Man Up

Looking around the world today I see a big problem! Where are all the men at? We have so many guys(including myself) who sit at home in front of the tv wasting away when we could be out making a difference. What has happened to us? There has been this song that I have been listening to and it reall has been convicting me and I wanted to share it with you. It is by the 116 Clique(yes it is a rap group). The song is called "Man Up Anthem". Every word in this song is truth so I wanted to post the lyrics and the youtube video of the song and I wanted to get your feedback on it. Where do you thing all the men have gone. I also will be posting a video of Mark Driscoll talking about the problem of video games today. Hope you enjoy.

Here are the lyrics to the song if you would like to follow along.

All:
MAN UP! 

Lecrae:
Momma want some more Obama in me the hood want PAC hip hop wanna see the
Common in me. And since is a senseless contradiction I end up a misfit tryina fit In. This ends when I stand up and see the hands of the standard: holy is
The lamb huh(holy is the lamb) Now we holding you to man up cause we were made
In his image start looking at what you came from. 

KB:
Right after Adam every atom in our anatomy had to make adamant after what
Adonai is against. Let me take you back to the tree in Eden, if you read it you'll see that eve was deceived but Adam is the one who let it in.(Man up) Standing Leading no, we ain't leading we (Bump that) Basically little boys with
Muscles and a mustache! The femininity, we need a remedy that God made a
100 percent (strength) masculinity 

Trip Lee:
Where the men at, seems like they all lost, none of them are on the scene, 
Seems like they died off. They extinct but my dream is to rise up, we
Chasing the prize of the King the divine boss, but we fell away, now we
UnGodly  we lose and we really got the blues like Navi, I wanna celebrate the dudes that's beside me fellas lets elevate we through with the lobby
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/0-9/116_clique/man_up_anthem.html ]
Tedashii:
Go ahead I say boy Get your shine on. and if a sucker try to block you get your 9 home and
What I heard you gotta do to be a man now, stand up for yourself so I took
It in my hands now. And that's the problem man we busy trying to solve it
All the while we walking dead man somebody bring the coffin, boy drop
Peach fuzz now you think that your a man cause you feeling yourself you
Need to man up!  

Sho Baraka:
Sex and models, and tipping bottles back a pile of excuses right next to
Your bottle caps. A rolladeck filled with names that you ain't to
Please next to the stack of money, building up a heart of greed. Ice on his
Neck give the jokers a cold shoulder, you drunk off pride plus you loving
The hangover. You gotta whole lotta stuff that won't amount to gain life
Will never make sense cause you never made change

PRo:
You got it Twisted sick life and fever, little man live to stack doe
Keebler. Man up! Get up out of the treehouse leave the cookies alone it's
Time to eat meat now. Trying to show you a new way to live now, no charge
You can call it a freestyle. without Christ you know how your man is, was
Born in a mans body like Tom Hanks in BIG.

Andy Mineo:
Being a man got nothing to do with age. You can be a boy till the day you
Lay in your grave. None of us behave in the image of who were made, cause
We fallen the ways it's better known as depraved. Running from
Responsibility really we crave the easy way out of places that call us to
Pull our weight. Man there going through everyday decisions are made, 
Responding to the call God's giving em from the... 

All:
Man Up! 
Andy:
Let the process, begin separate the boys from the men
All:
Man Up! 
Andy:
Doesn't matter how you started partner, it's about how you end
All:
Man Up! 
Andy:
Jesus is the model follow us we go follow him
All:
Man Up!  
Andy:
We-we the last of a dying breed it's time that we 

All:
MAN UP!  

And now here is the video from Driscoll. Let's start a conversation about this. The Lord has really been convicting me on this and I hope it convicts you guys too. We need to man up! Start acting like MEN!

Convicting stuff said right there! Get off the couch guys! I'm talking to myself here too! The Lord has shown me that the battles are not won on the couch. They are won out in the field. In Luke 10:2 it says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few..." We need to be the workers men! Where have we all gone? What can we do to change this? Get off the couch!! 


One extra video that I wanted to add. It's a little long but so good. Mark Driscoll talks about what it means to be a man! If you have 25 minutes to spare watch this video.

In the End

Another year has come to an end. This year has just flown by so fast. It seems like just yesterday it was Easter time and we were celebrating what Jesus did on the Cross. Now it is December and we are celebrating what He did by sending His Son down to this earth in the form of a baby. What a miracle that was! As we come to the end of the year I just wanted to reflect on what a great year it has been.

I feel like over this past year I have grown more in the Lord than ever before. To bring me to a point where I must completely rely on Him is quite a feat in itself. When I was working at Safeway I relied on myself for a lot of things; but when that ended I came to the realization that I can't do things on my own. The Lord needs to be the focus on every aspect of my life. I need to rely on Him for everything.  I came to realize that God will provide for our needs. The wants in life don't matter. God will take care of you and guide your steps through the rest of your life.  Trusting in the Lord for my every need was never a strong point but after this last year I believe that this has become one of the strongholds in my life now.  I must trust my entire life to Him and not hold anything back. Why? Because He deserves my entire life.

Another aspect that the Lord has instilled in me in this year is discipline.  Discipline with my finances, my time, mu schedule, school and the way I handle situations.  I have never been a person who is very disciplined. Procrastination is such a big problem for me and I have realized how bad I am over this last year. One bad quarter at school really showed me that. But the Lord is gracious and He has shown me what I need to work on and has given me the tools to try to improve them! I'm not sure if I have made much progress but I'm working at it at least.

I am just amazed by the opportunities God has given me to serve and minister this year. This was my first full year as head of the worship ministry and it had its ups and downs but I feel like I learned so much in the leadership department. I had to learn how to step up as the young person and lead people. Now as intimidating as that was I found myself not as scared as I thought I would be. The Lord showed me that this was where I was supposed to be and I needed to work hard at my calling and trust in Him through it all.  And through all this He showed me just how faithful He is. For the past 8-10 months we had been praying for the Lord to bring along another worship leader to help lead the people in church. It took a long time but God provided a great couple who has such a love for the Lord and they are very talented. They just want to serve in any place that they can. I thank God every day for them. Through that God opened up a door for me to serve in the Junior High ministry where I have a chance to teach the Word. What a humbling experience that has been. I never thought I was worthy of preaching the Word but the Lord showed me that He can take the weakest of people and use them for great things. Without Him I wouldn't be able to do that at all. He is so faithful and good!

I am so blessed by the family and friends that I have around me.  My family has been so loving and stood by me so much this year. I can't even begin to thank them enough for all that they have done for me. It has been such a humbling experience to be apart of the fellowship at Calvary Creekside. To see what God is doing around there is unbelievable. It brings me to my knees in adoration everytime I think about it. I thank God every day for the people that I have grown close with over that last year. There are so many people that have touched my life over this last year and I am so thankful to have had a glimpse this year of what God is capable of in everyones lives. This time of year always brings me back to remembrance of the things that God has shown me. I hope that you can look back on this last year and praise God for the people around you and His faithfulness towards you. He deserves all the glory forever and ever!

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making know to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth."

Ephesians 1:7-10

The Day that is Soon Coming

Over the past couple of weeks two songs have been going through my head like crazy. They are both by Phil Wickham. One is called "Heaven Song" and the other is called "Beautiful". These are two of my favorite songs by him. I could listen to these over and over again. But in both songs there are lines that really excite me for when Christ is coming back. In Heaven Song the last verse just paints a beautiful picture of the day that we see Jesus. It says this, "I hear Your voice and I catch my breath. 'Well done my child, enter in and rest.' Tears of joy roll down my cheek. It's beautiful beyond my wildest dreams." To just imagine that day is overwhelming and I'm sure it will be that much more overwhelming when we are actually in the presence of God.

Then in the song Beautiful the last verse is amazing as well. It goes like this: "When we arrive at eternity's shore, where death is just a memory and tears are no more. We'll enter in ad the wedding bells ring. Your bride will come together and we'll sing, 'You're beautiful.'

All of this is so overwhelming to think about. When I am up front leading worship I am overwhelmed when I see people praising God at the top of their lungs and raising their hands. It's like a choir singing out and praising God. Can you imagine when everybody is in Heaven praising God together?! It will be so amazing. We will be singing praises God collectively. Everyone tribe, tongue and nation will be praising God. Oh how I look forward to that day.

One more line on the Heaven Song goes like this: "My soul is getting restless for the place where I belong. I can't wait to join the Angels and sing my heaven song." My soul is getting restless...is my soul restless for being with God? How often do we think about this? Do we look forward to this day or dread it? I know that I look forward to that day and I hope you do as well. Being in the presence of the almighty God and just being able to dwell with Him is hard to imagine. I think back to the book of Exodus when Moses with God and he comes down off the mountain and his face is just glowing from being with God. There have been instances where people had to ask God to back off a little because His presence was so overwhelming that they couldn't handle it. I look forward to that day. Do you?

Being a Servant of God

Over the past couple of months God has really put of the topic of being a servant on my heart. Through Bible studies I have been listening to, books I've been reading and every day situations of people serving have been just bombarding me. It is something that has really been convicting but a blessing to me at the same time.

One book I have been reading for the last little while is by Warren Wiersbe and it is called "On Being a Servant of God". If you haven't read this book I would highly recommend reading it. There is so much truth, conviction and bless chopped into one small book. Wiersbe is one of my all time favorite authors. He is a man that really loves the Lord and is not afraid to lay it out there for you. There is one line(well multiple actually but moving on) in that book that really just moved my heart and convicted me. It said, "Those of us who minister must put others ahead of ourselves, but we must put the Lord ahead of others." This really struck me because I see so many people who serve(including myself) who don't follow this everyday. Why is that? Well, it's because we are horrible sinners who are in love with ourselves.

Why can't we strive to do this more often? Why can't we die to ourselves and live for God? The Lord wants all of our lives, not just parts of it. I have come to the realization that if we fully surrender ourselves to God then you cannot imagine the places that God can take us. He wants to use us in so many ways but when we aren't focused on Him l, but on other things then he can't use us to our full capacity.

One line that was a couple chapters later definitely goes along with this and convicted me even more. "Ministry isn't easy, but you make it more difficult for yourself if you serve people instead of the Lord Jesus Christ." We are more concerned with what other people think of us then what God thinks of us. That's why we dress in certain ways, act in certain ways, and live certain lives. Why are we more concerned with people? God is what we should be focused on pleasing. Man will always disappoint us, but God is unchanging his love is so big and ready to receive us yet we look for satisfaction in other places. God wants us to serve Him! He wants us to lead people back to Him, not back to us. We should be people after God's own heart. His heart should be our heart.

Over the past few years God has put me in places to serve and it definitely has it's ups and downs. But let me tell you this, there is absolutely nothing better than serving Jesus. The joy and love that comes out of serving you can't even begin to describe. When you see God moving not only in your life but the people around you, it is a sight to see. So if you have thought about serving before or God has put it on your heart don't hesitate to jump in. You have to be full on for serving God and God alone. Don't let man come in and mess with your head. Remember who you were put on this earth by and who died for you. The least we can do is serve Him after all that he has done for us.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

Why Redeemed & Unashamed?

First off I just want to say that I never thought I would see the day when I would be writing a blog post. Well obviously that day has come. While I was out at church the other day I was just thinking out loud to myself and I felt that it would be good to put all my thoughts down on paper. But then I thought I should get some input from other people and maybe bless some people in the process. So, the thought of a blog came to my mind. So here I am.

The purpose of this blog is for me just to express what is going on in my heart and to maybe bless you in the process as well; or to start up a good conversation about how good God is. My hope is to turn this into a Christ centered blog that will focus on his goodness, love, power, and all of the other things that make Him the amazing God that I serve.

The reason that I am calling it Redeemed & Unashamed is because I want the world to know how good God's grace and mercy is. God has taken me (a wretched sinner) and has molded me into a man that is on fire for God. Am I perfect? Far from it, I would say. But God has redeemed me and I want people to know about it.  If you read that verse on the picture above you will see that it says "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us..." How humbling and sobering are those 15 little words. There is so much power behind that sentence that it just brings me to my knees. He sacrificed himself and became a curse for me. Why would anyone want to die in my place for all the things that I have done wrong?  I want as many people to know how much God loves them and how much He cares for them. If one person reads this or even ten people then I would feel good. Why? Because even that one person can be impacted by the truth and the love of Jesus Christ. And to have some part in that would be such an honor.

So, that is the heart behind starting this blog and I look forward to sharing with you and seeing what God has planned for this. God is good!

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (ESV) Romans 1:16