Mighty Is the Power of the Cross

What can take a dying man
And raise him up to life again
What can heal the wounded soul
What can make us white as snow
What can fill the emptiness
What can mend our brokenness
Brokenness

~Chorus~
Mighty
Awesome
Wonderful
Is the Holy Cross
Where the Lamb laid down His life
To lift us from the fall
Mighty is the power of the cross

What restores our faith in God
What reveals the Father's love
What can lead the wayward home
What can melt a heart of stone
What can free the guilty ones
What can save and overcome (overcome)

~Chorus~

It's a miracle to me
And it's still a mystery
It's a miracle to me
The Power of God for those who believe



--- Mighty is the power of the cross!

Luke 9:23- Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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.

Hebrews 12:2- Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

--These are all great verses about the cross, but I want to focus on Hebrews 12:2. What a great verse!

What happens when you fix your eyes on something? That means that you are focused on that one thing and all of your attention is in one place. If we focus on Jesus, his cross, and the grace and righteousness we have been given through his death, I believe our lives would be dramatically changed. Why? Well, most of the time, we have our eyes focused on ourselves... as you well know... that is never a good thing!

A Calming Effect

Well, my time in Maine has just about come to an end; I leave for NJ in about 6 hours.. As I sit and reflect on my time here, I am very thankful for the opportunity to come and spend time with my family and be in God's beautiful creation. Many, many times during this trip I have been led to the first few verses in Psalms 19 where it states, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." It is dumbfounding to hear about and talk to people that do not think there is a God who created the world. How could they not?! The end of verse 2(above) really smacked me up-side the head when I thought about it a bit. Sitting on a lake, fishing with my Dad and just talking about the different things in my life that I would like to happen was amazing. It was truly a priceless time for me. Nature displayed knowledge to me because it led me to its creator, and in a way, I felt like I was having a conversation with God. This was possible because He led me directly to scripture. Specifically, the verses were Psalms 19: 1,2(above), Jeremiah 29:11-14 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you..." , and finally, Psalms 23: 1-3 " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." I have these verses highlighted, bolded and some even enlarged because they have been the means by which God has been speaking to my heart.

As I have been discussing with my parents, I feel like I am approaching a very important time in my life, where critical decisions need to be made. I have been thinking very hard about certain things, that cover a wide range of topics, and, some of them, I have been thinking about for a very long time. I have wants and desires for my life, certain things that I am praying for, but I am praying that God will lead me where He wants me to be. I am praying that the desires that I have are the same desires that God has for me. Let me tell ya, some of the things that have been brewing in my heart are things that have been a long time coming(years). I feel as though the desires I have are desires that God put there, and I am praying for God to keep them there, if they are his desires. And if they aren't, I am praying that He will lead my heart elsewhere. All I want for my life is for it to count for God.

As often as I can remember, I am praying for you guys that God will lead you where He wants you to go; I also pray that you will having will hearts to follow wherever God leads you. If you think about, pray for me, too. I would appreciate it! Thanks for reading!
P.S. That's my boat of the future up there. A Four Winns Horizon 200...... Oh yeah!

John 15: 9-15

9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Casting Crowns- In Me

If you asked me to leap
Out of my boat on the crashing waves
If you ask me to go
Preach to a lost world that Jesus saves

I'll go, but I cannot go alone
'Cause I know I'm nothing on my own
But the power of Christ in me makes me strong
Makes me strong

'Cause when I'm weak, You make me strong
When I'm blind you shine Your light on me
'Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability
How refreshing to know You don't need me
How amazing to find that you want me
So I'll stand on Your Truth, and I'll fight with Your Strength
Until You bring the victory, by the power of Christ in me

If you ask me to run
And carry your light into foreign land
If you ask me to fight
Deliver your people from satan's hand

I'll go, but I cannot go alone
'Cause I know I'm nothing on my own
But the power of Christ in me makes me strong
Makes me strong

'Cause when I'm weak, You make me strong
When I'm blind you shine Your light on me
'Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability
How refreshing to know You don't need me
How amazing to find that You want me
So I'll stand on Your Truth, and I'll fight with Your Strength
Until You bring the victory, by the power of Christ in me

To reach out with Your hands
To learn through Your eyes
To love with the love of a savior
To feel with Your heart
and to think with Your mind
I'd give my last breath for Your glory

'Cause when I'm weak, You make me strong
When I'm blind you shine Your light on me
'Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability

when I'm weak, You make me strong
When I'm blind you shine Your light on me
'Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability
How refreshing to know You don't need me
How amazing to find that You want me
So I'll stand on Your Truth, and I'll fight with Your Strength
Until You bring the victory, by the power of Christ in me
The power of Christ in me
The power of Christ in me

Question: If Jesus were going to return tomorrow, what would you be doing, at that moment, when it happened?

This is a great self-evaluation question because it reminds us that we should always be serving Christ with whatever we do. If Jesus were going to return tomorrow, I want to be serving him in some way. It doesn't have to be teaching a Bible study or leading a lost soul to Christ. It could be a simple task like taking out the trash for my parents or mowing the lawn for my grandparents. I just want to have the right motives behind what I do. I want to continue develop my "But"(referencing earlier post) for Jesus. Everything we do needs to be done for his glory, and we need to do it joyfully!

Unsung Heroes

Today is Memorial Day. It is a day when we, as a nation, remember those who have given their lives, in death, for our country. It is not often enough that we remember those who have willingly done this for the longevity of our nation. It is heart-wrenching to see the number of casualties and POW/MIA men and women who we, as a whole, forget about. This Memorial Day, I am doing my best to remember those have willingly given their lives for my continued freedom;Also, I think it is important to remember those people who have answered the call and were willing to pay the ultimate price if they had to. The pictures above are close friends of mine who are marines, who have and are willing to serve their country during a time of war, as active defenders of what our country stands for. I think it is important for us to remember, thank them, and thank God for the unselfishness that they have shown to us and for us. Remember them and say a prayer for them! They need your support! Thank you Gentry, Dan, Jaryd and everyone else who has willingly served our country. We are indebted to you!

Do you have a "But"?

You, just taking a glance at the title, are probably thinking, "of course I have a butt everyone has a butt." But if you look more carefully at the title, I am using the conjunction "but", not b-u-t-t. The but I am speaking of is referring to Philippians 3:7 where it states, "BUT what was whatever to my profit, I now consider a loss for the sake of knowing Christ..." In the preceding verses, Paul lays out many facts for why he has reasons to take confidence in his flesh, for example: circumcised on the eighth day, born of the tribe of Benjamin, and many more. Paul is stating, very matter-of-factly, that if anyone has reason to take confidence in their own flesh, it is him. He is a "man's man". He uses the word "but" to institute a change from self-glorification over to God glorification . Later in the verse, he states, "I consider them rubbish", translated from he hebrew word for.... umm... poop. In this verse, Paul is setting an example for us to forget all of our worldly accomplishments, and he challenges us to do everything for the glory of God- sorry for that long example. Didn't mean to preach there-.

My challenge to you(and myself) is to do everything for the glory of God, in Colossians it states, "whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." My challenge to you is to develop a "BUT" in your life, that you can use in every situation to bring glory and honor to Jesus because that is our ultimate purpose for being, here, on this earth. I'm coming back to Jersey on thursday. Let me know what is up! Thanks for reading!

A SCANDALOUS FREEDOM

I am doing this post a bit earlier today, because I just started reading a book that my Dad gave to me. It is called A Scandalous Freedom, by Steve Brown. Read it! I am only on Page 15 and have already had to stop 3 or 4 times and think deeply about the topics he wrote about. It is a truly incredible book! The thing that he discusses deeply in the first chapter is the concept of freedom. Now, you think, "Oh, he is talking about freedom, what a wonderful topic!" Well, that is true, but if you think about it, 95% of the Christian world do not associate the true meaning of the word freedom with the Christian(followers of Christ) faith. Most Christians believe freedom to be, "the ability not to sin", and that is definitely true but it is soooo much more. The word Freedom means free! John 8:32 states, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." You are free to do whatever you want! God does not reward us and give us good things based on what we do. In Chapter 1, he proposes a question: What if I do something bad? Would God still bless me and answer my prayers? His answer- " Yes He will. What God does or does not do in your life rarely has anything to do with how good you are. Your teacher acts like that, not your God. In fact, I preached some of my best sermons when I was doing bad stuff. God wanted to show me something very important. He demonstrated that his fondness for me depended on his love and the cross of Christ, not on my earning it." Romans 5:8 states, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God does not base his love for us on how good we are, or if we ate our wheaties for breakfast this morning. God bases his love for us on grace, which is undeserved favor. God has truly set us free and we do have the option to do whatever we want, but like Paul states in his epistles, " For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence." Look up the definition for the word freedom in the dictionary. That is you! Do not think that God will bless you based on what you do for him. You cannot earn God's favor! We all sin and fall short of God's glory, but you can never fall out of the reach of his grace! Never forget that! Do your best to glorify God with your actions, but do not get down on yourself when you screw up (which is guaranteed). God's love and favor are unconditional! Remember! Thanks for reading!

Creation helps

Well.. Today was pretty uneventful because it rained for most of the day. So, I played Call of Duty 4 on Xbox Live on Xbox 360 pretty much all day, but after dinner, we decided to take a ride to a very small town called Kokadjo. It is about a 20 mile drive through the woods. We went there to check-out the great scenery and to also check on the piece of property that my Dad is looking at.. I had been there many times before but my grandpop and sister (they are visiting this week along with my grandmom) had never seen it. Along the way, we saw a lot of wildlife: a snowshoe hair(which we crushed with the car) and 6 moose(one of them is pictured above.) As we approached our destination, the woods became thinner and thinner and the mountains grew taller and taller(as seen in the top photo). As we viewed the scenery, it was great to see, first-hand, the power that God possesses. Soo, as I do, I got to thinking. If God can create mountains, trees and lakes like these, he can, and does, have control of my life. Genesis 1:26 says, "Let Us make man in our image..." While viewing this wonderful scenery, I was reassured of the fact that God does love and care about me, and He will guide my steps if I ask him to. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." So, as I sit right now, I do not know what the future holds for me (as I'm sure many of you do not). I do not know what I will be doing, and I do not know where I'll be. I have some ideas of stuff that I would like to do, but who knows if that is where God will place me. So, even though I do not know all of these things, experiencing God's creation reassured me of the fact that God is in control, and that He will lead me, if I allow Him to. So, my challenge to you is- Find some of God's creation somewhere. Sit, and let it soak in. It may not be the endless mountains of Maine, but God's beautiful creation can be found anywhere! When experiencing that creation, you will realize that God loves you soooo much more than that thing you are looking at, and God wants to be the director of your life. Will you let Him? Thanks for reading!
P.S. Read Psalms 23

Been thinking..... A sermon and a reocurring theme

A few Sundays ago, I soaked-in a sermon about the greatest commandment (if you didn't know), it is, "Love the Lord your God with all heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself." Now, I don't know how many hundreds, possibly thousands....... nah probably hundreds of times of I have heard this statement and have turned my brain off completely. Yes I know. I should be ashamed of myself :-(. But recently, on my rendezvous to Maine, I have began to think about my life- the great experiences I have had, the hard ones, what I have learned--- but mostly, about my friends- what I have learned from them and how I have made many mistakes in regard to them and have hurt them. So, that is where the The greatest commandment(is your brain turned on?) comes in. Jesus said, "... Love your neighbor as yourself." Ha, well I'm selfish, and I tend to like my self 99.999% of the time, but the problem is that I have not lived-out this commandment. Like I said before, here in Maine, I have been doing a lot of thinking about my friends. First off, I just want to thank all of you for being friends with me, and from the bottom of my heart, say that I love you all and have learned something from each one of you. Seriously, each one of your names could be mentioned, and I could think of at least one thing I have learned from you. Now to get down to business - As I have been thinking, many different situations of how I have wronged you have come to mind. As unintentional as they may have been, they happened, and I need to take responsibility for them. Matthew 5: 23-24 states, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift". So finally, I am deeply sorry for each and every situation that I have put myself in, and I take full responsibility for each one of them. I think most(if not all of you) know that I would never want to intentionally cause you pain, grief or frustration. This is one of the hardest things for me to deal with inside my own skin. Honestly, there is a constant motor running about these things, and it really bothers me. Please, If you would like, I would love to talk to you about them. Please lay down your pride and come talk to me. Recently, I have been led to the quote, a true person of character offers others the grace they seek, in order to restore the relationship they need." Also, if there are any situations that I am unaware of please let me know! Thanks for reading.