Where Does Your Hope Rest?

I grew up in State College, I have lived here 22 years this past September. I attended and graduated from State College Area High School as did my Mom, and as did both her parents. I am fairly certain but not positive that my Grandma’s mother (my Great-Grandma, my Mom’s Grandma) also grew up in State College. My Grandpa attended Penn State, as did my Mom. Additionally my Grandma on my Father’s side attended Penn State and so did my Father. I have had cousins, sisters, Grandparents and parents grow up in this town, and attend college in this town. Obviously, I currently attend Penn State and so does my Sister. Needless to say, I have strong roots that go down in this area. This is my home.

Growing up here, it was always viewed as the best place to raise children. We continuously have one of the lowest violent crime rates per capita according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report and have very seldom felt the effects of the “outer world”. I lived in a small city utopia where everyone knew everyone but we were still more educated, more athletic and wealthier than the surrounding "hick-towns” (Tongue-in-cheek intended). And though I wasn’t old enough to recognize it at the time, State College was not the real world. If you have ever seen the movie “Pleasantville” that is sort of how I view my youth in State College. But, unlike in movies, nothing is ever perfect.

As it turns out, our town was not so utopian after all. Our “omni-benevolent” leaders who had shaped and defined us, who had taught us to be honest, and to fight clean, to be humble and to let your actions do the talking, who had reached a level of reverence in the eyes of the town that was unhealthy and crossed the line into idolatry, were in fact, sweeping sins, poor-judgment, and passivity under the rug. A man who was identified as a “hometown hero”, who retired from football in his prime to “spend more time” with his organization helping to give a future to at-risk boys, who at the asking of a relative stranger, was willing to make time in his busy day to call and talk to a young man who was struggling to come to grips with manhood and encourage and reaffirm him, was, allegedly, preying on the boys he had retired to “help”. Since Saturday November 5th 2011, my youthful heros have toppled.

This may seem melodramatic, and perhaps it is, but growing up in this town, we used to pride ourselves on winning “the right way”. We didn’t need to cheat to be good like those boys down in Miami or those hoodlums in Ohio State, we were upright, clean, and respectable. But this gets me to my point. This whole crumbling of the men who I once held up as heros has made me identify where my faith is held. Without even knowing it, the pain and anger I am feeling is proof that I had put my faith, my hope and my trust into men who were nothing more than men. They were not God, and for all of the good that they had done for the community and for my town, they were still men.

I don’t feel I am alone in this. I think that much of the pain that people are feeling due to Mr. Paterno’s announcement of retirement is proof that even those who did not grow up in State College have forced a man-sized filler into a God-sized hole. The truth is, if God was where our hope was, rather than wasting energy trying to make our opinions heard by anyone who would hear them, we would be focusing them to pray for the victims. Rather than screaming vulgar slurs at Sandusky, we would be working to forgive. Rather than organizing mobs, we would be organizing fundraisers to donate to victim relief organizations like Centre County Woman’s Resource Center, RAINN, Centre County Child Access Center, and the Youth Service Bureau of State College to help stop the cycle of abuse that accounts for approximately one-third of the abusive parents and adults.

The truth is that our hope should be in God and not men. This doesn’t mean we build walls around our hearts to keep others at a distance, but in fact, it means the opposite. It means that if God is where our hope is, we can grow close and not fear being let down. We can forgive quickly, easily and freely, giving grace and forgiveness “just as God forgave you”(Col 3:12-14). This does not mean live apathetically, but rather empathetically, allowing God to break our hearts for discipline, to grow or just because he wants to spur us on and give us the strength and drive to pursue that which he has laid on our hearts because He has our trust and hope (Matt 14:14). Living in fear is not putting our trust in the Lord but trusting in the Lord allows us to live freely (Col 3:1-4).

Perhaps your “man-sized hole” is not Joe Paterno or Jerry Sandusky, perhaps it is any number of things, many of which are toted about in church and in the Bible. I hope though that you will take this time to examine where your hope is. Because if it’s anywhere besides Jesus, at some point God will most likely test that area because he loves us and “he disciplines us for our own good so that we may share in his holiness” (Hebrews 12:4-11).

Until next time, God bless.

Lost in MY life

For Calvary on Campus we are doing the "poster board testimonials". This is a way for people to give a quick overview of what God has done in their life and to give God glory for his faithfulness. Essentially, we are to try to explain our pre-Christ life and then on the back, we flip it around and give a quick view of what God has done to correct that. It's a pretty cool way for us to share our faith a little and to help tell a small fraction of our story.

I was asked if I would be willing to do it. At first I resisted, I'm not completely sure why, but I felt like I could not quantify my pre-Christ existence in one simple phrase. I was disobedient to my parents, teachers, and people in authority. I didn't care for women like I was supposed to, I didn't protect them from sin or attempt to protect their emotions. I indulged in the party scene and cared more about how the people I was with viewed me, so I was able to "fake" what I thought they wanted to see and hear from me depending on who I was with. I was concerned with MY comfort, MY emotions, MY outward appearance. And in that lay the answer. My pre-Christ existence could be narrowed down to one thing: I was focused on MY life.

After coming to Christ (sort of when I was 16, actually when I was 20) the focus had to shift. It had to be HIS will, HIS glory, HIS life. Going through Men's Fraternity helped me understand how my actions affect not only me but people in my life, including women, my friends and my family. The view had to change from "it's my life why do you care?" to "how can I serve you better?". There are still areas I need to serve better in but I am slowly coming to ask that question more. It also meant giving up control, James 4:15-17 says:

"Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that' As it is you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them." (NIV)

Stacy gave a sermon on serving the other week and discussed one of the benefits of serving is that it takes the focus off us and onto others. Jesus himself says that the two greatest commandments are to love the lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. We are to focus outwardly on others and on God's will and not on our own plans and ideas. My pre-Christ existence was measured by my life. How to make myself happy. In my Christ existence the question needs to be turned to how can I follow Christ, and how can I love others. I am still growing in that. I am getting better at serving others and keeping God in focus which has been a long process with a few dropped opportunities on the way, but thank God for grace.

Taking the focus off my life has also helped me to live my faith better. Earlier in James, James says,

"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." (James 2:16-17)

James is not saying that we need to EARN faith, but rather if we HAVE faith, there needs to be a radical change in how we live and who we focus on. I have seen that in my life for sure and hope to see it as I continue to grow in faith.

Looking at my pre-Christ existence was good. It helped me to reflect on how much I have grown in Christ and His amazing faithfulness. Reflecting on my past helped me realize even more how much I need Jesus and his grace, as well as the Holy Spirit and his guidance and work in my heart. Jeremiah 2:13 comes to mind when I think about living for myself.

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me: the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water" (NIV)

We have substituted REAL life for MY life. We pour our life giving water into comforts, jobs, sex, drugs, and any number of broken cisterns but they cannot hold that water. Eventually the excitement and thrill of those things die, and we are left trying to find the next broken cistern to pour our water into. I know my pre-Christ existence embodied that. But when you turn to the source of that water, you no longer need those earthly goods and your vision turns outward.

Until next time, God Bless.

Relationships

Sunday night was an interesting night. I had homework due at 11:55 pm and I was anything but on top of it. In normal college student fashion, I had staved off the inevitable until the last possible moment and when the self-inflicted stress reached critical mass, I finally buckled down to do it. I returned to my apartment at about 9 pm and was slightly anxious about the amount of work I needed to do in the next three hours. It was do-able but I had to push everything aside and ignore all of the distractions that living with three other guys entails and put on my working pants.

As I began to get ready for the storm of computer programing I was about to pursue, my friend said he really wanted to talk to me about stuff. My friend had just recently accepted Christ as his savior, and we had been walking together with this "Christianity stuff". I told him this really wasn't a great time and I had homework to do and that I would catch him later. Fortunately, God had other plans for that evening. He was not about to let me miss my divine appointment that night and so when I sat down to do the first problem and could not get the computer program I was supposed to be writing to work, I began to panic. I kept getting the same error over and over again no matter how I changed my program to correct it. Finally, I was praying for a miracle to help me finish this. One more attempt.... nothing. So I decided I needed to step away from the problem and I told my friend I could meet him for a little to discuss what he wanted to discuss. Thank God I did.

He met me outside my apartment and we talked. He opened up to me about all sorts of crazy things going on in his life and things that God was teaching him. Unfortunately, sometimes growth comes at the cost of pain. I used the example of Eustace, the boy-dragon from C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in my Jesus Camp High post to help illustrate the pain that comes with drastic transformation, and my friend is going through a "stripping of the flesh" experience for sure. It was hard to hear what was going on but it was AMAZING to see the conclusions and growth that he was experiencing from it. I offered to pray over him which he accepted and we went up to my apartment so that I could pray over him. I am excited to say God moved. For the first time ever, I spoke in tongues and saw a vision and those spiritual gifts did exactly as they were supposed to: they edified the body. My friend felt the Holy Spirit move all around us and he felt loved, strengthened and energized. I felt the rush of the Holy Spirit and was also strengthened and energized. It was a God story for sure.

I didn't finish all of my homework by the due date. Honestly, I should have not put it off, but I did come back and found the problem with the program I had written and managed to bang out a few more before the time was up. But God taught me something about that experience: relationships matter.

I have been battling with how we do church. How do we do Church better? Is the current format of church broken or is it merely just not being used the full potential? Is there even a problem at all? I have had discussions about this with many people, most of them a lot smarter and a lot more practiced in ministry than I. I have heard a vast array of responses, but they all agree on one thing: Relationship is needed. Most of the time spiritual growth has come for me, was in conversations with other people. People using their God-given spiritual gifts to teach, edify and stretch me. I have certainly heard amazing sermons and have learned from them, but many of my God experiences have come when I was meeting a few people, discussing God and walking together in life. Paul discusses church unity in Ephesians 4:

"But to each one of us Grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: 'When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.' ... So Christ himself gave the apostels, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:7-13 NIV)

Let's start with that. Christ gives us gifts, gifts that we can use in conjunction with other people to build up the body of Christ. So relationship is important in order for the body to function. But let's take a step back and examine what does relationship mean?

The word "relationship" is a difficult word to nail down. Relationships are messy, and in that messiness, they are defined separately for each person. There is no standard relationship formula because as many different types of people, you need that many different types of relationships. However one principal is clear, relationships need to have mutual submission to one another. Jesus himself says to his disciples in Mathew 20:25-28:

"Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever want to be first must be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (NIV)

Jesus is explaining that it needs to not be about prestige and honor but about loving one another and submitting fully to each other. We have to shed our pride and be willing to serve the other side of the relationship. I did not do a good job of doing that Sunday night. I was too caught up in my own work that I forgot to love my friend and serve him. God forced me to back away from my stuff and to focus on him and I am so thankful I did.

Let's focus on doing life together so that we can build one another up. Let's step outside ourselves and put another persons needs before our own and submit to them just as Christ submitted to us. I know that if we do that, we will start to see some amazing, life-transforming, kingdom-building changes in how the Body works.

Until next time, God Bless.

Pride

Wow! Sorry about the long break. Once the summer came blogging went on the back burner a little but as school approaches I want to get into it again! So here we go:

Below are links to two articles that Bruce Eveleth sent me regarding high profile pastors that have stepped down citing issues with pride as their reasons and some reasons why Pastors are vulnerable to this low profile sin.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/sexmoneypride.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/mostriskyprofession.html

Pride is a tough sin. Where do you draw the line between an accurate view of your own worth and over emphasizing your worth? I think that one issue that wasn't touched on was "professional pastors" in that their job is to get people into their church so that they can make a living. Even if they do not have a huge salary, if no one is coming and giving an offering, the pastors will have to find other means of income. So the emphasis is on bringing in more people and just like in any profession, if you're successful then there is a little ego boost that comes with it. As a prospect interested in entering that industry, it is something that I need to be mindful of.


I was blessed to be asked to lead a college life group this summer and in doing so had to battle with my own pride. I only had two people come to my first life group out of about 15 that I asked or who voiced interest in coming. I was rather disheartened by the turn out the first meeting, I must admit, but I decided that it wasn't my life group it was God's and that whomever he trusted to me I would do my best to equip them to spread God's glory. Since then I have had 4 regular attenders but I have been extremely encouraged by the growth and discussions we have had. It is not big but once I stepped aside and allowed God to control it, I was amazed at the conversations and the growth TOGETHER that was coming from the conversations.


I think that is the key to remaining humble. Hebrews 11:2:

"Having our eyes fixed on Jesus, the guide and end of our faith, who went through the pains of the cross, not caring for the shame, because of the joy which was before him, and who has now taken his place at the right hand of God's seat of power." 

If we fix our eyes on the Kingdom and on Jesus and recognize that the fruit of our labor is his glory and not our own, we can rejoice in our successes without the sin of pride. Paul says in Galatians 6:14,

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (NIV)

I think once we take our eyes off Jesus and the cross and begin to build up our own kingdom on Earth, we can forget the main goal which is to spread God's glory and not our own.


I do feel this is all easier said than done. I feel we often rest on our own strength and power and when we succeed, we are quick to give credit to ourselves. Through out the Bible, God called people of low status in society to spread his glory for that very reason. Jesus himself was a child born out of wedlock, to a lower middle class carpenter. He could have chosen to be born to a king and had more influence but he wanted the glory to be God's. So if we are focusing on Jesus and attempting to walk in his footsteps, we should be resting on the power of the Holy Spirit and all he has to offer and not on ourselves. We have to be open to God's correction and follow discipline, surround ourselves with godly men and women who we are open and vulnerable with and who will hold us accountable. As Stacy Sublett would say, we need to be "disciplined and teachable".


Until next time, God Bless.

Faithlessness

I am currently in the midst of the Life Journal and it has me reading through 1 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, and Matthew with the occasional Psalm sprinkled in. As I have been reading through the Bible one thing jumps out to me very regularly: God provides.

I often struggle to trust God fully and completely. This is frustrating, because there are so many times in my life that I reflect on, and clearly see God moving, by providing courage, strength, patients and guidance to grow me and lead me through the murky waters. As my junior year comes to a close and my senior year draws nearer and nearer, I am faced with the realization that sooner rather than later, I will have to become a real functioning member of society. This is scary because for the past 21 years, my life had been rather cyclical. Sure there were times of change, I would have to go from Elementary school, to Middle School, to High School, to College, but my future was rather certain: I would be in school the following year. Very little decision-making required and the one time I had to make a decision, where to attend college, I ended up transferring the following semester back to my comfort zone. But now there is no comfort zone, no familiarity, no set plan. I perceive that I am essentially at the mercy of the world. And that is where trust in God comes in. I am not at the “mercy of the world”. I am at the mercy of God. I would say my apprehension at the future, can be summed up in two fears: first, where will money come from? I have debt, I hope to have a wife and kids at some point, I want to do missions, I want to support missions, I want to adopt! All of these things cost money. But I need to take on more debt still if I plan to go to Seminary, and Youth Pastors don't exactly make the front cover of Forbes.

Cliché I know, but Jeremiah 29:11 is often quoted at times like these. Heck for High School graduation I got a key chain that had the verse stamped on the back. But I find Matthew 6:25-34 more settling. In it Jesus is essentially discussing how we need to trust in God to provide. And what’s even better is that it follows Matthew 6:19-24:

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

   ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

   ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (NIV)

And precedes Matthew 7:7-12:

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

   ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.  (NIV)

Jesus is saying 1) Keep your heart on the Kingdom, 2) Don’t worry about stuff, I’ll make sure you have what you need and 3) Ask, I want to bless you so that you can bless others. If we keep the kingdom foremost in our hearts, then the rest of the stuff is insignificant compared to it. But that is easier said than done. I still struggle and I still fret over it. Which leads me to my second fear: I will mess up God’s will and completely miss what he wants me to do.

How prideful is that? I know it doesn’t seem it on the surface, but the fact that I believe that I could mess up God’s plan is giving me a lot more credit than I deserve. It seems to be the natural reaction to being called though: Abraham thought he was too old, Moses thought he couldn’t speak well enough, the Hebrews didn’t believe they could defeat the people living in the promise land, Saul believed he was unable to be king because he was the weakest of the weakest family in the weakest clan, the Bible is littered with people believing that they might “mess up God’s plan”. But they don’t.

1 Chronicles is a very painful book to get through, and I often wonder why in the world God wanted it in the Bible, until I come across sections that really strike me. 1 Chronicles 5:22 comes at the end of a list the relatives of the Gadites.

“and many others fell slain, because the battle was God’s…” (NIV)

I missed it the first time through 1 Chronicles but God pointed this one out to me this time. There was nothing about “the Israelites fought bravely and won” or even “the Israelites tried their hardest”. It was God’s battle and he won. I don’t know where the saying “God helps those who help themselves” came from but I can’t get on board with that. Matthew 7 doesn’t say, “Try really hard and then when you’ve done all you can go ahead and pray for God’s help”, The things that we need to do are rather simple: knock, seek, and ask. It’s not a hard concept yet why do I struggle so much with it?

I am reminded of the story of Gideon in Judges 6. Gideon is called by God to lead Israel out of the oppressive rule of the Midianites. An Angel of the Lord appears to him and explains what he wants Gideon to do. Gideon questions him then and asks for proof. God gives him the proof and Gideon continues on until it is time for the actual battle. Again Gideon asks for proof, which God again delivers but it’s not enough. He asks a third time for proof from God and once again God delivers. Finally, Gideon is ready to go to war, but God makes him get rid of almost his entire army. I imagine Gideon was thinking, “hang on, I’m not even sure I can do this with the Army you gave me, now you’re taking all but 300 of my men away and you expect me to go through with this?”

But God does. He uses our ineptitude, our weaknesses and our screw-ups because that’s the only way that God’s power will be fully realized. It’s only when we have to rely on God that his glory will be spread. Gideon’s small army defeats the Midianites, Moses is able to successfully communicate to the Hebrew people, Abraham is able to conceive and Saul becomes the first king of Israel. God is not interested in using the powerful and proud, he wants the weak and the humble, the ones who will give all the glory to God because they know there is no way they could have possibly pulled this off on their own. In Matthew 19 a rich man comes to Jesus and asks Jesus what he needs to do to get eternal life; and Jesus tells him to sell all of his possessions and follow him. David Platt discusses this passage in his book Radical and points out that the common reaction today would have been to make him pray a prayer and have him Baptized so that he could start using all of his wealth and power for God’s kingdom. But God doesn’t need our wealth and power he needs those who want his wealth and power. 1 Samuel 16:7 says:

 ⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  (NIV)

As I struggle with my faith, I am also reminded of a verse in Mark 6:5-6. Jesus is in Nazareth and has just been rejected by his own countrymen. It says:

“He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them and he was amazed at their lack of faith” (NIV)

I wonder how often we limit God with our lack of faith. How often we don’t heed the call of the Holy Spirit because it seems like the task would be hard, or uncomfortable, or we can’t possibly succeed. How often do we miss out on the chance to see God move, because we rest too much on our own talents, abilities and power. I continue to pray that God will remind me of his faithfulness and that I will heed the Holy Spirits call. I don't know what will be next, but what I do know is God is already there, and as scary as the future is, I'm excited to see what God has in store.

Until next time, God bless.

Heaven, Hell and Salvation as discussed by Steve Lutz

Here is a recap of a lecture given by Steve Lutz of Calvary Campus Connection at Elements. I had a request for discussing the ramifications that I discussed last post. Here it is! I wrote this recap, but I am adding some of my own thoughts as well. Hell is a tricky subject to address because of the seriousness of the outcome. So I am allowing someone much smarter than me to explain.

            Steve discussed Matthew 25:31-46, which is essentially an apocalyptic section of scripture in which Jesus describes his role in the final judgment. Unfortunately, we have over used popular references to Heaven and Hell, causing us to think lightly of the subject and to have incorrect ideas of what Heaven and Hell are really like. Countless cartoons, movies, television shows and other pop culture references have eroded the seriousness of hell. The overuse in pop culture, as well as the evangelical practice to focus almost completely on God’s love and not on his just nature further causes us to not guard against sin. We view God as a big grandpa in heaven who thinks, “Oh that’s alright, they’re just having a good time” I believe Steve called it “winking at sin”. The Bible discusses times when God was "grieved" by sin. 1 Samuel 15:10-11

Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions."...

            Steve went on to discuss other inaccurate beliefs of the end time. Some people view an eternity in hell as a bit unfair. That everyone should get into heaven. He discussed the book Love Wins by Rob Bell and criticized Rob Bell for his theory that Jesus died for all people regardless of whether they recognize he saved them. This led into a discussion of why judgment day is so important. Firstly, Acts 17:30-31 calls for everyone to repent for there will be a time of judgment. Secondly, Revelations 6:15-17 talks about the extent that God’s wrath will be and that men and Kings would rather be crushed under a mountain of rock than face God’s wrath. Finally, Hebrews 10:28-31, the writer discusses the wrath God will have on those who have rejected Jesus. The message of these three scriptures is that if there is no judgment day, if everyone is allowed into heaven, then evil is never punished, God is not just and Jesus felt the wrath of all of our sins for no reason. Steve used the illustration of a lifeguard jumping in to save us from a shallow fountain.  But God is just, evil is repaid and Jesus died for our salvation.

Romans 3:21-26 discusses being justified by Christ. Paul uses the term “justified” as in a legal sense. Steve used an illustration of standing in a courtroom before God, who has every wrong move we ever made and it’s a long list. And we are guilty of every single last one of them (no forensic evidence needed, direct access to our thoughts and motivations means CSI doesn’t need to be called in for this one) but Jesus stands up before God and declares that sin already paid for. Crazy right?

To hammer home the point we discussed working definitions for Heaven and Hell. First Hell:

·      It is Biblical, Jesus himself talks about it on multiple occasions

·      A real, spiritual, eternal destination (Matt. 25:41-46)

·      It’s forever. (Jude 13; Rev. 20:10)

·      It’s the JUST penalty for sin. (Rev. 20:11-15)

·      It is unspeakably awful. (Luke 16:23)

·      A place of destruction (2 Thess. 1:7-9; 2 Pet. 3:7; 1 Thes. 5:3)

·      Fire and darkness (Matt. 5:22; 18:9; Jude 7, 13)

·      Weeping & gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30)

Then Heaven:

·      Heaven is the place where God dwells (Psalm 33:13-14; Matt 6:9)

·      Where God’s people will be with him (John 17:5, 24; 1 Thes. 4:16-17)

·      A place of rest (John 14:2); a city (Heb. 11:10); a country (Heb. 11:16)

·      It is the place where God’s reign and rule are FULLY and FINALLY known and experienced. (Matthew 6)

·      It is where everyone and everything that remains is reconciled to God (Colossians 1)

·      There is NO evil, pain, tears, suffering, sickness or death there (Revelation 21)

·      It will be HERE, on this earth. The City of God descends to earth! New Jerusalem, new heavens, new earth (Rev. 21) 

·      It is unspeakably beautiful, wonderful. It is described as a place of joy, of LIGHT, of feasting, and of worship. (Revelation 4, 5, 19, 21)

·      It is forever! (Rev. 22:5) 

So now that we have a working definition for both Heaven and Hell how do we get to heaven? Belief in Jesus. There is no other way. If you are in doubt, check out John 14:6 and Acts 4:11-12. They don’t leave much (any) wiggle room. Actions without faith, good intentions with out faith, and just being a “good person” without faith will not be enough to satisfy God’s wrath. (Refer back to Romans 3:23 for why those things without faith will not be enough) There is no “second chance”, there is no biblical proof for Purgatory, there is simply heaven and hell. C.S. Lewis discusses this when he talks about people being on eternal trajectory either away from God or towards God. He also goes on to say that ultimately, people in hell have chosen that place and are not banging on the gates of heaven trying to escape. Here is a quote from C.S. Lewis’ work The Great Divorce,

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. "

If we truly believe in Jesus than we will desire to follow his will. The only way to do that is to ask for the Holy Spirit.

"For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." 1 Corinthians 2:11

Two last things: First, true Christians recognize that we deserve hell and that redemption is only possible through the amazing grace that God so graciously pours out on us. This should humble you because essentially we are no better than the nonbeliever the only difference is that we have the hope of Christ inside us. This leads to the second point: there is an urgency with which we need to spread the gospel. If we truly believe this, then to not spread the Gospel and give people the chance to be redeemed, we are condemning those people and risking our own salvation.

Until next time, God Bless.

Jesus Camp High

In the past two years, I have found that God has been teaching me a lot about the Holy Spirit, how important He is, and how much I need Him. I used to work with kids in HSM (High School Ministries for those who don’t know) and I loved talking to the youth and watching them grow in their faith and being a tool God could use for his glory. I loved it when students would come to me after experiencing God in a truly spiritual experience (Usually at a Christian summer camp) and wanted to change their ways and begin to walk with Christ. “That’s fantastic!” I would exclaim and I would praise God for his Holy Spirit and the conviction they felt. But I noticed that many of these kids would start strong and then fade away gradually, reverting to their pre-spiritual experience state and begin falling back into the practices that the Holy Spirit had convicted them of just months ago. They would say, “I need to change my ways, I need to follow Christ, I need to stop drinking, stop smoking, stop sleeping with my girlfriend” and I truly believe they would mean it at the time but then would regress.

I am not innocent of this, I of course sin daily unfortunately, and try really hard to hit the mark but "all fall short of the glory of God" and I am no exception by any means. I would find myself doing things that I had tried so hard to overcome and had succeeded in for a while, but then would stray again after I grew tired. One of my students referred to this as the Jesus Camp High. The students (and I) would catch a dose of the Holy Spirit, feel His conviction, but then would try to change the outward before allowing Him to change the heart. The flesh grows weak and when WE try to obtain change through our own acts and initiative, we will fail. Galatians 3:3 says,

“Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by Human efforts?” (NIV)

Our imperfections and sin causes the Holy Spirit to leak out of us. Rather than asking for the Holy Spirit DAILY, we experience Him once and then try to change on our own. We must constantly ask for the Holy Spirit to replenish us. Only God can change our hearts and make true change permanent. But be careful! Francis Chan wrote in his book Forgotten God (Which I encourage everyone to read)

“The Holy Spirit will lead us the way of the cross, and that is not a comfortable or safe place to be” 

and he is right! A lot of my growth this year came from painful, embarrassing experiences where I was convicted of my sin in very public ways. C.S. Lewis illustrated this in his book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when Eustace is turned into a Dragon and to become a boy again, Aslan has to peal away the flesh of the Dragon and expose the boy inside. Eustace tries to do it on his own but the skin remains and it’s only when Aslan does it that the dragon skin is finally pealed away. Pealing away the flesh? I didn’t sign up for that... How about a nice, safe pain-free transformation? But the risk of not allowing God to refurnish our heart is too great to ignore. We discussed Hell and salvation on Monday at my college ministry, and the ramifications of not following Christ and being obedient. I think we can ALL agree the ramifications are incredible. Luckily for us, all we have to do is ask. Matthew 7:11 says, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask?"  So I want to encourage you, don’t be foolish. Ask for the Holy Spirit daily (and sometimes hourly) to fill you. Allow him to move in you and to create a palace fit for a King.

Until next time God bless.

Me? Blogging? Weird....

So I have never blogged before. This is weird I must admit but I feel that I have things to say and people can take them as they will. You should probably know a little about me before you hear what I have to say.

My name is Mark Holsing, I am currently (as of April 2011) a Junior at Penn State University, majoring in Economics and minoring in Religious Studies. I grew up in State College, Pennsylvania and have not yet left (unless you count the three months that I went to Lycoming College in Williamsport before transferring back to Penn State, but generally I don't count that). I became a Christian when I was 16, though I would say that I only started pursuing a real relationship with God the past two years. In that time, I have had some highs and lows in my walk, but God has been good and I find myself in the midst of a huge spiritual growth spurt and I am excited to see what God has in store for me. I am using this space as a place to share what God is doing in my life, struggles I am going through and just generally discussing what is going on in my life. This in itself is a rather large step because I consider myself a rather private person in general but the more I grow in my faith, the more I find that God's work in other peoples lives are encouraging to me and that I hope that by telling God Stories in my own life, God's glory will be spread and he will use me to encourage others.

That's all for now I suppose. Perhaps I will post again soon? Until then God bless!