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Scattered

For the last few days, I’ve been trying to come up with something to write about, and my mind has felt like a blank canvas. Actually it’s felt more like a canvas covered in about 30 different kinds of paint and ripped up in little pieces. I realized today that I feel very “scattered” with everything in my life, and I don’t know why.

I’m not sure where this scattered feeling is coming from. There’s nothing particularly stressful in my life right now, and things have actually been going pretty well in most areas. It just seems like I took everything in my life and just threw it all up in the air and I’m waiting for it to come down. I’ve been struggling with finding quality time to pray to God and study my bible, even though I was very excited to get a new Greek-Hebrew Key Word Study Bible. I’ve felt flustered at work, and even somewhat flighty when I’m at church volunteering.

I don’t know exactly where this is coming from, and I’ve been feeling like I’m just floating around without a lot of purpose right now, but I have to trust God, and during this time I’ve been reminded of Jeremiah 29:11, which says:

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

So I guess I’m trusting in God that I’ll come out of this scattered fog and He’ll show me what He has planned for me.

So how are you feeling so far in this new year? Do you feel like things are going well in your life right now? How can we pray for you?

Looking Ahead

As we come upon the end of another year, and in this case, the end of a decade, I’ve decided to skip the usual year in review and instead look ahead to next year. I’m excited for the potential of the next year for the first time in a long time, and it gave me extra incentive to write about it.

When I sat down to write my list of “goals” for the upcoming year, I think I came up with a fairly decent list of what I want to accomplish next year:

  • Lose weight and get in shape.
  • Improve my golf game.
  • Continue my involvement in student ministries at my church and grow the relationships that I’m developing with students.
  • Get back to playing baseball. I miss it a ton.
  • Increase my time spent with God and His Word.
  • Make sure I am where God wants me to be career-wise.

I’ve looked over this list a couple of times, and even thought I had refined it a couple of times, it still didn’t convey what I was really feeling. After spending some time reading through others’ blogs and in the Bible, I’ve come up with what my “goal” for the next year really boils down to.

I want to be authentic.transparent

I don’t mean this in some sort of ethereal sense, but I want to be truly authentic in everything I do. In my relationships online and offline, on Twitter, Facebook, at work, with my Creator, the causes I support, in every area of my life. Especially online, it’s very easy for us to phrase something a certain way or use certain words to make us sound a specific way, and I want to make sure that the person you see is the same whether I get the opportunity to meet you online, at work, at church, or in a bar on a Friday night.

I don’t feel like I’m starting from zero with this goal, but I know there’s definitely room for improvement, and I want to make this the major focus of my life in 2010. That’s the reason I’m putting it out here for all of you to see. I want to make sure you hold me accountable. Just because I’ve never met you in person doesn’t mean I don’t have respect for you and I would definitely listen to what you had to say regarding authenticity, especially when I’m sucking at it. For those of you that know me on multiple levels, I’m hoping you’ll step it up to make sure I’m being as transparent as possible. So for better or worse, you’ll hopefully be seeing the real me at all times in 2010.

Do you have a big “goal” for 2010? Is there anything we can hold you accountable for in the next year?

Let the Bible do the Work (part 2)

So, if you read my last post Let the Bible do the Work, the person you’re trying to share God’s love story with has now finished all the verses. Now what? Here’s the best part…you go back to asking questions. Try these on for size:

  1. With what we’ve just read, do you believe you’re a sinner? (If the answer is no, ask why. You can even go through the verses again.)
  2. Do you want forgiveness of your sins?
  3. Do you believe Jesus dies on the cross for you and rose again? (If the answer is no, ask why.)
  4. Are you willing to surrender your life to Christ?
  5. Are you ready to invite Jesus into your life?

If they say no, same story as before. YOU WALK AWAY FRIENDS. If however, they say yes, now it’s time for you to do just a little bit of talking. Praying actually. I don’t believe there is some sort of magic prayer words you have to pray to become a Christian, but The Sinner’s Prayer is a great prayer to use in this situation. Ask them to pray along with you, either silently or out loud. I’ve written it out below.

Heavenly Father, I have sinned against you. I want forgiveness for all my sins. I believe Jesus died on the cross for me and rose again. Father, I give you my life to do with as you wish. I want Jesus to come into my life. This I ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

Then turn to the person, give them a big hug, and invite them to be part of your life and church. You can’t leave them out there twisting in the wind. But know that God has put you in the right place at the right time, and this person you are standing or sitting next to you’ll see for all eternity. That’s a pretty awesome thing, and all you did was ask a few questions!

Has this worked for you? Do you have other suggestions? I would love to hear other ideas.

Let the Bible do the Work

How many of you are afraid to witness to others? You don’t want to be that guy/girl, the “bible thumper”, “pushing” your faith on other people. I know I’m guilty of that far too often. It’s not that I don’t show God through my actions, I just don’t go the extra mile many times to actually share my faith. Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about that, and I wanted to share with you all a way I’ve found that will make it easier. You’ve still got to make some effort, but let you bible do the work for you. All you have to do is ask questions.

Earlier this year, I was taking a class from CedarCreek on Acts, and somehow the topic of sharing your faith came up. Our pastor, Mark Bernard, went through a pretty straightforward way of having the person you’re talking to do all the work. (Part of this does require writing in your bible, and I promise you won’t go to hell for it.)

  • Look up Romans 3:23. Underline it, note what page it’s on, then go to the very front of your bible, maybe inside the cover, and write “Romans 3:23″, and the page number.
  • Now find Romans 6:23. Underline it, note the page, then go back to the actual page of Romans 3:23 (for me, that’s page 939), and write the page number of this new verse in the very top corner of the page.

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Are you getting the hang of it? So basically, you start in the front of the bible, with Romans 3:23, flip to the page listed, and then after reading that verse, look at the next page number you wrote at the top of that page, and go to it. What this will do is take you through the entire sin story, verse by verse. Let’s keep going.

  • Starting with Romans 3:23
  • Next is Romans 6:23
  • 1 Peter 3:18
  • John 14:6
  • Romans 10:9-11
  • 2 Corinthians 5:15
  • Revelation 3:20

Now we’ve got it. So when the time comes, you open your bible to the front cover, find the page for Romans 3:23, flip to it, and hand it to the person and have them start reading. It’s a no pressure situation for you (mostly). After each verse, you simply ask the person “What does that mean to you?”, and listen to their answer.

So now, maybe the next question your wondering is, “How do I get myself into a situation where I’m pulling my bible out with one of my coworkers that seems to have cornered the market on four letter words you can’t plan in Scrabble?”

First off, one of our biggest problems when we share the gospel is that we do all the talking. This puts a huge weight on all of our shoulders, when instead, if we just ask questions, let the other person talk, I think we might really be surprised. So you have your friend, who seems to have expressed some interest in why you live your life the way you do, or why you act the way you do, and has finally asked you about it. Try out these five questions on them:

  1. Do you have any kind of spiritual belief?
  2. To you, who is Jesus?
  3. Do you think there is a heaven and a hell?
  4. If you died right now, where would you go? (If they answer not sure, you can ask “Would you like to know for sure?”, and break out the bible and Romans 3:23)
  5. If what you believed is not true, would you want to know it?

At this point, if the say yes, break out the bible and Romans 3:23. If they say no, YOU WALK AWAY FRIENDS. Yes, that’s right, walk away. Don’t pressure, don’t freak out, don’t scream and them and hit them with your bible. Walk away. God did not ask you to save every person. Your responsibility is to present the gospel to them, God will take care of their end of things. It’s not us that get people into heaven, we’re just the messenger.

In my next post…they read the verses, now what do I do?

What terrifies you about sharing your faith? Have you tried this, or has it worked for you? I would love to hear other ideas too!

Commitment

1176741_68006109So, why this site? Why the name “Jesus in Disguise”? What does that even mean anyway? I got the idea for the title of this site from Mother Teresa. In an interview she gave, she was quoted as saying:

The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved, they are Jesus in disguise.

This goes along with a verse that has had a huge impact on my life over the last year, which is Matthew 25:40:

40 “Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’”

This part of Matthew describes a final judgment, and one of the aspects of that judgment is that those who were judged to not have a relationship with God; one of the aspects of that was that they did not help those who were less fortunate or unable to help themselves. To God, this is the same as not treating him this way. I’m not saying that if you don’t help people who are less fortunate you’ll go to hell, but God does expect us to help those less fortunate.

Along with this, I prayed a while back for God to break me. I prayed for God to break my heart for the same things that break His heart. I know, a very dangerous prayer. God has done just what I asked Him to. At first I thought maybe I was depressed or something, but once I took a look at what was making me sad, I realized what was happening.

God had broken my heart. He had broken it for the homeless, the voiceless, and the helpless. Those that couldn’t help themselves, or didn’t have a way to help themselves. So now I’ve made the choice to actively help those that can’t, to do something I feel God has asked me to be a part of.

There’s one problem. I started this site, and intend to keep bringing to light those situations where people need help. The problem is, I don’t know how to get actively involved, and I don’t fully know how active God wants me to be. So I could really use some help in how to get seriously involved. I don’t know where it’ll take me, or what I’ll be doing, but I’m committed to making a difference.

Do you have suggestions for me? How have you committed to living out what God has called you to?

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