Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Blog Post #3

I realize that I forgot to post my third blog assignment last week and I regret that, but even though I don't know if this one will count towards my grade or not, it doesn't matter because I just read this quote that I can't help but share with everyone. In my Missions and Evangelism book, it is discussing the need for evangelizing to every person on this earth and the importance of realizing that EVERYONE is called to evangelism; so, the author used a quote by William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, which reads as follows:

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face--whose mercy you have professed to obey--and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world."

Now if that does not convict you then I don't know what will. I read this and I thought to myself, 'how dare us!' How dare we call ourselves Christians and not obey Christ's command to go throughout the entire world baptizing people in His name. When He said those words to His disciples He did not mean simply walk around your church on Sunday morning searching for the new comers, nor did he mean for us to only reach those closest and easiest in distance to reach. No, when He uttered those words to His followers He meant for us to go and make disciples EVERYWHERE!! All throughout the world there are people dying without Christ and statistics say that in order to reach all of them each Bible college student would have to tell at least 1 million people about Christ. One million people!! That's a lot of people for one single person to share with; so, in order for us to carry out God's command and be successful we would have to spend almost every second of every day telling someone about God and His love for them. I don't know about you but that is a little discouraging to me, but here is the thing, we are not alone in our evangelizing. Us Bible college students are not the only people who are trying to spread the Gospel and thank the Lord for that, but in order to truly reach people we are still going to have buckle down and do our part because we are all a part of the body of Christ and as a unit we are to run the body as God sees fit. Well I am here to tell you that His body isn't going to work without our obedience, and our obedience involves spreading His Word, everywhere! So, let us all go out with one mind and one spirit in one body and share His good news, not for ourselves but for the sake of those who have only to look forward to Hell's vicious claws.

-Alicia

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Post #3

In the book of Matthew, I read about Jesus and the Pharisees. This, to me, is an amazing book of the Bible for those who question Jesus’ love. From reading this book I found that I can’t begin to fathom the love God has shown us and is still showing us. Jesus is 100%man and 100%God. At any given time Jesus could have easily just condemned all of these hypocritical people to an easy death. Instead, Jesus teaches lessons that are remarkable to the people of that day. Don’t get this the wrong way. Jesus wasn’t in the remarkable business for himself or for the people in that matter. He wanted to be the example by his demonstrations. Showing us his ways that we are suppose to follow. Jesus begins to give guidance by his actions. His actions and his knowledge of the Bible came out and so did his gracious love. Jesus died for us- filthy rags who don’t deserve a breath. The same people that put Jesus to shame are the same ones that Jesus died for. Nothing says love more than dying for people who put you to death. When we sin, God is still there. Matthew gives a parable of the Prodigal Son and how God and that boy’s father have similarities. God is willing if we are willing and how do we show this willingness for Christ? We apply the Bible’s principles to our own lives and find some one and show them love rather than giving them a label. We are so use to giving labels, we don’t even realize it. Jesus let a sinful lady wash his feet. Why? He wanted to give her hope that would change her life spiritually and mentally. She would tell others of the great works done to her and then she would apply the concepts given to her. Jesus is so amazing. The way he dealt with the sin of others and in the same, people who made fun of him. God’s love for his people is really and truly unconditional and is not fake. God loves us and always will, but the decision we make takes a toll on our eternal future with Christ.

By: Reynaldo Jones

BLOG # 3

Last week a group of us went to downtown Orlando and walked around. We went to a jazz lounge and then decided to walk down Church St. As we walked around we began to notice all the brokenness the city has to offer. Whether it was the young adults getting ready to "get some" while they were partying it up at the clubs or the packs of homeless people who sat outside the clubs waiting for a handout or even just a smile - downtown Orlando is extremely broken.

Our group continued to walk around until we came upon a man and his son. The father was standing asking if people would give him money so he could buy food for he and his son; his son could not have been more than 5 years old. As the man began talking to us, our heart just broke. Granted, it is probably better to give someone in his situation food instead of money but nevertheless, we felt convicted and we opened our wallets. He gave his thanks and and we said goodbye; we also said God bless to him. As we walked away we felt we had more to do for this man and his son. Our group huddled up and we prayed. We prayed for the people that we just encountered and that they would find relief from their situation and that others could extend a hand of kindness to them as well.

...

Fast forward to last night and we were in Orlando again. We went to the jazz lounge again and we were walking back to the car until we stopped again; another homeless man was sitting by a bench. This time only one of us had cash on hand and my friend selflessly gave the cash he had in his wallet to the older gentleman. After he said thank you we said God bless to him. I told my friend I wish I could have done more and was that I was upset because I had no money to give. He quickly replied by saying these people need much more than money.

As I reflect on these two events I continue to think about what my friend told me and how all I said to these people in need was "God bless". Why was all I could think about is what these children of God needed in an Earthly sense? Why could I only say "God bless" to them? Did I feel like by me saying that simple phrase that my presenting the Gospel to them was completed?

I'm not too sure why all of this happened but I am hoping to change my actions. I hope that next time I see someone in need that I can sacrifice more time for their eternal sake and show them more love than just a simple "God bless".

Friday, October 15, 2010

Horses and service

I decided that l needed to volunteer somewhere so l started helping at Heavenly Hoofs. This is a nonprofit organization that strictly needs volunteers for it to continue running. They have 11 horses that are used for disabled people to ride in their therapeutic training sessions. All of the horses have been donated to the program and all of them have to be calm so that they are allowed to stay in the program. Today was my first day and l had to get up early and arrive on site by 9. Upon my arrival l got to meet all of the horses and children that l would be working with. Today I got to work with a 16 year old boy named Steven. He had a massive smile and talked the whole time. He asked the same question over and over again, and then when I finally gave him an answer he would question the answer that was given. First, I helped Steven get out Channing. This horse was a 17 year old male who was very calm and slow. We tied him up and spent half an hour grooming him. When we were done grooming Channing it was time to tack him up. While I was doing this Steven ran to get his boots and helmet. As soon as Steven came back we were off to his lesson. Steven has been riding for a while so all l had to do was stand beside him as a spotter. I also got to help him ride on his trail. He had to practice this because he is doing a show this coming Sunday. I got a lot of enjoyment in watching him ride because even when he got scared he was still willing to try. While l was working with Steven l realized just how lucky l really am. l am amazed at how Steven’s disability doesn’t stop him when he tries to do something. I’m excited to continue working with Steven and see him grow as the sessions continue. Working with disabled people lets you see how lucky you really are.

Christian Service In The Youth

At my church, Riverrun Christian Church, back in Oviedo, Florida I am one of our youth sponsors and leader of a family group. I lead the ninth and eleventh grade guys along with our worship leader. We just finished up a series based off the movie 'To Save A Life' and are starting a series based off the book 'Do Hard Things'. Since we are doing these two series and keeping the kids in their family groups, we decided that it would be a good idea to do some thing with them outside the church in our community. So for the past three weeks all six of the family groups we have in our youth group have been brainstorming ideas for a Christian service act that everyone in the family group is going to go out and perform next Saturday. The family group that I am leading has come up with some great ideas. Some of those ideas are helping the elderly people in our community who can not mow their own lawn by going to their houses and doing yard work for them, going out and painting houses that desperately need paint but the owners cant physically go out and do all the painting work, going to downtown Orlando and feeding the homeless on that Saturday and spending the afternoon hanging out with them and talking to them and sharing with them the word of God, and they came up with the idea to go out and help build houses with Habitat for Humanity. I think that it is a great idea that we are doing this with our youth. Every time that my family group is coming up with ideas and trying to decide which one to choose I remind them that we do not want to just go out and do the easy service we can. We need to really pray about what service really needs to be done in our commnity and go out and do it for God and not just do it because we are supposed to. This Sunday night at youth all six family groups are going to get up on stage and announce what Christian service act they are going to perform and I can not wait to see what God has in store for our community through the Christian service our youth are prepared to perform.

Are We Ready?

Sometimes I wonder if we really understand what we are getting ourselves into. One could argue that our entire lives in ministry will be Christian service. Sometimes I wonder if we are really prepared for it.

If we are going to be in ministry we need to get used to God asking us to take giant leaps of faith. God will call us to do crazy things, especially in Christian service. As ministers God will ask us to do things that we would not usually expect in order to help people. As Christians we need to be willing to follow God and do what he commands, especially as ministers. If we expect to be in ministry we need to get use to this now. As ministers we will be expected to put others and their needs before our own. God will ask us to go out of our way to help people. We will be challenged everyday. Think about it: people with problems will come to us for advice, we will be the ones to lead others to Christ, others will call upon us come and pray when a family member or friend is in the hospital , we will be constantly held to a higher standard than others, we will be judged harshly if we mess up and our daily lives will be scrutinized. Are we really ready for this?

We really need to seriously consider these things. Because if we are not ready for the difficult career we have chosen we need to admit it now. In Luke 9:62 Jesus said "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Once we have become ministers there is no turning back.

With this being said I believe that we have matured a lot since we first came here. The year is challenging. Most, if not all, of us are struggling with something but God is using our challenges to make us better people. I believe with persistence and perseverance we will be able to be better servants.

Let us get used to Christian service now. I believe if we volunteer for as many things as we can we will be better equipped to serve God. Because our entire life's work that we have chosen is built around God and Christian service.

Suffering for doing good

"It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil" 1 Peter 3:17

Suffering for doing God's will happens a lot more then we sometimes realize. One of my favorite examples for this is Noah, Noah suffered greatly when he was preparing for the coming flood. Noah was marked as crazy, and received a lot of criticism from his peers during his act of faith. In the same way Christians today are suffering for doing God's will.

These statistics are from 2004:
  • More than 43 million Christians have been killed for their faith since the crucifixion of Jesus.
  • There have been more than 26 million documented cases of martyrdom in this century alone.
  • More than 200 million Christians in over 60 nations face persecution each day, 60% of these are children.
  • 150,000 to 165,000 are martyred each year.
  • It's been estimated that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th Century than in all the prior 1,900 years combined.

That last statistic might shock us more than all of the previous ones. We are living in this free society and are sometimes blind to things going on in other countries to our brothers and sisters today. Our christian brothers and sisters are giving their lives for doing the will of God. Christian service for us shouldn't be a stretch for us when we see these statistics. Extreme persecution for us isn't a reality for us in this country at this time. Why is it so hard for Christians to do the will of God in this country, when we don't receive this amount of persecution?

Dedication

Christian service is an important part of our life's ministry. It is also difficult to stay dedicated to it. A lot of the time it is temptingly easy to bump Christian service in favor of some other aspect of our life, and we go from being good servants to doing nothing at all to serve God. This is one of the faults of doing Christian service for our own enjoyment and benefit, rather than for the benefit of others and the Glory of God. In order to stay dedicated to Christian service we need to be servants of God for his glory, and not for our own selfish reasons.

For me personally I have trouble giving up time with others to go do what I know I should be doing. It is too easy for me to use skewed logic to fulfill my selfish lifestyle. "It is alright if I do not do any Christian service this week, I still have plenty of time to do that." Even when I do bring myself to do something, I still try to surround myself with other people to make it more enjoyable for me. I need to realize that Christian service is to please God and not to please myself.

In the future I am going to make an effort to be a better Christian servant by volunteering and helping other people in need more often. I will also look for opportunities as they arise to take advantage of, and not just opportunities that are most convenient or enjoyable for me for me to do. I will start looking to work with people I do not necessarily enjoy being around and doing things I will have to step outside of my comfort zone in order to do. This is the best way for me to stay dedicated to my work as a Christian servant, serving God and not myself. This has been a problem that a lot of people have expressed emotions towards in this blogs and I would encourage anyone else who can see this as a point that needs improvement in their own lives to take the same steps.

"Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me"

Is it in you?


Mark 8:31-38
In Mark, chapter eight, Jesus predicts his trial, death, and resurrection; rebukes Peter, and challenges all  to 
 lose their lives 
for the sake of the Gospel and growth for the Kingdom of God. Discipleship should not be taken slightly or percieved as an easy task, we know through the words in Mark’s Gospel that discipleship calls for self-sacrifice as well as a many different forms of suffering .
Before we can really decide to  follow the life of Jesus, we need to first count the cost of that commitment. Mark’s Gospel proclaims that Jesus taught the disciples

 "that the Son of Man
must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and
the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again" (8:31). 

These words create the dramatic tone for the remaining chapters of Mark‘s Gospel, through Christ‘s death and resurrection. The disciples couldn’t understand why their “Almighty Savior” was going to have suffer.
The disciples knew Jesus as being strong and powerful. Therefore, a statement like that just seemed to be outrageous. Peter thought that Jesus was crazy, possessed and in need of an exorcism, therefore Mark took Jesus aside "and began to rebuke him". This signifies that Mark thought Jesus was in the wrong stating that the “Son of Man” would suffer. Clearly Peter had not yet known what it was going to take to be a true “disciple” because Jesus’ retort to  Peter were the words, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things" (vs. 32- 33). This alone is a great indication that our walk in discipleship is going to be more spiritual than it will ever be in the physical realm.
When Christ stated that "the Son of Man must undergo great suffering," he was speaking in a very certain way about the road that was yet before him. Rejection by the elders, the chief
priests and the scribes - all those things are to be anticipated for someone who is willing to challenge the religious traditions  and show the new and only way to God. Jesus didn’t cower in his walk on this world. Instead, he walked upright and girded with the word of God to complete the work of the Father regardless of the suffering and sacrifice might be on His path.
Jesus is willing to put his life on the lines as he begins to walk the path we are to follow in order to become disciples. Jesus is not some mad man, but a man who was daily willing to dedicate His body, mind and spirit to the work that God has called him to do. He has never been concerned with satisfying the expectations of others, but only the will and the business of his Father. 
There's a message for us here … set your mind on divine things and be willing to suffer. "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering," says Jesus. And so must those who follow him. Because we know His path involved suffering and sacrifice we should expect those things.
However, we tend to want the prize with no sacrifice and/or suffering. We want to win wars without fighting, we want to lose weight but won’t work out, we want more materials and stuff despite the fact that we labor less. We don't want to suffer.
Discipleship is going to have to involve suffering, Jesus sees it as a huge element in the world of discipleship. "There can be no love without
Suffering”, Jesus illustrates this life of loving sacrifice by lifting the sin drenched
cross. Proclaiming to both the crowd as well as his disciples, he says, "if any wants to become
my followers(disciples), let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for
my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it" (vs. 34-35).
This is the ultimate petition,  Take up the cross! That statement indicates that we must be prepared to sacrifice, not just to be willing to die but to undergo times of great suffering as Christ experienced through the crucifixion at Golgotha. Even greater than the commission is the Promise. Mark’s Gospel tells us that if we commit ourselves and surrender our lives to the work and will of the Lord that we will save our life. That promise is something that we can eternally hold to for the word tells us that if we die with Him, we surely will rise with Him in Glory(Romans 6:4)
With the teaching of Christ through Mark I believe discipleship can be summed up like this: 
The decision and process of following the “Son of Man” by sacrificing all and suffering much for the glory of God, for building the Kingdom of God, and for the hope of life eternal.
Now the question is posed, will you pick up your cross and follow Him?

Thursday, October 14, 2010

A Warning to Galatia

So I was skimming around the New Testament, looking for something pertaining to Christian Service, when I came across something that struck me as especially useful and prevalent.

" 7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. "--Galatians 6:7-10
This passage warns the people of Galatia (and ourselves) of a few things.
  1. Verses 7 and 8 show us that despite our best acting efforts, God will know whether our hearts are really in the right place when we perform some sort of service. What's even more terrifying to realize, is that if we are doing something in order to fulfill one of our own desires or wants, our returns (destruction) will be given to us solely by those same desires and wants. Whereas if we are doing something in order to please the Spirit, our reward will be given to us by the Spirit.
  2. Verse 9 gives us some comforting truths though. It says that at the "proper time" we will receive our rewards if we do not give up. I believe that the proper time that Paul is talking about refers to our time in Heaven. Matthew 6:1 says 1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."
  3. Verse 10 gives us summative instructions for what we should do once we've established our faith in the previous verses. It tells us that we are to be the light for people as we are given the opportunity to do so, especially towards those who share our faith. This also points towards unity in the Body of Christ, as pulled together by our deeds.
I think that in order to ensure that our Christian Service doesn't fall prey to just being another requirement to graduate, we need to apply this, as well as Love to our life.

What is Christian Service and why do we need to do it?

What is the point of Christian service why do we need to do it and why should we want to do it? Well the word on the street is that people really like it when they see Christians doing services around town they see Christians as they should be seen as people that are not in there bubble sitting on the pew in church every Sunday going through there isolated Christian lives. I believe that Christian services are very valuable to make a Christian a true Christian. I believe this because you have to want to be out in the field doing things that make others happy and pleased with you, but do not get me wrong people want always like what we as Christians are doing in the playing field of the world like when they see you doing something like helping homeless and while doing the act of helping you are teaching them about Jesus. But usually you will not find too many people out there that get mad at you for helping others.
We as a part of the Christian population should really want to do Christian services all the time I mean really what is the point of being a Christian if you don’t do anything to show that you are one. I look at it like this when you say you are a Christian that is not only a adjective describing what you are but it is also a verb it is what you do people these days think that being a Christian means that all you need to do is just act good and go to church but that is not what Jesus wants from us he wants us to be like the mustard seed and grow in our faith let our roots feel the earth and one of the best ways to grow in our faith is our Christian services that is to go out into the real world and grow off of the real life situations that are happening every day.
I really like this parable
31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."
33He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount[b] of flour until it worked all through the dough."
34Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."[c]

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

It's not a Fairy Tale

Sometimes I think we look at our Christian roles with rose-colored glasses. We hear stories, like the one we're reading in class, about people who have lived horrible lives and felt forsaken by God, and then one day a Christian comes riding in on a white horse and shows them God's love and . . . (drum roll, flashing lights) SHAZAM!! they fall on their faces before God and surrender their lives to him. The Christian has the great honor of baptizing the redeemed sinner and they go off into the sunset, arm in arm, praising God. I wish every story ended that way, but some don't.

Loving people is messy. It's hard work, and many times it hurts. Not everyone we try to share God's love with wants that love. Some people are perfectly content in their misery. No matter how hard we try, there will be many times when we do not have a soul to offer to God at the end of the day. So, why do we do it? Why do we subject ourselves to the hurt and the rejection and the sorrow that results from that life ending without having known God?

I know of only one reason: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Jesus wasn't always successful either when He showed God's love to others (remember the rich young ruler?) but he didn't stop. No, he kept doing what God had called Him to do--right up to the cross.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Friends

I have quite a few friends and they are all pretty normal. Or at least what we can consider to be normal. They are happy with their lives and how everything is going so far. They like school, their family life, and their friends. But I just recenty got a new friend and he's not like all the rest. He constatly blames himself for all the bad things in his life and won't listen to reason. His mother died when he was seventeen and that's how all of this started. He had to move here to kissimmee and live with his father and step-mother. As far as I know they are nice people but this isn't where he wanted to be. His best friend died in a car accident a few years ago while he was driving here to see him. My friend blames himself for that accident because he asked his friend to come... He won't listen when I tell him it's not his fault and he couldn't have done anything to change it. My friend doesn't know how to get rid of the pain he feels in his heart so he cuts himself. The most recent time I know of was about three days ago. It hurts my heart to know that he feels the need to do this and I want to help. It may not be on the list of things we can do as Christian Service but I think it counts. I'm going to do my best to show him the love of Christ and help him to know there is another way to get rid of the pain. He's not completely against God which makes it easier for me to introduce God to him but it's still not going to be easy. He said he won't let me help him and he didn't really have a reason why, but if I don't try, even a little bit, then if something happens to him I will feel somewhat responsible. I won't become like him or completely blame myself but I will always ask myself, "what if I had tried?" "would he still be here?" I know God put me here for a reason.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Christian Service # 2

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3: 23-24

I was asking my friend what I should I write about on my class blog about Christian service and he started singing the song version of the verse above. Granted, it is a simple verse but for some reason I am sitting here writing about it. In sum, the verse is saying that whatever you do put your whole self into it and do it for the glory of God because God is the one who will reward you. We may not realize the full effect of the reward, now, in front of man to see, but God will lavish us someday with it in heaven. It's hard remembering that concept because of the world telling us just the opposite. The belief that you do something and in turn receive praise and recognition on Earth has even infiltrated the Church. Even when I do something I am passionate about, well, I have to make sure that I am not doing it for others to see. I get really excited about a project and put my whole heart into, then I start thinking about the outcome of the project and how I will tell others about it, I then realize that my fleshly side has come out and my passion has turned into narcissism.

When we don't focus out attention on the glory we can get, all that's left is the glory God can get, his Kingdom really. His Kingdom. That's all believers past, present, and future (in the sense of what they will experience) this life and next, that's huge. Our impact will effect many now and in the future, forever!

When struggling with doing something noble for the Lord, just think, you're small action may seem small, but it's effect is enormous and it lasts forever.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Christian Service: blog 2

In the words of Aaron Chambers, author of the Christian novel 'Eats With Sinners,' he says, "I never go anywhere just to do what I came there to do." By this statement he is telling his readers that when he goes somewhere, for example the store, his mind is set on more then just going to the store. Instead, his mind is focused on the lost people around him. This, I think, is something we should always be aware of when we are living our lives. You see, Christian service does not necessarily excuse what we do on a regular basis or how we act around the people that we encounter outside of our familiar group of 'church goers.' It means also being a servant when no one expects it of you; being a servant even if you are in a hurry or not feeling 'as good as usual.'

Colossians 4:5-6 reads, "Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

With this verse from Scripture, Paul reminds us of this same fact about living "Christian service" as we witness to those that are lost around us. We should always be prepared to express freely the faith that we have to anyone that asks us, and at all times we should be aware of how we act around those we come in contact with. We have already discussed that Christian service should be more then just a project to help the homeless from time to time, but it should also be the continuous expression of our servitude to others no matter the consequences or rejection you may face. God calls us to make the most of every opportunity, so why not follow His Word and reach out with humble hearts and a servant's attitude?

Selfish Ambition

I'm not going to lie, i used to do Christian service not to serve but to elate myself. I felt as though it would give me better status within the Church and make me a little more holy than most. In hindsight this was the worst attitude to have while performing christian service. We are called to serve as Christ did and to have the same attitude that Christ had while he was serving Phillipians 2:1-11. How did Christ serve? Christ made himself nothing, he took the very nature of a servant, and was humble and obedient. To truly serve as Christ did we must do nothing out of selfish ambition. Christian service is not something you do to gain status among peers, it's not something you do to gain salvation, christian service is all about making yourself nothing and serving others.

Christian service is done by humbly serving others. To humbly serve means to not let arrogance or pride stand in the way of service. Nobody is too good for any job. Pride is the mother of all sin, Lucifer was proud and it earned him a one way ticket out of heaven. We cannot let pride get in the way of serving others. I've seen pastors and deacons doing some of the dirtiest, filthiest, and most disgusting jobs working at church fundraisers at International Speedway, that is one example of humble service.

Love

I'm unsure was to whether or not someone else may have already hit on this, but I'd like to rehash it if it's already done, and if not, then I'd like to break this open.
We've all already determined that Christian Service is something that is necessary for a Christian to do, and that it is something that we must do with the right motives. I'd now like to say that Christian Service is something that should come from love, and should be nothing but love.

Mark 12: 29-31 says: "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this:'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength'. The second's this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
So far as I can tell, as Jesus says the two greatest commandments, both have to do with LOVE. If we truly are to love our neighbors as ourself, shouldn't we then also be their servants?

Luke 9: 48 says: Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all--he is the greatest."
So then, why are we to do Christian Service?, because we are told to in the gospels. How are we to do it?, in Love.
I think that if we could apply this to everything we do, we'd see a difference in our willingness to do things for others. Even such small things as holding the door for people, if we do it because we are a servant of Christ, and we want to show his love to everyone, I think that people will recognize that there's something inevitably nice about us Christians.

What I mean to say in this blog post, is that I believe that Christian Service should be equated with love, and the two can be used almost interchangeably. If we truly are to practice the servitude Jesus calls us to, our first step in accomplishing anything of that sort is to understand, and put into practice the love that Jesus also calls us to practice.

Chapel Service

On Tuesday Sept. 28th Arron Chambers, who used to be a former student here at fcc, came to our chapel service and gave a really good sermon. One of the things I want to point out that he talked about was being a servant in church. Being a servant means that if your part of the church don't just sit down and wait until it is finished. No!! Get involved with the youth groups, drama, preach, and even helping out to clean the church so that it maintains clean. However Mr. Chambers said that don't wait until you find a perfect church to serve you know what there isn't any! In my church there are always people coming and going and the ones who leave, leave because of the gossip or that they think our pastor is a jerk or they don't like the ushers. Simple truth if your waiting for a perfect church to serve then guess what keep waiting. Our Lord says in the Scriptures the put your Sight on Him not on man because if you do put your sight on man you will surely fall. I know it is hard trust me, I have seen many things and gotten hurt many times but the only reason I am in Church today was because God's strength. Look God wants you to serve him not the people. When your participating in some event in church don't do it because they asked you instead do it because the Lord is watching you and is proud that you are serving him. And one other thing that I want to point out is that Jesus Loves Everyone. No matter what happens in your church love then no matter what because Jesus made them and there are his children too. I can truly say that I love everyone at church, it hasn't been easy but i do no matter what happens in my church I will be like Jesus. Once again don't wait to find a perfect church to serve, stand up and serve Him now because the Lord would want that and He is the only person to impressed.

Care packages

Tomorrow I will help make care packages for the troops. We will put everyday items that they need in boxes and ship it to them. The meetings are once a month and since this is my first one I don't know what to expect. I'm really excited because ever since I've been here the Lord has put on my heart that he wants me to help the military. At first I didn't know how I could help since no one in my family has been in the military and I didn't know what they needed. So I'm excited God has made a way for me to help them. I hope these boxes fill them with hope and give them what they need and a little more.

Downtown All Nighter

On Saturday I am going to spend all night in downtown Orlando with the college group from my church. We are going to go downtown at around 10pm and stay till around 9am. We will spend all night praying over people and handing out bibles, blankets, and food to the homeless. It's going to be a really cool thing to do because it is a great opportunity for Christian service. It is especially going to be a unique experience for me because I will probably know many of the drunk people hanging around downtown by the clubs because of my old lifestyle. We will pray for safett for these people and will talk to some of the sober ones about God. The main idea of the all nighter though is to reach out to the homeless. We will not just be handing the homeless bibles and blankets and stuff, but we will be talking with them both about God and life. We will get to know them and treat them like any other person you meet. At 7am we will get off the streets of downtown Orlando and go to a church down there and help serve breakfast for the homeless. I am really looking forward to this all nighter because I missed out on our first one because I chose to be selfish and hang out with a friend i hadn't seen in 10 years. But this time im ready to go and serve God and share his word with anyone who will listen.

Gifts and Service

When I look around I see a lot of people with a lot of amazing and diverse gifts. Not just globally, but local as well. A lot of time I think about how much stronger and unified the Christian community would be if people used their different gifts to strengthen God's kingdom. Christian service would then be everyone's life, rather than something that they do when they aren't busy with everything else. For me the strongest gift I have discovered God has given me at this point is entrepreneurship. I am good at making businesses that make money. Furthermore, it is a big problem in the life of churches and churchgoers that they do not have enough money to serve God in all the ways that they want. Yesterday I did not have to look any further than our own school to see some friends of mine get excited about the mission trip to Mexico, but decided not to go because it cost too much. It is for scenarios like this that I want to dedicate my life to making money that I can give to others. Of course, money is a sensitive topic with a lot of Christians, especially with its role in Christianity. I am still searching for the best way to use my gift to serve God, or if this is the best gift to serve God with.