Many gods promise. One God Delivers!

Many gods promise. One God delivers. "You are the God who performs miracles; You display your power among the peoples" - Psalm 77:14 - Check out Lecrae's story of how God performed a miracle in his heart, and in his life. God radically changed Lecrae and is now displaying His power through Lecrae's life and lyrics.

Lecrae, has written a song entitled "Don't Waste Your Life." (Yeah, John Piper is a big fan). I have included the lyrics here so you can see just how God has transformed a young man who was living a wasted a life (Living for self & pleasure), to one who is living a fully invested life (Living for God & sacrificing for others). Like Lecrae, we all need to be transformed. What/Who are you living for?

[Hook: Cam]Don't wanna waste my life

[Verse 1: LeCrae]
I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die
Couple of em thinking they'll be livin in the sky
But while I'm here livin man I gotta ask why, what am here fo I gotta figure out
Waste my life
No I gotta make it count
If Christ is real then what am I gone do about
All of the things in Luke 12:15 down to 21
You really oughta go and check it out
Paul said if Christ ain't resurrect then we wasted our lives
Well that implies that our life's built around Jesus being alive
Everyday I'm living tryin show the world why
Christ is more than everything you'll ever try
Better than pretty women and sinning and living to get a minute of any women and men that you admire
Ain't no lie

We created for Him
Outta the dust he made us for Him
Elects us and he saves us for Him
Jesus comes and raises for Him
Magnify the Father why bother with something lesser
He made us so we could bless Him and to the world we confess him
Resurrects him
So I know I got life
Matter fact better man I know I got Christ
If you don't' see His ways in my days and nights
You can hit my brakes you can stop my lights
Man I lost my rights
I lost my life
Forget the money cars and toss that ice
The cost is Christ
And they could never offer me anything on the planet that'll cost that price.

[Verse 2: Dwayne Tryumph]
Armed and dangerous
So the devil jus can't handle us
Christian youth them a stand wid us
Livin' n driven
Given a vision
Fullfillin the commission he handed us
London to Los Angeles
Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn't abandon us
"I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac"
So are you ready to jam with us
So let's go, gimme the word an let's go
Persecution let's go
Tribulation let's go
Across the nation let's go
Procrastination bes go
Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old
Can't say you never know
Heaven knows
How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em
Whaaaaat!

[Verse 3: LeCrae]
Suffer
Yeah do it for Christ if you trying to figure what to do with your life
If you making money hope you doing it right because the money is Gods you better steward it right
Stay focused if you ain't got no ride
Your life ain't wrapped up in what you drive
The clothes you wear the job you work
The color your skin naw we Christian first
People living life for a job
Make a lil money start living for a car
Get em a house a wife kids and a dog
When they retire they living high on the hog
But guess what they didn't ever really live at all
To live is Christ yeah that's Paul I recall
To die is gain so for Christ we give it all
He's the treasure you'll find in the mall
Your money your singleness marriage talent and time
They were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine
That's why it's Christ in my rhymes
That's why it's Christ all the time
My whole world is built around him He's the life in my lines
I refused to waste my life
He's too true ta chase
That ice
Heres my gifts and time cause I'm constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ
If he's truly raised to life
Then this news should change your life
And by his grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights.

Change or Rescue?

It is very tempting to work to convince yourself that what you really need is external change not internal rescue.

What are you doing this summer?

Learn to Lead. Develop your leadership skills and passions. Attend Teen Leadership Conference this summer!

Hey friends, what do you have planned for this summer? If you are like me, you may be excited about your upcoming break from school, but probably after about two or three weeks of free time or mowing the yard and taking care of other summer chores, you'll be ready for something more.

Let me encourage you to click on the link above, and check out one of your options for this summer. Teen Leadership Conference is a top notch week of programming designed to encourage and accelerate you in your walk with Jesus and your impact among your peers. You won't regret a week spent at TLC. It will impact you for life. I'm going, and I invite you to go along with me. Check it out!

Oh, and register by June 1 to save some of your hard earned cash.

Is it possible to know for sure when Jesus is going to return?

"May 21, 2011, according to loyal listeners of Family Radio, a Christian broadcasting network based in Oakland, California, will mark the Day of Rapture and the start of Judgment Day (which, they say, will last five months). Those who are saved will be taken up to heaven, and those who aren’t will endure unspeakable suffering. Dead bodies will be strewn about as earthquakes ravage the Earth, they say. And come October 21, they’ll tell you, the entire world will be kaput."

Wow! Is it really possible for people to know for sure when Jesus will return? We'll kee this answer short and simple, because that's exactly what Jesus did when He was teaching about this topic. In fact, His teaching on this matter was so straightforward, so clear, that I'm just going to share His words with you. Here is what Jesus said about His future return:

  “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (Matthew 24:36-44)

 

So, lets recap. Jesus made it clear that NO ONE knows when He is going to return. NO ONE. That includes this group which claims they know. They may have cool t-shirts, crazy billboards, and awesome RV's (I want to take a vacation with one of those RV's!) but they don't know. In fact, Jesus doesn't make a big deal about the WHEN, He makes a big deal about being ready! So, that begs the question: Are you ready for Jesus to return?  He is coming.

 

Are you enslaved to tv and the internet?

Absolutely awesome artistic presentation of the gospel!

Check this out and pass it along.

Tired of the Guilt?

 

Linkin Park is right...we all need mercy. The question is, where is that kind of mercy available. Who is willing and able to offer what we so desperately need? Their song reminds me of this prayer found in the Psalms:

"May your mercy come quickly to meet us,

for we are in desperate need.

Help us, O God our Savior,

...for the glory of your name;

deliver us and forgive our sins

for your name’s sake." (Psalm 79:8-9)

Here is the awesome reality for those who turn to God for mercy…

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you

and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess

my transgressions to the Lord”—

and you forgave

the guilt of my sin.” – Psalm 32:5

Have you turned to God for mercy? You know, you don't have to carry around the guilt of your sin, not even for one more second. Turn to Jesus...he is ready, willing, and able (the only one by the way) to forgive.

Speak Truth With Love.

“If truth isn't undergirded by love, it makes the possessor of that truth obnoxious & the truth repulsive” - Ravi Zacharias

 

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”   -Ephesians 4:14-16