Interests:Seeking after God's glory in everything I do, whether it be GOing to share Christ with others, either in the US or a different country, encouraging and teaching other people to GO and share Christ, worshipping through playing bass, guitar, piano, or singing, or just by having fun and being with friends. Expertise:Screwing up and trying to live for myself so that God can (once again) empty me so that I can better be a vessel through which He may flow. --The trick is becoming (or letting God form you to become) an expert at not being an expert.
Ok, so I was reading "Don't Waste Your Life" (an excellent book, I suggest you read it) when I got to one part, and I thought "Man, I should post that on my xanga." So here I am
Allright, so Piper is talking about the passage from Philippians 1:21 "To live is Christ and to die is gain," and he just finished expounding on how "living is Christ" and how to die for Christ, etc. Then he starts talking about how we can't separate living for Christ and dying for Christ. He sites 1Corinthians 15:31 and Luke 9:23 and then shows us the conclusion from these two (and countless other) passages:
"Daily Christian living is daily Christian dying..."
(That was for you, Kristin) I was like, "woah, thats profound." Piper goes on:
"...The dying I have in mind is the dying of comfort and security and reputation and health and family and friends and wealth and homeland..."
How often do we live like our own lives are so important, like all of our comforts, friends and circumstances are the greatest things ever, and yet Christ clearly says "Whoever holds on to his life will lose it, but whoever gives up his life for me will gain it back." (Mark 8:35). And then again in John 12:25 He says that he who loves his life will lose it. Then Piper says:
"...These may be taken from us at any time in the path of Christ-exalting obedience..."
So we die to ourselves and lay down our lives daily so that we will be ready when our lives, our comfort, our family, wealth, or friends are taken from us in our walk with Christ.
"...To die daily the way Paul did, and to take up our cross daily the way Jesus commanded, is to embrace this life of loss for Christ's sake and count it gain."
You see, as Christians we are to give our lives up every day, to die to ourselves every day, to let go of all of our attatchments and affections and be willing to let go of life itself everyday because we treasure Christ higher than life.
So often we get preoccupied and distracted with all of the little details and life and all of our wants and dreams and desires, and yet as Paul says in Philippians "To live is Christ." All of the details don't matter, all of our wants and dreams are of no consequence because our lives, as Christians, are to be for Christ and Christ alone.
How often do we really live as Christ? How often do we lay our own dreams and wants down for God? At church camp? On mission trips? Maybe even every Sunday or Wednesday? But Christ says DAILY. Too often do we attempt the whole "Christian living" on Sundays and Wednesdays, and forget the whole "DAILY Christian dying" Christ calls us to die daily.
It's time that we as the professed Christians of America wake up from our sleep of lethargy and hypocrisy and stop only living for Christ on Sundays and Wednesdays and start acting as Christ says all of His disciples must act. (As Luke 14:27 says, "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me CANNOT be my disciple") We must die to ourselves daily. We must forget our comfort zones, and our cliques of friends and go out and share the love and rescuing truth of Jesus Christ with the lost, empty, suffering, and dying people of the world all around us as Christ commanded!
Our lives are for Christ, not ourselves, so as it instructs in Hebrews 12:1-3, we need to actively, forcefully, and even violently (spiritually speaking) THROW off EVERYthing that hinders glorifying Christ through our lives! Don't want to because you enjoy your life? But Christ says "I have come to give them life and to give it to them abundantly," John 10:10. You see, because we were made to glorify God, it is the one thing that satisfies us most and that we can find the most enjoyment in. We spend our lives seeking satisfaction and enjoyment, but its only to be found in Christ. So what better reason to turn to Him and let go and throw off everything that holds you back?
Also, as the apostles are constantly reminding us in their letters, we have a hope and a certainty for the future that no one else has. We know that at the end of all things that Christ will gather us together and reveal His glory to the world on the day of judgement, and that instead of receiving the judgement and condemnation that we deserve, we will be able to take part in the GLORY of Christ.
So then, let us with His glory and our hope in mind, throw down our own lives and pick up His--that is, pick up our cross, take our life of suffering for Him and His glory. Let us die daily for Christ so that we can follow Him and better obey His call: that we reach the dying people of this world and tell them of Jesus Christ, the saving one.
Listening to: Not A god by Billy and Cindy Foot Song: Rescue the Perishing
"Rescue the Perishing Care for the dying Snatch them in pity From sin and the grave
Weep o'er the erring one Lift up the fallen Tell them of Jesus The mighty to save
Rescue the Perishing Care for the dying Jesus is merciful Jesus will save
Church open your eyes once more And see what Christ died for Jesus is merciful Jesus will save
Down in the human heart Crushed by the tempter Feelings lie buried That grace can restore
Touched by a human heart Wakened by kindness Chords that are broken Will vibrate once more
And we're playing our songs While we're singing them well Have we forgotten the lost The reality of hell
If we say we love God Wanna see His will done Will we offer our lives Or just the songs we have sung
Do we even care? When will we care?"
Hello all! I thought I'd give an update of what God has been doing since I've been back in the States.
Well, on my flight to Atlanta from Dallas, I got to sit next to a young woman and talk to her about some of my experiences and how Christ is the meaning and should be the center of all life, and just wittness to her, so that was a cool opportunity.
That night (Friday) I spent sharing what God did and what He taught me with my family and our summer missionaries.
Saturday, I got my new guitar (an Alvarez Acoustic/Electric) and went to band practice.
Sunday I shared some of what God did in front of my church and set up a meeting with my pastor on Thursday about teaching and leading more in my youth group.
Monday I went to an Indianapolis Indians game with our summer missionaries and shared more about what God has been doing in my life. One of them, Karen now feels called to go to Germany with AweStar (really cool story), and several of the others are considering and praying about going on a mission trip, maybe with AweStar next year.
Tuesday night I was able to lead my friend Zach to Christ, which was an incredible thing to wittness. He was honestly one of the seekingest souls I've seen. Not very often does someone say "I want to give my life to Christ, but how?" That was amazing.
Today I will be going to my friend Drake's youth group, and hopefully and prayerfully I'll be able to share there as well.
Tomorrow I have my meeting with my pastor, the following two days Heather will be over for much of the time, then I start work next week at my first official job.
Praise God! Well, thats all for now.
In Christ's Love, Brent
"'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. And 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." - William Booth
I am back in Monrovia now, and preparing to begin a new chapter of ministry.
God has really challenged me (and my teammates) over this Peru trip
to always OBEY Him immediately, to FOLLOW Him with faith and endurance,
and to SEEK after Him and His glory.
We saw God work in huge ways in the country of Peru. We saw
Him reap an incredible harvest, shine His light into the darkness,
and start to tear down the massive strongholds of the false religion
and the polytheistic, legalistic catholocism that
exists there. We saw God restore even more of His glory and
worship in the people of Peru. We saw the headmaster of a
Catholic School come to Christ; we saw a gang, a guard, four policemen
and a government official receive a personal relationship with
God; we saw three transvestites finally find the missing piece to their
life that they had been looking for; we saw a huge group (about
20-30) of Peruvian boys who we played soccer with come
to know Jesus as their personal Lord and savior; and we saw
countless other seeking souls finally find the Truth. I
would love to tell you more stories of the things that God did
sometime, so feel free to give me a call or im or email me or
something.
But most importantly, God challenged me(and my team) to lay
down my(our) life(lives) for Him and to live the LIFESTYLE of
a missionary. Its so easy, in the USA, to get comfortable with
where we are and to get comfortable, even, with our small ministry or
lack thereof, but God did not call us to a life of comfort, but to a
life of suffering for Him, which brings us JOY and GLORY
through Jesus Christ. Christ doesn't just call us to live for Him
on Sundays and Wednesdays, or on camps and mission trips, or during
bible studies and SV or FCA meetings, but EVERY DAY, every moment of
our lives. God taught me that even my "home"town is a
missionfield (since we are aliens in this world, and it is not our
home) and its time that we as Christians stop being lazy and just
talking the talk, and get our hands and feet dirty actually
following Him and serving Him diligently every day of our
lives. We need to take His message to the people of
every nation--including ours (for we all know how much our nation needs
Christ). He went through the blood, the least we can do is go
through the mud.
To everyone from NSM, Carmel, and Indy: thank you guys
for your prayers and friendship, its good to be back with you guys
again to try to bring you the blessings that God gave me
over this trip.
To my Peru team: I miss you guys so much already!!
I love you all and I am earnestly praying for you. I'm excited to
see how God is going to use each of you to make an impact in
your "home"towns, so keep me updated!
Right now I am in Pacasmayo, Peru and have about a week and a half left of our trip. God is really working in our lives and in the lives of the Peruvians. For an update on our team, go to www.awestar.org and go to 2005 Trip updates, then Peru Update, then Updates or pictures. We leave today for our 4th and final city, Trujillo.
So far the main thing God has been teaching me is obedience, and IMMEDIATE obedience to Him. There are several tasks to which I am already feeling called to step up to upon my arrival back in the states. One of which is to start fundraising to go to North Africa to a closed country on a five week trip next year.
I play Satan in the drama this year (again).
Heather (my tallest minion) is forcing me to say something about her... so yeah Heather is my tallest minion... She´s really cool. She says thats good enough...
I would go on about what God is doing in our lives, but I´m going to wait until I´m back in the US so I can tell the full story.
Much Love, Be Jota (BJ)
I also want to say that I really appreciate all of your prayers and support.
"Take me back I surrender all Without You My heart is broken
I never shoulda let you go I never shoulda slip through my arms
As the sun sets tonight I'll hold You with all that I am
I never shoulda let You go Promise me You'll stay with me forever, forever.
Forgive me For running So quickly To the outside." ~"American Love" -HTD
And I'm back again for one last week in Indy. \
My mission trip to Kentucky went pretty well. We did a backyard bible club at a poor apartment complex in the mornings, and then we did various service projects in the evenings. The best part of the trip was getting to know the people in my yg on a spiritual level and being able to just love and disciple the childred that we spent time with. Since I serve pretty much on a daily basis at the camp during the summer, the service projects weren't really out of the ordinary for me, though its always awesome to see how God works through our service.
Today I was dragged along shopping w/ my mom and sister, then we went and saw some family that was in town and ate at Charbonos in Avon.
My last worship leading for a long time is tomorrow morning. When I get back from Peru, I may have to become the rhythm guitarist for our Sunday morning praise band.
I leave for Dallas for training for Peru next Saturday morning. My flight leaves at 5:30 AM. Woo hoo for early mornings...
This week is UYC, so I have no plans but to hang out and serve at Highland Lakes. My parents were thinking about going up to Ohio during UYC to do my sister's affirmations and visit, but its not for sure.
Right now, I have all of the required money for Peru, and am waiting for one last payment to come in from a mission board member to pay for my plane ticket. Other than that, I'm set and only have packing left to do, then off I go!
