He must become greater; I must become less.

Today, Nathan at Sandals taught from John 3:22-36.
The passage talks about John the Baptist, and how some of his followers were getting jealous and worried when people started following Jesus instead (go figure).

²⁷To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' ²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰He must become greater; I must become less.

Nathan's three points were:

1. Jesus is the only person worth giving your life to!
2. Jesus reveals the truth we need for living!
3. Jesus is the only way to settle your relationship with God!

My Thoughts:
When I was listening to this message, my mind went to something my dad said in a message he taught a few weeks ago. He talked about spiritual transformation, and how we as followers of Christ are in a process of becoming more and more like Christ not by our works but by the Holy Spirit. It happens through Joy, Grace, and Discipline...in other words, we have to train ourselves in Spiritual Disciplines.
For me, I can get so focused on my own spiritual growth, and forget that I need to continually serve and love others at the same time. I'm so glad there is grace.
Anyway, my thoughts are obviously scattered, but that's how my mind works!

Time for some sleep.

To Infinity...

...And Beyond.

All 7 Potter's or Bust!

For the past few...well months, I have been reading all of the Harry Potter books in hopes of finishing the Half-Blood Prince before it comes out in theaters on July 15th. It's on a Wednesday if I'm not mistaken, which I thought was kinda bizarre. So anyway, I have 'til then to finish the 2nd Half of Goblet of Fire, All of Order of Phoenix, and Half-Blood Prince. That's a lot of pages.

The End.

John 3:16 and Why Jesus?

This is a very lengthy post. (Consider yourself warned).

This morning I went to Sandals' service and listened to a guy named Neil talk about John 3:16-21 as they continued their study in the Gospel of John called "The Visitation."

The message is on their website or you can join their podcast on iTunes if you wish to hear it, but I will just try to clue you in on a little bit of what he said...

He first addressed the truth that the verse John 3:16 "For God so loved the world..." has been shared and used many times in our culture. I can attest to this alone just from seeing “Christian” apparel and various other products with this verse put on it to make it "Christian". Then, he moved onto reading the passage (vs.16-20) verse by verse pointing out words that were significant to him, and along the way supplying points and explaining to each part of the message.

At one point, he talked about the word "believe" in the passage, and how we as Christians are called to do just that, believe. He didn't go to deep into what he meant by “believe”, but he did say that believing in Christ is not just acknowledging his existence and that he died and rose again. He said it is also about believing in Jesus' character, what He did, and what He wants to do in your life, which I think is true. However, I think another way to put it would be whenever a person truly believes in anything, there needs to be evidence of that belief in their life. For example, if I truly believe that the Tooth Fairy exists, I am going to put as many teeth as I can under my pillow in hopes of money in return; maybe even leave a "Thank You" note. The same is true for believers of Christ. If we believe in Christ, we must also believe in His mission and whole perspective of the world, and show that we believe by our thoughts, words, and actions. Don't get me wrong, I think the message that was said was helpful and the truth, but I just felt that these specific points needed some clarification.

Another point he brought up was about Jesus being the "only way" and why. He said that because God loved the world, Jesus is the only way. He pointed out the fact that we can't do it on our own, and how darkness started in the Garden (Genesis 3). This is true, but I would have added that God always had a plan to use His "Son" to spread the "Good News" throughout the world. By "Son", I mean God's people, the Israelites. They were supposed to (as the chosen people) display God's Kingdom to the world, but instead they got caught up in thinking that they were better than everyone else, and frequently fell into a vicious cycle of being in the Lord's favor, falling away from God, and turning back to Him...over and over and OVER! Time after time, God was gracious with them until finally he let the Israelites fall into their sin and its consequences.

Enter Jesus the Christ. Jesus came as the "Son of God" to be what the Israelites were intended to be in the first place! He frequently talked about and displayed the Kingdom of God His whole life, and as the representative of God's people, He took upon the sin of His people and the world. Being sinless, he suffered an undeserved crime and because of that, he was able to defeat sin. Then, through the Spirit, rise again as New Creation. Afterwards, He was with His disciples and other followers for 40 days, and when it was time, gave them final instructions to display and spread God's message and Kingdom throughout the world. Finally, He went to be with the Father until it is time to come back and destroy sin, once and for all.

THAT is why I believe Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

I think Neil told the truth of the Gospel in a way that it is taught many times, but to me it seems like only a fraction of a story that needs to be told in its entirety.

This may be much to read and digest, as it has been for me, but I believe that we should not at all water-down the Gospel. I have no bitterness or malice towards Neil or Sandals Church at all, but I just wanted to tell what I think is the message in the Bible. I would love to hear anybody's thoughts, and would kindly ask that if you do comment, that it is out of love, as I intended this post to be.

Side Note: I'll probably be making another post about what it means or how to display God's Kingdom some time in the near future.

Sherlock Holmes

Finals....YUCK!

I hate Finals! Yes, I do!
I hate Finals! How 'bout you?

That pretty much sums up my feelings toward final exams for school.

But, it is only next week, and then I'm done!

I'm going to go to CBU in the fall to study Graphic Design.

I am still processing many parts of my life including church, living space, and job.

On a side note, I purchased mewithoutYou's latest work:

It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright

Moved IN!

My sister and I moved into our apartment last week, and we are still putting up photos and decorations, but for the most part, all the boxes are empty!
Here is a small messy shot of my room...I might do a tour of our crib later, but just wanted to keep you in the loop.

On a side, I'd like to remind everyone that I am back in Del Taco country! There is one right down the street, and it fills my heart with spicy goodness!

It's the simple things in life.