My Jesus
I just today discovered an amzaing song that I must share. I hope and pray that it causes you to think like it does me.
My Jesus
Todd Agnew
Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus
Because of my love for Middle Schoolers and my love of seeing them get it, I post the following quote from the mouth of a Middle Schooler regarding worship, found on Marko's Blog.
When presented with Amos 5:21-24 in which God basically tells the Israelites that He is not interested in their worship because their lifestyle does not back it up, a student of Marko's, that got it summed up the message in the following way:
"It’s saying, like, that God doesn’t care if we sing songs or not, or if we ’say’ prayers, or whatever. It’s saying that what really matters is our hearts; and if we really want to, like, worship God and all, like, we can do that with how we live our lives, and, like, even by how we show God’s love to other people and stuff."
Dead on right! If only we would all understand that!
Who says Middle Schoolers don't get it?
Rain
Well it's now official. The "Rainy Season" has begun here in the great Northwest! Rain, rain, rain. Man it is wet! We're supposed to get an inch of rain today. Of course we also got one yesterday and the day before, and we'll probably get one tomorrow too! See. Aaagh!!
To help us feel better about the rain, we Orgonians like to say things like, "but it sure is green here." Well yah, but...
I sure miss Summer.
Ok, I feel better now. Let it rain!
Messy
Last night our High School Ministry had our first ever Messy Night. Let me tell you, it got real messy. The night involved various games and relays all centered on getting messy. We arm wrestled with Crisco smeard all over arms and the table surface, we played games involving yogurt, flour, puffed rice, choclate syrup, toothpaste, well you get the picture. Of course we ended our time together eating sloppy joes.
As we went through the night I was remined how God allows us to come before Him in our messy state. I shared this with the students at the conclusion of the night. We have a God that takes us just the way we are, but loves us too much to let us remain that way.
Our students cleaned themselves up, as much as possible, before coming to the table to eat. Jesus allows us to come to Him, and dine, without cleaning up first.
I love the story of Jesus in John 4, in which He spends time with a very messy person. It is a lady at a well, at which Jesus stopped for a drink. For one, she was a Samaritan, and Jews in that day, would have nothing to do with them. Jesus did.
Secondly, as they conversed, her messiness came more and more to light. She had had five husbands, and the man she was currently living with, she was not even married to. To her suprise Jesus accepted her! Through all her messiness she revealed to Jesus a desire to know Him. That is what Jesus focused on. He did not focus on her past, rather her desire to know Him. It changed her life forever! It also changed the lives of many others. In verse 39 we see that many in her community came to faith in Jesus as well.
I am thankful to have a God like that. If for some reason you are holding back on approaching Jesus because of your past, don't. Don't allow your past or even your present condition, keep you from beginning a love relationship with Jesus. If you already have a relationship with Him, don't allow your past or your present condition, prevent you from going further with your relationship.
I appreciate the words of Mike Yaconelli who went home to be with his Lord two years ago today. In his book Messy Spirituality he says,
"Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives. Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives."
Don't allow your past stand in the way or your future.
I Need
Saw this funny Google idea here, so had to try myself. Go to Google and type your name and the word ‘needs’, in quotes — as in “Brian needs". Notice the first few sentences that come up. Here’s what I got:
Brian needs food badly.
Brian needs to communicate more effectively and stop being negative.
Brian needs assistance.
Brian needs to do a Gospel CD.
Brian needs both money and a job.
Brian needs to explain why he believes God intervened.
Brian needs to anticipate what questions might be asked about his work.
Brian needs to guard against responding.
What Brian needs to learn is that those life changing experiences don't stop.
What do you need?
How Great Is Our God
I recently got Chris Tomlin's CD "Arriving". What a great album full of amazing worship songs.
I particularily appreciate the song "How Great Is Our God."
The splendor of the King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end
The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God (x2)
What a great reminder. May we never forget how great our God is! Despite what happens in our lives. Despite what happens in our ministries. God is GREAT.
I am thankful for His greatness in my life!
Think On This
"The risk facing contemporary teenagers bear solemn testimony to the church's ineffectiveness at addressing adolescence. Youth look to the church to show them something - Someone - capable of turning their lives inside out and the world upside down. Most of the time we have offered them pizza."
-Kenda Creasy Dean, in the Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry
Grande or Venti?
I guess you know you have truly "arrived" when your quote lands on the side of a Starbucks cup. For Rick Warren, his day has come! We've all seen our good friend, Rick Warren, in a lot of places lately. Because of the run away success of his book, The Purpose Driven Life, we have seen him in Time Magazine, the Larry King Live Show and countless other places. Well now he has landed on the side of our beloved Starbucks cup!
That's right, come spring we should be seeing on the side of our cups...
"You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny."
Prehaps this is due in part to the ill-thought decision Starbucks made recently to put the Armistead Maupin quote, "life is too damn short to hide being gay." on the side of their cups. Come on Starbucks you can do better than that! I guess now they have!
You must see this USA Today article. All I can say, is You go Rick!
Welcome PBC Youth
A Big welcome to PBC Youth of Providence Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Thank you for featuring Brian's Blog on your site.
I hope you enjoy what you see. Leave a comment to say Hi. If there is a way I can pray for you, I'd be honored to do so. Just let me know!
Blessings!
Our Worship
I've been thinking quite a bit about the worship songs that we sing, and I am beginning to feel more and more convicted. Do we really mean the words that we sing? Are they really the true expressions of our heart or merely lies that fall from our lips.
Confession time now. I am not always content with where God has me in life. There are many times in which I think I should have, or deserve, more than I do. There are times in which I have a difficult time trusting God with every area of my life. In times such as these, can I honestly and truthfully sing songs like
All of You
Is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You are my supply
My breath of life
Still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
Worth living for
Still more awesome than I know
What a great song! I love to sing it, and I think I mean it. I wonder sometimes though.
What about this one...
Holy Fire burn away,
my desire for anything
that is not of you and is of me.
I want more of you and less of me.
Another great song that I enjoy singing. Another song that brings a great deal of conviction to my heart. Perhaps that is one of the purposes of such songs, to help us re-align our hearts. Whether it is or not, it certainly serves that purpose in my life.
May we not sing lies to our God, but rather express the deep longings of our heart and honor Him with our words.
I do not want to be included in God's judgement of His people found in Isaiah.
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Isaiah 29:13
I am also haunted by the words of Brennan Manning.
The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
Let us acknowledge Jesus with our lips as well as our lifestyle. After all isn't that would genuine worship is anyway?
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1
Featured Blog
Hey New Work Fellowship in Hopkinsville, KY, thanks for featuring Brian's Blog on your web site. Welcome! Hope you enjoy what you see.
How are things going for you in Hopkinsville? Can I pray for you? Leave me a comment.
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