Who are we fighting for?

2 Timothy 2:4 "To please the recruiter, no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of everday life."

When one chooses to enlist in the military, they are choosing to dedicate their lives to the protection of this country, no matter what. A soldier at war cannot tell his commanding officer, "I just don't feel like being a soldier today...I'm going to go into town and be a civilian, maybe tomorrow I'll be back." That absolutely wouldn't fly! So why do we do that in our Christian faith?

I love the verse above because it is so simple. If a soldier doesn't get concerned with everyday life (the picture is really a civilians life), then why do we as soldiers of Christ get caught up in worldly things on a daily basis? Our God is a more gracious general than any earthyly general! Let's show Christ that we are soldiers for Him and not get caught up in the "civilians" life, because if we claim to follow Christ and then don't fight for Him, we are essentially fighting for the enemy. So I have to ask you, "Who are you fighting for?"

If you are fighting in God's army (remember the kids song?) you have the greatest priviledge that has ever existed! The only problem is, US as Christians, we often forget that this is the greatest priviledge because we get caught up in the civilians life! The enemy makes us think about things that are not as important as our walk with the Lord. For example, how many of you have thought about golf more than God this week? Or about music, or movies, or friends etc... One of Satan's greatest weapons is getting us to forget the eternal and to have improper focus. I encourage all of you (and I strongly encourage myself in this too), to never forget that which is most important in this life, and that is our walk with the LORD! Soldiers let's pick up our weapons and our armor and fight the good fight and leave the civilian life behind.

I'm just dying to grow!

"But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Matthew 13:23

I love this verse because it is so encouraging to know that if you abide in Christ you will not only grow but bear fruit. The thing I don't like is that most pastors only tell us that and don't explain. I love hearing the Christian language, but lets start teaching people what it actually means.

In this verse we see that if a seed, which represents us, is on good ground then we will produce fruit! It is so cool to see God use the seed as an example of us growing. Why is it so cool? Well, a seed, in order for it to grow, must first die! What an awesome picture Jesus gives us here in this passage of Scripture.

If you want to know how to grow in Christ and bear much fruit, then you must die! What does this mean? Well let's get practical. If you want to grow in Christ you must die to your fleshly desires (these are the desires that are opposite of what God wants for you). As you are dying to your fleshly desires, the great thing is you will be growing spiritually! This is the concept Jesus is drawing for us here. If you die to yourself, then what are you doing? Quit simply, you are living for God and others and that is how you grow! Thank God He made it so simple!

If you are a teacher of the Word please don't fall into the temptation of just using Christian language (i.e. Grow in the Lord or give it all to God) without any explaination. We need to learn to practice how to live properly, not how to sound spiritual. Simply teach the Word and watch God bless, because after all it is His Words.

Love you guys! Let me know what you think about the blog by dropping a comment below.

Food for thought

1 Corinthians 11:24-25 "and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'"

In this blog, we are going to use the communion elements as food for thought. What do I mean? Well, have you ever thought, "Why did God use two elements for communion (bread and wine)?" I thought He could have easily chosen one element to summarize everything...I mean He's God, He can do anything, right? So then I thought, "Why did He choose these two elements?"

As I was thinking (something I don't always do...but I try), I thought well the bread represents the body. What does the body mean? Well, the body is something that is temporal. What does that tell us? It tells us that Jesus gave His body to be beaten and hung on the cross, but have you ever thought about His whole life? His body was the shell He was in while on earth and for His sacrifice to be perfect, He, in that body, had to be perfect. Christians, Jesus didn't just die for you, but He lived everyday of His life for you! He had to, His sacrifice had to be perfect. That means that every time He was tempted, He didn't sin because He thought of you and you were worth it to Him! If He lived everyday for you, what are you doing in return for Him?

His body represented the temporal, so what did His blood represent? Without His blood, you and I could not enter into an eternal relationship with Him. So His blood represents the eternal! Jesus loved us enough, that He lived everyday for us and at the end of His earthly life, He died for us so we could enter into eternity!

I encourage you to remember and dwell upon His sacrifice for you. Not only will it cause you to be very humble, but it will emphasize the grace that God has given to us. Don't forget, the point of communion is to remember!