If Jesus was still on Earth... He would be somewhere around 2,000 years old! Instead of focusing on His age... I'm thinking He would probably want us to spend his birthday in other ways. :-) Knowing Jesus... I'm thinking that He would want us to celebrate his birth like this:
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release the prisoners from darkness,[a] 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn....
Isaiah 61: 1-2
I love these verses! How can we serve and give more to others this holiday season? How can we give to the poor, comfort all who mourn, and be Jesus' hands and feet as a way of celebrating His glorious life? Just some food for thought on this beautiful Monday. Merry Christmas week, everyone!
The love that God calls us to takes time, money, involvement. It takes thought and effort. This kind of love is sincere.... REAL. Real beyond pretense.
Romans 12:9-13 says that "Love must be SINCERE." We must "hate what is evil; cling to what is good." We are called to "be devoted to one another in brotherly love," and to "honor one another above yourselves." In addition, we are to do this by "never be lacking in zeal, but spiritual fervor serving the Lord," and to always be "joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer." The last verse of this passage says that we are to "share with God's people who are in need," and to very simply, "Practice hospitality."
I know of a practical way that you can show sincere love. It is a way that you can join with others in the fight against evil, be devoted to a good cause showing brotherly/sisterly love, and to share with God's people who are in need!!
And guess what, it's completely easy and fun!
Our church is hosting comedian Carlos Oscar to come out for a night of good fun clean comedy. Scott and I saw him last year, and if you go, I can guarantee you some good laughs! We laughed until our sides hurt. This guy is AWESOME. You don't want to miss this.
And here's the best part. Your ticket cost goes directly to help benefit rescued girls who have been kidnapped and raped for profit in PHOENIX, ARIZONA.
Yes, this sort of thing happens in Phoenix. There are have been AT LEAST 50 identified child prostitutes in Phoenix who are abused, raped, and sold to numerous men daily so their "owner" can make money off of them. The average age of a child prostitute IN PHOENIX is 13. These girls are sold to between 100-1,500 men a year. Disgusting.
Anyway, your ticket sale money will go directly to Branded (an organization completely dedicated to helping to stop child rape for profit) and to the Streetlight safe house project. Currently, there is no place in Arizona for girls under 18 to escape to to get away from the sexual exploitation of their abductors. Streetlight is a faith-based shelter opening this summer that will care for and help rescue teens from this horrible sex trade. Many girls that are currently picked up police are sent to jail as there is nowhere else to put them. Streetlight is now going to be another option for them; a safe place to recover and re-enter society when they are ready to live a healthy normal life.
Come help support this cause. This has got to be the EASIEST way ever to support a cause.
There are 3 performances: May 7th at 7pm, and May 8th at 5 and 8pm.
Last Sunday, there was a video that was played during worship. Basically, the video made you think about what a huge deal worship music is in church today. People often leave or join churches based on how the worship sounds. When we hear the songs we like in church we say that the "worship was good today" and when it's bad we wonder "what went wrong." We focus a lot on how the worship sounds and how it makes us FEEL. I'm currently reading a book that paralleled with this thought.
"Many of us tend to approach Christian living as a self-improvement program. We may desire spiritual growth, or we may have one or more fairly serious problems from which we desperately want to be delivered. While there is certainly nothing wrong with spiritual growth or desiring to be rid of a besetting problem, what is our motivation in wanting to achieve goals like these."
While we have a "genuine desire to honor the Lord, it's also possible that deep within us is a primary desire to glorify ourselves. When self-improvement, rather than Christ becomes the center of our focus, our focus is displaced. It is important to understand that fruitfulness and growth are the results of focusing on Christ and desiring to honor Him. When growth and change are our primary goals, we tend to be preoccupied with ourselves instead of with Christ: Am I growing? Am I getting any better? Am I more like Christ today? What am I learning?" "This inordinate preoccupation with self-improvement parallels our culture's self-help and personal-enhancement movement in many ways. Personal development is certainly not wrong, but it is misleading and can be very disappointing if we make it our preeminent goal. If it is our goal at all, it should be secondary. As we grasp the unconditional love, grace, and power of God, then honoring Christ will increasingly be our consuming passion."
We do love worship and the way it makes us feel. We do feel goodwhen we are honoring to God and follow what he asks of us. We do benefit from spiritual growth, self-improvement, and learning from mistakes. These aren't bad things, but we have to make sure our focus and motivation are in the right place.
While "God wants us to have a healthy self-awareness and to analyze our lives periodically, He does not want us to be preoccupied with ourselves. The only one worthy of our preoccupation is Christ."
We should not be focused on how worshiping God makes us feel or doing all the right "Christian things." While we may benefit, the focus needs to be not on what we get out of it, but on just being passionately and wholly devoted to Him in our hearts, minds, and souls.
