What They Never Say

We could feed the whole world with the crumbs from our bread

2009-02-04T11:29:00.001-08:00

It was twenty-six degrees last night and most of us were warm beneath the blankets in our bed. Some of our biggest worries as our head hit the pillow came from a txt or some other form of cowardly drama. Most of us slept well. Our stomachs were full from not one, but several meals we ingested yesterday and most in excess. We were full. We woke this morning and showered using enough water to sustain a family in Africa for a week and we were upset if it wasn’t hot enough. We left the shower and headed to the closet or dresser where some stressed over not having enough to wear… while in reality most of our closets could clothe several families who have nothing. That’s where my part of the story picks up. I was standing there looking at clothes and began to be broken. In one moment I realized how selfish and materialistic I am… It really started a few weeks ago though when I was standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes and became disgusted with myself when I thought that some kid in Africa would love to drink my dirty dishwater because it wouldn’t kill them. It’s these two experiences that have begun to shape my mind in a new direction, but there are a few many people who have brought me to this place.

Craige, you slept in an old train car last night downtown with no heater. You have made getting out of bed every Wednesday at 4 something worth it. This morning was the first morning you didn’t start the fire in…… well, no one knows how long. Some of the guys were worried. Frank assured us that the “professor is fine”. Hope to see you next Wed.

Mema, for giving your food away or not eating until you are certain that everyone else is full. For doing without so much so you could give to so many.

Dud, for taking a pair of gloves off your hands in 20 degree weather and giving them to someone you don’t know, not because you had to, but just so he would be warm.

The 5,000 kids that die every day from unsanitized water. That’s 2 million a year.

The 192 (not counting the two homeless shelters, hospitals, jails, and rehab) homeless people in Albany that face insurmountable odds everyday and keep going.

I sometimes want to be sad when I hang out with my friends downtown, but I am realizing they have so much and I have so little. I take everything for granted. Including God. Just like I stand beneath the flood of clean water every morning. I also stand in the presence of a holy God who desires a relationship, a oneness with me. I am overwhelmed by His goodness and drink it in, but soon leave His presence drawn away with the desire for more stuff. I pray that one day we choke on our excess and vomit it up so that we see how completely depraved we really are and how glorious Christ really is. He has given everything to us. Some He has given some much and to some little, but you have to remember He is the One that said the last will be first, that being weak is being strong, and that if we truly die we can fully live. My hope today in sharing my heart is that you will hear the voice of God breaking through your stuff and reminding you that there is much more. That in Him is fullness of joy and peace that overcomes every conflict. There is rest for the weary and hope for the beaten down. Today, right this minute there is forgiveness of sin and restoration for the soul. I pray that some of us would become poor in His presence so we could know the splendor of being rich in Him, that some of us would thirst today with a desire for Him to quench it and for hunger pains to grip our soul for more, more of the all-satisfying, completely sufficient Christ.

Would you say your full today? Or have you been blinded by so much stuff?
Proverbs 27:7

Dreaming with a broken heart

2009-01-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

There’s refuge in Christ. I could really end there and that would be sufficient. I have struggled tonight with whether I should list my past and my sins out… all the dirt, the pain, and the ruin. I was so dirty, so freaking jacked up, a user and abuser of anyone and everyone. I even peddled the gospel if I was in the appropriate crowd, but I refuse to illuminate a horrible past over a precious Savior. I will instead shine light on the cross of Calvary and the glorious gift God gave. My heart breaks tonight knowing that I have friends in my city sleeping with each other, my heart breaks to know that there are some who feel helpless and are contemplating suicide, and my heart yearns for you to know the truth. The truth is simple. It is easy to say and hard to live. God called you out and is calling you out. His work on the cross rendered us forgiven if we would just receive, repent and trust in Him for salvation. Do you realize that part of who God is is omnipresent? That means he is everywhere… EVERYWHERE! When your fooling around, getting slammed, glancing at porn, being lazy, taking advantage of people, and lying He is there, broken by your sin, grieved by your disobedience and ready to wrap you in His arms of love. He is not waiting with condemnation. Not yet at least. He is near tonight and ready to wash you clean, to make you whole in Him through the blood of Jesus. There is no need for excuses in His presence. Just be honest with Him (He knows anyways). I refuse to ramble, but as weird as it is I know your reading this and this for you is an invitation to the table where you’ll find forgiveness, newness and rest covered by the grace of God. If you fit these categories then I wrote for you. I pray for you. I believe God is going to change your life.

The arrogant Christian
The faithful believer
The college and high school student who justifies your drinking with (the bible doesn’t say it’s a sin)
The beautiful young lady who dresses to show her body because she has no self worth
The guy who takes advantage of a girl
The girl who takes advantage of a guy
The proud
The homosexual
The sexually active
The fearful
The faithful
The saved
The lost
Myself
The inconsistent
The workaholic
The desperate
The pastors
The worship leaders
The president
The soon to be saved
I don’t write for popularity, I am casting the net so some would be caught in the grip of grace.

I stinkin love you

Tj

Matt Johnson, Andy Blankenship, and Chase Ostrander... Heretics?

2009-01-13T07:59:00.000-08:00

I want to take a moment and shine the light on some questionable characters that are in the Macon county area.

I will start with Matt Johnson. He and This other guy Chase have started a church in Americus Georgia and are focusing on unity within the family, while teaching biblical principles and sound doctrine. I am confused on one thing... How come when men of God step up to the plate and begin to lead their families and their church with integrity, instilling values and godliness in their children are they then blasted for being heretics. Have we lost our minds? Really! Sometimes you want the fire of God to come down and consume idiots that exalt denomination above the Goodness and Supremacy of Christ. There will be a day when Christ comes to reclaim His bride and all the world will flatten themselves to the ground surrendering their pre-conceived ideas of Christ. He is neither Baptist or Methodist, He is not Calvinist nor Armenian, He was not created. He will come back and settle the debate. He will end the fuss and He will judge the rank sinner along with the arrogant theologian. He will also shine light on the busybodies who refuse to keep their mouths shut about men of God. He will bring joy that never ends and forgiveness eternal. He is not coming back like a lamb lead to the slaughter. He coming back as the Lion of Judah. I write with chills thinking of the majesty we will behold in His face. He is. I hope that I don't sound to offensive, but if your offended it's may be because you need to be. So, knowing all this about Christ I would say some should repent. If Matt and Chase are heretics then Christ will impose the correct authority on their lives, something I believe will not happen because I am certain they are neither heretics nor hypocrites. Do I agree with them on everything? No. Do I trust them? Yes. Are they my brothers in Christ? Absolutely. Will I pray that God has mercy on your sole for a minutes slander of these men? Absolutely. That's enough of that. On to Andy.

Andy Blankenship, in my opinion is bad baptist. Or at least thats one perception of him by some and here is the reason why. He would rather see the doctrine of Christ exalted through the preaching of the gospel than any denomination lifted in their own glory. His agenda is not the convention, it is being lead by the spirit of God and moving with compassion. Andy is my brother and I know the dirt on him and his life... here it is. He is abrasive, honest, passionate about the gospel, committed to his family and has sacrificed for his church. He has the gift of a thousand seat sanctuary and shares it with a faithful few in small-town south Georgia. He evangelized an entire band of nobodies and showed them they could be something in Christ. He has fathered an amazing daughter and is raising her in the admonition of the Lord. He loves his wife MK with an unbelievable passion and godliness. He is a soldier in the army of Christ and spends his time exalting the goodness of Christ and riches of His glory. If that makes him a bad baptist then I would never ever want the name baptist attached to me or my faith.

In honesty these guys will probably not like me posting this, but my aim is to illuminate the glory of Christ in them and to say thanks for being godly mentors. I will start posting blogs this evening.

Tj

What's your story

2008-08-13T22:04:00.001-07:00

The fog of insecurity and uncertainty seems to clear for the moment as the sun rises from the east to say good morning, to kiss the earth with the reminder that we have been given another day to cherish or squander. One more day to live, love and share the gift. To be honest the word gift seems almost elementary to use when talking about salvation from a God who owns the universe, created gravity and defeated death, but that is just what it is. A gift that defies all fairness and common logic, a gift that we neither deserved nor earned, but have been offered none the less. A gift unmatched by any other, sure a man can die for another, but to die for the whole world...knowing that the majority would reject your existence and try to completely discredit your deity. Like I said it is an unmatched, untouchable gift… it’s more than just a gift of salvation, but it’s a gift of freedom and life in Christ. I wish this was my constant thought pattern and that my heart yearned for soul after soul to be won the kingdom constantly, but truthfully I find myself blurring the lines of mediocrity and complacency from time to time with a systematic type religion that keeps the boxes checked, but is devoid of passion…. And believe me I need passion to survive. I want a fire to stir in me that brings me to my knees in such reverence and respect for the glory of God. I mean, I want to feel the weight of the work on the cross and be satisfied in the fact that if He never does another thing nor says another word that that bloody cross was enough and that very vacant tomb completely sufficient to sustain me. I want you and I to live in such a sense of urgency that it is though we can smell the borders of hell when we keep company with the lost and with everything we have desire to be the wall between them and that horrible pit reserved for the devil and his angels. I am in no way hoping that you climb on board a evangelistic explosion. We have had enough of those that leave people looking for a new way to share their faith two years later. I am simply hoping and wishing that you would share “your faith” and that being what Christ has done in and through you, the reason why you worship and sing, the reason why you dance or easily overcome things that would typically be tragedy or the reason you have joy unspeakable. If you have no story, no time when God stepped in and took over your story to make it His own then you should consider the possibility that you are lost and need God to save you. The good news is that He has made a way…

Heres a good place to start
“God this is your story… I so desperately desire to be a part of it. Bend me. Break me. Do whatever it takes to let your light shine from me. Reduce me that you and only you may be seen. Save me from this world and it’s passions, save me from myself and my passions, save me from my sin and it’s consequences and let me fall more in love with you every day”

John 3
Titus 3:4-7
Ephesians 4:22-32
Galatians 2:21

Arkansas a looker

2008-08-09T21:49:00.001-07:00

We are headed toward sixty-five. Everyone for the moment is still awake… silent, but awake. We have spent the last four days in Berryville Arkansas and to be honest I am sad to be saying goodbye to people I consider family. I want to take a minute and thank Ricky Sowell and his wife Megan for opening their home and sharing the love and hospitality of Christ with us. They are not a couple who speak Jesus with their lips, but examples by exhausting their lives for the cause of Christ. (I’m praying He sends you to China). Jp is for sure the greatest kid in Arkansas and I am blessed to know you guys.
We came for a three-day youth revival to lead worship and share the most awesome thing that has ever been given to us… the gospel. It was glorious remembering it is not about us, but completely and supremely about Him. Times of worship were pretty much beautiful with the presence of God resting like a blanket and the voice of God ringing like a trumpet. I know for me these past few days have been a reminder to not only know Christ, but to be intimately devoted to Him and His call. (The sun is coming up over the Ozarks, I wish you guys could see this). The spectacle of creation here is so much more elaborate than at home. It’s like God wanted to cram a million rolling hills and breathtaking views into one state. Well done.
I wont bore you with talk of turkey houses, horses, ice crème sandwiches and golf, but I will tell you that in all these things I could see the wonder, majesty and uniqueness of our God. I guess you could say it was like taking a step back to child-like faith and in that taking one step closer towards Him. One thing is certain and with this I will close. When you can’t He can, when you don’t He does, and when you need He is. There will be more to come on that last sentence soon, but it’s six in the morning and I had four hours sleep last night so my eyes are heavy and the sway of truck and trailer are about to do me in.
Ricky, Megan, and J.p thank you again for making me part of your family, you guys are truly a valuable part of my life.

"Let the world feel the weight of who you are, let them deal with it"

2008-07-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

“Tj, you go overboard with Jesus”.

I want to write humbly… seriously out of love and compassion laying aside myself and letting the love and light of Christ to shine through. How can we, when we know the horrifying experience Jesus endured for us not go overboard with Him? I know I don’t hold the popular opinion and that I am aggressive or in your face and I say hell and sin, but it is not for fun… It’s not because I want to be offensive just for kicks.
I remember when my grandfather would talk to me about God and Jesus and how much He loved me and I remember how I loathed him for it. I went to church… spoke occasionally… played the part of Christian and was completely and altogether lost. I would despise those who talked about the bible as a thing to live by and when they spoke of holiness, I checked out… but then it happened. I was completely ruptured from my sin; I realized that I was a poser, a fake that knew about God with my head but was so far form Him with my heart. I guess that’s why I am overboard now. I sit here with tears swelling in my eyes when I think of who I was and how much I did against God. I was a lying, cheating, hateful, dirty God-hater and He picked me up, wrapped me in His arms and washed me white as snow. He forgave me for things I thought unforgivable. How could I not in the midst of all this grace be completely overboard about Him? How could I not offer my life as a vessel for Him to mold and change and break if need be? He died, I mean really bled out His blood… what is overboard? I don’t know, but I do know he deserves it… every bit of awkward silences and hateful words from people who don’t even really know us. Every bit of ridicule from your family and laughter from the world is small in comparison to His beautiful gift. Tell Steven he was overboard when he stood being stoned to death because he loved Jesus. Tell Peter while he walked on the sea towards Him then later asked to be crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus. Tell Martin Luther that as he nailed his view of God to the door of the church. Tell me that I’m overboard when I’m urgent and persistent about my God who saved me and my reply will remain… Yes, yes I am and I hope I never change, ever. I hope that every chance I get to open my mouth I exhaust that opportunity for the cause of Christ, that the passion of the cross and echo of the empty tomb never ever escape my conversation.

Now you feel the weight of who I am… now you have to deal with it.

wrestle between remedy and revolution, it's painfully beautiful

2008-07-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

“How lonely sits the city, that was full of people”, is a line from the book of lamentations that stir’s in me so many emotions about the church in America as a whole. When I say church I am not referring to the bride of Christ totally, but am incorporating the building in which we corporately gather to worship. Churches in America were once a place of honesty and integrity. They were a hospital to the broken and weary, a place for lives to be mended and for the lost to be found. Sadly, now they scarcely survive amongst a barrage of TV preachers who have turned our faith into a joke with their five-dollar prayer penny and vials of holy water. There is also the constant assault of modern philosophy and new age religion that insist that there is no absolute truth. All the while the church has laid down the fight claiming to turn the other cheek… truthfully they are filled with terrified, spineless men and women who will not take a stand or with those who believe in part that we have to change our view of God and sin as the culture changes, as if to say God has become soft in these last days and some sin has become ok, both of which are a fallacy. The sad reality for the daring believer looking for encouragement to be holy, to actually be full of integrity and live the gospel is that the pulpits of America are largely littered with men who have traded the sometimes hard to swallow truth of God for a pacifying lie. They have coaxed the bride of Christ into believing that being saved means you have money and no worries, or that it’s a ticket to instant happiness and pain free persecution, that it is a license to sin. In short, they have lowered their standard of preaching to meet the world’s standard of living. The result is dieing churches and powerless preachers.
The repercussion for such a gutless act by so-called men of God is a generation who feels no need for God or the church. There is no standard of holiness or righteous living to be respected so they see no difference, no need for a Savior. My heart breaks at the idea that we have one side of faith saying we were made to sin so just do it and God will forgive you, while the other holds a list of rules in which an angry, mean God will enforce without any patience or mercy… both have partial tainted truth, but neither contain the honest beauty of our God. Where have we lost it? I look every Sunday and see a church that is consumed with everything but pleasing the Father, rather they are fully concerned with pleasing themselves. The horrifying thing about the position the bride of Christ has taken is that she has as a whole disconnected herself from her first love. If for a moment we are concerned with numbers, our agenda, or basically anything other than obedience and exaltation of our gracious sin-atoning God then we have traded a beautiful romance between Lord and lover for a systematic process in which self-righteousness is our fruit and dry religion our reward.
My mind and heart wrestle somewhere between remedy and revolution. I mean. I know Jesus gave Himself so that we could be free, so that there could be true reconciliation, but to watch the church wallow in un-renounced self centered sin while claiming devotion to God makes me sick with indignation. Lit be understood that I don’t for a second think myself to be perfect or to have “arrived”. I simply believe that God is calling out to His bride in desperation. Can you imagine His pain? He looks down on His creation and sees them satisfying themselves on and with everything other than Him. It is a constant arrow into the heart of God and we are the archers. “You are not enough God… not today” we say that with our relentless pursuit of more things, the perfect relationship, the perfect job or even so called “godly living”. Some actually choose to carry out a list of rules rather than be romanced by their Creator. This form of church and religion has left our generation passionless and unwilling to give their lives for Christ, unwilling to be loved by God.
I yearn for those of you who were once princes and princesses in the kingdom, but now live like slaves… I would that you revolt, it’s ok to not be ok with church when it takes away from the fame and passion and beauty and glory of our God. I know if you have read this far then you too are wrestling somewhere between remedy and revolution… I believe they are the same… that it is impossible to have one and not the other. So go, those of you who really are princes and princesses, joint heirs, sons and daughters of a living God and reclaim what is yours and mine, reclaim the relationship the “church” has dumb down to a list of rules, reclaim your first love and know there will be casualties, that it will cost, but oh what a worthy price if even our lives are lost.

God is pursuing you…words that now have life

2008-06-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

I have always had this dream of running from the cops. Not the dream while I’m sleeping kind, but the awkward desire while traveling the road and a cop pull’s up behind me at a red light and I just want to hit the gas and leave him in the dust, then throw a hand out the window and wave as he spins out in anger to give chase… cutting in and out of traffic, sirens blaring, engines screaming as we parade through town. I am constantly throwing things out the window to detour his pursuit. I zig and zag while dashing through mud puddles and barely missing the senseless pedestrian who should know to move … Real Smokey and the bandit kind of stuff… The cop finally retires his attempts to capture me realizing that I’m just too fast, too much of a bandit to be tamed by any law. Then the light turns green and I stop dreaming. I creep forward praying to God that the nice officer behind me doesn’t give me a ticket for the absence of a taillight. The dream has ended and the reality of his authority rest heavy on me until he passes. He turns off a side road and I breathe relief.

I want, in an attempt at being transparent to bring you a realistic version of this story. We as people have a beautiful Creator. He speaks and the stars burn at attention to His glory, mountains tremble and knees bow. This same creator saw humanity in a state of wickedness and total depravity and being moved with compassion towards us He wrapped Himself in a tabernacle of flesh, dwelt among His own creation and suffered the most gruesome death known to man. With that single act He began to pursue us with an all-satisfying, never-ending, uncontainable love. He humbled Himself and has been chasing us with love and forgiveness ever since. The crazy thing is that as people we are constantly running here and there looking for the next thrill, the next emotional or physical fill up and then we’re off again. All the while the God of all creation is pursuing us. Reminding us that to Him we are beautiful, that we are worth forgiving, worth the cross. We know all this but still choose to run our own way. We are throwing faults and failures in His path trying to detour Him. We make a million excuses why He shouldn’t love us, why he shouldn’t call us. We swerve into this relationship or that activity trying to “do our own thing” all the while He is pursing. Constant and inescapable, relentless and unconditional His love is calling to you and I, beckoning that we would surrender our will to Him. He pursues through all we have thrown in His path to say I love you…I am here.

His grace has become so much more beautiful when I saw Him not only as Savior, but also pursuer.

Hammer and nail theology

2008-05-31T09:44:00.001-07:00

It was refreshing really, to have light shine on my depravity completely awakening me to a truth that I had almost forgotten. I was thinking yesterday about the glory of God and how you and I were created for just that, to bring God glory in everything that we do and to push everyone around us in this direction as well. Sometimes however we feel like nothing more than a tool in the hand of God… There are days when we are the hammers in the hand of God building the kingdom one blow at a time, beating things into place and being completely confident in who he has called us to be. Other days are much different, there are some days in which we play the role as the nail and are beat upon. The weight of His glory bears down on us with relentless beauty causing us to surrender the idea that any of this is about us. The hammer seems prestigious in nature compared to the nail… but really they both hold the same weight of Glory. They both hold up that which is being built. That is why today I am ok with being a nail. It seems as though the beating is worth is when all those around you who you truly care about have in some way been pushed, carried and laid at the feet of Jesus. In this you find whether you be the nail, the hammer, or whatever you rejoice in it knowing our Father is receiving all the glory.

Those hands

2008-05-30T06:35:00.001-07:00

I finally have a moment to myself and am enjoying every moment that I sink more into this couch. It has been days on days of being surrounded by people, singing, waves and so many hours in my truck. Here in the solace of my grandmother’s living room I am almost lulled to sleep by the roar of the ac and the sound of my dad talking in the background. There are so many things that I want to share with you, so much truth. God has spoken so much. He has whispered, roared and embrace me with some of the most beautiful revelation.
He was here before beginning and will be here long after the curtain closes on this life, as we know it. He is God as Maker, Jesus as Image, and Breath as the Holy Ghost. He is the all-satisfying, unshakable God. In his hands he holds the power to create and to destroy, to build up and tear down, to heal and to strike dead. He is soul regenerating and sin pardoning… He is all you will ever need. I knew all of this a week ago but today this truth burns more violently than ever before. Why? … The hand that holds all the power, all the beauty, and all the mercy man has ever know was willingly laid on a cross and nailed there for my redemption. Those same hands picked up a cross that belonged to me. Those lips that could speak one word and silence the earth…stayed silent for my forgiveness and the redemption of all mankind. Though He was silent for the trail and crucifixion the sound of the whip still rings in my ear with a loud resounding assurance that by His stripes we are healed…the slap of the soldier still rings in the street for those of us who dare to believe that He was bruised for our transgressions and praise God that the clap of hammer and nail still ring in my soul as a reminder that there is liberty to the captive. Please hear me, quiet your soul…listen for the sound of your Savior… He may whisper or he may roar but find grace in this. He is closer than you know… so close.

You are the constant in my sometimes shifting life

2008-05-24T23:28:00.001-07:00

I am convinced that God is longing and desiring to reveal Himself to His creation in the most beautiful ways. There are so many things that God has whispered into my spirit in the past few weeks it seems a bit daunting of a task to even start typing. However, it is with joy that I write this piece to you in complete confidence that you will today have blinders removed from your eyes.

I was riding down the road a few days ago and I began to talk with God… it’s never really formal, I just start talking with the surety that He is near… so close. From time to time He answers with such heavy words that I feel as if I have to tell someone quick or they will crush me with the weight of their beauty. This day was one like that. I was riding and asking God why he came to me in waves… You know what I mean? Like we have an awesome experience in Gods presence or in our devotional lives and for a few weeks or days or months we feel like we could just reach out and feel His hand reaching back… then at times it feels like He is a million miles away doing His own thing with no care for His creation. I know, though you know it’s not true you have felt that way… and from God none of our thoughts or emotions are hidden. So I found myself in one of those moments driving down the road speaking to God asking why he comes in waves close then far, close then far, far then close…then all of a sudden He hit me with sobering revelation… It’s as if God in some way whispered… “You do! I am unchanging, constant and longsuffering. I have been here from before time began and will be here when it is no more”. God showed me in just a few minutes that He really is constant in our lives. That he is right where we left Him last. We are like the waves of the sea and he is the shore. He never moves from loving us and desiring intimacy with us. We on the other hand take the role of the waves as our way of life. We flood into God with all of our might and then when we have had enough, when we are at the point that he asks our lives from us. We rush back out into the ocean of a world and blend back into the vastness, into our same ole way of life… where everything is as it always has been. Some on the other hand decided not to be as waves of the sea tossed to and fro but to cling to the grace and mercy of God so richly demonstrated on the cross. Some may be familiar. Paul, James, John, Mathias, John the Baptist, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon. I an convinced the list is not as long as God would like it to be… He wants to add your name. What will be your resolve? I would that everyone who reads this find themselves face down today praying this “God make me still, make me constant, make me yours… free me from my life of coming to you in waves…flood me now in such a way that I can’t escape… I love you”.

Simple, honest and real are the prayers He loves the most… I’m sure of it.

Erase me... It's the only way you get glory

2008-04-23T10:34:00.001-07:00

I have been dealing with a phrase the past few days that I believe embodies everything that is essential about serving the Lord. This one thing is the rise and fall for many believers and has become the most daunting task as of late for me as a minister, a preacher and a child of God. The phrase in all of its three-syllable glory rings like this… “Erase me”. I want to lay this out so you get it and keep it and hopefully die to yourself today. Think of it like this. You know how you could write your name in huge letters on an old black chalk board and then erase it and your name be gone but the residue of the chalk be left in a big white smear? I hope you got that visual, because it is a beautiful parallel to how our lives should be in Christ. We should be erased into his presence in such a way that when we are looked at… in every area of life people no longer see you and I, but a life smeared and erased into the presence of God. So in turn they look and identify us as being Godly, Chosen, and Different. It is the only way. I mean this with complete love and humility but for you and I to be productive for God means that you and I have to become less and less. It was said once like this… “ I pray that some of us go to our own funerals tonight…and that we die to self… that we pick up the cross that God has called us to carry…it is the only way that God can get glory from a human”. The cross that God has called us to carry is one that screams for selflessness, compassion, humility, and abandonment of our own desires. It is a cross that demands our time, passion, energy and gratitude. It is a cross that demands our lives. The bible says that no one in their right mind would build a house without first counting the cost. Count it. Before you pick up the cross you understand and know that to be successful at following Christ you have to learn to die…every single day. Can you handle that? In place of your name is His. In place of your wants… His, in place of your dreams… His. I have this to say with absolute confidence. When you give your life to the cause of Christ, His dreams become your dreams, His wants become yours, and his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead become the most exciting thing you’ll ever speak of. In confession I will say this. I have not obtained a perfect life of dieing to myself. Everyday I want my way… I mean it is my nature but cannot be my excuse. The remedy. I MUST decrease so that Christ can increase. If that does not happen then talk is just talk and words are just words. In lieu of that statement I am off to carry my cross. Want you join me?

Don't loose the specificity of the Gospel in your un-satisfaction for "Church"

2008-04-21T09:15:00.001-07:00

Be thou my portion for that which I am is fading fast into that which I dread:
Take me I’m dead:
Buried at the cross I died but not the dead in a coffin kind:
I gave it up:
I drank the cup:
I share in your grace cause you shared in my pain:
Doesn’t seem fair:
Why don’t they care:
I mean you poured out yourself like a tipped over pot you fell from the shelf:
By your own doing, by the choice you made:
Beautifully broken ransom paid:
So that I, that we, that her and him… could conquer death…yea laugh at sin:
Now I’m here this sinking boat:
We lie to ourselves and call her the church:
Supposed bride who lookes like a whore:
Taking whatever knocks at her door:
Every doctrine, every wind:
She’s blown away and trapped in Sin:
Giving herself to everything… can you imagine the Fathers pain:
So still it rings the calls the same:
Stand up, please stand up evoke some change:

The call is for you and I. Why in the world do we let the church tell us how church is suppose to go. Why do we sit in Sunday service and subject ourselves to worship the way every other person in the church is worshiping. Some of you love to stand and lift your hands in the presence of God, but when we are in class and He makes himself known, we sit, in Sunday service when no one else stands we sit, scared to worship the way we were made to. Maybe it’s not standing, maybe you’re a dancer or painter or writer or runner or a student… Why are you letting preachers, teachers, parents and classmates dictate how you worship? Why are we letting them beat us into a round hole when God has called us to be square pegs? Why are you not out there right now worshiping?

Leave!
Now!
Go and be the unique wonder God created you to be.
And breath every moment in like it's your last chance to worship.

This is truth, this is life… this is the word of God.

2008-04-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

I have been struggling with the idea that we are wrong. That here in this overly spoiled selfish country we have taken our eyes off of Jesus off of what we are called to and we have fixed our eyes on things that don’t shine so bright on our sin. We tend to look at other peoples lives to judge our own. Since we aren’t as bad or as dirty as others we feel like we have our hands wrapped around this thing, like we are truly good Christians. I guess today my mind just keeps going back to the Word. The word of God is the only thing that we can judge our lives by, it is the only work of Art, which is completely flawless, divine, and inspired by God. I know the response of some would be like this, “Tj, creation is divine and inspired by God”. Right, but it is not flawless and that’s why it is imperative that we as Christians go to the Word of God for counsel, instruction, and for it to be the mirror we stand in front of to examine our spiritual lives. The bible says this… “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you”. To me that’s one of the strongest verses in the word. We hear so often that salvation can be found in a prayer but clearly salvation goes so far beyond prayer into a daily lifestyle. So much so that we can hold our lives up to the light of the word and see if we are really in the faith, if we are really following God. Like this. When a bone is broken you hold the x-ray up to the light and every crack, every weak and broken spot is exposed. When we hold our lives up to the light of Gods word the same thing happens. Every piece of our lives that has been worn down by this world is exposed and we can’t help but see it in it’s beautifully broken state. See when compared to the word of God we are poor, wretched and blind… oh and don’t forget naked. The most beautiful thing is this. The Light that exposes the brokenness and nastiness of our lives is the same light that can heal and restore. Jesus, in his entire splendor is the Light, the Word, the Mirror, the Healer, the Teacher and the Promise of salvation. My hope is this. That today you take your life and hold it up to the light of Gods word and allow him to shine on you. Take a few minutes and pray that he would shine in like never before, that he would truly expose you in His presence. In this you will find that there is no hope of putting the brokenness back together outside of His grace. You will also see that there is a loving, powerful God who is faithful to forgive you when you ask. He has come to give you life and life to the full. So please allow the light to shine, allow yourself to be exposed. This is truth, this is life… this is the word of God.

To share the faith… is to die in place

2008-04-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

I have a strong feeling that this will resound in the hearts of pretty much everyone that reads. I am at sometimes terrified to “witness”. You know? To go up to a perfect stranger and say hey Jesus loves you or hey if you die today are you going to heaven or hell. I am somewhat lost in what to say sometimes or what to do or even whom to talk to. I also have this problem with one on one communication… some of you know what I am talking about. Give me a stage and a guitar or a group to preach to and I’m all talk, but when it’s just me and one or two I clam up. Just one of my quirks I guess. The point of this isn’t my quirks but the urgency to share the gospel of Christ. What if today was someone’s last day and you’re the last one to pass them before they drove head first off a cliff? What if you had the opportunity to share the hope you have inside and you didn’t? I am writing with conviction knowing I pass up a million opportunities every day…See, we live in a culture that says we shouldn’t worry about it, you can always tell them tomorrow. I cry that you hear this! Tomorrow may never come and if it doesn’t then today will be what we stand before God with. What does that look like for you? Have you given him your day, your conversations, your affections, and if so have you shared with someone else that which he has done with it? Today is a day of questions I guess. I want to know why we are so reserved. Why in the world do we bottle up inside of us the most beautiful gift known to man. I want to challenge you and myself for the next five days to share the gospel once a day at least once. Pray and I will pray with you that God opens the door for you to share his love. Paul says this… “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation… to whomever believes”, before that Jesus said “if you deny me before men I will deny you before my father in heaven”. I have to stop here and say this. That freaks me out. How often do we deny Jesus by sitting through that movie filled with perversion, listening in on that joke, or running back to the same sin day after day? I know those things are easy to write off like this…”well everybody watches it… we love each other… it only has one nude scene… I only do ______ occasionally…God is love and full of grace he will forgive me” All of those may be and are probably true (the bold is entirely true) but in reality every time we give in and fall into sin, whether we say it or not we deny that we believe the Grace and Love of God is big enough to keep us from that particular sin. Dc talk once said this “ 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 with their lifestyle. That’s what an unbelieving world find unbelieving”. Wow, I definitely did not intend on going there but here we are, so take it as you will. Share your faith but by all means keep your mouth shut if you don’t live it. I write because I love you and want to see heaven full.

2008-04-09T12:26:00.001-07:00

I hope that by the end of this you are utterly offended and quite ticked off, so much so that you ask God if I’m right. I’m not writing this for the sole purpose of offending… I just hope it does. I hope that you are so mad that you want to track me down and punch me in the face. I truly believe that’s what it is going to take to make some of you see that we are the lamest most stereotypical Christian’s… Ever. Today I watched a guy named Paul Washer and he reminded me of sermons I preached with urgency and passion months ago... To be honest the last few months or even year my life has lacked in the passion and fire area. I won’t blame it on the church completely but man do they have a steak in the storm that God is bringing me through. I am completely convinced that half or more of the southern Baptist community is headed straight to hell… and Pentecostal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic and anyone who claims Christ and acts the opposite of their profession. I am arguing if there is no change in your life or the lives of those who call themselves Christians then there is no Jesus. No matter if there has been a prayer prayed or a church membership signed. There is an urgent need for the understanding of salvation to be proclaimed in my generation and I pray God forgives me for my dormant quietness over the past few months. Listen, if you can get along with the world and watch their movies, listen to their music and thrive in their culture then there is a problem. I know what your thinking and right now you want to say something like this (Tj, Jesus hung out with the sinner’s man… I mean they were prostitutes and drunks, murderers and rapist… he ate with tax collectors and the outcast.) I agree, Jesus loved on and hung out with the dirtiest of dirty, but my friend listen, they did not stay that way. After being in the presence of Jesus and following him they were radically transformed. They started talking like Jesus, walking with Jesus and several of them died like Jesus. They became preachers, teachers and servants to the body of Christ. They sold all that they have so that the name of Jesus could be lifted high, so that all of mankind could see that he was worth losing everything, but not to us, not the average American Christian.