Alright…its time for the next blog post in my relationship series. Remember that this is meant to help us single people understand God’s purpose behind our relationships with those of the opposite sex and I am in no way an expert! However, I have learned through some experiences the things that I could and should have done differently in the past. The hopes of each of these posts are to help someone keep from making the mistakes that I have made.
The first post was about how relationships can be the biggest distraction in our pursuit of sanctification (becoming more like God). To sum up that again, if you are in a relationship that isn’t leading you and the other person towards Christ, you need to end that relationship right now!
Now, to my second post…the break-up post. Let me start by saying I have done my share of breaking up and being broken up with and it is never fun! Break-ups are tough and there will never be the perfect time to break up with someone! Gosh…I think back to some of my break-ups and looking back to each of them since becoming a Christian, none of them caught me completely off-guard. I knew in every case that something wasn’t right and sometimes I had the nerve to break it off and sometimes the girl had to break it off. So, based on my life, here is how a Christian needs to look at break-ups.
1) Understand that they probably already know it is going to happen!
This is an important thing for us to understand…if both people are following hard after Christ, then they will feel the same problem with the relationship as you do. This is not always the case, but as you mature spiritually, this will be more and more likely. ( I do want to remind you here that I think dating in high school is a complete waste of time for most high school students and will inevitably end in heartbreak and spiritual setbacks). For example, if you have noticed that your relationship has moved your eyes off of Jesus and onto that person, they probably have been doing the same thing.
2) Life goes on…
No matter how long the relationship lasts, life will go on. It is so important for us to realize being in the wrong relationship is way worse than being in no relationship at all, so if the relationship is wrong for you then it is also wrong for the person you are breaking up with! Many times the time of most clarity about the relationship is the point at which we are obedient to God in breaking up what God doesn’t want together (like you and that guy).
3) The longer you wait, the deeper the pain…
As soon as you know the relationship is not what God wants, end it. If you fight this feeling and refuse to handle the truth, you will actually become more attached to that person because you are at that point in rebellion to God…in essence, they have become your god at that point. This is the most dangerous place to be and the longer you wait, the deeper the pain.
4) The true feelings will come out…
This is my favorite one…if the person you breakup with will not talk to you anymore, they do not love you. I see this with high school relationships all the time and it makes me laugh out loud sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the broken relationship should be best friends immediately, but they shouldn’t be enemies either! Listen, break up with them…then watch how they react to you for the next month, your break-up will become more and more validated.
5) It is simply not that big of a deal.
The reason we can’t handle the truth is because we put WAYYYYY too much importance on the relationship! The quicker we understand that the relationship is simply not as important as we think it is, we will be more likely to break up with that person. If you are 14 or 15, let me assure you that the 18 or 21 year old version of yourself is not even going to resemble who you are now…if you are lucky!
Be obedient…break-up with him/her…that is if you can handle the truth…
Post #3 is You are too ugly to get a date (and other lies of the Devil)…read it please!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
What Is The Chill?
Let me start by saying that I will continue my Relationship Series after Spring Break! I have been overwhelmed by the response...thanks for reading it!!
The purpose of The Chill is to equip and motivate students to spread the Gospel to their school. As a student-led interdenominational group of believers, we strive to show the school a unified model of Christ’s love. In doing so, we will reach out to all students, from every background, with intentionality and zeal. Our mission is to make the name of Jesus famous involving students from every youth group in the area, with our weekly services being a celebration of what Christ has done in our lives. As a body of believers that have one purpose, we can change our school, here are some things we do...
Core Values:
Worship Christ with all of our hearts, both at school and in our daily walk.
Preach the Word of God every week.
Encourage and show God’s love to all students.
Love unconditionally.
Encourage involvement of all Christian students.
Strive for excellence in everything we do.
Have a service worth attending every week.
Reach out to all believers from every church.
See our school as our mission field.
Be an example to the believers at our schools in spirit and truth.
The Chill now exists at Wren, Lexington, TL Hanna and Westside.
Lastly...we want to become a non-profit group, so if you can help in anyway, let me know! Be praying for us as God continues to use us to reach our schools. Every school needs one teacher or administrator to be involved for it to work successful, so pray that God will burden teachers at schools in the area to get involved!
This is just the beginning...
The purpose of The Chill is to equip and motivate students to spread the Gospel to their school. As a student-led interdenominational group of believers, we strive to show the school a unified model of Christ’s love. In doing so, we will reach out to all students, from every background, with intentionality and zeal. Our mission is to make the name of Jesus famous involving students from every youth group in the area, with our weekly services being a celebration of what Christ has done in our lives. As a body of believers that have one purpose, we can change our school, here are some things we do...
Core Values:
Worship Christ with all of our hearts, both at school and in our daily walk.
Preach the Word of God every week.
Encourage and show God’s love to all students.
Love unconditionally.
Encourage involvement of all Christian students.
Strive for excellence in everything we do.
Have a service worth attending every week.
Reach out to all believers from every church.
See our school as our mission field.
Be an example to the believers at our schools in spirit and truth.
The Chill now exists at Wren, Lexington, TL Hanna and Westside.
Lastly...we want to become a non-profit group, so if you can help in anyway, let me know! Be praying for us as God continues to use us to reach our schools. Every school needs one teacher or administrator to be involved for it to work successful, so pray that God will burden teachers at schools in the area to get involved!
This is just the beginning...
Monday, March 28, 2011
Relationship: Post 1: Biggest Distraction Ever.
Hello All! Let me start by saying that this relationship series is going to be very transparent and you are going to learn some stuff about me that you probably didn't know. I am almost always opposed to high school dating and think that many high school kids take their eyes off of the Lord and put their eyes on a boy or girl.
Casual dating is not biblical...if you are dating just to date...that is stupid and a waste of a Christians time. But, if (even at 14 or 15) you are growing spiritually and you could see yourself marrying them someday (don't say it though) then go for it...I guess...kinda.
The first thing you need to ask yourself is "do I want to grow spiritually?" If no...then you are probably not a Christian and need to accept Christ. Ok...I'm going to go off-topic for a second here! I am blown away by the amount of students that talk about spiritual things sometimes, but talk about the most perverted things in the hallways. NO ONE but GOD knows your heart, but if you think you are going to heaven because you go to church, then you are badly mistaken...Am I a car because I go into my garage?? no...and you are not a Christian because you go to church. I am not perfect and have never claimed to be...but I know I am saved because I am convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit that lives in me...I am devastated by my flesh and when I stumble into a sin, I have complete unrest in my soul until I confess and repent that sin! Like I said before, only God knows your heart, but if you aren't bothered by your sin, you are probably not a Christian...but, let's assume you said 'Yes, I want to grow spiritually.' What's next??
For most high schoolers it takes very little time to know whether the relationship you are in is a distraction or not. I will now give a list of things that will help you know you are being counterproductive to what you want from a relationship...
Your relationship is distracting you from God if...
1) You do not feel comfortable talking about God together.
**This is HUGE!! If your first thought is "I can't open up spiritually to this person" it could be a good indicator that the relationship won't work. I have been there, I have tried to make a relationship work and we couldn't talk about spiritual things together, it just didn't work! We dated for months, then finally stopped trying to force something that was not God's will. Here is the bottom line, most of the times you are not comfortable talking about God with a bf/gf is because there is a sin that both are struggling with, many times physical...or sexual.
2) You do not talk about your spiritual life.
**You aren't uncomfortable, you just don't feel like talking about spiritual stuff...I mean, its their personal business, right?? WRONG! When you are in Christ, it is as much apart of your daily life than anything else is...do you talk about your brother or sister with them, your teachers, your friends?? Of course you do...there is one that is greater than all of those combined, his name is JESUS and he is your FATHER...I would argue that a Christian cannot keep silent about what God has done! (Acts 4:20).
3) You can't keep your hands off of each other.
**Simply put...I have struggled with this with so many relationships in the past...I have ruined relationships because of this. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE! This is my challenge...do not touch them for a week and see how you feel about them, bet you can't do it.
4) You think about them more than you think about God.
**That's called AN IDOL. Throw it away and find someone that makes you think about GOD more, not them more.
5) You can't concentrate on a quiet time because they are on your mind.
**OH MY GOSH! I was so in love years ago (news flash, being in love and loving someone is two different things and if you follow that dirty whore you call a heart, you will get hurt a lot) I could not get this girl off of my mind...it was constant, it was also something that distracted me from Christ for YEARS...YEARS. If our goal is to fall more in love with Christ, then once we realize that a person is replacing God as number one in your life, its time to make a change.
6) You don't care about their spiritual well-being.
**Been here too...its sad, probably the worse state to be in for a Christian man in a relationship. I was so selfish that I did not care about her spiritual state, in other words, didn't care about her. Gosh...as I write this I am reminded of so many mistakes (praise God that I have been forgiven). If you do not care about their spiritual well-being, you surely do not love them.
7) They aren't a Christian!
**If you are dating a non-Christian and you want to grow spiritually, you are an idiot. If you want to become a non-effective Christian, date a non-Christian...I am not saying that this person doesn't think they are a Christian, they may...they may go to church...but they aren't living the Christian life that we all strive for as believers.
8) They are trying to get you to do things you think are wrong.
**I am not going into details here, but this could be anything that you have to be talked in to...or have been talked in to in the past.
9) Your time spent with God has been shortened.
**No devotional because of a text message conversation with your significant other?? That sucks...quit it.
10) God has told you to run from them!
When you KNOW God is calling you to run, run!! I have known that I needed to break up with a girl before, before anything was going badly, from the outside looking in...it seemed to be going great, reading the Bible together, praying...really healthy looking...but I was being disobedient because I knew God wanted us to break up! It ended in some of the worst mistakes I have ever made, what looked good, ended terribly...GO WITH GOD! HE KNOWS YOU BETTER THAN YOU DO!
Ok...because I said this post was about things other than spiritual stuff, here are other ways that a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship can distract you in general...
1) You stopped caring about school work.
2) You become disrespectful to your parents (this is spiritual too).
3) You neglect to spend time with your family.
4) You stop spending time with friends.
5) You like someone else.
In conclusion, this is a long, long blog post...sorry! Post #2 is called You can't handle the truth, the break-up post! Students look at me and ask "why are you not married?" In short, it is not the end of my life if I am not married, if I never marry...JESUS IS ENOUGH! FOR NOW, FOREVER.
If you need me to pray for you or if you need clarification of something that was said...let me know!
Casual dating is not biblical...if you are dating just to date...that is stupid and a waste of a Christians time. But, if (even at 14 or 15) you are growing spiritually and you could see yourself marrying them someday (don't say it though) then go for it...I guess...kinda.
The first thing you need to ask yourself is "do I want to grow spiritually?" If no...then you are probably not a Christian and need to accept Christ. Ok...I'm going to go off-topic for a second here! I am blown away by the amount of students that talk about spiritual things sometimes, but talk about the most perverted things in the hallways. NO ONE but GOD knows your heart, but if you think you are going to heaven because you go to church, then you are badly mistaken...Am I a car because I go into my garage?? no...and you are not a Christian because you go to church. I am not perfect and have never claimed to be...but I know I am saved because I am convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit that lives in me...I am devastated by my flesh and when I stumble into a sin, I have complete unrest in my soul until I confess and repent that sin! Like I said before, only God knows your heart, but if you aren't bothered by your sin, you are probably not a Christian...but, let's assume you said 'Yes, I want to grow spiritually.' What's next??
For most high schoolers it takes very little time to know whether the relationship you are in is a distraction or not. I will now give a list of things that will help you know you are being counterproductive to what you want from a relationship...
Your relationship is distracting you from God if...
1) You do not feel comfortable talking about God together.
**This is HUGE!! If your first thought is "I can't open up spiritually to this person" it could be a good indicator that the relationship won't work. I have been there, I have tried to make a relationship work and we couldn't talk about spiritual things together, it just didn't work! We dated for months, then finally stopped trying to force something that was not God's will. Here is the bottom line, most of the times you are not comfortable talking about God with a bf/gf is because there is a sin that both are struggling with, many times physical...or sexual.
2) You do not talk about your spiritual life.
**You aren't uncomfortable, you just don't feel like talking about spiritual stuff...I mean, its their personal business, right?? WRONG! When you are in Christ, it is as much apart of your daily life than anything else is...do you talk about your brother or sister with them, your teachers, your friends?? Of course you do...there is one that is greater than all of those combined, his name is JESUS and he is your FATHER...I would argue that a Christian cannot keep silent about what God has done! (Acts 4:20).
3) You can't keep your hands off of each other.
**Simply put...I have struggled with this with so many relationships in the past...I have ruined relationships because of this. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE! This is my challenge...do not touch them for a week and see how you feel about them, bet you can't do it.
4) You think about them more than you think about God.
**That's called AN IDOL. Throw it away and find someone that makes you think about GOD more, not them more.
5) You can't concentrate on a quiet time because they are on your mind.
**OH MY GOSH! I was so in love years ago (news flash, being in love and loving someone is two different things and if you follow that dirty whore you call a heart, you will get hurt a lot) I could not get this girl off of my mind...it was constant, it was also something that distracted me from Christ for YEARS...YEARS. If our goal is to fall more in love with Christ, then once we realize that a person is replacing God as number one in your life, its time to make a change.
6) You don't care about their spiritual well-being.
**Been here too...its sad, probably the worse state to be in for a Christian man in a relationship. I was so selfish that I did not care about her spiritual state, in other words, didn't care about her. Gosh...as I write this I am reminded of so many mistakes (praise God that I have been forgiven). If you do not care about their spiritual well-being, you surely do not love them.
7) They aren't a Christian!
**If you are dating a non-Christian and you want to grow spiritually, you are an idiot. If you want to become a non-effective Christian, date a non-Christian...I am not saying that this person doesn't think they are a Christian, they may...they may go to church...but they aren't living the Christian life that we all strive for as believers.
8) They are trying to get you to do things you think are wrong.
**I am not going into details here, but this could be anything that you have to be talked in to...or have been talked in to in the past.
9) Your time spent with God has been shortened.
**No devotional because of a text message conversation with your significant other?? That sucks...quit it.
10) God has told you to run from them!
When you KNOW God is calling you to run, run!! I have known that I needed to break up with a girl before, before anything was going badly, from the outside looking in...it seemed to be going great, reading the Bible together, praying...really healthy looking...but I was being disobedient because I knew God wanted us to break up! It ended in some of the worst mistakes I have ever made, what looked good, ended terribly...GO WITH GOD! HE KNOWS YOU BETTER THAN YOU DO!
Ok...because I said this post was about things other than spiritual stuff, here are other ways that a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship can distract you in general...
1) You stopped caring about school work.
2) You become disrespectful to your parents (this is spiritual too).
3) You neglect to spend time with your family.
4) You stop spending time with friends.
5) You like someone else.
In conclusion, this is a long, long blog post...sorry! Post #2 is called You can't handle the truth, the break-up post! Students look at me and ask "why are you not married?" In short, it is not the end of my life if I am not married, if I never marry...JESUS IS ENOUGH! FOR NOW, FOREVER.
If you need me to pray for you or if you need clarification of something that was said...let me know!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Forever, For now...An Introduction (Revised)
First...I am so excited about this blog post series...I feel very led to do this series and hope that it helps some students realize how ridiculous they are. I have never seen a group of kids so consumed with being in relationships than this group of freshmen and during this series I plan on exposing the underlying reasons for many of their obsessions with being in a relationship. I will discuss several different issues. Here is the orders of the posts:
#1: "The Ultimate Distraction"
This post will talk about the distraction that high school relationships can be. I will discuss this idea from personal, emotional and spiritual (obviously) standpoint.
#2: "You can't handle the truth!"
This post will talk about how to break up with someone when you know you need to! Should be fun!
#3: "You are too ugly to get a girl."
This post will discuss insecurities that we all face and how they control our desires for a relationship, especially in high school.
#4: "I honestly (think) I love you!"
This post will discuss feelings that we all have had in our lives, it will be a transparent look into my high school past and what I have learned from being "in love." The heart is a liar...you just need to know that!
#5: Stuff your parents don't have the guts to say.
Hmm...this one is gonna get real.
#6: Stuff you don't want your parents to know about dating.
Relationships have changed so much, even since I was in high school 10 years ago and parents often are uninformed about what dating is now-a-days. So, my hopes are that through this post, parents will go "oh my gosh" and not "not my child." We shall see...
Second, I know SOME student relationships that are awesome! They are leveraging each other towards Christ, they do not distract each other from whats important, but actually helps each other in sanctification (becoming more like Christ). But, that is not the norm...they are the exception.
My hopes through this series is that a girl or guy realizes that they are stagnant in their faith because of the distraction of their not-so significant other!
#1: "The Ultimate Distraction"
This post will talk about the distraction that high school relationships can be. I will discuss this idea from personal, emotional and spiritual (obviously) standpoint.
#2: "You can't handle the truth!"
This post will talk about how to break up with someone when you know you need to! Should be fun!
#3: "You are too ugly to get a girl."
This post will discuss insecurities that we all face and how they control our desires for a relationship, especially in high school.
#4: "I honestly (think) I love you!"
This post will discuss feelings that we all have had in our lives, it will be a transparent look into my high school past and what I have learned from being "in love." The heart is a liar...you just need to know that!
#5: Stuff your parents don't have the guts to say.
Hmm...this one is gonna get real.
#6: Stuff you don't want your parents to know about dating.
Relationships have changed so much, even since I was in high school 10 years ago and parents often are uninformed about what dating is now-a-days. So, my hopes are that through this post, parents will go "oh my gosh" and not "not my child." We shall see...
Second, I know SOME student relationships that are awesome! They are leveraging each other towards Christ, they do not distract each other from whats important, but actually helps each other in sanctification (becoming more like Christ). But, that is not the norm...they are the exception.
My hopes through this series is that a girl or guy realizes that they are stagnant in their faith because of the distraction of their not-so significant other!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Born for Battle: Week 2 @ THE CHILL
First of all...I have not blogged all school year...yep.
Second, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of compliments on the message this morning, I definitely feel like I did not get to complete it and kinda left things unsaid that I would have loved to get a chance to say! Basically, I feel like a punched everyone for 20 minutes and then said 'have a nice day.' But, point 5 was going to bring it all together and remind everyone of how awesome God is and how God wants to use us...but God has a plan and apparently today's message was what many people needed to hear.
Third, Like I said this morning, I am done playing games...I am going to invite people to The Chill. You may ask why...because I believe that The Chill is going to change lives and that ANYONE who comes to The Chill will grow spiritually.
Fourth, I will start blogging more often because I feel that God wants me to.
So...here are the notes I promised to put on here, the verses are not attached, but will give you an idea of where I got the things I wanted to say. Thanks for reading.
Born for Battle: Week 2 ‘The Battle for Joy’
There are many reasons why we as believers never experience true joy in our lives. We so often wait for the joy of the Lord to just appear and make us feel better, but it is something that must be worked for, fought for, sought after. There are five things that I believe plague many of us and strip us of the joy that God intends for us.
#1 We are waiting for a sign.
Acts 1:10-11
If the apostles would have just stared at what God had done they would have missed out on what God wanted to do through them. We cannot get caught up on Gods past work, but instead use it to fuel our present and future successes through obedience. Could you imagine if the apostles would have just kept standing and thinking about what Jesus did with each other, would they have found joy there? I argue that they would have found temporary astonishment at what Jesus did, but the joy of their lives comes in the chapters that followed. The ministry and hardships that followed brought joy.
#2 We are looking to the future
Matthew 6:25-34
When we look to the future, we miss the present which will strip us of joy in our present situation. God wants us to LIVE in joy, not live in the thought of a joyful future. Joy is past, future and present for those who are in Christ! Thinking about upcoming events may bring temporary excitement, but not joy. Seniors, it is time to decide on college and that is important, but it doesn’t mean you should stop focusing on high school. Senioritis is the Devil in disguise for many high school students, it makes you ineffective where God has placed you in the present time. This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with The Chill, this is just fact for our lives as followers of Christ in general. There is always a next event, next trip, next adventure, but the key word is NEXT, not NOW. Focus on the ‘now’ or the next will just become the ‘now’ of tomorrow, another wasted opportunity.
#3 We try to take credit
The moment we start claiming credit for what only God can do, we begin to lose the joy that only God can give. Our lives as believers will never be joyful if our joy is wrapped up in what we have done to make Jesus more famous in our lives. We must be joyful in the fact that Jesus is more famous, not our accomplishments. My youth pastor calls it ‘making much of me, making much of Jesus.’ If we continue to focus on what God has done through us and not what he has done in and for us, we will never have a full picture of the joy he brings. John Piper had this to say about joy in God, “Believing that joy in God is a gift of God will give all the glory to God” and “Because of this fallen, sinful, hardened, rebellious, futile, dead condition of our hearts, joy in God is impossible.”
Nehemiah 8:9-11
Psalm 71:23, 86:4, 92:4, 119:111, Psalm 126:2-6
Luke 10:21
#4 We do not understand Gods Love
Galatians 5:22
Philippians 2:2
Hebrews 12:2
For some of us, the reason we do not have joy in our lives is because we do not understand the depths of our Fathers love for us. Not only did Jesus die on a cross, but he left heaven to come to Earth for 33 years. He left perfection for us, left perfect peace for us, left his throne for us, looking outside of time, God chose a tough time in history to live, he didn’t come in 2011, with all of the modern things we have now, no airplanes and resorts…Jesus traveled by donkey and boats through deserts to tell us the truth. If we can grasp a little of how much God must love us to send His only son to this world to die for us, we can begin to the live in freedom and joy.
#5 We don’t know him.
1 Peter 1:8
For the majority of your school, they simply do not know our Savior, they have an idea of what they think God may be, but they really only know a messed up version. For many of them they believe a “All Grace, no wrath” God who is like a laid back parent who sees their disobedience and thinks it is not that big of a deal. Our lost friends will never experience true joy until they know the only One who can give true joy!
In conclusion, we are all sinners and separated from a holy God, but Jesus bridged the gap, when he died and rose again, defeating hell and death…if you believe that, then fight the battle of joy daily…Christ is right there.
I praise God for all of you...I am so encouraged by you all. As The Chill continues to grow and more schools start being reached with the Gospel, we will look with astonishment at what He does...I am going to go ahead and claim the victory in our schools in Jesus' name...Amen.
I WILL GO
Chase Culbertson
Second, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of compliments on the message this morning, I definitely feel like I did not get to complete it and kinda left things unsaid that I would have loved to get a chance to say! Basically, I feel like a punched everyone for 20 minutes and then said 'have a nice day.' But, point 5 was going to bring it all together and remind everyone of how awesome God is and how God wants to use us...but God has a plan and apparently today's message was what many people needed to hear.
Third, Like I said this morning, I am done playing games...I am going to invite people to The Chill. You may ask why...because I believe that The Chill is going to change lives and that ANYONE who comes to The Chill will grow spiritually.
Fourth, I will start blogging more often because I feel that God wants me to.
So...here are the notes I promised to put on here, the verses are not attached, but will give you an idea of where I got the things I wanted to say. Thanks for reading.
Born for Battle: Week 2 ‘The Battle for Joy’
There are many reasons why we as believers never experience true joy in our lives. We so often wait for the joy of the Lord to just appear and make us feel better, but it is something that must be worked for, fought for, sought after. There are five things that I believe plague many of us and strip us of the joy that God intends for us.
#1 We are waiting for a sign.
Acts 1:10-11
If the apostles would have just stared at what God had done they would have missed out on what God wanted to do through them. We cannot get caught up on Gods past work, but instead use it to fuel our present and future successes through obedience. Could you imagine if the apostles would have just kept standing and thinking about what Jesus did with each other, would they have found joy there? I argue that they would have found temporary astonishment at what Jesus did, but the joy of their lives comes in the chapters that followed. The ministry and hardships that followed brought joy.
#2 We are looking to the future
Matthew 6:25-34
When we look to the future, we miss the present which will strip us of joy in our present situation. God wants us to LIVE in joy, not live in the thought of a joyful future. Joy is past, future and present for those who are in Christ! Thinking about upcoming events may bring temporary excitement, but not joy. Seniors, it is time to decide on college and that is important, but it doesn’t mean you should stop focusing on high school. Senioritis is the Devil in disguise for many high school students, it makes you ineffective where God has placed you in the present time. This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with The Chill, this is just fact for our lives as followers of Christ in general. There is always a next event, next trip, next adventure, but the key word is NEXT, not NOW. Focus on the ‘now’ or the next will just become the ‘now’ of tomorrow, another wasted opportunity.
#3 We try to take credit
The moment we start claiming credit for what only God can do, we begin to lose the joy that only God can give. Our lives as believers will never be joyful if our joy is wrapped up in what we have done to make Jesus more famous in our lives. We must be joyful in the fact that Jesus is more famous, not our accomplishments. My youth pastor calls it ‘making much of me, making much of Jesus.’ If we continue to focus on what God has done through us and not what he has done in and for us, we will never have a full picture of the joy he brings. John Piper had this to say about joy in God, “Believing that joy in God is a gift of God will give all the glory to God” and “Because of this fallen, sinful, hardened, rebellious, futile, dead condition of our hearts, joy in God is impossible.”
Nehemiah 8:9-11
Psalm 71:23, 86:4, 92:4, 119:111, Psalm 126:2-6
Luke 10:21
#4 We do not understand Gods Love
Galatians 5:22
Philippians 2:2
Hebrews 12:2
For some of us, the reason we do not have joy in our lives is because we do not understand the depths of our Fathers love for us. Not only did Jesus die on a cross, but he left heaven to come to Earth for 33 years. He left perfection for us, left perfect peace for us, left his throne for us, looking outside of time, God chose a tough time in history to live, he didn’t come in 2011, with all of the modern things we have now, no airplanes and resorts…Jesus traveled by donkey and boats through deserts to tell us the truth. If we can grasp a little of how much God must love us to send His only son to this world to die for us, we can begin to the live in freedom and joy.
#5 We don’t know him.
1 Peter 1:8
For the majority of your school, they simply do not know our Savior, they have an idea of what they think God may be, but they really only know a messed up version. For many of them they believe a “All Grace, no wrath” God who is like a laid back parent who sees their disobedience and thinks it is not that big of a deal. Our lost friends will never experience true joy until they know the only One who can give true joy!
In conclusion, we are all sinners and separated from a holy God, but Jesus bridged the gap, when he died and rose again, defeating hell and death…if you believe that, then fight the battle of joy daily…Christ is right there.
I praise God for all of you...I am so encouraged by you all. As The Chill continues to grow and more schools start being reached with the Gospel, we will look with astonishment at what He does...I am going to go ahead and claim the victory in our schools in Jesus' name...Amen.
I WILL GO
Chase Culbertson
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Book of Nehemiah: Post 7: Chapter 13.
Gosh, why does the book of Nehemiah have to end this way? If you have ever read Nehemiah 13, you know what I'm talking about...its a bit depressing. I read this chapter about a week ago...which was odd, here's the story...
I was asking and seeking God on some direction on what to read from His word...when I felt God calling me to Nehemiah 13. The odd thing was that I had just finished chapter 9 the day before and found it odd that God was pressing in on me to read the end of the story. I will be honest, I didn't remember the ending, I last read the Book of Nehemiah back in December of 2008, but it didn't take long to jog my memory. So, I read the end of the book...thought 'well, that sucks' then took a couple of days off of Nehemiah and came back and read the chapters that I had missed...which I blogged about yesterday. The story doesn't end the way we want it to...but it hit me...OUR STORY DOESN'T HAVE TO END THIS WAY! We can learn fromm this book and not make the same mistakes...we have all broken promises, probably even to God, but our broken promises do not have to be the end of our story like it was the end of this story...our book isn't completed yet! I am so encouraged by this sad story, strangely enough...but unless I learn from Chapter 13, I will end in tragedy too. So...here is what I learned and am learning from Chapter 13...
'When this passage of the Law was read (the passage about no Ammonite or Moabite being permitted to end the assembly of God), all those of foreign decent were immediately excluded from the assembly.' -Nehemiah 13:3
1) When this passage was read...they excluded foreigners from their meeting? How was it that they didn't know that beforehand?? They were not familiar with the Law of the Lord...that's how. Hmm...ring a bell with anyone but me?? Has anyone ever heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it? Me too...in this case, the Israelites were breaking God's law! But, once they realized it, they repented...this is such a beautiful example of God's redemptive power. In my life, I must KNOW scripture, not in a 'bible drill' style, not a 'know of' style, but a 'KNOW' style.
2) In Nehemiah's absence, the church fell into disarray. The leaders neglected their roles and needs stopped being met! Was it Nehemiah's fault that the leaders stopped doing their jobs? I mean, he picked them, right? NO...Nehemiah is not at fault here...he was doing what God called him to do, it just didn't turn out the way Nehemiah wanted! In my life, I need to understand that no matter what happens, if I am following God, I am not at fault for the results...what a liberating thought!! GOD WILL RECEIVE GLORY...STOP PUTTING SO MUCH PRESSURE ON YOURSELF AND JUST FOLLOW HIM WHERE HE LEADS! Thank you Jesus!
3) Nehemiah revises his previous plans, he puts trustworthy people in place, but why didn't he do that before? I guess he didn't think about it...I think, because God didn't let him, God didn't put that thought in his mind. Wait...Am I saying that what happened in Chapter 13 is what God wanted?? Yes...I am. Here is what God is pressing in on me about as I read this part of the Chapter (vs. 13-14)...I have to stop beating myself up over apparent failures in ministry when I know I was following God...especially with The CHILL. For me to be a good leader and to rebuild the walls of TLH hand-in-hand with students...I must have complete confidence that wherever Jesus leads me, I need to go...with no fear of the outcome.
4) Nehemiah asked for God to remember him (vs. 22), to not let his work be done in vain...remember me O' God...please make my labor good for something, anything...The cry of Nehemiah here is the cry of every leader, pastor, everywhere...God remember me...
5) Sexual sin kills movements of God. (vs.23-29) The times in my life when I have been furthest from where I need to be spiritually is when I am struggling with some sort of sexual sin...The Israelites here are intermarrying with other races of people, who are not believers in the one True God...so, Nehemiah gets mad! Remember the promises from the previous blog post...hmm, they break EVERY SINGLE ONE in Chapter 13...EVERY ONE.
6) Lastly, history is a great teacher...in verse 26, Nehemiah says, "Wasn't this exactly what led King Solomon of Israel into Sin?" (marrying pagan peoples). How about David with Bathsheba, the list goes on and on...I must learn from history, both the history of others and my own history to become what God wants me to be in the present and future.
The Book of Nehemiah is awesome...read it.
OK...Subject Change.
I finished the book "Fight Clubs" by Jonathan Dodson this morning...Are you in a fight club? Actively fighting for the Gospel and against your sin?? Just go get this book and read it...its short and good.
God is planning something huge at TLH and I am so excited about being a little part of it...if you want to be involved with THE CHILL at T.L. Hanna or Westside, let me know...we will start meetings for next year in August and you do not want to miss it!
I WILL GO
Chase Culbertson
I was asking and seeking God on some direction on what to read from His word...when I felt God calling me to Nehemiah 13. The odd thing was that I had just finished chapter 9 the day before and found it odd that God was pressing in on me to read the end of the story. I will be honest, I didn't remember the ending, I last read the Book of Nehemiah back in December of 2008, but it didn't take long to jog my memory. So, I read the end of the book...thought 'well, that sucks' then took a couple of days off of Nehemiah and came back and read the chapters that I had missed...which I blogged about yesterday. The story doesn't end the way we want it to...but it hit me...OUR STORY DOESN'T HAVE TO END THIS WAY! We can learn fromm this book and not make the same mistakes...we have all broken promises, probably even to God, but our broken promises do not have to be the end of our story like it was the end of this story...our book isn't completed yet! I am so encouraged by this sad story, strangely enough...but unless I learn from Chapter 13, I will end in tragedy too. So...here is what I learned and am learning from Chapter 13...
'When this passage of the Law was read (the passage about no Ammonite or Moabite being permitted to end the assembly of God), all those of foreign decent were immediately excluded from the assembly.' -Nehemiah 13:3
1) When this passage was read...they excluded foreigners from their meeting? How was it that they didn't know that beforehand?? They were not familiar with the Law of the Lord...that's how. Hmm...ring a bell with anyone but me?? Has anyone ever heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it? Me too...in this case, the Israelites were breaking God's law! But, once they realized it, they repented...this is such a beautiful example of God's redemptive power. In my life, I must KNOW scripture, not in a 'bible drill' style, not a 'know of' style, but a 'KNOW' style.
2) In Nehemiah's absence, the church fell into disarray. The leaders neglected their roles and needs stopped being met! Was it Nehemiah's fault that the leaders stopped doing their jobs? I mean, he picked them, right? NO...Nehemiah is not at fault here...he was doing what God called him to do, it just didn't turn out the way Nehemiah wanted! In my life, I need to understand that no matter what happens, if I am following God, I am not at fault for the results...what a liberating thought!! GOD WILL RECEIVE GLORY...STOP PUTTING SO MUCH PRESSURE ON YOURSELF AND JUST FOLLOW HIM WHERE HE LEADS! Thank you Jesus!
3) Nehemiah revises his previous plans, he puts trustworthy people in place, but why didn't he do that before? I guess he didn't think about it...I think, because God didn't let him, God didn't put that thought in his mind. Wait...Am I saying that what happened in Chapter 13 is what God wanted?? Yes...I am. Here is what God is pressing in on me about as I read this part of the Chapter (vs. 13-14)...I have to stop beating myself up over apparent failures in ministry when I know I was following God...especially with The CHILL. For me to be a good leader and to rebuild the walls of TLH hand-in-hand with students...I must have complete confidence that wherever Jesus leads me, I need to go...with no fear of the outcome.
4) Nehemiah asked for God to remember him (vs. 22), to not let his work be done in vain...remember me O' God...please make my labor good for something, anything...The cry of Nehemiah here is the cry of every leader, pastor, everywhere...God remember me...
5) Sexual sin kills movements of God. (vs.23-29) The times in my life when I have been furthest from where I need to be spiritually is when I am struggling with some sort of sexual sin...The Israelites here are intermarrying with other races of people, who are not believers in the one True God...so, Nehemiah gets mad! Remember the promises from the previous blog post...hmm, they break EVERY SINGLE ONE in Chapter 13...EVERY ONE.
6) Lastly, history is a great teacher...in verse 26, Nehemiah says, "Wasn't this exactly what led King Solomon of Israel into Sin?" (marrying pagan peoples). How about David with Bathsheba, the list goes on and on...I must learn from history, both the history of others and my own history to become what God wants me to be in the present and future.
The Book of Nehemiah is awesome...read it.
OK...Subject Change.
I finished the book "Fight Clubs" by Jonathan Dodson this morning...Are you in a fight club? Actively fighting for the Gospel and against your sin?? Just go get this book and read it...its short and good.
God is planning something huge at TLH and I am so excited about being a little part of it...if you want to be involved with THE CHILL at T.L. Hanna or Westside, let me know...we will start meetings for next year in August and you do not want to miss it!
I WILL GO
Chase Culbertson
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Book of Nehemiah: Post 6: The Good Times
Books I'm Reading...
1) When I Don't Desire God by John Piper (Good, real good)
2) Doctrine by Mark Driscoll (A Brilliant, Tough Read)
3) Fight Clubs by Jonathan Dodson (A MUST READ...GO BUY IT!)
Book I just finished:
1) A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper (I Loved this book, could not put it down. It explains the Book of Ruth...need I say more? Piper...Book of Ruth...its solid).
Books I want to read:
Whatever book you want to give me! :)
What I'm Doing...
1) Meeting once a week with a young man that loves God, his name is John Hardy and he just graduated from high school and loves the Lord. We are meeting as accountability partners right now and hopefully I am mentoring him a little.
2) Homegroup...I am in a homegroup that meets on Thursday nights...get involved in something like this at your church/town/city, whatever...it will change your life!
3) Coaching...I coach football...yep.
4) Reading.
5) Staring at a computer...I haven't done this as much, but it happens.
Prayer Requests:
1) Urgency (We have one life to live...I need to make a change)
2) More Reflective in my faith (Meaning, I want to actually think about how I live each day more)
3) My "Dents" 'Help me to remember that my Dent does not determine my identity!'(Pastor Jeff Kapusta, LifePoint Church, Wilmington, NC)
4) The Gauntlet!! My church is taking over 1000 students to Daytona Beach, FL for our version of youth camp from the 26th-30th....its gonna be awesome!
Alrighty...so, as I have been reading Nehemiah, I have realized that this book is the story of my life. What a tragedy! In Chapters 8-10, we see a group of people "sold out" to God's cause. They are so excited and seemingly ready to change their lives for God.
Chapter 8: Ezra Reads the Law. There are several things that take place in Chapter 8 that make everyone think that the Israelites are finally starting to get their acts together.
1) They have a unified purpose.
vs. 1 "All the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just inside the Water Gate." So these people were serious...they were ready to do work for the Kingdom! They had just gotten back from "Youth Camp" and they were ready to change the World!
My previous post touches on other things that happen in Chapters 8-9, but the point here is that they seemingly had it together. I want to focus on Chapter 10 for a while now...
2) They make promises.
vs. 30 "We PROMISE not to let our daughters marry the pagan people of the land."
vs. 31 " We PROMISE that if the people of the land should bring any merchandise or grain to be sold on the Sabbath, we will refuse to buy it.
vs. 32 "We PROMISE to obey the command to pay the annual temple tax."
vs. 35 "We PROMISE to bring the first part of every harvest to the Lord's temple.
vs. 38 "We PROMISE together not to neglect the Temple of Our God.
3) Nehemiah Set Provisions in Place
In Chapter 12:44-47, Nehemiah puts people in charge of different things in the city and temple to insure that everything would get done. Surely, Nehemiah did this because he was leaving to go back to King Artaxerxes for a little while...he hoped and prayed that he would return to a thriving city, full of fervor for the things of God...but he didn't.
After Chapter 12, everyone is thinking, "Praise God, they get it! They are finally doing what they have been commanded to do! Chapter 11 goes on and the Israelite nation is doing great and on into Chapter 12, things were going well! God was being praised and people were being faithful!"
Isn't it refreshing to see God's people carrying out God's plan? Doesn't it encourage you? I know it does me. Things are going well here...and if the story stopped at the end of Chapter 12, who knows what would have happened...but it doesn't. Chapter 13 will rock the Israelite nation and Nehemiah. We will get into this next time...
I WILL GO
Chase Culbertson
1) When I Don't Desire God by John Piper (Good, real good)
2) Doctrine by Mark Driscoll (A Brilliant, Tough Read)
3) Fight Clubs by Jonathan Dodson (A MUST READ...GO BUY IT!)
Book I just finished:
1) A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper (I Loved this book, could not put it down. It explains the Book of Ruth...need I say more? Piper...Book of Ruth...its solid).
Books I want to read:
Whatever book you want to give me! :)
What I'm Doing...
1) Meeting once a week with a young man that loves God, his name is John Hardy and he just graduated from high school and loves the Lord. We are meeting as accountability partners right now and hopefully I am mentoring him a little.
2) Homegroup...I am in a homegroup that meets on Thursday nights...get involved in something like this at your church/town/city, whatever...it will change your life!
3) Coaching...I coach football...yep.
4) Reading.
5) Staring at a computer...I haven't done this as much, but it happens.
Prayer Requests:
1) Urgency (We have one life to live...I need to make a change)
2) More Reflective in my faith (Meaning, I want to actually think about how I live each day more)
3) My "Dents" 'Help me to remember that my Dent does not determine my identity!'(Pastor Jeff Kapusta, LifePoint Church, Wilmington, NC)
4) The Gauntlet!! My church is taking over 1000 students to Daytona Beach, FL for our version of youth camp from the 26th-30th....its gonna be awesome!
Alrighty...so, as I have been reading Nehemiah, I have realized that this book is the story of my life. What a tragedy! In Chapters 8-10, we see a group of people "sold out" to God's cause. They are so excited and seemingly ready to change their lives for God.
Chapter 8: Ezra Reads the Law. There are several things that take place in Chapter 8 that make everyone think that the Israelites are finally starting to get their acts together.
1) They have a unified purpose.
vs. 1 "All the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just inside the Water Gate." So these people were serious...they were ready to do work for the Kingdom! They had just gotten back from "Youth Camp" and they were ready to change the World!
My previous post touches on other things that happen in Chapters 8-9, but the point here is that they seemingly had it together. I want to focus on Chapter 10 for a while now...
2) They make promises.
vs. 30 "We PROMISE not to let our daughters marry the pagan people of the land."
vs. 31 " We PROMISE that if the people of the land should bring any merchandise or grain to be sold on the Sabbath, we will refuse to buy it.
vs. 32 "We PROMISE to obey the command to pay the annual temple tax."
vs. 35 "We PROMISE to bring the first part of every harvest to the Lord's temple.
vs. 38 "We PROMISE together not to neglect the Temple of Our God.
3) Nehemiah Set Provisions in Place
In Chapter 12:44-47, Nehemiah puts people in charge of different things in the city and temple to insure that everything would get done. Surely, Nehemiah did this because he was leaving to go back to King Artaxerxes for a little while...he hoped and prayed that he would return to a thriving city, full of fervor for the things of God...but he didn't.
After Chapter 12, everyone is thinking, "Praise God, they get it! They are finally doing what they have been commanded to do! Chapter 11 goes on and the Israelite nation is doing great and on into Chapter 12, things were going well! God was being praised and people were being faithful!"
Isn't it refreshing to see God's people carrying out God's plan? Doesn't it encourage you? I know it does me. Things are going well here...and if the story stopped at the end of Chapter 12, who knows what would have happened...but it doesn't. Chapter 13 will rock the Israelite nation and Nehemiah. We will get into this next time...
I WILL GO
Chase Culbertson
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