Church Camp!

Well, first off I apologize for not posting sooner. Blogger hasn't let me get on my account, and the week before this I went to church camp.
Every year our youth group goes to a camp in the middle of nowhere (for my views on youth groups and church camps, contact me). But, hey! You can get closer to God in the middle of nowhere too!
But, last week was very cool. The Justin Cofield Band led worship for all of the services, and Brandon Barnard was the speaker. Both had great focus on God, and brought what he wanted them to. I know they both spoke to my heart through the messages and worship.
I could go on for days about church camp. But, I'll just give little snippets of what God gave me, and what, no doubt I will be posting on in the near future.
~Our God is a consuming fire. Fire for Him in our lives may consume things that are there now.
~God doesn't want us to surrender our stuff. He wants us to surrender ourselves.
~Live for eternity. Life is way too short to focus on.
~Store up treasures in heaven. You will be blessed when you can cast them at Jesus's feet when you get there.
~Many people think they've found something better than Jesus. Impossible!
~May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi. Let the rabbi be Jesus.
~You have to pursue God. He will pursue you, but you have to pursue him too.
~It's not reckless abandon to God. It's actually very calculated.
~Sin is sin. It's all even in God's sight.
~Many times we apologize for what we do, not for who we are.
~Where sin is concerned, people just mumble now. (this is talking about specifically confessing your sin)
~To confess means to own up to the fact that our behavior wasn't just the result of bad parenting, bad genes, and chemical inbalances caused by twinkies. But, somewhere you made a bad choice in the mix. -Sorry, I didn't catch his name
~Take responsibility for everything you do. Every bad decision, every time you mess up. You live in a generation of irresponsible people. Be responsible!
~You don't just offend people with sin, you offend God!
~True confession brings change in your life.
~You don't follow your own rules with Jesus.
~It doesn't mean thinking less of yourself. It means thinking of yourself less.
~Don't be training to be good. Train to be godly.
~Aim at nothing and you'll hit it everytime.
~Training:Here's what you do:
1. Eat right- Learn to have a steady diet of scripture. Consume the spirit. It isn't enough to read God's word. Let God's word read you.
2. Excercise- Excercise your faith. You have to get in shape. We have some overstuffed Christians. Change, then practice. Learn, try it out and practice.
~God will never give up on you.
~God is a consuming fire. He is all that remains.
~The Israelites had to cover the doorway in blood to be saved. We have to go through Jesus's blood to be saved.
~You have to be willing to die to follow Jesus.
To be continued...
(note: I have MANY more pages of notes to condense and type in. This is just a very small portion. But, please ponder these thoughts, and ask any questions you might have.)

But, I Just Can't See Him Working Here

In the movie Facing the Giants, (which I highly recommend) Coach Taylor says to Mr. Bridges. "But, I just can't see him working here...." Mr. Bridges replied, "Coach Taylor, I heard a story once about two farmers. There was a drought. Both prayed and asked God for rain, but only one prepared his fields. Which one are you?" (or, something to that effect)
So many times in my life I can't see what's going to happen next. You tell God, I'll trust you forever, and it's similar to jumping of a cliff and not knowing how high it was. Then, you suddenly find, that God is holding you in his hand, and promises to never let you go. God has a plan for your life, but a lot of the time it is just so hard to see. The phrase "You can't see the forest for the trees." is actually more profound than you think at first glance. Just wrap your mind around that for just a minute. Sometimes we're in God's plan so that we can't even see us.

Honestly, the Isrealites make me laugh when I read about them. I'm just saying that from our point of view they look, well, unintelligent. We can't see it as they truly saw it, or we might make the same choices. But, the Israelites knew God had a plan for them. Why else would he bring them out of Egypt? But, time and time againt they chose to rebel against God. If we truly want what God wants, we will try to stay in the word, and close to him, and know that he will bring it all about in his timing.

Give God your Best and Your All

What are you offering God? Are you singing, "I surrender most. I surrender most. Most of it to Jesus, I surrender. I surrender most."? Well, yes, that would be hard to fit with the melody, but is that your mindset? Do you mean what you sing? What's more, do you even pay attention to the words? So often, I get caught up in singing that I don't even think about what the song is really trying to say.

But, are you offering God your best? Or are you giving Him the leftovers of your time, your money, your energy? Many times we pour ourselves into school, work, play, or whatever else you do. And then, after pouring yourself out, there isn't any leftover for God. Put God first.

Read your Bible first thing in the morning. Don't wait till the evening when you don't have any time leftover, and can't keep your eyes open. I have heard many people say, "Give God all the years when you're single. When you get married, you can't be as completely lost in God." Most of you are single. I am (and am planning to be for some time!). The years when you don't have a spouse to be immersed in, immerse yourself in God! He is (or should be) the love of your life, while others will come and go!

Devote your time to God. Granted, you can't spend all day in front of your Bible (well, you can but, it's kind of impractical). But, you can live a lifestyle of worship. What is that? A lifestyle of worship is a life that is devoted to glorifying God and honoring him in everything that you do. Live like there isn't a tomorrow, because there might not be one! You don't know how long you'll live. You might live for five more minutes, or fifty more years (or the rapture might happen). Devote this vapor of a life to God, giving it all to him.

Give it all to God. Everything. My Dad said when preaching about this, "Some mornings I get out there, and I say 'God, your Taurus [our smaller car] won't start this morning.'" It's true. Some mornings I just want to yell! But, it isn't even yours. Just tell God it's his, and surrender it all to him. Life might not be better, but its simpler. You just have to think about what God can do (anything, right?). He can help you with that test, that problem, or that friend. Give all of it to him, and step back and let him work (however, I am not saying we shouldn't be willing tools! We should be!).

Give it all to God. It'll be so much safer with him.