Jesus Fawns-over Us, His Love Is Enough

So guys have a desire to be flattered by others.  This creates a desire to be looked up to.  This comes into play at work, out in the world, and at home.  Men depend on their wives for support in the decisions they make and in how they relate to others.  If a woman does not do this it creates a desire in the man to obtain this from somewhere else.  There is a cure for this but it requires us to refocus.

God has a desire to fawn over us.  He loves us, and when we desire this from others we are taking away this relationship with him.  We need to change our desire from someone else to Jesus. We need to put our focus on Jesus. He is the one and only true love for us.  We can not require others to do it, not our wives, not our friends, not somebody down the street or neighbor, but Jesus is the one we need to be focused on. We need to take our focus off of ourselves and put our focus on Jesus.

The American Church is Dead, Time to Follow Jesus

It's interesting how people say the American church is not stepping up during this time of trouble.  I would argue that part of the problem is how the American Church has evolved.  The American Church is part of the problem. The "church" is just part of society now.  There is no difference between a religious person that goes to church and secular person that doesn't  the statistics are the same. In order to make a difference we need to be followers of Christ not followers of religion that man has created.

We need to come together with love and be the hands and feet of Jesus. We cannot depend on the church to do these things any longer.  The church of America is motivated in our society by money, power, and position.  

Thank you for keeping the sheep at bay, it is time to step out as followers of Christ and boldly make an impact in our communities as we prepare for his return.  

Kingdom Disciples

Teachings from Tony Evens to make Kingdom Disciples.  Oh how the world has turned from Christ.  We are babies that speak without authority. Hebrews 5:12

We need to act out Jesus' great commission not to just go, but to also baptize and teach and do it with the authority of God. Matthew 28:19-20

We need to know the scriptures.  These are powerful tools that no one can challenge.  If you do not know them, then you cannot us them, yet this is what God has given us.  2 Timothy 3:16

Be a bold represetitive for Jesus. 

Teaching Christian Values

Our national identity is defined by our Christian believes and heritage.  Our founding fathers and the reasoning behind people moving to this land was for religious freedoms.  Christianity has brought with it the faith of one creator, free will, moral responsibility, freedom, and a spiritual connection to our creator through Jesus Christ. We can not continue to be America if we do not uphold these beliefs and teach our children these moral values.

Our educational system was founded on the idea that all citizens should be able to read, the Bible, and understand the political system of the country because they were active participants in the governing of this country, from the town level up to the federal level.  We have shifted our attention away from this and are now focused on preparing students for a college experience at the expense of losing our moral compass.

We need to get back to having a spiritual Christian foundation.  This is why we are are here, we need to teach our children these values to help them understand our history so that the mistakes that have taken place do not repeat themselves, so that they have an understanding of what is important in life.

We talk about what is import yet we continue to follow, we need to make a difference in the world in how we live.  We have been blessed with abundance, we need to stop living up to that abundance, and give back to the world.  Stop raising the standard of living, and living within our means.

Christian values provide hope, love, and peace for this country and the world. 

Relationships

This year my resolution was "relationship"; a relationship with God, a relationship with others.  My focus was to be intentional about getting to know the people that are around me better, to go deeper than just "hi" and "how is your day".  Philippians 2:4, "not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."  I have had those opportunities, but I have also not been successful as I would have liked.  Either way, that is what God put on my heart at the beginning of the year, and I hope it continues to foster being intentional about building deeper relationships as we come up on a new year.

It is interesting, we just attended the Heritage Fair in Waco after Thanksgiving, and one of the events I attended was the "Creative Writing" class.  The Instructor Amanda talked about how our social media access has changed our level of creativity in our writing, and I would add our relationship with others.  This form of communication has added to our social connections by connecting us to what I would call, the "greater community" and in other ways it has hindered our face to face connections by offering connections via the internet that falsely represent a "relationship".

We need to look for ways to be intentional about our relationships.  One of the first steps is connecting with our neighbors.  Saying "hello" over the fence or stopping to talk while someone is walking their dog, to go a little deeper and learn about what is happening in the neighborhood.  Another way is to get involved with a local community group.  This could be your church, HOA, town government, school, or other civic group.

As an introverted guy in today's society it is not easy connecting with others in a deeper more meaningful way.  One way I have been been able to do this is through a small group bible study.  It has been a great experience connecting with those that we can safely share our life struggles, challenges, and triumphs.  This is great for becoming stronger in God's will for our life, but we must also expand our reach outside our Christian realm and embrace or at least engage with those that don't know Christ.

In all our relationships we need to be Christ like and show others the love of Christ even if we don't advertise that this is love that we are showcasing.  As Christian's we are representing the hands, feet, and love of Jesus whether we like it or not.  This really is the essence of being a Christian in the world today.

Introduction

The United States of America was founded on biblical principles. We need to rediscover those principles. I felt a calling to raise awareness to what the bible says we need to be doing as Christians and contrast that with what our culture is telling us today.  My hope is that this will help reestablish biblical principles that will guide us today.

Through this calling and desire to bring Christ back to the forefront of this nation's consciousness, my intent is not to belittle those that are Christians but rather raise the question to ones own sole on whether they are acting as Christ would want them to act.  Providing a standard against the status quo of our contemporary society.  I fall short of these ideals but look to these thoughts as a standard to strive for in my own life.

As you read through these ideas please feel free to provide you thoughts and feedback.  I look forward to productive and civil dialogue with all representatives including those that may oppose wholeheartedly these ideas.  As a free society we must all be willing to listen and engage in ideas that may be extreme so that all grievances can be addressed, allow all to be included and take an active roll in the American experiment.

My intention is to focus on Biblical principles, but there may be a peppering of other thoughts that relate to other areas that I am passionate about.