory. How then are we suppose to join God by magnifying his glory? He must magnify the Gospel.

The way in which we bring the most glory to God is by being the most satisfied in Him. The basis of "Desiring God", one of Piper's books, is this phrase: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." He looks to Philippians 1:19-21 for Biblical support. Paul's goal was to magnify God in his body whether dead or alive. Christ is glorified if in death, all the satisfactions of this life is worth nothing compared to the pleasure of being with God. Though this is something that is out of our control, we must ask God to give us that satisfaction in Him. This is something that all Christians should strive for.

Now how do you have a heart of worship? Here are a couple of things to remember:

1. The pursuit of joy is not an option but mandated

If we aren't pursueing joy in Christ, corporate worship is dead. Let's then answer the question, "Why do you go to church?" Many pastors say, "You don't go to church to get something, but rather to give." In reality though, there's nothing that we as broken people can give to the church! Think about it this way. A deer panteths for the water of the stream. Can the deer offer anything to the stream? All the deer does is take satisfaction in Him. This is the manner in which we must go to church. Thirsty, empty, and desperate, craving God's fullness. Finding ultimate satisfaction in Him will then in turn spur you on to giving back into the body, to share the completeness God has given to you.

2. Pursueing satisfaction in God makes worship radically God-centered

Some people may say pursueing your own satisfaction in God is selfish. But this is not the case. We were made with an emptiness that only our Creator can fill. As Christians, this should be our mentality, "There's nothing I'd rather do than to give God glory." Though we say "I'd", it doesn't make the statement selfish because what is the end? Giving God the glory!!! Piper gave an awesome illustration. Imagine a bunch of thirsty puppies. A cup of water is placed on the floor amongst them. The puppies then gather around the cup and drink greedily. We are just like the puppies, crowding around God, a cup that is never empty. God is in the center when we all crowd around Him!!! We must be so into God that we forget ourselves.

3. Worship is only for glorifying God

The sad truth of today is that many pastors use worship for different purposes other than glorifying God. Some use it as vehicle to attract people, evangelize, raise church moral, and encourage monetary offerings. This shouldn't happen if we view God as the center of our lives. Piper gives an example in that you can't say, "I love to play ball with you son" so that he will cut the grass. If you delight in a person, it's an end. But if it's a means for something, it's not a delight anymore. But you'll also find that when you truly delight in the Lord, all of the other things come into place.

4. All of life is worship and all gatherings are corporate worship

How do we make our outward life make people admire God and not us like Matthew 5:16 tells us?

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

The answer is to rejoice in persecution for great is your reward in heaven. By rejoicing in our persecution, we become the saltiest and the brightest thing in the world. The world innately grumbles and asks, "Why me?" in the face of persecution. But by being satisfied in and rejoicing in our reward (which is Christ), people will start asking questions.

Do you magnify God's glory by being satisfied in Him alone?

WorshipGod Conference Part 1

So I had the awesome opportunity to go to the WorshipGod Conference at Covenant Life Church this past Wednesday to Friday. The worship and the teaching there were very impactful and insightful. I really liked how Gospel centered all the messages and songs were. The Gospel must take on a greater importance in our lives. It is because of the Gospel we have life through our Saviour Jesus Christ. It is because of the Gospel we can be free from sin and have a peace in Him. It's because of the Gospel we can go to God the father. I tend to forget these fundamental things which are essential for Gospel-centered living.

The first speaker at the conference was John Piper. You may know him as the author of "Desiring God" and "Don't Waste Your Life". His talk was so incredibly deep and thought provoking! Here goes my attempt to explain some of his talk to you.

His first talk was titled "God of Worship" and is taken from Romans 3:25-26. He first laid down the different mindsets or outlooks an individual can have on the world. The first is the "secular mindset", the one that everyone is born with where they view man as the center of all things. Life is about my expectations, my rights, my desires. My desires are the measure of all things. The opposite is the "Biblical mindset" where God is the center and His rights and His goals are the center. We are dependant. These mindsets determine our perception as to the purpose of the universe. The Biblical mindset affirms that the purpose of the universe is to bring glory to God.

Piper posed this question: "What is the problem God is solving in the sending of His Son? Most people answer by saying that our salvation was the main purpose of the coming of Christ. Piper however posed another view. Remember David, when he sinned by killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba? Nathan the prophet went to David and told him about his wrongdoing. David then repented and God forgave him. When God allows sin to go unpunished, it does not satisfy God's righteous nature. As a just God, He cannot tolerate any kind of sin. Piper gave an illustration: If a murderer went before a judge and apologized for killing a man and the judge allowed the murderer to walk free, how would that be just? In the same way, God had to vindicate His own righteousness by doing one of two things, either send us all to hell or send His only Son to die for the remission of all sins. Our salvation was a secondary objective to the vindication of God's righteousness. Through this, we see that God's love for us is based on His love for His glory. We are no longer the foundation of our salvation.

Then people ask, "Is Jesus an ego maniac? And in being an ego-maniac, is that love? We look to Matthew 10: 37-39.

"He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worth of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."

To answer the question, it is in fact love. The only eternal happiness is a happiness focused on the glory of God. God's unswerving faithfulness to uphold and display His perfection through the cross is for my enjoyment. Therefore, we experience the greatest joy when we are glorifying God. When God's exhaltation is your joy, your joy will never fail.

Now exult in Christ's exaltation!!!!

Twas an awesome day I have to say

So it's been a while since i last posted something. So much for staying current with happenings... But anyways, yesterday was possibly one of the best days in recent memory. Take note that the word "awesome" is used numerous times. It was a long day full of places to go and people to see, but I enjoyed every minute of it. So here begins my post...

In the morning we had church as usual. I started off in a great mood and it lasted throughout the day. In Sunday school we talked about Phillipians 1 again and primarily on discipline. Thought provoking questions were asked but the main point that I got out of it was that God can use selfish people with wrong motives for His glory but the individual must examine himself because God is the only one that should recieve glory. Those that do God's work with ulterior motives will be judged by the Father in the end. During Sunday school, there was an individual that came from China and it was awesome talking with him, trying to speak to him in broken Chinese.

After Sunday school was English worship. I lead worship for the first time ever and boy did God bless it. Although there were mistakes, the overall effectiveness of the worship wasn't diminished. It was really amazing being able to worship God with all our hearts together as a congregation. I'm so thankful that God has given me opportunities to serve. Though I got really good feedback from it, I definitely pray for a humble heart, that the praise will only be to God. The message was about not loving the world for it is impossible to love God and love the world, from 1 John 2: 15-18.

So throughout church, I was able to talk to a bunch of people. I really enjoy talking to people, even it was only for a hot second. There were also a lot of new faces and it's wonderful to see God bring new individuals out each Sunday. It's awesome to see how God created everyone with different personalities and how we can all get along as the body of Christ.

After service, I played basketball as usual. For some reason, I was playing unusually well. I haven't played this well in a while and it was definitely a surprise. Playing well, however, wasn't the best part of basketball. It was my turn to speak for "middle time". Middle time is like a mini-message that the sports ministry at REM have in between games. All the players go to the center of the court and sit down to listen to the message. The topic was John 3:16 and our focus was the Gospel. As I spoke, it didn't feel like I was forcing the words but rather, the words flowed as if they were from someone else. It was definitely the Holy Spirit talking through me and that feeling is totally awesome.

After basketball was the English Ministry Meeting. Pastor Andrew spoke about the kingdom agenda. How the purpose of the church is to further this agenda, which is to bring God glory.

And last but not least was the swim team banquet. What a great season it was! We went undefeated!!!! I've never had this much fun coaching before. The kids are so fun to be around and it's awesome seeing them enjoy the sport of swimming. This summer with them has been a blast.

This past week, some CLARIFICATIONS

SOME TIDBITS........

On Thursday I watched UP and wasn't impressed. It may have been my high expectations or my inability to deal with sad scenes. I did, however, enjoy the dog's squirrel joke, that gave me quite a laugh. I'd say it was good but not great.

On Friday I went to FNL and was part of Mikie's Mudling, a variety show starring our very own Mikie T. A night where there was bountiful food and bountiful laughs. What was great about it, was the opportunity I got to share with the FNL group about the benefits of the Word and the transformation God had made in my life since last year's Hofstra conference.

On Saturday I woke up at 6:30am to go to my scheduled time trial swim meet. When I arrived at the pool, my boss told me that the night before, someone jumped the pool fence and pooped into the pool. What a great way to start a Saturday huh? Found out you woke up at 6:30am for nothing.

FRONTLINE....

So today at Frontline, the worship leader made a statement that perplexed me. He said something to the extent of "When we worship (corporately), we should not only be glorifying God but also be edifying the body of Christ." The part of the statement that troubles me is how he puts it as if edifying the body of Christ is just as important as glorifying God. Let me explain my point of view. As Christians, our sole purpose for existence IS to glorify God in everything we do, say, and think. Therefore, edifying the body of Christ should not be held as highly as glorifying God. Edifying the body of Christ is then, a way in which we can bring God glory.

The worship leader also said that worship should not be one on one between you and God. He said that we need to be conscious of others when we worship. My original interpretation led me to I agrue the opposite. Worship should be you and God. When we worship, it doesn't matter what other people are doing, whether they are raising their hands or singing off key. We aren't there to impress anyone after all.

However, I am now convinced that I did not interpret his statement correctly. I think either the wording or the vagueness caused my misunderstanding. In hindsight, It seems that in "conscious" he meant that corporate worship builds unity in the church. If this was his meaning, then I fully agree.

In conclusion, we were both right. How other people worship should have no impact on how we worship. At the same time, corporate worship is a time where believers are able build unity by lifting a joyful noise to our Father in Heaven.

Weekend

Much thanks to all those who came to my bday celebration!!! It was fantastic and I love you all dearly.  A bit of an overstatement for some but I won't include any names.  But thank you all for making it the best bday ever.  :D

Now that I'm turning 19, I have one year left as a teenager... Wow, the years keep passing quicker and quicker.  Something that pops into my mind as I realize how fast time is passing, is that our life here on earth is temporary.  This fact gives me a sense of urgency, to make use of all the time I am allotted.  Especially this summer, my prayer is that I make good use of it, both building my relationship with Him and furthering His kingdom.  God's been faithful and has given me an opportunity to do just that in the form of an internship with the church. 

That leads into what Pastor Todd Phillips talked about today at Frontline.  He talked about Holy Abandon, completely giving up one's life to God without the intent of reclaiming it back.  Talk about a tough task!!!!  The three points that he went over were: 

1. Holy Abandonment to God allows our lives to shine for God

Philipians 2:14-18 - when we leave our earthly beings behind, we set ourselves apart from the world

2. Holy Abandonment is expressed in a joy-filled life

-joy comes from the act of obedience itself

3. Holy Abandon is cultivated over time

-it comes through trying and failing, and trying again, no one is able to lose the earthly desires that have been ingrained in them by nature right off the bat, it takes time and time again.

First post and then some

It's been a while since I last blogged.  The lost of interest came from pointless posts of a bored middle school student where eprops were the sole goal.  But thanks to the encouragement of ms. becky lu, I've learned that blogging is a great way to share what's REALLY going on.  When I say REALLY, I'm not talking about our daily meanderings in this world but rather the journey that lasts a lifetime - our pursuit of Him.  The purpose of this blog is to share what God is doing in my life in hopes that it will be a blessing to those who read.  

Since I'm already posting, I might as well talk about what's been going on... The body of Christ is a family.  It doesn't matter what church you call home because we are all called to the same mission.  Just yesterday, REM and CBC had a joint Friday night youth group.  In every aspect, it exceeded my expectations.  The blend of team activities and camaraderie created an atmosphere that intertwined our two churches.  Just the pure joy seen on the faces of the two respective youth groups was enough reason for me to be there.  I'm grateful.  Grateful that we could glorify God through our praise and fellowship.  Grateful that our churches had an opportunity to see that we are not alone in this journey.  Grateful that there are others running the race with us, not as competitors, but as companions.