None of this stuff matters until you do something with it

"None of this stuff matters until you do something with it!" This is the new title for my blog and it is a phrase that I have heard my entire life. My dad, Jim Freeman, a pastor, would use this phrase after every sermon he preached. It became second nature to me and a phrase that let me know that my dad was finally wrapping up his sermon, meaning I could go home soon (every pastors kid knows where I am coming from). It took me twenty years to finally understand what that phrase meant and how important it really is.

I was working at Trinity Youth Camp as a councelor earlier this summer and as a councelor I, along with my co-councelor, were in charge of a cabin of high schoolers for a week. Camp is always a fun time and God always brings change in the students lives, and even the staff's lives. Every morning after breakfast we would have a morning service and right after that we would split up into small groups and talk about the lessons we have heard. This was a time that I could really connect with my campers and share what God has laid on my heart. One of the days I was talking to them about the lesson and I felt like they really weren't grasping the whole application portion of the lesson, and I said something I hadn't heard in a while and certainly never from my mouth. I had one of those "woah I sound like my dad" moments when I said "none of this stuff matters until you do something with it". At the very moment those words came out of my mouth, I finally understood what my dad had been saying all those years. It's probably just because I am his son and I tend to have a habbit of tuning him out but it finally clicked in my head nonetheless. I finally realized the truth of that sentance and how we as Christians have to actually do something. We sit in these services, we hear sermon after sermon, and we have our personal devos but is that enough? Are we fulfilling our duty as Christians by listening but not doing?

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

James 2:14-26 NIV

Christians in America today are so culturally absorbed and every Christian seems to have at least two seperate lives. Their is the church life, the life that only the members of your church see on Sundays; and then the life the world sees when you arent at church. Sadly the church has become so wrapped up in the number of people they can get to their services and how many people they can get to bow their heads at the end of the service and repeat the prayer, and boom they are saved. Great! Now what? The church isn't focused on maintaining these souls, they are just looking for another tally to mark to add to the "successfullness" of their church. 

The passage in James clearly states that faith without works is pointless! James says "show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deed."  The way that people see your faith and know that something has changed you from the inside out, is the deeds you do to prove that faith. By just stating I have faith in God but not living a life that depicts that at all, do you really have faith in God? That's what James is saying, and that's what our churches in America are afraid to say. James goes on to give examples of people have shown their faith in God by their actions. He talks about Abraham's amazing faith. Abraham was getting pretty old and still his wife Sara had not bore him a son. They both were under the impression that they were just too old to ever have a child, but God had a different plan for them. God promised them a son and Sara bore Isaac. This was a miracle and Abraham and Sara, obviously, cherished their son Isaac and thanked God for the blessing. God saw how much they loved their son and He wanted to see how much Faith Abraham really had in Him. God asked Abraham to go up to the alter and offer his one and only son, that he loved so much, as a sacrifice to the Lord. I have heard this story so many times and it still gets to me everytime I think about it. How could Abraham willingly give his son up like that but their is the difference between mine and Abrahams faith. Abraham was completely willing to kill his son on that alter but God saw his faith and stopped him from doing it. 

Now doesn't that depict someone who really has faith in God? Someone who has been changed from the inside out and is living a life for God? And the way we clearly see that is by Abrahams ACTIONS. Abraham could have said "yeah I will do that for you God" but then if he never took Isaac up to the alter God would not have accepted that as faith, so how can we as Christians live these double lives? How can we say we have this faith and then not actually do anything to prove that love for God to the world. The answer is we can't and we better stop trying to do that! None of this stuff matters until you do something with it! You can listen to these words, you can read your bible, you can go to church and you can even say I have faith, and I follow God; but until you actually do it and live it, do you really have this faith? Christians it's time to wake up, it's time to be the difference, it's time to start living the way we SAY we believe. Until we do this, we just live a superficial, hypocritical, pointless life. None of this stuff matters until you do something with it! Now what? What will you do to LIVE a life pleasing to Christ?

The Body

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (1 Corinthians 12:21-26 NIV)

This passage came up in one of my team talks before Trinity Baptist College Soccer hit the field for a game. We were struggling with unity on the team due to some members lack of playing time. I knew that any division on the team would bring the team down and effect us on the field. A lot of guys think that because they don't get as much playing time as others they aren't as important, but then you also have the problem of those that think they are better than the rest because of their superior playing time. God had a plan for every single person on that team and they all have a special skill set that God gave them. I wanted to try and make that clear to my team and I wanted us to grow closer to each other and to God. We even had players that wouldn't celebrate with a player that scored or did well out of jealousy because they were in a position that they wanted. I knew that if we could some how overcome all of these issues in the team, we could make such a difference; not only on the field but off of it, because the body of Christ completely unified is a powerful weapon in this sinful world. 

I have noticed this same defect in the body of Christ off the field. So many people have been given such amazing talents from God, but because it's not as "important or "prestigious" they don't want to use it. My favorite part of the passage above is in verse 22: "On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable". God has given you your gift to glorify Him! He didn't give it to you for you to look good, or to collect worldly pleasures from it, no, He gave it to you to use for His honor! Their is no gift that is more pleasing or less pleasing to God. As humans we put values on different talents and gifts. We put some higher than others just because they seem more important to us, or just because they get more attention with their specific gift. God doesn't care about our worldly values! He just wants the body of Christ to come together as one and lift the name of Jesus! Don't covet over someone else's spiritual gift! Take yours and do everything you can possibly do to glorify the Creator! "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it". Just sit back and imagine what it would like if the body of Christ (the believers) was completely unified and used each of their parts to honor God.... Big things could happen in this world!

I am happy to say that the soccer team really listened that day and even applied it to the team. We have grown so much closer and have had a successful season thus far, and we are working on becoming one team, one family, and one body for Christ. Let's get excited about those special gifts that God has blessed us with and let's become one body, and lets infect this world! 

The Trail Less Blazed

The TBC Mens Soccer team went on another adventure this past weekend, and it was another great blogging moment!
Let me start off with my very recent struggle. I had an amzing freshmen year at Trinity Baptist College! God did so much in my life in such a short amount of time. He gave me so many opportunities, both then and for the future. He was leading me in a very exciting direction. Fast forward to about a week ago..... I was living the vision that God gave me a year ago, but it wasn't panning out quite the way I thought it would. I suddenly found myself overwhelmed with no money, no time, and no energy. I seriously started questioning if this is what God really wanted for me. I was down right depressed. I was so frustrated and wanted to quit everything that God had planned for me........
The soccer team had to travel to Taccoa Falls, Georgia for a game Friday and Saturday, and a game in Tennessee on Monday. Sunday was a rest day, so we went to a local church and then had some lunch, but when we got back to the hotel the team got bored quickly. Coach decided it would be fun to find a place to hike and swim. He found a place called Panther Creek. We really had no clue what we were getting into. We got there and asked a man who had just walked out of the trail how long the trail was. He told us just over three miles. That is when you could hear grumbling from some of the less adventurous members of the team. Coach and some of the guys on the team got cocky and decided that we could run the whole thing. So we took off! Sprinting through the trail, being very cautious of the ankle turning roots and rocks; while tring to keep our balance so we didnt slip and fall down the cliff. At one point I turned back and realized that it was just coach and I who had survived. We were still holding a high pace, hoping that every time we rounded a corner, we would be there..... wherever "there" was..... Our legs started burning and cramping, and we started to doubt that the end of the trail was three miles like the man had originally said. We eventually found a spot on the trail that seemed as good a spot as any, so we stopped and jumped into the icy rapids. It was gorgeous and we were quite content with what we had found. Some of the other guys caught up to us but were not content with ending the trail early, so they pushed on. Coach and I reluctantly followed. We put our shoes back on and commented to eachother that "the end of this trail better be amazing". We started a slow jog. What started as a very optimistic journey quickly became less enjoyable. Our legs were burning, our ankels were sore, we were getting blisters, we even got attacked by some bees, but still we pushed on. We went, for what seemed like hours. We rounded every cornner hoping to see the end in sight. Our attitude was turning from adventurous to frustrated,  and exhausted; but still we pressed on. Suddenly we could hear the river pick up its intincity. We turned a corner and we realized that we were nearing the end of the trail. We looked to our left and saw a stupendous sight. Suddenly we both felt rejuvenated and sprinted to the amazing sight where the other members of the team that pressed on were. We had a great time swimming and jumping off of rocks for a while. Since the hike was so long we realized we had to start heading back. We were dreading the hike back, but at the same time our attitudes and optimism were at an all time high. We began the long journey back. Coach and I jogged for a little, but our legs were getting quite heavy so we slowed it down to a brisk walk. We realized that we didn't recognize some of the trail, not because we were lost, but because we ran by all this beauty to quickly to appreciate Gods  splendor. Yes the walk was grueling with every step, and every twisted ankle, and every steep incline; but I had a new attitude. It hurt, but their was no way that I was going to stop or slow down. Finally I found the end of the trail and felt so accomplished. On the walk back from the waterfall God really spoke to me.
This story is a great example of so many Christian walks, including mine. I started the trail with so much confidence and excitement,  just as I did the coming year. But I got tired, I settled with what I thought was the best sight on the trail, just as I got tired and almost settled with giving up, and not doing what God had planned for me. But I was encouraged by other members on the team to press on, just as I was encouraged by a close friend of mine to press on and not give up. The next part of the story can relate to my future. So many Christians get to a point in their life where they feel like they have made it to where they need to be spiritually. They will even stop and admire where God has taken them, but they get complacent, they don't press on to the waterfall. The next part of the trail might be harder because you are tired, you might start to feel the burn in your legs; but if you press on you are about to see Gods amazig beauty. Just like the journey back to vans, it is incredibly difficult. It might even feel like everything is against you. You could be attacked by bees, twist your ankle, almost fall off a cliff, but if you keep pressing on the reward is so much bigger than you could ever imagine.
I learned so much on this hike. I woke up and realized that I was getting complacent,  yeah the trail was getting harder, but it was making me stronger. God was, and is equipping me to be so much more than I could imagine. I can say I am rejuvenated and ready to face that trail again, and this time I am not going to settle. I am going to push on and not slow down, while praising God for his sovereignty the whole way. So other Christians who are struggling, those who are at a place where it is geting to hard, and to those who are settling with where they are; are you going to press on and face the trail less blazed? Are you going to live a life completely sold out to Christ? Are you going to stop at every obstacle, or mirage; or are you going let God take you and mold you, and grow you to what He wants? Let's take the trail less blazed!

Leaders are Servants

Soccer season is back in full swing! It is my second year on Tinity Bpatist College Men's Soccer Team. I have a new role on the team, and that is captain. My coach decided to make me one of three leaders on the team. I was really excited about the new position, but I wanted to take it seriously, and become a "good" captain. 

During the offseason I spent a lot of time in prayer, and just asked God to show me how to be a good leader. God started leading me to get into the Word, and to look at some examples of leaders. Obviously the first one I looked at was Jesus Christ himself! What better leader to try and imitate? Then I looked at Joshua, Daniel, Nehemiah. I quickly discovered a pattern. Everyone of these leaders were servants. 

These leaders were more concerned about others than themselves. They put others needs first, and they truly cared and loved those that followed them. They weren't arrogant or prideful. They just wanted success for others. 

I realized that this is exactly how I have to be! I have to put others first, and not put myself on a pedastoll. I need to stay humble and truly care about my team. 

Unfortunately people that are blessed with the gift of leadership, that are of the world, abuse it. It is sad to see that some of the most influential people in the world are so selfish, and only look out for themselves. Just imagine what the leaders in this world could do, if they followed the examples that are in the bible. Imagine how different this world could be.

If you are blessed with the gift of leadership, I challenge you to be a servant. Look out for the needs of others and honor God. Be an example, more than a talker. Let's serve this world and see how God works! 

Humble! Humble! Humble!

I started this blog not too long ago, and titled it Becoming Humble, because God was humbling me more and more. Somewhere along the way I had forgotten about how God had showed me so much this past summer in Guatemala, and how he was showing me that I needed to be more humble.
It all started when I was asked to help out at one of our worship services at Trinity Baptist College. I was excited to see that I got a Facebook message from the leader of that worship team; until I read the message. This is where my pride kicked in. He asked me to play the sleigh bells at the Christmas service they were having. As a fellow worship leader, guitarist, and drummer, I was quite offended. Now don't get me wrong, he was not by any means insulting me, that was just what I felt. Actually as a freshmen being offered any chance to help in a worship service I was an idiot for not replying to that message. Now instead of truly being upset or offended; I started making jokes about it with others. Pretty much everyone joked around with me about it, but some kinda woke me up.
When I was telling two of my closest friends at Trinity, they were laughing about it with me, but at the same time saying that I need to be more humble. Since we were laughing and joking about it I didn't take it seriously and just moved on with life. When I got home for break, one of the first things my parents asked me was, "are you involved in music up there yet?". I told them about how auditions went and then I told them about the only opportunity I got, since the auditions, was a chance to play sleigh bells. Once again I joked about it with them and they made fun of me (as usual), but my dad made sure I knew that I need to work on being humble. Again someone had corrected me on what I was saying and feeling, but I ignored it because I honestly thought I was humble. When you think of yourself as humble, that's a good indication that you should probably work on being more humble.
I was invited to go on a weekend mens retreat. The focus was meditation on the bible, and we did a few workshops on that. The start of the weekend we just focused on preparing our hearts for what God was going to show us, by giving all our distractions to Him. I was truly prepared for what God had to show me that weekend; which is good, because I was going to need an open mind for this one. The guy who was leading the retreat had given us a few options on passages to meditate on. I chose Phillipians 2:1-13. So I got into a nice secluded spot by the pond, and I opened up my bible to the passage I selected. The title of that section was Imitating Christ's Humility. Ouch! I knew what God wanted to show me that weekend immediately. I actually almost decided to do another passage, but I didn't because I wanted to have change that weekend.
I began reading it, and used the techniques they had taught us for meditating on the Word. After reading it a second time, out loud, I suddenly started seeing what Paul was saying in this passage. All of a sudden, all the instructions of being more humble became very life aplicable to my life. As I continued on I realized how humble Jesus really was. The Son of God humbled himself as a servent and came down to earth, to die for us.... To die for me! Little ole me, who is too prideful to even realize that I need to work on being more humble. Someone who wouldn't play stinking sleigh bells because I thought I was to good for that. Who do I think I am?! I should be burning in hell because of my sin, but the creator of the Universe died for me, who isn't even worthy to call on His name. If I am to even consider myself a Christian, how can I not be humble? How can I think of myself as any better than anyone else? If I am to be a "Christian", which specifically means little Christ, I HAVE to be more humble.
You see, we often forget about how unworthy we are to even be living, and not burning in hell; all because the most powerful being who decided to be humble. Lets try and practice being as humble as Christ, and lets see how we change this world. Philipians 2:13 tells us that God can use anything for his purpose; meaning that God could have used me by playing sleigh bells, for His glory. If we humble ourselves and are open to do anything that God calls us to do we will change this world. BE HUMBLE!

Down Hill Spiral

Life is full of choices. What you do with these choices is totally up to you. They can make or they can break you. From a Christian stand point, their is really just two choices. Are you going to follow Christ or not? Now this sounds like such an easy choice to make right? Well in this day and age we seem to have made a third choice, and that choice is, are you going to follow Him sometimes? The bible clearly states that their are only two options, and this third option is the same as not following Christ, actually God says its worse!
As a Christian who struggles with this problem, I can tell you it's not easy to follow Christ in every situation, everywhere you go, in this world. But, God says we have to, and if you want to please God, and truley follow him, then you need to listen. The christian church has such a bad reputation of housing hypocrites and judgers. The thing is we earned it. It is so sad to see, and be apart of a generation that is leading people away from Christ. I dont know about you, but I want to live like Christ in everything I do.
I have been slowly working this into my life on my college campus. Yes I go to a Christian college but I also play for the soccer team who are not all believers. When I left home to come to Trinity Baptist College I was very strong in my faith, and I was excited to be apart of a school fool of people just like that. The school is great and has some of the strongest, most faithful christians I know, but the soccer team was a diferent story. The soccer team is filled with awesome guys, but mostly not followers of Christ, and then their are some that claim to be followers but dont live the life. I figured my faith was strong enough that I would be able to handle it. Boy was I wrong! It is incredibly frightening how quick I did a down hill spiral. In a about two weeks I was cursing and laughing at inapropriate things, and just being like the rest kf the world. It honestly scared the crap out of me because of how quickly I had turned away from God, after being supposedly " strong in my faith". God woke me up though and I texted some christian mentors back home to pray for me to get out of this trap that satan had caught me in. I got back to reading my bible and talking to God, I stopped cursing all together, and started listening only to christian music again. God wrapped me up in his arms quicker then I had wiggled out of them. I can now say I am stronger in my faith then ever before and you know what? It's not even hard to live for God everywhere I go. It was that simple and easy becahse of God.
If you struggle with this very common disease, then it is a simple solution.... get closer to God. God wants to hold you in his arms and embrace you. All you have to do is let him. I can tell you from personal experience that God will bless you in more ways then you could even imagine. He did for me already. So get out of this down hill spiral and jump up into our Daddy's lap.

Spirtual Gifts

"Spiritual gifts", is a term we here often in church. I think it is a term that is thrown around without much meaning and understanding. I know because I would throw that term around and it didn't really mean to much to me. I mean I know what my gifts are that God blessed me with, but I didn't really know what the point of them were. I could tell you that God gave me the gift of leading music, but all I could tell you the purpose is for, is for leading music at church, and thats it.
Well God woke me up to the purpose of theses gifts on my trip to Guatemala. I lead music for the group that was with me at the hotel every morning and evening. Now I figured that was the only purpose for my gift and I thought that was good enough. Thats a really stupid thought if you think about it because why would God want you to use your gift for those who have already accepted Christ. Of course you do that too, but that shouldnt be the only purpose. God created this giant place for us to use it for his glory. God was really nagging at my heart to bring my guitar to the center and play for the children, but I aways dismissed that idea because I didnt really think would enjoy it much.Well God used another lady in our group to get me to bring it. She wanted me to play when the nannies were having their devotional, so I agreed and brought my guitar along. God sure woke me up to the reason he gave me this gift. I was supposed to just play one song but they asked for more and more. I could really feel God speaking through me too and the ladies were getting the message he wanted them to hear. I was so fired up about finding the purpose for my gift and I ended up bringing my guitar the next day to play for the kids. I was still a little nervous that the kids wouldn't really enjoy it, and that they would go nuts and want to start playing with me. But nothing was going to stop me, so I started by sitting down in the room that I had been working in all week, and just started to play and sing worship songs. Before I knew it I had every single kid in that room sitting down in front of me quitely just staring up at me with this look of awe on their faces. Once again I could feel God speaking through my singing. I got to play for all the kids in the center, and I finally understood the purpose of the gift that God gave me. Not only could I feel God speaking through me, but it brought me closer to all the kids and even nannies at the center.
The importance of using the gifts that God has given you for his glory, I can't stress enough. Now, what if you havn't discovered your spiritual gift? Well I promise you that you have one. All you need to do is pray, and I even find that serving him throughout your entire life can bring you to discover your gift.
God will show you your gift. You just have to be open minded and be preprared to do something you never expected to do. God made you, and God made you to glorify him, and God gave you a gift so that HE could use it to make his name known.
More thought into this and I realized that God created us to glorify him in everything we do, and if our gift is supposed to glorify him then that means, everything that we do that bring glory to God is our spirtual gift. If you look at it that way, then its not so hard to find that one thing that God gifted you with. God gifted you with more than you know, so just glorify him with all these gifts and let God build his kingdom here on earth.