Christmas is Not About Family

As Christians, I believe, we have been making a mistake when it comes to celebrating the saviors birth. i tell a lot of people that I dislike Christmas, and what it has become. Many of the answers I receive are, "It's whatever you make it," or "It's just about getting together as family." I may have missed something, but the last time I checked Christmas was not something that was to be made, or what family members' company you may enjoy. Christmas is about Christ. Some may argue that Jesus was actually born in the summer, and we just picked the date we wanted so it does not matter if Christ is less involved. However, if we are going to celebrate a day focused on Jesus' birth then that is solely what it should be about. Do not get me entirely wrong, all of those things are great! I love my family, I enjoy spending time with them, and I enjoy the season. However, even when we put something as great as family in front of Christ then we are wrong. Watch a Christmas any Christmas movie today and the theme you will find is not Christ. They talk about the "spirit of Christmas," but their "spirit" is focused more on family, attitudes, decorations, or things such as those. Again those are all great, but they are nothing compared to the glory of Christ. The farthest we tend to get is the Christmas story at church the Sunday before, one or two subliminal Christ messages in a movie or two, and then a nativity scene. It's so easy to get caught up in decorations, or whose house you spend Christmas in, or even if people will like their gifts. If I had my way I would have people do without all that for one year so that maybe we can focus on the truth of the "spirit of Christmas." That "spirit" is that one day a perfect baby was born into the world so that man, who only deserved death, could live forever. He would live a perfect life, and die a tragic death so that those who believe in him can enter into the kingdom of God. This is the truth. Imagine how much different the holidays would be if we were to solely focus on THIS truth. Sometimes I am a little too much like scrooge in the matter. However, I just become frustrated when everyone gets caught up on the wrong thing and takes nay amount of glory away from the savior. I know that in my family, with my kids, I am going to make sure that every Christmas in our household is full of food, family, joy, and even the gift of giving. Most importantly though, it will be full of the love of Christ and ample time spent dwelling on the perfect gift given to us by the Father. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life!" - John 3:16 Try you best to focus on the real reason for the season as we come upon the holidays. With love for all. Merry Christmas.

-Joshua

Identity in Christ

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

            Identity in Christ is one of the hardest things we can ever do in this life. Even beginning to grasp it is a journey that is not easily made. For Christians it is pretty easy to make Christ a part of who you are, but it is nearly impossible to make Christ everything you are. Think about it like your life is Ferris wheel. We tend to think of ourselves as the Ferris wheel, and all the little cars make up our identity. We only have room for so many cars, but the ones we have define us. We have our education, our families, our jobs, our attitudes, and for the die-hard Christians even Jesus gets his own car. Yet this is not what Jesus is asking of us. He wants the whole thing. Jesus is the Ferris wheel of our identity, and only the cars that align with his will and purpose get to be in our lives. Luke chapter nine verse twenty-three says, “If anyone would come after Me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. This does not ask us to include Jesus in our lives whenever we can. It says that we are to go against everything that we are, and continue to fight just to follow Him. It is not easy. The thing about Christianity is that it will never just happen. Nothing about it is natural. We have to go against everything that we are to follow the ways of Christ. It is a constant battle with the flesh that can only be won through Jesus Christ.  He loves you. He gave everything for all of us who deserve nothing. We as Christians do not spread the gospel because we want everyone to join in on our secret gang. We do it because we truly believe that the only way to heaven is not through works, but through Jesus Christ. We want everyone we know to be there with us in that giant party in the sky. We want everyone to feel complete again. This is why judgment, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, intolerance (not by the world’s definition), and hatred are not signs of a true believer. A true believer simply loves Jesus, and wants to see others do the same. It was once said that everyone goes thought this life just searching to be loved. I think we often find that love in the wrong place. The reason most people never find it is because they want to follow their instinct, and be a slave to their own desires. They want to follow their hearts. What true love takes is to go against everything your flesh tells you, and believe in the Son of God. Only then can you fill a gap in your heart, a gap that can only be filled by your creator. I encourage you to not get hung up on what the world says about Christianity, but instead to try something new. I promise you it is the answer to what you are looking for. What have you got to lose? With love for all.

-Joshua   

Encouraging Words

We all struggle to make God the number one priority in our lives. Everything about what God asks us to do is contrary to our human nature. We often only make God a section of our lives, instead of everything else a section of our life in Him. I find that shame is always there to welcome me when I have neglected God in any way. I often hide in shame instead of standing in the light. Why then are we called to try at anything if we will always just convert back to our human nature? It is because in our weakness He is made strong. Our weakness combined with our overwhelming desire and continuous efforts for Him make our God glorified. Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, and that is the end of that. If there was a point where we could live perfect lives then we wouldn't need the gift of Jesus' continuous cleansing blood in our lives. The point of needing a savior is that we cannot save ourselves. If we begin to grasp the weight of Christ has done I believe He will become our identity instead of just a part of it. It is then in this place where victory over certain battles are met, and God teaches you the things that He wants you to know. Let us learn to not use his grace cheaply, but strive to be successful in what he has done for us simply because we love Him. We couldn't earn it if we tried. Just a few thoughts. With love for all.


-Joshua

Do Not Follow Your Heart

As I look at the world today I see a humanity that cannot stand for anything to be politically incorrect. There is absolutely no tolerance for intolerance. The biggest argument individuals have is that we are oppressing people when we tell them they should not be themselves. Everyone should just be who they are, and follow what their heart tells them. My argument is against this for I know the natural state of the human, and the heart will always lead you down a path of unrighteousness. Christ does not call us to just be ourselves. Actually, quite the opposite. Christ continually asks us to deny ourselves, and take up our cross daily to follow him. (Luke 9:23). Everyone feels oppressed if they are unable to pursue their own attitudes, sexual desires, greed, and selfish ambitions. After all this is the American dream. However, let's look at a little bit of what scripture has to say about human beings, and their heart they want to follow. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" This does not sound like something I want motivating my decisions. In James 1:14-15 it says, "but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Okay so we are seeing here that when we sin it is only because we cannot curb our own stinking human appetites. Why in the world would you want to be yourself? You can only find reconciliation with God through his son, nothing you do by "instinct," or "feeling," or because you were "born this way." Sorry Lady Gaga. However, this is an okay thing. I am not saying that any one person is a worse sinner than any other. WE ALL ARE! This just shows how very badly we all need Jesus Christ. It may be harder for some people to curve some appetites more than others, but we are all hopeless without Jesus Christ. Yet with Him we are unable to fall. "What then shall we say? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) This is most helpful in Christian leadership, discipline, and growth when we realize that it is not just going to happen. You will never reach a state where Christianity is easy. No matter how close to Christ you grow you will never just naturally want to pursue what is good in all things. Your human. You have a human heart. Nothing about Christianity agrees with the flesh, and if you choose this lifestyle then you will be at constant war with the heart that fell so long ago. Galatians 5:17 says, "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." This is why we need our hearts reconciled with Christ's through his saving grace. Through Christ you can deny yourself, your human nature, your evil desires, your deceitful heart, and all things contrary to Him. Through Christ you can have daily quiet times, you can memorize verses, you can evangelize outside of your comfort zone, you can make disciples, and you can most certainly flee temptation. "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, and with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape so that you may endure it." (1 Corinthians 10:13) There is hope in Christ, there is hope for humanity, there is hope for love, there is hope for understanding, there is hope for me, and there is hope for you. Please just put your trust in Christ, whose love never fails, and do not be yourself. With love for all.'
-Joshua 

The Four C's of Christian Leadership

I recently read a paper submitted by Dr. Bruce Winston of Regent University. He stated that the board at Regent met to discuss what it actually meant to be a "Christian Leader." However, this was met with little success and the question continued to gnaw at him. After a ten hour car ride with his spouse he began to place four main elements, or traits, for which a "Christian Leader" would display. I thought that his insights were creative, easy to remember, and very well thought out. Here I display his four elements with my own words on each in the hope that those who feel led to lead are checking themselves daily to make sure they are doing there best for the kingdom of God. What better post for a blog titled "Useful Christian Leadership?" The four elements of Christian leadership are Calling, Competence, Confidence, and Character.

1. CALLING - this means that you are being obedient and carrying out the will of God in your life. A lot of people will pin it down to a few things like pastorate, or worship, or hospitality, and so on. Although those are absolutely things that you can be called to do that is not your entire life. Your calling is whether or not you are constantly lining yourself up with the will of God. It would be necessary for someone you expect to lead you to be following the will of the one in control. Think about some great leaders in the Bible: Moses, Abraham, Joshua, and David. In every single one of these cases they were required to show that they fully and truly put all of their trust in faith in God. It is detrimental to continuously check and make sure that you are aligning your will with that of our king.
2. COMPETENCE - this means that you do what you do well. Imagine if you had a leader that was ill prepared, or unable to carry out the job effectively. Then it is not just the leader who suffers, but all those under that person. It should be said that God will not call you to something for which you are unable to do. This means that if you are being incompetent in your position then you are either in the wrong place, or it is your own fault. This is why it is important to check yourself and make sure that your in the right place, if your in the right place then do what you do to the best of your ability, and do not be afraid to ask for help. There may always be someone around who is better at the job than you are, but God put you there for a reason, Just look at Moses in the Bible. God called Moses, and Moses questioned his own competence every time. Yet God assured him that he was more than able to carry out the will of God who sent him, and when Moses required assistance then God placed Aaron right where Moses needed him. Just remember that God is in control, and he just wants you to do the best that you are able.
3. CONFIDENCE - this is knowing what you can do by yourself and what you need God's help on. John 15:5 gives you your answer. "I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him will produce much fruit. You can do nothing without me." Here Jesus makes it very clear that without him you are unable to do anything, but the positive side about these elements is that they overlap. God CALLS you into a position to which you are able to COMPETENTLY perform CONFIDENTLY, because he is the one who sent you. One thing I know is that God does not make mistakes. What is there to be more confident in than that?
4. CHARACTER - this is living your life according to Biblical character values. As a Christian Leader your main purpose is to help others grow, and learn in Christ. However, a Christian leader is a shepherd, not a boss. We lead by example. We have to show the Characteristics of Jesus in our lives so that other people want to take on those characteristics. It is imperative that your walk follows your talk. No one wants to be lead in Christ by someone who doesn't know how to follow Him. That being said, everyone makes mistakes. Continuously humbling yourself, getting up, asking for forgiveness, and doing your best to learn and improve are characteristics of a real leader. A real Christian leader has character.

Developing leaders should first be filtered/selected by their sense of calling and calling, followed then by education and training to increase their competence. Then developing leaders can receive counseling and education to increase their confidence and finally, developing leaders can be coached, measured, critiqued and developed in character traits. It is important to continually check yourself so that you can do your best to carry out the will of the One who sent you. With love for all.
-Joshua
References: https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/innerresources/vol2iss2/winston.pdf

Progress not Perfection

We have all heard the saying progress not perfection, but I do not think that many of us hold to that ideal. It makes perfect sense that when you want to fix something about yourself then you should be able to do it immediately right? Yeah I did not think so either. I believe that in sin this can go the same way. Do not get me wrong, sin is sin. I just think that we look at our approach to overcoming it in the wrong way. There are two sides. The first is that you use God's grace cheaply. You do whatever you want, because you believe God is going to forgive you. That is a dangerous way to live. The second is when you hide in your shame, and let the sin eat at you until you have succumbed to it even further. Much like Adam and Eve you felt your vulnerability after a failure and hid from God instead of stepping into his loving light. This is where, I believe, our view on failure is fundamentally flawed. You see disappointment implies that something unexpected happened that is also not favorable. This is why God can not be disappointed in our sinning. Stick with me here. He does hate sin, but it is not unexpected. If we did not sin or had the capacity to be free from it then there would have been no need for Jesus. There ABSOLUTELY WAS a need for Jesus. We do sin, it is wrong, and it is our job to continuously try to overcome that. We can only do so with the loving help of our Lord and Savior. Yet God calls us to embrace our weakness and offer our vulnerability up to him so that he can be glorified. This is where strength is drawn. So the next time you sin do not push it out of your mind in the shame of guilt. Instead realize your flaw and notice the part where you did not lean upon the Lord. Then ask him to give you the strength to overcome it the next time, and the time after that. I promise you that you will start to win battles. get back on the horse, and know where your strength truly lies. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Progress not Perfection. God Bless.
-Joshua

The Complacency Curse

Go to any church in a third world country, and ask them what Christianity means to them. You will hear some of the things you would expect such as love, grace, hope, and Jesus Christ. However, a word that they would all use that you might not be familiar with is suffering. Third world Christians can not imagine following Christ without suffering. In America we see this as wrong or unjust. Did Jesus and Paul not continually say that we would suffer. Nevertheless, in America we have become complacent. We do not have to suffer, and it is easy for anyone to claim Christianity a system for their own personal beliefs. Paul lived in a world where the cruel Nero was burning Christians to provide lighting for his parties, and throwing them to the lions for mere entertainment. I can walk down the street right now, and tell anyone I know that I love and follow Jesus with little or no persecution. Yet this has not been a blessing for us. Instead it has become the very thing that is drying up our bones and making us a church that would sit inside a building's walls once a week instead of a group that is risking everything just to get a small glimpse of the word. We have every freedom to speak to others about Christ, yet most everyone who has claimed Christianity has never shared the gospel with anyone in their life. Can suffering be a blessing? If you ever met someone who still stood for Christ in the face of persecution then you would know it to be true. Paul spoke of a thorn in his side continuously torturing him all so he would know that the grace of Jesus Christ was enough for him. I fear that we have become so ego centralized that we have become so absorbed with our idea of freedom that we forgot to actually be free. If you look at some of the modern day issues concerning ISIS, and how American Christians are getting a reputation for hateful bigotry I think we might have to start seeing that America might not have a choice for complacency anymore. I believe that there will come a time where your faith will not be in question, and neither will your ability to suffer. It will be choice of taking up the gauntlet at the risk of your life as Christ asks in Luke 9:23, or going home and living the way we have continued to live over the past several hundred years. I am not so sure this is a bad thing. So why wait until things turn for the worst? Why not learn now what you can always use later. Suffer for Christ, and live your life in the flesh by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you. (Galatians 2:20). With love for all.


-Joshua

Father's Day

Today is father's day. For me, mother's day and father's day have never been big deals. I had never seen the point. Especially on father's day. My relationship with my father has always been strained, and so has his with his father, and so on. Yet it also reminds me that I take for granted the fact that both my parents are still around. Sometimes I cannot stand them, especially in transitioning to independence, but when I need them they are there. Even though my dad isn't the most understanding, loving, or kind father. He is still more than just a father, because he is a dad. He may not always participate, but he is around. We see that when children do not have fathers in the home they are twice as likely to get into trouble with the law, three times as likely to get into drugs and alcohol, and five times more likely to walk out on their children. I have to be reminded that as I go into being a dad that I should take what good I learned from him, fix the bad, and ultimately just strive to be more like our father we share in heaven. No father is as perfect as God, but I know my dad tries to be and that means more than any action he could perform. I hope to be a father who reflects the type of father our Lord is. I am learning, and so is my dad. Yet our imperfection also gives hope. There millions of people who hate this day more than me, as they sit with no father. They could have passed away, or perhaps were never there. However, we can rest in the fact that our true father is very much alive, and watching over us as the children he loves. We share a father with our fathers, and that is cool. So enjoy your day, and enjoy your dad who will always love you. Happy Father's Day! God bless.

Greatest Truth Ever Known

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

The Extra Push

It is most certainly impossible to make everyone like you. Even Jesus was hated, and he was the Son of the living God. Yet there are times when you have to admit you are at fault, and it is always time to show everyone love. There was a time in my life where I struggled with injustice in the world. I also had a massive temper, and wanted to fix anything that I thought was wrong. I was getting in the way of God. There was a time where these two flaws mixed, and it made me someone I was not necessarily proud of.said what I thought without filter, or even thought of consequence. I am not going to waste my time talking about that. That part of my life has ended, and we can all agree that it is not the right way to live. Needless to say, the person I once was said some hurtful things, and hurt a lot of feelings. I thought I was standing up for what was right, but never did I show love, humility, or grace. So what I am getting at is the extra effort I took to fix some of these relationships. Like most offenses mine seemed less extreme over time. However, even after apologies, time passing, and playing nice it just seemed like I was unable to restore those relationships. I went on for awhile just playing nice, forgiving, and assuming the other person just was not okay with me. That is where I was wrong. I realized that I was assuming they still had a problem with me, but they were probably assuming that I did not like them. After all I was the one who went off on them last time. So I did something new, and tried the extra push. Instead of just playing nice I made deeper conversation and actually listened, I joked around, and I did what they enjoyed. It was not always easy, but it was something I felt necessary. Guess what. It worked. Do not hold on to the things of the past, and assure others that you only wish to show them more of God's love. No matter what either one of you have done. After all the end goal is to spend eternity with them. Is it not? God Bless.

Don't Just Feel It

One of the biggest blunders we are taught blindly as growing persons is that actions follow emotions. You are to always act off of them, feed off of them, and make life decisions based on them. There is only one huge problem with that. We were born into sin, and our hearts desire the things we are not supposed to have. We are merely told that we are to balance how we feel and what we think in order to go through life, but when it comes down to it we are supposed to "follow our hearts." If we follow this philosophy of life then we will have the following: we will marry the wrong person, get divorced when we realize that we are not in love with them, choose not to worship God because you don't want to, we will go to the wrong schools, get the wrong job, and etc. You see it is going to be rare if you WANT to do what your supposed to do over 50% of the time. God loves it when we do things we don't want to but he has asked of us, and he even calls us to this life of sacrifice. Nevertheless, we get this idea that we can quit something or never start it because we are just not in the mood. We need to use our heads and prayer to make right decisions. Never does the Bible say to just follow your heart. The heart of God, but not just our feelings. Unless Jesus is living in there that heart is not going to be feeding you much good anyway. There are many reasons for why we should not just "go with the flow." Here is an example of how we get in the way of God, and make a mess of ourselves. It is very possible for you to not be in love with your significant other for a time. We get this all the time where people love their wives, but are not in love with them anymore. Most people freak out and ruin marriages with divorce or adultery. They are just reacting to what they feel is right for them. Yet they do nothing about it, because they are expecting actions to follow a feeling that is not there. However, when they think about it and pray about it God will restore what he intended to be there. You chose to be with them in the good times and bad. That is exactly what marriage is. A choice. A choice to live sacrificially for someone else on a deeper level, as God calls us to do with everyone. If you act as if you are in love with them, and do things to show that then I guarantee that the feelings will come. God does not believe in divorce, and he absolutely heals. He is just searching for someone who is going to look back to him in obedience. Actions do not follow emotions, but emotions follow actions. God shows us so much about acting as he intends even when we do not wish to do so. This is the epitome of obedience. God just wants us to love others when we do not, serve others when we want to be served, and give our lives when we need someone else's. By no means is it the modern way to live, but God shows us that it is the right way to live. What can be better than that? God bless.

The Struggle

It is a fact that I am rarely going to admit that someone has taught me something life changing. Especially when I am extremely humbled by what I have been taught. I have been in a relationship with the love of my life for years, and more than anything else she taught me something that changed the way I viewed life. Our age difference is a larger deficit then what most couples would choose to engage in. Nevertheless, I believe with all of my heart this is what God has intended. I have the absolute intention of marrying this girl, and the more I pray the more I realize that God has given me one of the biggest gifts I could ever receive on earth. I can love and feel love back, I am cared for, I am listened to, I have a best friend, someone who has my best interest at heart, and most of all someone to make me a better person. It would be impossible to list all of the things God has showed me by using her. I have learned about love, life, and everything else. However, one thing she does has changed my life more than she ever could have done on our own. I have only spoken of it to her once so I do not think that she will ever understand the weight of what she has done for me. She does not give up no matter how hopeless it seems, or even in the face of absolute failure. I am in love with her, but even more so I am in love with HER. I am not saying the cliche that "the only way to fail is to give up." No. God used her to show me something bigger. Our relationship is far from perfect, which is what makes it perfect. We struggle to agree, to keep things pure, to have our families coincide, to communicate, to be the best we can be to each other, and every other problem you can have. There have been many times where I challenge her with the question of, "Why are we even doing this?" Yet I can always rest assured in her answer, "because we love each other." I ask a lot of her and as she grows in mental, physical, and spiritual maturity I am to be patient as she is with me. There are many times where she does not meet expectations, and in our relationship very few people would survive what we have been through. Nevertheless, we are still here. We both aim to be completely obedient to God, and he gifted us with each other for the time being. No matter what comes along she never even sees a break-up as an option. She fails, but she never gives up. She is always herself, and comes out of the hard times as herself. This is life changing for me anyway, because it put true love into my life. It is the type of love in 1 Corinthians 13, the kind that keeps no record of wrongs, forgives, is patient, and kind. However, even more so there is something that the entire world can learn from my love. We are unworthy of salvation. We ruined that long ago. What is even more is that we will continue to sin, and we will fight that until our life on earth ceases to exist . How crazy is it that we will probably sin on the day that we die? We will never be a perfect Christian, and we will never reach a point where our life is perfect. So one might say that they understand why we need Jesus for salvation, but why even try if we will never be completely delivered from sin on earth. Well my answer is this: God knows we will sin (Romans 3:23), so he sent us a gift in his son, Jesus, to pay our debt (Romans 6:23). Even more so God calls us into a losing battle in a part of a war that has already been won. He wants us to keep on trying, and to continue to strive for perfection. Simply because he asked us to. It is not about being perfect. We can't. Yet God asks to look into the face of our failures, turn to his everlasting grace, and keep fighting the good fight. I thank you God, I thank you my love, and I thank you all. God bless.

Leading Worship

Being a worship leader is one of the most controversial positions in the church. As a musician I know that it is impossible to make everyone like your style, you have to deal with the attitudes and egos of musicians, you have to deal with balancing talent and calling, you have to worry about getting caught up in the music, and of course you have to actually understand what it means to be a worship leader. As a fairly new job in the church a lot of people have an opinion about how to do worship in a corporate setting in the correct way. In teaching me how to step up to this position God gave me a revelation, and taught me even more through the wisdom of others. I always thought it was my job to show up, have a good attitude, play well, feed of the audience, and give an excellent God glorifying show. However, the first thing I had to learn was that as a worship leader it was my job to get my nourishment from worship before I got on stage. The corporate setting is the worship leader's job to prepare the hearts for the message to come, and to lead them in approaching the throne room in an attitude of ambient praise and worship. How could I lead others when I was too busy trying to lead myself, or follow the lead of the congregation. I was constantly looking for people to raise hands or sing along in order to get psyched for Jesus. I was expecting them to what God had called me to do, and we were BOTH suffering for it. It was then that God revealed to me that I was to worship him always. I was to live worship. The illustration of the "well" describes it best for me. During the week where you are not at church you have your shovel. This is when it is time to dig. You have to be in quiet times, you have to pray, and you have to have private worship. The deeper you dig the more fresh water you are going to have. On Sunday morning your shovel is taking away, and you only have the water that you dug up the week before. It is not enough to have enough water to draw from while you are on stage, but you also have to have enough to pour out into the congregation. If you do not have enough water or stagnate water, then maybe just the congregation will suffer. Nevertheless, God has called worship LEADERS. If you have ever been to a worship service that you knew God was a part of then you understand what I mean by authentic worship. God wants all of our worship to be an experience where we encounter him, and just like anything else he wants obedient servants to lead others. If God is asking you to do this then it is imperative that you take the time to find him during the week so that you are able to show others the way when Sunday comes around. If you are authentic in this pursuit then it will not matter whether or not you want to worship on Sunday, or how hard of a week you have had. God will call you to come as you are, give your all to him, and let others benefit from your obedience. God Bless.