He Has Called Us
Hey guys! If you missed John Maxwell speak at NewSpring this weekend...then you have a PROBLEM. (some of you are laughing right now because you know what that means.) But for those of you who don't know, John Maxwell spoke about what it takes for Jesus to work miracles in our lives. I thought it was a pretty gripping message that was multi-faceted in life applications and just dripping with the wisdom of God. I'm not being sarcastic, IT WAS REALLY GOOD!
This weekend I took my sister to Ignite so that she could give the NewSpring experience a try and hang out with a couple of her friends who were there. For those of you who don't know, IGNITE is NewSpring's Middle School Ministry, and it is FLIPPIN' AWESOME. The message last night was on TEMPTATION and how we should 1.) expect it. 2.) detect it . and 3.) reject it.
Interestingly enough, Perry wrote a blog entry that talks about DISTRACTION, which can lead to temptation. I encourage ya'll to check it out. CLICK HERE!
This weekend I also had fun going to church and hanging out with some of the coolest people around, known collectively as Whit-Amanda-Sean-Jenni. But as much as I love these guys, the late Sunday nights are killin' me, especially when you're like me and have class at 8 in the AM on Monday morning. I might have to stop staying around so late...just might.
Oh, and just for the record...how awesome was it that we just stood up and started clapping and being crazy when they played the first song Sunday? Lee didn't even tell us to! I thought it was great, and kudos to Rob, Jenni, and Whit for leading the way!
Well, this looks like it's gonna be a long blog, cause I still have a B-I-B-L-E verse to share (that song is great). Alright, so in my studies this weekend, I found a verse I wanted to focus on for a tick.
The verse is Ephesians 2: 10, which says: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
OK. Raise your hand if you DON'T like the idea of pre-destination, or the idea that every single second of your life has been planned out ahead of you. BE HONEST! At first, when you think about that, or when I do, I'm like, 'Man, that kinda sucks.' It's like when your mom or dad knows you want to go to the movies with your friends, and you go to ask them if they can take you, and before you say ANYTHING your mom says, "Don't even THINK about asking me to take you to the movies today." And then you're like, "JUST LET ME LIVE MY OWN LIFE! QUIT TELLING ME WHAT TO DO! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS THINK YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO!?"
Haha, maybe I scared you all just now, and maybe you think I have an issue with my parents. No, that's not the case, but the point is this: God is our parent, and He does know what we're going to do. I think some people get caught up in the attitude that we make our own choices and that God isn't as involved in their lives as he really is because of the problems they face and because bad things happen to them, but guys....BAD THINGS ARE GONNA HAPPEN. To everybody, to best friends, to boyfriends/girlfriends, to husbands/wives, to kids......everybody. So what do we do?
Now, we do make choices that are purely human...stupid, evil, ignorant human choices. And we make good choices, too. But see, God MADE us. Do you think the first people who designed cars didn't know what it was going to do? It wasn't like Henry Ford was in his factory going, "Geez, is thing gonna fly? Is it gonna float? What's it gonna do?" God KNOWS what we're going to do. He's smarter than us! Quit trying to outsmart GOD.
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
The second part of that verse "created in Christ Jesus to do good works". This is a very literal part of the verse, and you're probably like, "Yeah, yeah. I get the picture, God created us and we're supposed to serve Him, blah, blah, blah." Well, don't gloss over it too much. It says created IN Christ Jesus. The first part said "For we are God's workmanship." So there are two distinct points here: 1.) God created us all 2.) Jesus RE-CREATES us for a DISTINCT purpose.
The distinct purpose is simple: do good works. But, it's not simple is it? You don't always go to bed each night saying, "GOD! Man, that was one awesome workday! Everything I did was GOOD WORKS!" We get distracted, we get tempted, problems come up, and it isn't so easy to do good works, much less good, all the time. So, how do we go about doing what God has made us to do? As Christians, how do we do good works? How do we know when and how to do them?
Which leads me to the final part of the verse: "God has prepared in advance for us to do" the good works. God says, "Look, I made you, I know what you're going to do, I know what's going to happen to you, but I am calling you to do something for me. You don't have to worry about planning anything, penciling in 'Good Works Time' in your daily planner. I will PREPARE everything for you, so that when you get to that point in life, you will know when and how to do good works and bring glory and praise to My name."
It doesn't make pre-destination/destiny that bad when God's got it all under control does it? God asks us to put trust in Him so that we CAN DO the things He has called us to do.
OK, that was a long blog. Hope I said something that wasn't completely off-base. Let me know if I screwed it up! I enjoy constructive criticism! Everyone have a good day, and let HIM speak to you!
This weekend I took my sister to Ignite so that she could give the NewSpring experience a try and hang out with a couple of her friends who were there. For those of you who don't know, IGNITE is NewSpring's Middle School Ministry, and it is FLIPPIN' AWESOME. The message last night was on TEMPTATION and how we should 1.) expect it. 2.) detect it . and 3.) reject it.
Interestingly enough, Perry wrote a blog entry that talks about DISTRACTION, which can lead to temptation. I encourage ya'll to check it out. CLICK HERE!
This weekend I also had fun going to church and hanging out with some of the coolest people around, known collectively as Whit-Amanda-Sean-Jenni. But as much as I love these guys, the late Sunday nights are killin' me, especially when you're like me and have class at 8 in the AM on Monday morning. I might have to stop staying around so late...just might.
Oh, and just for the record...how awesome was it that we just stood up and started clapping and being crazy when they played the first song Sunday? Lee didn't even tell us to! I thought it was great, and kudos to Rob, Jenni, and Whit for leading the way!
Well, this looks like it's gonna be a long blog, cause I still have a B-I-B-L-E verse to share (that song is great). Alright, so in my studies this weekend, I found a verse I wanted to focus on for a tick.
The verse is Ephesians 2: 10, which says: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
OK. Raise your hand if you DON'T like the idea of pre-destination, or the idea that every single second of your life has been planned out ahead of you. BE HONEST! At first, when you think about that, or when I do, I'm like, 'Man, that kinda sucks.' It's like when your mom or dad knows you want to go to the movies with your friends, and you go to ask them if they can take you, and before you say ANYTHING your mom says, "Don't even THINK about asking me to take you to the movies today." And then you're like, "JUST LET ME LIVE MY OWN LIFE! QUIT TELLING ME WHAT TO DO! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS THINK YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO!?"
Haha, maybe I scared you all just now, and maybe you think I have an issue with my parents. No, that's not the case, but the point is this: God is our parent, and He does know what we're going to do. I think some people get caught up in the attitude that we make our own choices and that God isn't as involved in their lives as he really is because of the problems they face and because bad things happen to them, but guys....BAD THINGS ARE GONNA HAPPEN. To everybody, to best friends, to boyfriends/girlfriends, to husbands/wives, to kids......everybody. So what do we do?
Now, we do make choices that are purely human...stupid, evil, ignorant human choices. And we make good choices, too. But see, God MADE us. Do you think the first people who designed cars didn't know what it was going to do? It wasn't like Henry Ford was in his factory going, "Geez, is thing gonna fly? Is it gonna float? What's it gonna do?" God KNOWS what we're going to do. He's smarter than us! Quit trying to outsmart GOD.
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
The second part of that verse "created in Christ Jesus to do good works". This is a very literal part of the verse, and you're probably like, "Yeah, yeah. I get the picture, God created us and we're supposed to serve Him, blah, blah, blah." Well, don't gloss over it too much. It says created IN Christ Jesus. The first part said "For we are God's workmanship." So there are two distinct points here: 1.) God created us all 2.) Jesus RE-CREATES us for a DISTINCT purpose.
The distinct purpose is simple: do good works. But, it's not simple is it? You don't always go to bed each night saying, "GOD! Man, that was one awesome workday! Everything I did was GOOD WORKS!" We get distracted, we get tempted, problems come up, and it isn't so easy to do good works, much less good, all the time. So, how do we go about doing what God has made us to do? As Christians, how do we do good works? How do we know when and how to do them?
Which leads me to the final part of the verse: "God has prepared in advance for us to do" the good works. God says, "Look, I made you, I know what you're going to do, I know what's going to happen to you, but I am calling you to do something for me. You don't have to worry about planning anything, penciling in 'Good Works Time' in your daily planner. I will PREPARE everything for you, so that when you get to that point in life, you will know when and how to do good works and bring glory and praise to My name."
It doesn't make pre-destination/destiny that bad when God's got it all under control does it? God asks us to put trust in Him so that we CAN DO the things He has called us to do.
OK, that was a long blog. Hope I said something that wasn't completely off-base. Let me know if I screwed it up! I enjoy constructive criticism! Everyone have a good day, and let HIM speak to you!
posted by Ryan Sutherland at 11.9.06
3 Comments:
who needs sleep?
Your mom needs sleep.
Yall crack me up...but I have to agree with Seany who really needs sleep Ry...I mean come on sleep or come chill with the coolest group of people ever...you know you want to be with us ;)
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