Free People

My friends in Kansas City started a group, Free People. They started a website (http://wearefreepeople.org) and I was invited to start posting there. I encourage all of you to check it out.


Here is a little bit of info on Free People:

"Free People is an intentional community that exists to glorify God. We are not free persons but free people. We seek to be of one mind with no needy among us. We believe in working hand in hand with the church body as a whole to bring change to the society we have all helped to harm. Acts 4: 32 – 35

Christ died to set us free from sin and from a long list of laws and regulations. Christ came to set us free. Not free to do whatever we want because that would lead us back to slavery and to our selfish desires. Rather thanks to Christ we are now free and able to do what was impossible before, to live unselfishly. Those who appeal to their freedom so that they can have their own way or indulge their own desires are falling back into sin. But it is also wrong to put a burden of law keeping on Christians. We must stand against those who would enslave us with rules, methods, or special conditions for being saved or growing in Christ."

He'll use the weak to overcome the strong.

1 Cor 1:27-28
"God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are"

Once Saint Francis of Assisi was confronted by a brother who asked him repeatedly, "Why you? Why you?"
Francis responded, in today's terms "why me what?"
"Why does everyone want to see you? Hear you? Obey you? You are not all so handsome, nor learned, nor from a noble family. Yet the world seems to want to follow you," the brother said.
Then Francis raised his eyes to heaven,knelt in praise to God, and turned to his interrogator:

"You want to know? It is because the eyes of the Most High have willed it so. He continually watches the good and the wicked, and as His most holy eyes have not found among sinners any smaller man, nor any more insufficient and sinful, therefore He has chosen me to accomplish the marvelous work which God has undertaken; He chose me because He could find none more worthless, and He wished to confound the nobility and grandeur, the strength, the beauty, and the learning of this world."

The Shack: Blasphemy?

Found this interesting. Thought I would share.



Thoughts?

Desiring heaven or desiring God?

"Perfection comes when the pride of seeking heaven is sacrificed

for the pleasure of pleasing God" - Eric Lampkin

In the 1700's David Brainerd wrote in his journal about a woman who came to hear him preach. she was very upset and kept talking about how she was going to hell, and deserved it, and she didn't deserve God's grace saving her. He prayed for her over a period of time and when he saw her again she was quite happy, joyous in the Lord. He approached her and questioned what had changed, she told him she had realized even if God sent her to hell, she would happily go to be in His will. she later realized that it was God's will for her to be saved and spend eternity with Him.

This woman realized that seeking heaven won't bring us anything, but we should seek to follow God's will.

I had a thought about a year ago, that I still ponder upon to this day: "If I knew, for a fact, that when I die I would go to hell, would I still praise God and serve Him? If not, do I truly love God, or do I just want what He can give me?"

This is a good question I think we need to ask ourselves. It is not an easy one to answer. While I'd like to say I would continue serving Him and praising Him, I can't honestly be sure.

I do know, however, that we need to desire God, love Him truly, and serve Him, not just seek our ticket into Heaven. We will find that truly seeking God will fulfill our needs and desires, bringing us true joy. Everything else just brings temporary satisfaction, that pales in comparison.

Matt 23:25

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."

Don't follow God for your own selfishness, follow Him out of love, because He loved you first. (1 John 4:9)

Deny yourself and take up your cross

^{Mark 8:34-38}
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Do we really understand what it means to follow Jesus and deny ourselves? To be Dead to ourselves? I don't understand how anyone could read this and think they didn't have to give EVERYTHING up to follow Christ. I think we should all pray and ask what is holding us back, and ask for help to give it up.

But more so, I'm coming to see, if it isn't helping you grow, it's not worth holding on to. It's hard enough to follow Christ as is, why waste your time with things that aren't helping you grow? Maybe when Paul said all things are permissible but not beneficial (1 Corinthians 10:23), He was calling us to rid ourselves of all things that aren't beneficial. not just what hinders us, but what doesn't help. Why waste time with it?

I urge you to pray about all this. I will be. and feel free to let me know what you think about it all.

Romans 12:1
"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."

Matthew 13:44-46
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

Twitter

I figured I would make a post sharing my Twitter with anyone that doesn't know I have one. I post scripture and christian quotes I find to be true and helpful on a daily basis, along with some normal personal twitter stuff, but that's really minimal.

Anyways, I really like following people who post scripture or Christian quotes often, and even if you don't I may still follow you.

So hit me up:
www.twitter.com/flesheater

The Cross

"The cross is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men. The cross of Roman times knew no compromise, it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross. and completely dead when they took Him off of it. That was the cross the first time it appeared in Christian history.

"With perfect knowledge of all this, Christ said, 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself take up his cross and follow Me.' So the cross not only brought Christ's life to an end, it also ends the first life, the old life of every one of His true followers...this and nothing less is true Christianity. We must do something about the cross, and there's only one of two things we can do - flee it or die upon it!"

-A.W. Tozer