Romans 10

Romans 10

Hey guys, it's Philip Organ filling in for the busiest man alive. Paul continues the conversation from chapter 9 about faith vs. following the law, and then speaks to some very important truths in this chapter. I just wanted to start this week's blog by asking a few questions that I heard as I read this chapter:

1) Do the descriptions of the Israelites in this passage sound a little like us? (Disobedient and Rebellious, misdirected zeal, clinging to their own way instead of God's)

2) Are we living sent lives, or are we sharing the gospel in our comfort zones?

3) How can someone believe if they haven't heard, and how do we know if they have heard?

I think Paul was teaching me through these questions, and causing me to look at myself and figure out where I stand on these topics, and more importantly, what am I doing about it.

Ultimately, to me this passage speaks to some fundamental truths of our walk with Christ, and that is that we must hear, believe, and confess to find the salvation that is offered to us through faith. Do you remember, or can you put your finger on when you heard the Gospel? Maybe you are like me in that you were raised in the church and so it was not very far away. Can you recall when you chose to believe what you had heard? If you are like me, you rode the coat tails of your parents' faith, followed their rules, and therefore you felt like a "Christian" all along. But when did you choose for yourself that these truths meant something more to you? Can you remember the last time you confessed? If you are like me, you are not repentant enough and allow sin to cripple you and you get complacent and forget to confess. I needed to be reminded of this today, what did you find in this passage?

Philip

Romans 9

Hey everyone, welcome to chapter 9 of Romans.

This can be difficult to read for some of you. And others will have questions about this. That's okay. This is actually a very big discussion between the staff, pastors and Elders right now.... what is our stance on the interpretation of what paul is saying here. (and other scriptures that reference this same subject matter) You see, we somehow think that, because we have the ability to rationalize within our own brains, we can presume to know why God would allow some to have their hearts hardened or just rather take the stance of what Paul says in verse 21, that when a potter makes a jar, doesn't he have the right to choose to create one for enjoyment and one to throw trash into?

The problem at the end of the day is.... we always wonder why it's okay for God to choose to save some and not others, when we should be reveling in the fact that he chose to save us! It is our job to serve Him and worship Him. Not to decide who should be saved and who shouldn't. It's our job to evangelize His message so that, just as scripture says, those whom He has "drawn" near to Him, will hear His voice and message and answer that call.

This is a BIG, HUGE subject. I know that some of you will read it, post on it, and then think about it for the next few days. And then you'll begin to have questions, doubts, and speculations. I just want you to know. When that happens, don't try to just piece it all together for yourself. You have a staff of Pastors and Elders. We are all studying this subject and talking about it at length. Please take the time to talk to me. Call me on the phone, or grab me at rehearsal, or wherever. I do not profess to be the authority on this subject. I'm studying it too. But together we can have a conversation over it and I can show you what I've learned through talking with the other Pastors and Elders and reading the scriptures. Or if you're around one of the other Pastors or Elders, ask them.

Love you guys.

Romans 8

Romans 8

Well, several things stick out to me in this passage. First and foremost, the last few verses. If you didn't know this already, tons of the songs that we sing come directly from scripture. Not just some creative person's talent and imagination. "The Love of God" comes directly from this passage. I think I saw in an interview that Jeff Deyo had been doing a book study on Romans and out of it, wrote about 10 songs. Interesting, huh? At the Journey, we have a belief and a saying that says: Creativity is the direct result of spirituality. Stands to reason, doesn't it? If you spend time in your walk with God, reading His word, and you are a creative person, don't you think it's only natural that God would birth creative things in your heart, as a result of knowing him more?

Anyway, Vs. 9-10 hit me hard. People are either a son or daughter of God, or they aren't. This passage makes it clear. Paul says that you have either had a life transformation, or you haven't. It's that simple. How many people do you know that say they are a Christian, yet live like God doesn't exist.

Next: 26-27. The Holy spirit intercedes for us. This is something we need to understand. That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit living in us. To connect us to the Father. When you pray, do you still try to make your words pretty and sound significant? Or do you just focus on Him, let your wants and desires go by the wayside and just thank Him for what He's done for you and let the Holy spirit in you lead your prayer?

Finally, and I could pick this entire chapter apart verse by verse because I love it so much, Vs. 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Read that again.... Paul says this with contempt. Who DARES accuse us, whom God had chosen for His own? If this were medieval times, and someone accused a member of a prominent family or royal blood line of any wrongdoing, they would be instantly put to death. I think Paul is eluding to something similar to this. We know that some day God will stand in judgement of this world. On that day, those who have falsely accused us, persecuted us, ignored us, condemned us, or anything other than celebrate our right standing with Him,.... whew! I don't wanna be around for that! Pain.... lots and lots of pain.... weeping and gnashing of teeth! LOL.

Romans 7

Romans 7

We've discussed before, that Paul was very smart. And if you don't pay attention to this chapter closely, you can get confused easily. I've read it several times, and each time, I get something new from it. But in a nutshell, Paul begins to reveal the sinful nature of man. He doesn't try to convince everyone that the "law" is bad. No, rather, it is good and holy, because it is of God. He doesn't dispute that. But what he is trying to point out here is: no one, because of their sinful nature (brought about by Adam and Eve) is able to obey the law. It would take a perfect life, a completely sinless life, to obey God's law. And since God is the only perfect being in the universe, we cannot live up to the law. No matter how hard we try, we fail. And Paul is trying to stress this point. He will, for the rest of the book of Romans, try to beat this into our heads. He does this, because, he needs the people he's ministering to (that would be the people he's talking to, as well as us) to understand that while the law is good, our sinful nature prevents us from obeying it. Hence the need for a savior. Remember, these people didn't deny, nor should we, that they could not atone for their sins without a sacrifice. They understood that they could not live up to the law. No matter how hard they tried, they still led a life of sin.

So, we too, must understand that we cannot atone for our sin. We can live the best life we think is possible and we still can't pay the debt. But if we understand that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our Sacrifice, then we die to the condemnation of the law. And its only His grace that pays the debt for us. Therefore, we SHOULD try to live a live worthy of that sacrifice. But we must also understand that we will not ever master sin. We will only be vindicated of it, through Jesus. And I believe, as Erik said yesterday, that we will be judged, not for the good or bad that we've done, but what we've done with Jesus.

Love y'all

Romans 6

Romans 6

This is, perhaps, my favorite chapter of Romans so far. Paul finally begins to get into the whole "Jesus is the Son of God" thing.

Having set up the last few chapters with Adam and the law, Paul now tells of Jesus' resurrection, proclaiming that Jesus is alive, and has defeated death. And to me, this is the crux of the entire chapter: verse 16. "Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?"

He is basically saying: if you choose to obey the law, then you are a slave to it. And you can never fulfill the law, nor can any human obey it. It is impossible, due to our sinful nature. But through Jesus, we can be free of the law, and be a slave of righteousness. And who doesn't want to be righteous?

I love this picture that Paul paints for us. So many of us still try to do our own works to find ourselves in the good graces of God. We have to understand that only by following the way of Jesus can we truly be found in His grace. Because only He was found without sin. I've been having a conversation with the worship leaders recently about idolatry and what we give ourselves to. This is something that we should all wrestle with. If we are not putting aside our sinful nature, then we become slaves to something other than Jesus. And that is idolatry. And God made it clear that we should have no other gods before Him.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

Romans 5

Romans 5...

As Paul preached the Gospel to the many people, (especially the Jews) he continued to use their foundation of faith to show them who Jesus is and why they needed to believe in him. We see how Paul differentiates between Jesus and Adam. He explains that, as they know, Adam brought sin into the world. And because of that, many have sinned since. He uses this as a measurement of God's grace, saying that, as sin increased, so did God's grace, up and to the point that there was no law that could contain the sin anymore. Therefore, with God's perfect timing, God had to do something bigger than any law could provide. Because of this, Jesus was born, led a perfect life and died sinless. And Paul argues that not many people would just die for a great person, let alone a bunch of sinners. But that's what Jesus did. He died for all. But here's where Paul eludes to the divinity of Christ. He doesn't come right out and say it yet, but it's well known, and he will flaunt this for the rest of the book, pretty much.

He points out that Adams sin brought death. And even Jesus died. But.... until Jesus, no one had ever beaten death and risen again. Paul knew that it was well documented by numerous accounts and many people that Jesus had appeared after His crucifixion, proving that He had defeated death and was truly the Messiah.

The overall point that Paul is trying to make here is that, once we were not rightstanding with God. He even says that we were God's enemies. But now, through the Son, we have been made friends again with God.

This, to me, really strikes a chord. To think that the God of the universe, Creator of heaven and earth, is my friend? WOW! That's a lot to process. I mean, I love my dad with all my heart. And I see him as just that... my dad. But I don't know if I look at him as a friend. My friends are my friends... my dad is.... well, my dad! And He's just my earthly father. To think that my heavenly Father is my "friend"... well, I guess I've never thought about it like that. This is something for me to ponder. What do y'all think?

robbie

Romans 4

Romans 4

Well, obviously, we're talking about faith here. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the full story of Abraham, but if you're not, you need to go back and re-read it. (CLick Here) This is the dude who took his son up on a mountain and was going to offer him as the sacrifice. That's right... he was gonna kill his son, because God told him to. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Suffice it to say, Abraham was found to have more faith than any man in the world. This is what Paul is talking about when he says it was recorded for our sakes. Not Abraham's.

This is important! Don't miss this. Paul is still setting up his letter here. I know we're in the fourth chapter, but still, Paul is educated. Remember? He knows he needs to set the stage and the groundwork for the bomb that he's about to drop, which is... Jesus is the Son of God. Moses' law is bunk, and the only way you can enter into heaven is to have... (here it is!) FAITH!. This is why Paul is spending so much time on this subject. The Jews and the gentiles were all aware of the story of Abraham. No one, believer or not, doubted the faith that Abraham had. And this is what Paul was trying to make them see. And here's why. Because Jesus had already ascended into heaven. The only way someone could become a Christ follower, is because they had faith that Jesus was who He said he was. Still holds true today.

So.... how's your faith? BIG question. I'll be honest with you. I've had times when my faith was weak. I think it's a natural occurrence. As long as we live on this world, we will always have Satan planting doubts about things in our lives. Especially our faith. The key is to stay in the word. Equip yourself with the spiritual armor that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. And don't forget that you are the sons and daughters of THE King.... not "A" king, but "THE" King.

-Robbie

Romans 3

“But,” some might say, “our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?”

This week we're looking at Romans 3.

Seriously? Do you know anyone who would adapt this theology? Ludicrous right? Not so fast....! I think we see it more often than not. I don't know that anyone actually has the conversation with anyone actually using those words, but when we continuously pursue sin, instead of our Father, isn't that what we are saying?

Yes, this may sound a little over dramatized, but it's the reality of it. We cannot take the stance that by sinning, we actually highlight God's righteousness. I've actually heard people say, "Yeah, but God still loves me". So? So what? I love my son, but when he acts up, or is just plain bad... I get all up in his mix! LOL. You don't think that God is going to discipline us? You're crazy! Just because He loves us doesn't mean that he won't hold us accountable and discipline us. To actually suggest that by sinning, we showcase how righteous God is, and that it is unfair for him to punish us, is only kidding ourselves.

Romans 2

So, Paul begins to lay the foundation to his argument for Jesus, in chapter 2 of Romans. Paul was very meticulous in how he approached the Jewish nation. He, himself, was a Pharisee. He knew the "law" as well as any of them. He persecuted the Christians, even unto death. So he knew the arguments that he would come against in proclaiming that Jesus was the messiah. So, as we begin this chapter, we see Paul starting from the beginning with them. He talks about how they believe that they can be saved through Moses' law. And, up until the life of Jesus, that IS how they were to be saved: through sacrifice and atonement.

What I get from this chapter (because obviously, he is talking to the Jew, not the gentile) is a lesson on how to effectively preach the gospel. Paul was VERY aware of his surroundings in every situation that he went into. Like I said, he was very smart. But street smarts is what I'm talking about. Not book smarts. Yes, Paul needed to have his education of the Jewish law in order to be effective with the Jews but it was his tactics that I'm referring to. We are told, that because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, that we are more than equipped to share the Gospel. What I think we need to work on, is our tactics! We can't just beat people up with it. We need to understand who it is we are sharing with, and then understand how we are to approach it with them. We'll see in later chapters and all throughout scripture that the answer to that is "relationship". So for me, it all goes back to when Peter said, "Be prepared to give an account for the things you believe". I think we need to be aware of our surroundings and understand who it is we are talking to. And just FYI, the account that you are to give.... should be the testimony of your life transformation!

Love y'all

Robbie

Romans

Hey everyone. Sorry I missed posting yesterday. Been trying to think through some things. I have decided that over the next few weeks, we are going to do a book study. Don't freak out! It's not going to be that hard. But I do think that often times we spend a little time on this verse and then a little time on that verse, jumping around all throughout the Bible. What I would like us to do is, over the next few weeks, we are going to go through the book of Romans. We'll take it a chapter at a time. And if it's a long chapter, we'll do it in parts. This week, we are going to start with chapter one. It is a short chapter. It will only take you five minutes to read it. But here's what I want you to do: pick out one thing that stands out to you and comment on it. Here's mine:

Romans 1:11-12

Paul talks about bringing a spiritual gift to those he comes in contact with, wanting to encourage everyone, but also wanting to encourage everyone else. This is something that I think we could do better at. Do we just go up to each other and ask, "Hey, I just want you to know that I pray God blesses you today, or this week. Is there anything I can pray for you about?" That's the kind of encouragement that I think we need to be about. We spend a lot of time together. But do we really take that time to get into each other's lives? Are we really fellowshipping with each other? Or are we just being superficial in our relationships? This is something that I want each of you to ponder.

You can feel free to comment on my thought, if you wish, but I do want to hear what stood out to YOU in this chapter.

Love y'all

Robbie

Rain

Rain... what can you say about it? We've certainly had a lot of it lately. I sit around when it's raining and think.... really? God, couldn't you just give us a nice sunny day? Couldn't we just not have to walk around and get drenched? Would it be too much to ask for a little bit of Sun?

This morning I was sulking, thinking about how much I hate the rain. Then I opened my bible randomly to Dueteronomy. I do this from time to time, when I'm not doing a book study. So, I'm grumbling about how it's pouring outside.... AGAIN! and I'm really starting to question whether or not I need to build another Ark. And then I see this: Dueteronomy 28:12.

So often we take the things of this world for granted. We dismiss the smallest of things and make big deals out of others. But more often than not, we forget that God uses ALL things for His glory. We sit around and ask God to bless us and our efforts, and in the midst of a blessing, we pass right over it. Today I was taught a valuable lesson and I was reminded of another passage of scripture. In Isaiah, God tells us that His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

We need to remember this. Cause if we don't, we are going to possibly miss out on something that God is doing, something that directly affects us. We may be missing out on receiving that which we have been praying for. And in the future, maybe I'm not going to be so bummed out when it rains!

Tell me your thoughts.

Love y'all.

What do you pray for?

Hey everyone, it’s Philip Organ starting our blog thought for the week. Robbie is taking care of his beautiful family who needs him today.

What do you pray for? I know it seems like a simple question, but as I ask it of myself, I noticed that I pray for my family and our situations and stressors, I say a ton of “thank you for…”, and we pray for friends and family, especially when in need. One thing I noticed is that I don’t pray for the body at the Journey as often as I need to. Paul inspired me through Ephesians 3 (v. 14-21) in his prayer for the church in Ephesus, and showed me the importance of praying power and strength into those we serve at The Journey. I do pray for this team each week that we bring a servant heart, and a spirit of love and compassion as we have the privilege of leading. Likewise I need to be praying for those who receive the offering we give, that their hearts may be softened and open to the spirit of the Living God and respond to his overwhelming love, to have courage and power and walk away changed each and every week.

As Paul closes his prayer, his thoughts are so powerful? If God is able to do so much more than we can ask, or even imagine, then my simple prayers for our church, combined with all of yours, can bring profound change in this area of middle Tennessee to the glory of our Father in heaven, both now and in future generations. I commit to each of you today, that I will pray each and every week that our gathering of believers, both guests and regulars will receive the power of the Spirit.

So again I ask, what is it you pray for, and how does this passage speak to you?

Psalm 145

This week, we're talking about Psalm 145.

This is a GREAT Psalm. There are so many "nuggets" that one can take from this Psalm. I love the imagery that David gives. Just little things like him saying, "Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness!" So many times I've read that and passed right over it, never thinking about it. What David is saying here is, though everyone on earth will recognize God's greatness, he will be the one to shout it out, regardless of who else does or not. That's the way David was. He never concerned himself with what others were doing. He only focused on how he was worshiping. I'm not saying that we don't need to focus on other people. We do! Cause we're in charge of leading them. But we CANNOT worry about them until we are centered ourselves. Which goes back to last week's post and the question: How are we doing in preparing ourselves before we take that podium on sundays? I think we need to really investigate our boy, David. We could all learn a lot about worship from him. What are some other things that stand out to you in this Psalm? I'll give you one more for me. Verse 18. "The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth." The key words here are the last two! How many people call on the Lord when they need Him? Just about everyone. How many of them call on Him in truth? What does that even mean to you? What are your thoughts?

Attitude

We talk all the time about our attitude, and what it should be when we worship. We throw around words like, gratitude, humility, brokenness, joy, wholeheartedness.... etc. But what do those things really mean? What does the Bible say about them?

I think this is something that we NEED to investigate, if we are to call ourselves worshipers, and leaders of worship. Our church, and the Church as a whole, needs to know what it means to worship. We talk about this all the time. We say, "Well, if WE are truly worshiping, then our church will see that and be drawn to it." I believe that that is true! I truly believe that when people see God's children engaged with Him, intimately, they can't help but want that for themselves. It's because that's how we were designed. We were designed to want to worship Him. But how can they see that, if we don't understand what it means to worship Him with humility, brokenness, joy... etc.?

I found a great article that listed a bunch of scriptures that references each of these qualities. I've linked them all in this blog. I want each of you to try and look at them all. Just click the links and you'll be taken to the scriptures that reference them. They are short and to the point. But some of them are going to speak different things to each of us. So, here's your "assignment", so to speak. Pick two that you really keyed on and explain what you think. Again, we don't need a book! You don't have to try and write something profound or brilliant. By sharing what God shows you, you will be writing something profound and brilliant! (see how that works!) I'll start.

Justice: I was floored by this scripture! God says, as plainly as He possibly could, that he isn't interested in my songs or my singing, or my talent, or my offering. He even call's them, and I quote, "Noisy hymns of praise!". Why? Does God not liked to be praised through song? NO! That's not what He's saying. He says that if my heart isn't right, that if I'm not living a life that exemplifies worship all the time, then He doesn't want my songs on Sunday. It's nothing more than a peace offering for the week that I spent ignoring Him!

Purity: This Leviticus passage is weird! Let's be honest... the entire book of Leviticus is weird! It's a very hard book to read. For a lot of people, they feel like it is the "Rule Book" of the Bible. It's full of crazy things you shouldn't do! However, we must remember. The Israelites didn't have a Saviour yet. And just as Erik talked about, before Christ, they had "the Law". And when you have a bunch of "laws" to live by, they begin to leave questions about boundaries. So, what happens? You start having to justify those questions by adding more boundaries to the already existing law. This passage talks about the sacrifice being pure before God. That If you don't present a perfect animal for the sacrifice, it is not worthy and God will not acknowledge it. The beauty is... we have already had the perfect sacrifice. It was Jesus. And so, while this passage doesn't apply to us, in that, we don't sacrifice cows and goats to atone for our sins anymore, we do offer ourselves. That is our worship. We cannot come before God to worship, harboring anger, malice, pride, or any other junk in our heart. We have been given the perfect sacrifice. We MUST lay that down at the cross and ask God to purify our hearts before we worship Him. And since we are to live a life of worship.... (you can connect the dots here!) then we must do this daily. Only when we truly ask Jesus to clean our hearts and repent (which is not the same as confessing. To repent means to acknowledge our sin and turn from it. To make every effort to not return to that behavior) then we can truly worship Him.

Those are my thoughts. Tell me yours. And please, guys and gals, don't just click on two of them and then comment on those two. Please, try to look at all of them. You don't go to a restaurant and ask them to only tell you about two things on the menu! You look at everything... and then make your choice!... (I'm just saying!) Living a life of worship involves all of these things. We need to know what God says about all of them!

Love Y'all.

Honesty (John 4:23), Gratitude and Reverence (Hebrews 12:28), Faith (Hebrews 11:4), Righteousness (Malachi 3:3), In the Spirit (Phil. 3:3), Humility and brokenness (Psalms 51:15-19), Purity (Leviticus 22:18-22)

Wholeheartedness (Deut 6:4-6; 1 Chronicles 29:6-9), Joy (Phil. 4:4, 1 Chron. 15:16)
Loyalty (Hosea 6:4, 6), Justice (Amos 5:22-24), Simplicity (Exodus 20:25), Self-giving (Ephesians 5:1; Romans 12:1)

Worship In Heaven

What is worship in Heaven going to be like? We hear all the time about how God's throne room is full of worshipers, who never cease in worshiping Him. For us, that can be overwhelming to understand. And in the book of Revelation, we're actually given a small glimpse of what worship will look like in Heaven. For a lot of people, reading the book of Revelation can be confusing. Many argue that it is a lot of symbolism. I personally believe, as I hope you all do, that the word of God, the Bible, is the complete and absolute word of God, without error. If that's the case, then when John speaks of the Elders and the creatures that he saw in his vision, we must believe that there are going to be these things in Heaven, just as they are written. Can you imagine seeing these things! But here's what gets me... of all the things that God has EVER created, He tells us that we are His most prized possession. So, though we may be in awe of seeing these things, can you imagine what they think? They get to live in God's Heaven already. They've been there for all eternity. What, then, do you think they think of us, when they see us.... God's most prized creation. That should make you think about how you live your life. It should make you think about how you worship. There are these beasts, with like six wings, with a bunch of eyes on them, who do nothing but sing praise 24 hours a day, without ceasing. And as spectacular as they are, they cannot measure up to what we were created for.

So my question is this. If that's the kind of worship that is going on in Heaven right now, how are we measuring up? We have to live our lives in constant worship of Him. What are you doing to make that happen? What are the things that we can do as a team to encourage each other to be living a life worthy of the grace that we live under?

Love you all.

What Do We Worship

Romans 1:18-32 is a passage of scripture, where Paul talks about worship. Not just Praising and Singing, but living a life of worship. He asks a good question and then gives us something to really ponder, in the form of a warning that should scare us all to death. He says that God will eventually abandon those who turn from Him, worshiping idols, and leave them to pursue the evil desires in their hearts. And then He talks about some consequences of those actions.

What do you think is our job as a worship team? Is it merely to lead our church in the time of Praise and Worship that we do on sundays? Or is it more? I want everyone to honestly consider what is in our lives and takes the place of God at times. I want to hear some of your answers. And then, I want us to spend some time talking to each other, encouraging each other, praying for each other and holding each other accountable for the things that we reveal. Because make no mistake, we will be judged for the life that we live. And if we call ourselves worshipers, and leaders of worship, we will be expected to live a life that reflects it. I'll go first. For me, I put my work and my family before God sometimes. Though I do ministry for a living, it's just that. Ministry. It is not through my job that I worship God. When I take time away from Him and focus on my family (whom He blessed me with) and my job (which He so graciously allows me to have), I deny Him the worship that He deserves. There are other things in my life, I'm sure, that keep me from focusing on Him more. I'm really going to challenge myself to pray about those things and ask God to forgive me, and guide me, so that I'll put Him first in everything I say and do. Where are you on this?

Love you all.

Let the Young Rule!

Hey everyone. I'm really enjoying this blog. So many of you are posting regularly and even a couple times. Please continue to do so. It's encouraging to see all of us grow like this.

So, the Journey is a young church. We have some relatively young leadership (compared to most churches). And all throughout the scriptures God appointed people who weren't necessarily the most qualified, or seasoned, to do His will. I know that we are going to get some push back as to who our leaders are.... we're young, we're rebellious, we don't have a respect for authority and customs, we aren't reverent enough.... Blah Blah Blah! And most of them will be talking about how we do things sooo differently from what church "Should" be (that is... according to how they see it)

My question is... are we qualified? Do we need tons of experience to be effective? Do we carry the authority to be His witnesses? Here's what the scriptures say. You tell me what it means to you. Jeremiah

Listening and Doing

In the first Chapter of James, he begins to delve into this whole idea of "Watch your tongue". James is consumed with the idea that what comes out of our mouths is a direct reflection as to where your heart is. For some of us, I fear, it may not be a matter of the heart, as much as it is a matter of habit.

I know that deep in my heart I don't want to make snide remarks about people, or let a curse word slip, but sometimes it's just a habitual reaction. I mean, C'mon! I lived for 10 years on the road with 20 guys who could say a complete sentence, using nothing but the "F" word, and you knew exactly what they were talking about.

So here's my question. At what point does it cease to be a habitual problem and become a heart problem. And if you use the excuse of "Well it's just habit"... does that really mean that you're not that concerned with growing past your old self?

This was a huge deal for me. I won't lie... sometimes when I get really mad, I still slip up and say something that I would not say if Jesus were standing right beside me. But I can honestly say that I don't just flippantly use bad language out of habit. I try not to revert back to that when I have conversations with some of those old road guys.

What I have realized is that, as a Christ follower, I must ask God to burden my heart to want to change the way I talk, so that I don't give Him a black eye, by popping off and saying something that any nonbeliever would say, and then someone ask me.... Hey, don't you go to church all the time? Aren't you some kind of music minister or something? And then they laugh, as if associating myself with those things is a big joke. Because to them... they see nothing different about me.

I want to challenge all of us, to begin to really watch ourselves and how we talk. And not just around non-believers, but especially around each other.

Here's what James has to say. Check it out and give me your thoughts. You can also read the entire book of James and comment, if you want. It's not that long. I think.... 5 chapters.

Psalm 150

Hello everyone. Well, this is the first post for our blog. I'm excited about doing this. I hope you all are too.

I know there has been some talk about what this is really going to be like, so let me quickly give you guys a brief rundown. The purpose of this blog is to just create some community between us and give us a chance to get into the Word. I don't expect you to leave a book for a comment. A simple 1 or 2 sentences of your thoughts are good. However, if you continually want to check in and see what other people are saying, and comment on their thoughts, I encourage that! That is where the community will come, through our discussion.

Things to not worry about: No one here is a biblical scholar. So you don't have to feel like you need to be one to comment. I REALLY want you guys to just say what's on your heart, so don't feel like you have to be eloquent in your speech. There is no grade for this. Trying to impress the teacher won't get you any brownie points, though bringing me brownies will! LOL. No one is going to judge you for your thoughts or comments. (However, please make sure that your comments are appropriate for the blog. Any sideways sneers or derogatory comments won't be acceptable.) You don't have to worry about not understanding something. If you have a question, ask it. This is to be a learning tool. If I can't answer your question, someone else will, if they can't, we'll go ask someone who can.

So here's how this works: If you see something highlighted, for instance the subject of this post: Psalm 150, that is a link. You can click on it and it will take you to wherever the link goes. In this case, it will take you to biblegateway. This is an online bible resource that has just about every translation of the bible you can imagine. And it's free.

Psalm 150: This is an instruction Psalm. It gives an insight on how to praise God. Of course it says to praise Him with a bunch of instruments, but I think the underlying message is this: Don't be afraid to let go and praise your Creator. He is worthy to be praised. And we have been given a gift of music, one that a lot of people don't have. And so, it instructs us, the musicians and people with technical abilities to Praise Him with whatever we have at our disposal, so that the church can be led into worship. Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

How you comment: At the bottom of a post, you will see something that's highlighted and probably, right now, says 0 comments. If you click on that, you will be taken to a new window where you can leave your comments. If you don't have a google ID, it will ask you to create one. It's simple. Just enter an email address, the password for that email address, and you will have a google account. (this is really good to have anyway. you can access a lot of other research and cool google tools by having one. Also you can create a home page with tons of widgets on it. Mine has a language translator, the game "Hangman", doppler weather radar, blog feeds that i like to visit, and a bunch of other stuff. So create one, if you don't have it, and leave your comments.)

That's it, kids! I look forward to hearing what God is putting on your hearts! Now, go read Psalm 150 and tell us what you think.

Love you all!

Robbie

Welcome

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Journey's new Praise Team Blog. I'm excited to have you all join us. I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts and insights as God puts them on your heart. We will be getting started in the next week, so check back!