so a video has been blown up these recent days within the Christian community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1IAhDGYlpqY

Yes i really did like hearing what the guy had to say about Jesus and false religion. and what came to me as a great help was reading an article on Gospel Coalition that pointed out certain things within the verses that he spoke that could have been misleading to people who were listening to it.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/01/13/does-jesus-hate-religion-kinda-sorta-not-really/

I was, honestly speaking, encouraged by the video but also at the same was rebuke by the article because it pointed out certain things that the generation that i am a part of lacks certain things. A part of the article that made me think and honestly dwell deeper in God’s word and prayer as a leader in a Christian ministry was:

“The strengths in this poem are the strengths I see in many young Christians—a passionate faith, a focus on Jesus, a love for grace, and a hatred for anything phony or self-righteous. The weaknesses here can be the weaknesses of my generation (and younger)—not enough talk of repentance and sanctification, a tendency to underestimate the importance of obedience in the Christian life, a one-dimensional view of grace, little awareness that our heavenly Father might ever discipline his children or be grieved by their continued transgression, and a penchant for sloganeering instead of careful nuance.”

To say that I don’t see these weaknesses would be saying lies to myself. So then as a leader and a brother to those within my community how do i teach and share so that these weaknesses cease to become weaknesses but things that we as Christians of this generation ‘practice’?

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  - John 1:3

When you feel overwhelmed with the conditions that surround you, take heart: God created everything that surrounds us. That means He intimately knows the state of the earth and he is guiding His creation toward His purposes. There is divine peace waiting for the person who understands this. Don’t let anxiety convince your soul that everything is falling apart The Scripture proclaims to us that nothing is beyond God’s knowledge or His reach

I forgot who wrote this. i might have been PR. i wish i knew who to give credit when credit is due. 

i got a chance to start off the New Year at a new church and there were a set of questions that the pastor got from Donald Whitney a Professor of Biblical Spirituality at The Souther Baptist Theological Seminary that we should ask ourselves at the start of this new year.

It was a humbling and challenging time to just sit and think about these questions, but I do hope that I will be able to answer these questions truthfully, and diligently pursue after the answers that i give:

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In Eternity?

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION:
Trust God in all things that I do, have, look forward to. 

its always refreshing to spend a couple days away from the comforts of home. to go to a place semi-unfamiliar to rethink, re-evaluate, recharge from the hustle and bustle of the norm. spending time with old friends, new friends, friends you havent seen for a long time, friends you get to see for literally 10 minutes LOL all the same its good to just remind myself of those who are important.

times are definitely changing as entering the “real world” quickly approaches and the safety net i call school is coming to end very soon. It definitely is scary but i must stay confident and faithful knowing that i’m in better hands. 

What is my resolve? Where do my convictions lie?

the new year is coming. 

“And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”” -Mark 8:17-21

Give me a heart to trust. A heart to love. A heart to understand.
Make me fully aware of your holiness so that i may be fearful and in awe of your work around me. Here i am Lord.

Soli Deo Gloria 

couragehopestrength:

:)