Jersday... God help us!

I John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." This was the verse that came to my mind when I saw about 30 seconds of the very popular Jersey Shore TV show. I saw nothing but pure wickedness in that short amount of time and I was shocked when I got on facebook and saw so many people calling today Jersday and saying how excited they were about seeing tonight's show. What breaks my heart even more is that many of those people are professing Christians. Glorifying alcohol and getting drunk every night, premarital sex and fornication, and loving self more than loving God or even others. Really? Is this what we want to be linked to? Is this really what we as Christians want to be a part of? II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new." When a show lifts up sin and promotes wickedness, there is no way that someone who truly loves the Lord could support it! The Bible plainly shows us that salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ brings a change to our lives that compels us to love pure and holy things and to eschew that which is evil and contradictory to the things of God. Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary to save us from sin, not for us to entertain ourselves with it! Jersday... God help us!!!

Here and Now

I love the opportunity that I have to serve the Lord at the church I attend!!! It is truly an honor to work with the men and women that have been faithful through the years. My hearts desire is to one day Pastor a church and to serve the Lord by preaching His word and ministering to His people. The learning experience I'm able to have now is amazing and I hope I never take it for granted. I'm constantly looking for more to do, but my fear is that I'll stop thinking that what I'm doing is a "good work". I'm very thankful to get to work as an assistant in the Senior High Sunday School class and to lead the Teen Choir, both are full of wonderful kids who have a great desire to work and to serve. Getting to help in the Teen Group with all of our teenagers is absolutely wonderful! To get to work there is a true blessing!!! And yet, it is still my hearts desire to one day leave and Pastor a church (if the Lord were to allow). This desire has been in my heart sense I surrendered to preach in 2006 and has done nothing but grow and change from a desire to a burning desire: it's all I think about at times. I don't want to take for granted what I'm able to do, but I also don't want to lose sight of my dreams for the future in serving God. It is truly my prayer that God would allow me to continue to learn under these great men and women at Freedom Baptist, and when His time has come for Him to open a door for me to serve as a Pastor at a place where God wants me. I'm thankful for where I am, yet I'm still looking to move forward where the Lord would lead me!

From FRUSTRATIONS to heart ache...

Today was a rough day at work... I'm very thankful to have some good coworkers that help me keep focus on the Lord and to keep in mind the big picture in that I want my life to be one to show the Cross of Jesus. It started out with a major frustration from one coworker and kept growing from there! The further the day went along the more agitated I became and it didn't look like the day would be a good one. Over all the day at work was a good one, but then the same coworker blatenly lied to me. I HATE BEING LIED TO!! To make things worse it was over a small thing that could have been insignificant, but no! A lie was told and I almost reached the point of arguing. It was then I stopped to pray (sadly this was the end of the day not the beginning), I asked God to help me with my frustrations; and He did. Matthew 7:3-4 "And why beholdest thou the mote in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?" My frustrations quickly leave when I realize my faults that I showd today. I could have been a much better witness for Jesus Christ! I focused so much on my little bubble, that I didn't focus enough of the needs of others. I allowed things that I couldn't control to control me for an entire day... It was there that my frustrations turned to heart ache knowing that I can never have this day back, it is gone forever. Its my prayer that this would not happen again! I need to cling to my Savior and nothing else. I need to focus on Him and let everything else alone. I need to allow God to control me, not allow everyone else to. Father help me to seek after You, and to let everything else fall in its rightful place!!! Tonight has been a great night, seeking the Savior and following His guidance! God is so good to me!!!!!

First Blog...

I've officially started a blog! Not that I think my thoughts are worth reading, but I do have some things to say. Not everything in this blog will be liked and I understand that, however some of the writings I hope will be motivational or even inspiring! So, with this being my very first post I do believe an introduction is in order. Just some information about me... I grew up in a very small town, and I am very proud of it! I work for a rather large company and deal in customer service, so people are an EXTREMELY large portion of my life. I married my best friend in 2009 and she is and has been the most amazing person to be around. God gave me a great gift when He put her in my life! I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior on August 25, 2004 and I accepted the call to preach on August 9, 2006 (August is a wonderful month for me now!) I am very conservative in every stance (I've not found anything yet that I'm not conservative in...) That is my background and I believe it is a solid foundation for what is to come. Comments are always welcome! I believe that if you're going to take the time to read a blog then you must leave a comment. Feedback is always a welcome thing, especially when its constructive!