Teaching

Mark Driscoll

Francis Chan

I just love these two speakers! Every time I hear them I just get excited because I have found these guys to both be full of truth and love, two things that can only come from having a open heart to God and allowing the Spirit to show them great things. These are bold radical men of faith, I seek to be as useful to God as these men. Now what I wanted to share with you is my observations on the different styles these men present Gods words and instruction. They Give the same message and have the same Love(Love from God) but they show different attributes of God in their speaking.

Mark Driscoll is umm how do i put this best.... BOLD! Mark will speak truth and really wont soften it very much, he puts it all out on the table. He tells you "If you don't know Jesus as your savior your going to Hell!" witch is truth, a truth the bible is clear on, but he also tells you the truth of how to be saved and he tells you why "... I tell you because I Love you and I cant have your blood on my hands." Mark is very abrasive (abrasive defined as something capable of polishing or cleaning a hard surface by rubbing or grinding.) but he wants you to understand the seriousness of the situation, its peoples eternity at stake. Now although his words hit you like a punch to the face you find yourself wanting more, why is that? Because there is Love in his words and tone, and throughout his sermons you will continually hear him say "I love you!" because he does and you feel it! He loves you and he loves you because of Jesus Christ and His Love for us. Mark preaches like God speaks in Job 38, read it and you'll understand.

Now Francis Chan speaks with what I call a "verbal hug." He can speak the hardest truths because how he presents it with such compassion. He speaks with extreme softness but never compromises on truth. Francis makes it just as serious as Mark but with a tenderness and sympathy that grips you emotions. Francis Chan speaks to you emotions and the tenderness of your heart. While Mark speaks to more the rational mind. Francis speaks with his hands and with a strain in his voice almost sounding like he's pleading for you to understand. You feel his love from his tenderness, while Mark shows it with his seriousness. He speaks like i feel Jesus spoke to the women at the well (John 4) I encourage you to read that and see what I mean as well. Francis shows the tenderness of God while Mark shows the seriousness. Both showing the same Love but in different ways.  I feel like I could go on and on but I would just encourage you to watch the videos and see for yourself.

Hebrews 13:7 "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith."

yup

"But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless." Titus 3:9

"Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness." Titus 2:2

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

but a wise man listens to advice." Proverbs 12:15

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you." Titus 2:11-15

"Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." 2 Timothy 2:10

"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." 2 Timothy 1:7

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." 1 Timothy 6:12

"But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness." 1 Timothy 6:11

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"  1Timothy 2:5

 "To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." 1 Timothy 1:17

" I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service," 1 Timothy 1:12

 "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5

"As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:5

These are the scriptures that have really impacted my thoughts in the past two weeks or so. The Lord and His word have been my encouragement, convection, challenge, and just my stronghold. The past couple of weeks have been interesting with little life hiccups but I have had peace after moments of freaking out and I am just trusting the Lord. I Love Him and I'm learning to trust Him more and to trust Him faster. I am remembering His promises and doing my best to not listen to this flesh and this world, even tho sometimes the darkness slips in the Lord has brought me to a point where the darkness does not dwell long. I'm thanking the Lord more and trusting Him, I challenge you to do the same. See what the Lord has in store for you 

Humbling Myself

Something I have realized in the past few months was how much I still have to learn. It's nice really, I know that sounds funny but it's nice. I don't feel like I need to know the answer, I need to learn. I'm realizing the weight and the responsibility of discipleship and its showing me how young I am and how much i have to learn. I'm young and although my life has given me wisdom beyond m age there is still much wisdom to be gained. I see that I hold myself to the standard of perfection allot and it makes it hard to be okay with failure. Failure is a important part of learning and most of the time necessary for growth. This comforts my heart and reminds me that I'm young. As much as I look forward to the later days of my ministry when I can take all that I have been given and greatly impact for the kingdom making disciples and ministering like my disciplers but I see that I have much experience to gain and I am content in learning. David didnt take his kingdom right away he has to learn and be built up in his faith. So like my biblical hero I will learn and embrace the building of my faith, and hopefully one day be a great impact for the kingdom, and a valuable man in the eyes of the Lord.

    

just a small poem

I open this door and walk through

I look and the door is closed

I reach out and try to open it again 

I twist and push but its locked

I cant go back?

Then I had a peaceful thought

Why do I need to go back?

This path is the way I need to go

Why do I need to back?

This is the way I have chosen 

This is the way I have been taken

This is the way I need

This is the way this is the life

I need not go back 

Confirmation

So for a while now I have been praying about the direction Ashley and I were going to take in living our lives together for Christ. What I mean is what were we going to do? were we going to stay in the states with Off the Wall making disciples, or were we goin to Guatemala and the Liga de Vida Nueva (New Life children's home) to disciple the children there... both options were glorifying to God, both are lead by the command of Jesus to go forth and make disciples(The Great Commission Mathew 28:16-20) and both options are good (really there are three options because God could take us anywhere He wants and that could be neither of these options but that's a whole other topic of discernment.) As I was seeking an answer in this decision I was making sure that I wasn't choosing an option because it was the easiest or simply what I or Ashley wanted to do. I didn't want to stay here simply because I was comfortable here and I didn't want to go to Guatemala simply because that's what she planned on before we got together, (I didn't want to go there to just make her happy, because then my heart wouldn't be in it) to go to Guatemala Jesus would have to break my heart for those kids because although I have a passion for kids and missions I didn't break for these kids and I had an attachment here in the US. . We are becoming one so everything changes now, our previous commitments change, and our previous plans that we may have had for our lives change. We needed to find out now how we are going to best serve God together. We needed to find out how to have a united ministry. Through prayer and much Godly counsel and discussion it came down to these options; serving God here in the US making disciples, or going to Guatemala and serving the children's home and disciplining the children and people there.

So this past week I attended "Mosaic" a young adult bible group where we come together to read the Word and be challenged. That night I was asked to help lead worship, Josh was playing the guitar and I was playing the cajon. So things started off normal we sang and worshiped and then Don came up to lead the discussion/message. The topic for the night was Discipleship, after showing a video Don got up and prayed to start things off. After he started with a question like "do you ever feel like all you hear is the pain of this world?" then something took him and he began to break down and cry, as I sat I began to cry with him. He collected himself and prayed a few more times, then asked what are we doing about it? Are we disciples? Do we act like it? he began to cry again. As I began to cry again all I could see was a child standing before me. The child and I were standing in the dirt and the child was looking up at me and smiling. I bent down to the child and put my hands on his shoulders looked into his little eyes and said "I want to help make you more like Christ, I Love you." And I had children around me and I wanted to disciple them. My heart broke for these kids and somehow I knew that this represented the children in Guatemala. My heart was broken for these kids that I have only heard about and I wanted to help them, I wanted to invest in their lives and teach them how to be godly. Don collected himself finished his lesson with the Great Commission. Josh and I went up to finish up the night with a song and we sang "With Everything" and my heart just continued to break. By then end of the song all I could do was sit on my drum with my head in my arms crying, weeping for these children. I was filled with a Love and a desire for these kids, I knew now that this was the confirmation I had been praying for. The Lord did exactly what He needed to do to send me on this path, He broke my heart for the children that I will be going to disciple, He broke my heart specifically for them.

So now starts the final preparation of raising support and preparing to go to Guatemala with the Love of my life to do the work of discipleship in the lives of the children in Liga de Vida Nueva (New Life children's home). This is going to be hard but I trust the Lord to lead me in the right direction and I trust Him to take Ashley and I through any challenge before us. I know this is crazy but here we go, we are going to Guatemala for a minimum of 2 years while facing the challenge of a newly wed life! But we Love Jesus and we Love each other so I think we will make it standing bright and strong for the Lord. I believe the Lord is taking us in this direction and I intend to obey. 

Mathew 28:19-20-- "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Where would I be without the Gospel?

Where would you be without the Gospel? It was a question asked in our young adults bible study. Its a question I have asked myself before, a question that brings me to one of my fears. My fear of being who I believe myself would be without Christ. I think this is a important question that brings to light the importance of the gospel in our lives.

I know that for some people its hard to imagine what they would be like because they were saved at a young age. But I was saved at a young age and i believe I have a pretty good idea who and what I would be.. I have battled it throughout my life.. the choice to pursue the life that I know I would accomplish... A life lead by myself and not the King I serve now... Making myself king... Ever sense I was a little kid I have had a sense of leadership, and others always fallowed. I never had that struggle in my life of not realizing that I was a leader and not liking people fallowing or depending on me. I accepted and embraced it. I wanted to lead others into something great, this was my dream. This dream was not exactly something I just decided I wanted to do but something I thought I was called to, something I was meant to do. As I grew older I began my debate on weather or not I was going to be a leader that lead from within the law or if was going to be a leader of the underground and not be bound by the laws of our society and culture.

So started my struggle with how to still be good but be underground. I was going to be a leader of my own clan. I am a very medieval and mafia style man and I believed in a hierarchy system and I was going to create and lead one. It would have started with my closest friends and I would have built up an earthly thrown. I would have been involved in all kinds of underground, I would have stolen from the rich, I would have taken in the poor, I would have began an empire. I would have stolen, destroyed, and killed. Whatever was necessary for the ones who fallowed me to be safe and strong. I would have defended and fought for this. And probably eventually moved into another country where I could reach more people.  I would build an earthly throne and I would not be a man to oppose. Sure I probably still would have been a good person, stood for what I thought was right, I would keep the peace and bring forth what I saw as justice, but really it would all be empty. All this that I would build, the people I would help, the things I would accomplish would all crumble.... It would all be in my name.. Worthless... Yeah I may not know if any of this would actoully happen, I mean weather or not I believed Gods will still would stand in my life but I do know that would be my goal and purpose. I would bring select people together to protect and provide for a kingdom that I would raise.

But now I see the eternal, I see Jesus and His Love for me and what he has done for me. He died on the cross for me so that I could be with Him in eternity! So that I could be redeemed, adopted, raised up from the dead, glorified, and placed as part of the bride that is the church. I can do things for the Lord that will echo into eternity. I can serve a King greater than I. I can find true Justice in the Lord. I can be a stronger force with the Lord than if i had an army of thousands. I am now part of something bigger than my lifetime and bigger than this world even. Now I can go out with instruction and guidance from the one who is greater than I, and do things that will effect eternity and give people what they really need. Not just solve their temporary problem but show them a great King and provider. I can show them the reason I can do truly good things without selfish motive or gain. God is Good all the time. And I thank Him for His Gospel and His work in my life.

Mathew 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

The Honeymoon Stage?!?!?

People say that me and Ashley are still in our honeymoon stage. They say that this will pass and more challenging things will come. The say the excitement will calm down, and we will fight. They say we are just on a high and we will come down sooner or later. Its not going to be this lovey forever. You wont talk like that to each other like that after your honeymoon stage ends. Bla Bla Bla

This is where I ask the question why? Why does it have to only be a honeymoon stage? Why cant we be like this throughout our relationship? Yeah things get hard and we argue and fight but why does that mean that our Love has become different in its ferocity? If anything it should increase, because through these conflicts through these hard times we strengthen our Love and our understanding of God and each other. Who’s to say that I wont romance her all the days of our life? Yeah is that allot of work and does that mean I go out of my way allot of times to do so? Yes, yes it does and I want to, because every time I see that beautiful face blush and smile its all worth it. I want our relationship to be different than the normal, why cant I strive for something more? I want to make her feel wonderful with almost every breath I breathe. Does that mean I don’t bring up hard issues? No of course not, that wouldn’t be loving her. I’m not saying avoid the hard stuff or the stuff that isn’t exactly “enjoyable” I’m saying that why does the extreme passion and excitement have to leave for that to happen? Yes it becomes more serious but I still have a overwhelming love, a desire for her. I want what’s best for her and if that’s correction that’s what I do and I do it in a way that is biblical and caring. Am I saying we will never be mad at each other? No! that would be ridiculous and fake! But I want to work and fight for our love and who says that cant be exciting and passionate!?!?

I strive for a different relationship than I see in allot of couples. I’m not saying that the way I see other relationships is wrong and I’m not saying “YOUR RELATIONSHIP SUCKS!” No I’m saying I want our relationship to be different. I don’t want to reach that point where our Love has become “normal” that I hear some couples talk about. Why does it seem so impossible to have the Love that I’m striving for? Why is it always only seen as something that can not be grasped in reality? I want to inspire other couples to a new level in their relationship, to strive to be in a constant romance.

 Yeah you can probably put me in the hopeless romantic box but I refuse to believe that its hopeless and nothing but a fairy tail. I strive for a love similar to the story of “The Notebook” (I know calm down and listen to the rest) those two loved each other and didn’t limit themselves by saying there is a level of Love that cant be reached. It's a real story with real people, if unbelievers can reach a Love like that then why can a God centered one be?!?! I want my marriage to represent Christ and the love and passion that He puts forth, a limitless Love and Passion. We never come to a limit when it comes to falling in Love with Christ! If my marriage and relationship with my Love, my wife, is supposed to represent the love of Christ for the church then it shouldn’t be limited or become “normal.” It should be full of discovery of new levels of Love and full of passion, every day my Love for Ashley grows into a level of Love that I never knew before and that’s how my relationship with Christ is or should be as well, although some days I admit I suck but if I see this in my relationship with Ashley it makes me strive for that in my relationship with Jesus it points me to God and I Love that! I want my Love for Christ and my Love for my wife to run in parallel growth! As my Love for Christ grows I have more Love to give to my wife! Its so amazing how my relationship with Ashley has grown my relationship with the Lord because of the comparisons. To know the indescribable Love that is overflowing in the dams of my heart for Ashley is nothing but a glimpse of how much the Father loves us?!?! It’s brought a whole new understanding to me about the Love of our God. I never want that to stop, I never want to stop seeing something about Christ in my relationship with Ashley. Realizing that our relationship revealed that makes me fall even more in Love with Ashley. I want our relationship our marriage to constantly have this back and forth with our relationship with Christ, both benefiting each other and giving more for each other. It’s the key to making this Loving relationship that I strive for work. If Christ isn’t the driving force behind it I know it will fail. For any of the Love that I have the privilege of pouring out on Ashley comes from Him first.  And Its always to show me to show us more of Him and who He is, its all for His glory weather its through the Love that he aluminates through my Love relationship with Ashley or if It’s through a verse that shows me how to better Love her. My Love for Christ shows me how to better Love Ashley and My Love for Ashley shows me how to Better Love my Savior Father God and King. That’s how I plan on living this out…. Lets see how this love story goes