I was asked by a leader in my church:

Leader: “People aren’t serving in the church, attendance is dwindling, and our finances are suffering…”

This is the jist of what I told him:

Me: Our problem is Love.  The Church doesn’t love God enough.  If they did, they would give, they would serve and they would attend as many small groups as they could to learn more about God… Sadly people don’t love God.

“So how do we change it?”

Well, since you asked… I don’t know all the answers, but I’ll give it my best shot:

1. Our church tends to preach behavior modification rather than heart change.  We need to stop preaching what is wrong with people and start preaching what is right with people because of Jesus.

2. People don’t believe that God will change people’s hearts.  If they did, they would preach Grace (undeserved, unmerited favor)

3. People don’t trust God to give because of their perspective.  We need to tell them that God doesn’t need their money.

4. I’ve been going to this church for 3 years and I’ve only heard the good news preached once.  We need it to be a foundation in people’s lives.  How can they trust a God if they think He’ll leave them when they sin?

Our church tends to preach behavior modification rather than changing hearts.   People could modify their behavior, but still have the desire to sin. Covering it doesn’t change their heart, in fact it brews and breeds more sin.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:56 “The power of sin is the Law“.  Pretty clear where sin gets it’s power.  He also says in Romans 6: 14 “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”  So if you are under Law, sin is your master. He goes on to say that Sin was dead apart from the law in Romans 7:8 “But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.” So how do we revive sin?  By re-introducing the law.

So what’s to stop people from having grace and going out and murdering people?  That’s the same argument made against Paul in the early church: Romans 6: 1 and 2: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2. By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”  Notice Paul does not say “Don’t do it”  He says How can we continue to sin if we’re dead to it?  If I told my parents that they are “dead to me” why would I want to visit them on the holidays?  People just don’t believe God can really change people.  They want instant changes…  It took Abraham many years after God had declared him righteous for him to obey God and offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice.

We need to have a shift of thinking of who God is. We need to remind people of who they are in Christ.  They need to have a strong foundation that they are saved forever.  Point them to verses that show God’s love for them.  Reveal foreshadowing of Jesus in the Old Testament.  Show them how God’s Love for us is the central theme of the entire Bible.  God is good.  He’s more good than you could even dream.  He’s so good, that when we get to Heaven he will wipe away our tears – because we didn’t realize how present his power was with us at all times even when we failed, fell short and sinned.  He never left us or forsook us.  God is the one who sent the Son to redeem us.  Why do we constantly focus on ourselves and our failing inconsistent love for God?

If we focus on the Gospel – The too good to be true but it is true news” and let people know that their sins are forgiven.  God has judged it all on Jesus at the cross to pay for us.  We don’t have to do a thing but believe that God did what he said he did and trust Jesus as God’s sacrifice for all our sins.  All means all, past present and future.  God knew it all and judged Jesus at the cross, so that rightly he could declare us clean.  sins paid for.

In the past if you sinned, you would bring a lamb to the priest as an offering.  The priest would then examine the lamb (not the person who brought it) for any blemishes.  After the lamb is confirmed being without blemish, you would place your hands on the lamb’s head and symbolize that an exchange is taking place. The lamb exchanges your sin and for it’s innocence.  The lamb is slaughtered and the sins are covered.  Thank goodness we have a better lamb the perfect lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.  No longer covered, but taken away.

It is so easy for us to go back to the system of do good get good, do bad get bad and we need to be reminded of our right standing with God over and over.

Here are a few foundational verses that you can read to remind you of your right standing before God.

No condemnation for the believer:

 Romans 8:1,2 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2. because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

God works for your good in all things. He called us, justified us and glorified us.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified;those he justified, he also glorified.”

God is for You not against You

Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 

The most precious thing in the Universe, Gods only son… and he gave him up as a payment for you.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33.Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

We are more than conquerers – A prized fighter wins the match, he’s all beat up and bloody.  He brings the prize money to his wife.  She is more than a conquerer.

Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Nothing separates us from the love of Christ:

Romans 8: 38 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39. neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus said “Feed my sheep” Not beat my sheep.

~Oneazn2nv

We have heard it said to “Fear God and Serve him only”, and the “Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”; but what is the correct meaning of “Fear”?

Are we to be afraid of God? Wouldn’t that make us avoid him?  If he wants to draw near to us, why would he ask us to fear him?

This sounds to me like a contradiction. Why would a God of Love need to use Fear?

What does the Bible say?  Deuteronomy 6:13 says: “You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him…”

When Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted in Luke 4:8; Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13 and says “You shall worship the LORD you God and Him only you shall serve.”

Also in Matthew 4:10: “You shall worship the LORD your God and Him only shall you serve.” 

I’m letting the Bible interpret the Bible.  And who better than to let Jesus interpret the Bible?

I believe that the Jesus is interpreting this verse to what the true meaning of the word “Fear” is: Worship

David said this about fearing God in Psalm 130:4: “But there is Forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”

Interesting, he doesn’t says “there is Wrath with You or there is Judgement with You” He says Forgiveness…

Worshiping God is the true understanding to the word Fear.

Worship God and Serve Him only, the Worship of God is the beginning of wisdom, There is Forgiveness with You that You may be worshiped.

Amen! Hallelujah! God is GOOD!

*Update* Some other verses to consider:

1 John 4:8: “Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is Love”

1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in Love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

1 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

~Oneazn2nv

We’ve been contemplating lately about hiring a nanny… well, not really hiring an nanny, but paying a family member to help us out around the house.

There’s got to be a great benefit to this, but I’m also afraid of what it might do to the relationship to the family member.

Has anyone out in Xanga land ever hired a family member?

What are the drawbacks? What are situations I might run into with hiring a family member?

~Oneazn2nv

Many people have been asking me if I’m “Anxious” or “Nervous” about being a dad.  In fact, my friend Jhermaine kept asking me it over and over and I said “are you trying to make me nervous?”.

I have to admit that at first I was pretty anxious about being a dad.  At times I couldn’t sleep well because I was thinking about how much I could screw this up.  I haven’t been the best at… well anything and to know that I wouldn’t be the best as a father really started getting to me.  Most times I would just stay up at night with thoughts racing through my head wondering what I’d do to alienate my baby from me at an early age.  Would she ever forgive me for screwing up her life?

I’m not sure how many of you parents out there have gone through this, maybe a lot, maybe few, but for me it was pretty intense.  I didn’t know what to do, I was losing sleep and feeling like I was disappearing.

One day I was listening to a message at our Wednesday night small group and everything seemed to change.  I felt much better about being a father and I could sleep much better…

The main point of what I learned was that when I start looking at my flaws and mistakes, I get entangled with them.  When condemn myself, I make it harder for me to see myself how God sees me.  Isn’t it interesting that when we try to fight with our own sin, we fall deeper and deeper into it?  In my case, my sin was Worry.  The more I tried to keep myself from worrying, the more I’d think about it. 

Did you know that when sacrifices were made in the temple and a lamb was brought, the priest would examine the lamb, not the person offering up the lamb.  Jesus is our Lamb! “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)” Thank God that Jesus is the perfect lamb in which God finds no fault and therefore accepts me!

When Jesus died for my sins at the cross, God justly punished all the sins from the beginning of time to the end of time.  When I understood that God would forgive me of my shortcomings and see me as “perfect” in his eyes, I realized God doesn’t condemn me.  ”Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)”.  If God doesn’t condemn me, then why should I condemn myself?  Why should I sit here and accuse myself of things that Jesus has already paid for?  Did you know that Satan means “accuser” in Hebrew?  He stands accuses us… “You’re such a bad Christian”, “See you screwed up again…”  If I sit here and accuse myself about being a bad father (even before I’ve even done anything to screw up) then who’s work am I doing against myself?  Here’s a hint – It’s not God.

So now instead of being self condemning, I’ve chosen to remember who I am in God’s eyes.  He sees me as perfect.  Will I screw up? Of course, but I will get back up and continue knowing that the screw up is not counted against me.  I am seen as Good in God’s eyes because God examines Jesus in my place.  It really takes the pressure off.

So am I Anxious?  Am I nervous?  No!  I’m excited!  I can’t wait to test out all my swaddling techniques!

~OneRemindedazn2nv

Nathan Jeung told me I should check out the book “The Primal Blueprint”

Nate: “Dude, I’m Down to 175 from 245.”

Me: “No kidding, you look great man, what’s your secret?”

Nate: “The primal blueprint”

Me: “Okay, I’ll check it out”

Now I’m down to 215 from 245.

~Oneazn2nv

I haven’t been on Xanga for a long time… I’ve got Xanga Life premium membership, but I haven’t really had time to blog anymore.

With facebook, Linkedin, gmail and all the other sites I frequent, Xanga has kinda been an afterthought.

I’ve really got to continue using Xanga.  If not for journaling, at least for having a creative outlet.

~Oneazn2nv

“Have a nice day” is a phrase that is usually associated with a large smiley face. I think the phrase got popular around the 60′s when Forest Gump gave that T-shirt guy an idea.

I don’t know how the phrase originated, but I do find myself using it a lot to wish someone well. I remember pastor Tim was talking about the phrase “Have a nice day.” sounding more like a command instead of wishing someone well. “So if I say okay and I don’t have a nice day have I lied to you? And if I don’t have a nice day am I disobeying you?” That’s a funny thought and it got me thinking… What is a nice day?

What is a nice day? Is it a day with sunshine, smiles and pretty rainbows? Is it a day where everything goes our way? Is it a day you might fix everything and save a frog? Perhaps I’m looking at this all wrong…

Maybe have a nice day implies that we have a choice. Maybe can choose to have a nice day, or we can choose to have a bad day depending on how you look at your day. If you simply look at the big picture of your day… maybe every day could be a nice day.

So how do we do that? Remember that you have survived the day enough to think about it. Remember that tomorrow is a new day with new possibilities. Remember that you are loved by a God that cares about you. Everything else fades into a sea of grace and peace.

I like the idea of being able to choose a nice day everyday. Knowing that whatever day I face with good things and bad things will always result in a nice day.

~Oneazn2nv

I had an interesting conversation with a former TSA executive that requested she remained nameless.
So once again. The following conversation may or may not have happened:

Phil: So I really want to know the question that has been plaguing mankind for decades…
Where the heck is my luggage?

Nameless Lady: The airlines are not only in the business of shipping people.
Actually, they get a significant amount of their money shipping cargo as a courier service.

Phil: So? What does that have to do with where my bags are?

Nameless Lady: It has everything to do with where your bags are. You might board a flight from LA to Miami, but your bags might be on a flight from LA to Texas and transfer in Texas to Miami later. The reason is that the airlines sell their cargo space as a courier service and so your bags are second in line. So if your airline has an excessive or heavy cargo shipment on one plane, it might throw your bags on a separate plane with a lot more transfers before it gets to the final destination. And if those transfers get delayed, then your bags get delayed too. If you’re flying across country, it’s not uncommon for your bags to go on a completely separate route. We’ve had people who were going on cruises from Miami and they had to board without their luggage because the airline routed their bags through New York where their bags were delayed because of weather until the next day.

Phil: What kind of Cargo do planes take?

Nameless lady: Anything and everything. Pets. Lots of pets.

Organs for transplants like hearts and kidneys. Lots of hospital related shipments. If you’re willing to pay for it, you can usually ship it. Nothing illegal of course.

Phil: Do cargo shipments sometimes affect the passenger load?

Nameless lady: Absolutely. Sometimes the cargo is too heavy and they can’t fly without bumping some of the people. It’s not uncommon for them to bump the whole back row to the next flight in order to comply with weight regulations for their cargo shipments. I don’t like it, because the people have already paid to be on the flight and the airlines are really doing it just for more money from the cargo.

Phil: Is this an airline I would have taken recently?

Nameless lady: Most likely, it’s still in business and it’s a huge nation wide airline.

Phil: So is there some kind of measurement that is unacceptable for lost baggage?

Nameless Lady: We go by time. So the minute the bag is reported until the bag is delivered to the person.

Phil: So what is the acceptable time limit?

Nameless Lady: There is no acceptable time limit.

Phil: And what about the bags that never get returned?

Nameless Lady: Usually theft. But TSA is really starting to crack down on it. The airlines will pay you for lost luggage, but most people would rather have their luggage returned.

Phil: Where do all the confiscated items go? I mean, you can’t just give that stuff away right?

Nameless Lady: What is not perishable will be donated to Good will.

Phil: And all the knives and stuff go to the army?

Nameless Lady: The salvation army. Not the Military.

Phil: What is the most common confiscated item?

Nameless Lady: Lotions and hair products.

Phil: So what advice if any would you give the average traveller?

Nameless Lady: Take all your essentials on a carry on bag. Don’t take anything of value.

Michelle and Cory’s Wedding Video Highlights and Bonus Highlights:

Enjoy!

~Oneazn2nv

Recently Harry Reid has been under a lot of scrutiny for his comments about Barack Obama.  His comments were talking about the reasons why Barack Obama could win the Whithehouse because he was a “light-skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

 So lets analyze this: in 2 parts. 

Lets first take the “light skinned” remark.

1. Harry Reid is pointing out that Barack Obama’s chance of winning the whitehouse is dependant on the shade of his skin. His statement inately shows that he believes the society will only vote for a black person if their skin tone is lighter.   Lighter skinned = better chances.  Darker skin = Less chances.

Harry Reid could be racist himself, but he’s making a commentary on the racism that still exists in America.  It’s an opinion that he says here.  If he were to say “The only reason why Barack Obama won my vote is because he’s light – skinned” then that would be a racist comment. But that is not the case.

2. Harry Reid says Barack Obama could win the Whitehouse because he speaks “with no Negro Dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”  Here Harry Reid is saying that Barack Obama can speak standard American English when he wants to.  And with a Negro dialect when he wants to.

I don’t have a problem with the first part of this.  The problem I have is the 2nd.  “Negro Dialect”.  What is a Negro Dialect???

Define Negro: a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose anscestors came from Africa)

Define Dialect: The usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; “the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English”

So based on these definitions a Negro dialect is the vocabulary use of those who come from Africa.

So what’s wrong with this?

1. Since when is Urban language a Negro Dialect?  There are several groups of people including those of European descent who use urban language.

2.  The fact that Harry Reid associates this Urban language with African Americans is racist.

For example: I hate when someone will tell me that I act too “white” or that I act “black”.  In their minds what they are saying is that I act “educated” or I act “Urban or Ghetto”, but instead of saying that, it is replaced with an ethnicity.

I always tell people “No, I’m not a banana, (yellow on the outside white on the inside) I’m American!” Since when did we associate American with white?

So, a message to everyone… Consider how you associate a behavior with an ethnicity and STOP doing it!

If you still don’t understand:

Imagine if in this imaginary world that I’m about to create: that White people are all like Ned Flanders.  Now consider if I went up to you and said “man you act so white!”  That exposes the idea that you believe white people all act a certain way.  Or what if Chinese people were stereotyped into always driving caravans and you pull up in your caravan and I say, “man you’re so Chinese!” What would that mean?

The statement then becomes a show of your ignorance.  Yes.  I’m afraid Harry Reid in this instance is showing off his ignorance.  Does that mean he can’t learn from it?  No, I’m sure he’s sorry for using the terms and he has already said sorry.

So is this where the story ends?  No, lets say, through someone pointing it out to you, you found that there was some ignorance within you.  Lets say You’ve made a comment like this and you feel bad about it.  Well stop feeling bad about it and get over it.  Ask for forgiveness and then decide that you don’t want to be that way anymore.  Everyone’s got stereotypes they need to overcome.  And once someone points it out to you, you can move on and be better.  For those of us who have been the one to point it out, show some forgiveness and grace to that person.  If they aren’t mean spirited, then there is a hope that they can change.  Most people are willing to change so help be a part of the change and help that person.