Seperation.

One question that gets brought up a lot (especially working at a mobilization ministry) is "if a person has never heard the Gospel, the name of Jesus, nothing at all about Him, are they going to hell?"

There is an Island of about 1000 people, they have no news about the Gospel. Will they go to Hell?

Now, a missionary goes to them and 500 of them become believers in Christ, does the other 500 go to Hell?

yes, no, ?.

if you said no or ? to the first question and yes to the second question, then you are saying that it is the rejection of Christ that orders a person to hell. And it would have been better to never have gone to those people in the first place with the gospel.

Lets say we have a man who is deathly ill with some sort of disease. He goes to the hospital and they have cure for him. It comes in the form of a shot, and our man is terrified of needles. He refuses to get the shot and dies shortly after. What killed him?

It wasn't the rejection of the disease, it was the disease.

Disease= sin.

Sin is what separates us from God, and it is what brings all humanity to hell unless they have the cure (Christ).

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Be Filled.

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" Ephesians 5:18.

Most off us as Christians obey the command, "do not get drunk on wine', but what about the other part? Be filled with the Spirit. Most of the time we limit ourselves to what the Gospel commands and think its enough. In regards to being filled with the Spirit, a lot of us do quite that. Sometimes its because of a lack of knowledge, prejudice, or a complete miss understanding of what being filled with the Spirit is. Like, being in a state of high emotion, or reaching a level of perfection that we can never claim. As Andrew Murray said "Being filled is simply this: The whole personality is yield to His power, when the soul is yielded to the Holy Spirit, God Himself will fill it". Are we truly filled?

Christ spert three years training the disciples for the day of Pentecost in which they will become filled in Him. So in order to be filled, we must look at how the disciples lived. Do as the disciples do. First, they forsaked all to follow Christ, yeilding themselves to His will, and not only believed Him as Savior, but Him as Lord. Look at Luke 14:26, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple". They did just this, and so should we. Christ is Master of all we have and are, If we do not yield everything to Him, how can we expect to have Him in us and with us.

Secondly, they had an intensely close relationship with Christ. His heart was their hearts. They could not be separated from Him. We trust in Christ as our Savior, this brings us salvation, but there is this crazy good relationship, this very personal attachment that means He is my best friend, my Master, the only one whom I obey. And we are missing it. How can we as believers blow this off, how can we dismantle truth. False religions give up more then we do. Look at Muslims! they are far more disciplined towards there beliefs then we are. How can that be? We have made our God, the Creator of Heavens and Earth, equal to us. When Christ died, we died too. If we truly want to be filled with His Spirit, we must die to self. So that we may attain this attachment of joy in Him.

Thirdly, they had faith in His promise. A promise puts us in direct contact with Christ. I'm sure the disciples weren't to sure what was going to happen in Acts when Christ told them they will be filled with Him. But they took the words of Jesus, and ran with it. Completely trusting in Him, and prayed. They looked to God alone.

It is not enough to believe... also comes humility, trust, and a crap load of obedience.

Be filled.

pow!

Man, I'm really horrible with this blogging thing. And ive been horrible with keeping in contact with people. I have been meaning to call people, but there is just so much going on all the time its very easy to get side tracked. Like, i swear i have got on the phone 4 times this week to call Ryan G, but somebody catches on fire, gets stabbed, or pukes on me... which has happened three times so far. But its going to happen, one day.

So what i've learned...

Jesus's teachings are clear, and the American church has set up walls and is concerned about saving souls, which is a good thing, but they keep them enclosed. When Christ demands that we tear down walls. Somewhere a long the line we have sugar coated our Fathers teachings... The gospel is for the 2.8 billion people who have never heard Christ's name. You can go around every corner in the states, and there is a church. Does a person have the right to hear the gospel twice, when a person hasn't heard it at all? I dont know. A person in America has the opprotunity to hear the gospel once a day. Those billions of people have the opportunity to hear the gospel every 40 years. Christ is for all people... "as the Father has sent me, even so i am sending you". Some are called to stay, but all are commanded to go.

Thats just a very small bit,,, I have been having an amazing time here, building amazing relationships. And im pretty sure if i were to visit Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maine, and anywhere on the west coast i would have
a place to stay. I'm reading The Divine Conspiracy, which has been blowing my mind all over the wall, plus Disciplines of a Godly Man, plus Philipians, plus going through a work book for the gospel of John. I have never read so much in my entire life, and its been really hard. I'm not going to lie. But when i "get it", it an amazing feeling. Francis Chan's church is here, so im stoked for this week.

I'm going to try and keep this up.

The Crew

5/28

first off, i cant remember the last time i took a shower. That es no bueno. This place totally sucks time by so fast. I never know the day the time. I cracked my self up today because i seriously thought it was saturday. im not used to have people come and go so fast. I think i build a pretty good relationship with some people who come down, but right at that point, they're gone and a new group comes in. I like it, but then I dont. God is definitely using me in a way i'm not used to. But it is His plan, and i know that something great is coming out of this... I'm experiencing so much, and absolutely love not having the "stuff" i have back home. Last friday i pushed a suburban that was probably made in 1914 a half mile through the border coming into the states, witnessed a drug bust at the border, learning how to "fix" things that i know nothing about. and i'm pretty sure i witnessed a murder 20 minutes a go across the street. And those are nothing compared to what God is showing me about Himself, its amazing. He is amazing.

12 days in Mexico... and i already have food poisoning.

Check It.

God is good.

The more i think about it, and the more i experience life here in Tijuana, i know He is good. I am constantly reminded how small and unworthy we are. Why is it that we as Christians think that just believing is enough? When did we start to think that our faith should be safe, comfortable? Thats not faith. When did any of the disciples do anything that was "safe"? I just get frustrated. And being here has really showed me what a believer, a follower, a disciple of Christ should look like. Its no about us. Its not about what God could do for me, how i can fit Him into my life, its not about "Well, i go to church. I'm going to heaven". Jesus came to make disciples. Disciples that dont focus on themselves, but see what God sees. Disciples that do His work, and not their own. And Disciples that honor Him, and have obedience to Jesus Christ. Lets become uncomfortable, unsafe, and more Christ like.


no reserves.
no regrets.
no retreats.