Tag: Food For Growth

²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ~ Hebrews 9:27

In the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Captain Barbossa states a grim but true statement to Captain Jack Sparrow as he comes to terms with their inevitable future deaths. He says, “There’s never a guarantee of coming back. But passing on, that’s dead certain.”

I’ve heard people say that in the next life they’ll do better. Or next time around they’ll do things differently. There’s entire religions that believe that you will be reincarnated until you get it right, but that there is just a false hope.

See, we only get one life. One chance to get things right. One chance to fulfill our call and follow Christ. There is only one opportunity for your name to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life in order to gain eternity with Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Get It Right The First Time Around.

[5]  Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. [6] Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. ~ Colossians 4:5-6

The Church is the light of the world because Christ dwells in us and through us. We are to be Christ to the world. That means that we are not to isolate ourselves from the outside world. How can we reach them if we do not even communicate with them? How can we reach the world if we do not spend time with the world?

Yes, each and every Christian should have an inner circle of believers to depend on. An inner circle of friends that pick us up when we’re down and encourage us when we’re feeling low. Someone we can depend on to help us through the rough times. We should also have a Church family that we can pray with. That can pray for us and vice versa. That you can grow with and worship with. But we should also befriend the world.

I want to be clear. We aren’t to befriend the sin of the world, but the people. We aren’t to justify sin and give it our blessing, but instead we are to love the sinner and show them the True love of God. Never spreading hatred or violence but the True love of God.

The only way we can do that is if we know our Bible better than the skeptic we are speaking with and if we actually live our lives for Christ and not for ourselves. Our words matter. How we are as people matters. How we treat unbelievers matters. Live life purposely reflecting Jesus in all we do.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Walk In Wisdom.

[14] The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, [15] his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. ~ Revelation 1:14-15

This is John the Apostle describing His vision of Jesus. Now, what I want you do understand is that John isn’t describing physical characteristics, but spiritual ones. For instance, Jesus died, rose, and ascended into Heaven around 33 years old, and according to the Pharisees reaction of Him, He did not have white hair. He didn’t look old. This is a spiritual description of Jesus. John was looking into the Spirit.

So, what’s so special about His description? John describes Jesus voice like the voice of many waters. I was speaking with someone one day about the meaning of this, and they were fully convinced that the voice of many waters meant that Jesus had a deep voice. Here’s the problem, the book of Revelation actually defines what this means.

¹⁵ And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.”

Revelation 17:15

Jesus’ voice is the voice of many waters because Jesus isn’t bound to one language or people. We are to go make disciples of all nations, regardless of language, people, or nations. We are called to spread the good news about Jesus.

We don’t have to learn Hebrew or Greek in order to read the Word of God because it is not bound to any one language. It is by the Spirit that we understand. The language it is translated into doesn’t matter, as it does not change the words.

Therefore, go, make disciples of many nations. Spread the good news. Share the Gospel.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let The Waters Flow. 

⁶ And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. ~ Matthew 11:6

Jesus’ words, teachings, commands often offended people. The Jews picked up stones to kill Him more than once, and nothing has changed today. Just the very mention of the name of Jesus gets people uptight and offended. So what are we to do? Do we dim the light to make the darkness feel more comfortable for Bubba in the back row Do we soften the truth so that those… who love lies… won’t be offended?

Look, we are not called to make Jesus palatable—we are called to proclaim Him as LORD. We are not called to edit the Gospel—we are called to preach it, in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2).

We are not called to win the world by becoming like it—we are called to shine as lights in this world of darkness, holding fast to the Word of Life (Philippians 2:15–16).

The world may call His words “harsh.” The false teachers may call His commands “unloving.” But we know that His words are life. His truth is freedom. His Gospel is power. So, how can we do anything but preach the Gospel as recorded 2000 years ago?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Not Shrink Away From Offense.

¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. ~ John 3:17

It’s all about grace, the opportunity to be saved. Jesus invites us into a real relationship with Him, and today is the day because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

Jesus ushered in a divine shift from bondage to blessing, from toil to rest, although we haven’t received our rest as yet, but it’s on its way.

We’re called to go into all the world, starting where we are at. In our hometown. We are to make disciples teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught and commanded. We are called to be the light. Let us light our part of our world and then take it as far as we can get before Jesus comes back.

Are you ready to work? Are you ready to win souls? Are you ready to make disciples? 

[9] Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. [10] For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! [11] Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? [12] And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. ~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Something I’ve been working on lately is allowing myself to let out pain instead of bottling it up inside. And what I’ve learned is that the pain doesn’t destroy me like it used to. Yes, it hurts, but allowing myself to breakdown and just cry has really helped. It sounds absolutely crazy, but it does help.

When the world keeps dumping on you, finding someone you can trust that you know loves you more than words can say and letting out your pain with them unburdens your soul. I don’t know why, but it does. Someone holding you as you cry in their arms, it releases that pain that has been burdening you down for so long.

When things begin to take a toll on you and you feel like you might burst, it’s okay to lean on someone else. It doesn’t make you weak. It doesn’t make you less. It means you are growing up and you understand that no one makes it through life alone.

So, find someone you can depend on. Someone you can unburden with and can in turn can unburden you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Another Strand.

[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:19-20

Today is World Mission Sunday. We as Christians, are called to go to the ends of the earth and proclaim the Gospel. As I was scrolling through reels (shorts) on my phone, I saw a movie trailer for the movie “Last Days.” The comment section was filled with negative comments. In fact, every single comment on there was negative. “Stupid idea for a movie.” “He got what he deserved.” “We all knew what would happen.” Many of these people were self-professing Christians.

See, “Last Days” is a movie based on the last days of John Allen Chau who died on November 17, 2018 at 26 years old. He was an American evangelical Christian missionary who attempted to share the Gospel with an isolated tribe in the North Sentinel Island. On his second attempt to share the Gospel with the Sentinelese people, he got in a kayak and made his way to the tribe. He was shot with an arrow and died from the wound.

His actions were condemned across the internet. He was accused of neocolonialism. He was called an idiot and arrogant. Condemned by the majority of commentary. All because he wanted to share the Gospel with those who had never heard. He wanted to fulfill the Great Commission as we all should try to do. To share the Gospel with all people.

We’re not all called to extreme mission work but we’re all called to mission work. We’re all called to share the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. This is the call of all people in the Church. What are you doing to fulfilling this call? Are you sharing with anyone willing to listen? Are you making yourself uncomfortable in order to share the Gospel with someone and possibly save a soul?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live Like Chau.