Walking the Aisle

"At first, the altar call was used as an efficient way to gather spiritually interested people together for counseling after a sermon."  In this instance, an "altar call" or "walking the aisle" is fine.  At my church, walking the aisle is used for someone who wants to come pray with someone and just talk.  But my pastor also gives the option of just coming to him or other leaders in the church after the sermon to talk.  I do not think walking the aisle should be used to judge or find out how the crowd responds to your sermon.  It's not about how well you preach.  It is about letting God speak through you and allowing Him to use you.  It is then up to the people if they want to come forward during the altar call or just wait and have "counseling" after the service.  I think many people these days can use it in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons.  If the motive is correct, walking the aisle is fine.   But along with many other good things, if the motive is wrong, then the whole thing is no good.  I don't agree with Charles Finney when he says "it is necessary for sinners to make a public renunciation of their sinful ways."  It is not about noticing sinners or making it a certain, special time just for them.  I think often people will judge others who go forward and that is wrong.  It can be for both someone who is going to confess a sin or if someone just needs prayer.  It all matters in the manner in which the altar call is used.  If the motives are correct, then I believe walking the aisle during and altar call is just fine.

Grilled Cheesus

They think that the faith is kind of fake and they portray that in how they made fun of it throughout most of the video.  It is believed by them that our faith is only used when we are struggling or when we want something.  Over and over someone would pray for something wrong or something that they just wanted to be able to do.  A couple of the students actually believed in God and prayed to Him in the correct way and they had a correct view of Him. 

          For the most part, they portrayed the faith in an inaccurate manner.  Some of the parts that were accurate were when someone would pray for something in the right way and actually had a solid belief in God.  The one student invited the kid to church and really cared for him and prayed.  That is very good.  But also, one guy thought that since Jesus had appeared to him on his grilled cheese, he had some special connection with him.  But when things started happening that were not good, he lost his faith.  The faith is not used just for things we want or to have someone bail us out of trouble.  God is so much more than that and the whole faith has a much bigger picture than that. 

         Because of all of the questionable things in this video, I will not ever watch Glee.  It is not honorable to God at all and is giving out bad ideas.  The faith portrayed is not what it actually is supposed to be and it can be very misleading. 

Halloween

I really don't know much to say about Halloween.  My family and church has never done anything to celebrate Halloween, so I have not been involved with trick-or-treating or things like that.  There are things about Halloween that I disagree with and that can be misused or abused.  And like many of our holidays, it can be "misused, abused and downright non-Christian."  I don't think Halloween is necessarily wrong as long as you are celebrating for the right reason.  Trying to help the kids have fun, honoring God in what you are doing,  and serving others is a great thing to do on Halloween.  You don't have to be involved with the demonic things of Halloween.  It is not the holiday that is the problem; what matters is how you celebrate the holiday.

Special Olympics Bowling

I enjoyed helping with the Special Olympics Bowling yesterday.  It was a joy to see all of the Olympian's smiling faces and great attitudes.  Hopefully I was able to make the experience better for them and make their day by encouraging them and helping them.  I was reminded of how I take things for granted and I need to be more thankful for what I have and what God has given me.  They were so happy and so thankful for every little thing I did.  Just saying great job would make them smile and say thank you several times.  I learned alot from the men in my group.  At first, I was a little anxious about helping because I didn't know how to interact with them in the best way, but after the first game I figured out how to help them the best.  I am very privileged and thank you Mr. Mendenhall for letting us experience that.  It was all about the bowlers and it was great watching everyone bowl.  Many of them could bowl much better than I could!  I loved the excitement they showed when they did good and I was glad to be able to share the success with them.   Some people may view them as different physically or mentally, but it hardly took any time at all for me to feel no different around them.   It is wrong to think they are different because God created us all in a special way and they are very special and unique.  Thank you God for making us all how you did!
Psalm 139:14Yesterday was a great day and I was very glad I was able to help. 

Spiritual Emphasis Week

            Spiritual Emphasis Week has been very good this year, probably the best I have experienced while being at OBA.  Andy Braner is a great speaker who I have enjoyed very much.  He has challenged me in many areas and he always has a great message.  On Monday he asked,  "how do we know that God is real?"  We need to have reasons and to know for sure why we believe what we believe, such as this previous question.  He shared Matthew 22:36-40 with us and then showed us ways how to love God and put faith into action.  The big question Tuesday was, "BELIEVE?"  Starting off on Tuesday with the questions "Why do I believe what I believe?" and "Who is God?", he challenged me to know why I believe things and not just saying that I believe things.  Genesis 1:1 is the basic foundation for believing and the cornerstone for life.  You can't 100% prove that it is true, but with the small percent left, you have to live by faith.    There is very much evidence that many things in the Bible happened, but the things we can't see, we have to have faith in believing those things are real or really happened.  BEHAVE? was the big question to start things off on Wednesday.  Andy mentioned over and over that ideas have consequences.  We can be healthy if we feed on God's spiritual things and what you put in is what you become.  Junk food changes your physical shape, just like your thoughts change your behavior.  Junk food also causes heart problems and confuses your body's functions, just like unhealthy spiritual things can confuse your spiritual life.  The junk food tastes great in the short term or in that moment, but in the long term it leads to adverse side effects.  What you watch, listen to, think about, and spend time doing is what you become.  You need to make sure everything you do brings glory to God.  Andy showed us some examples of dating through the world's eyes.  At first it can be okay, but then it can keep growing if you are not careful and can become very unhealthy.  The way he showed us the examples was through a few songs.  The first one I thought was okay to listen to, but I wouldn't listen to it much.  It talks about not changing the person because they are amazing just they way they are.  This reminds me of not worrying about image and that looks do not matter.  God made you the way you are and it is perfect!  The next songs he played showed how dating can be unhealthy or bad if you are not careful.  You need to have a relationship built around God and do everything to serve and bring glory to Him.  As Andy was wrapping everything up on Friday, the big question was BELONG?  If we just BELIEVE and BEHAVE correctly, it is not enough.  There will be no benefit if we do not BELONG with everyone else.  We need to be involved and be close to people for the other to actions to do anything.  We need to follow Matthew 22:37-39 which says, "Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  This is a good model to live by: Love God with everything you do and love your neighbor.  Neighbor means everyone, even enemies.  That is a great way to live!!  Like I said before, I really enjoyed Andy Braner as the speaker for Spiritual Emphasis Week.  He challenged me and made me think about everything that I do.  Why do I do what I do? I should do everything to bring honor and Glory to God.  So that is everything that I got out of this week. 

Friends

The most important qualities I look for in close friends is having a relationship with Jesus.  I say this because you need someone that can build you up and someone that can draw you closer to God.  Another quality is being trustworthy.  In any relationship, if there isn't any trust,  the relationship will be strained and it won't work out very well.  I also want someone who can love me for who I am  even when I mess up and make mistakes.   I myself need to work on many qualities and being better at all of them but the biggest quality that I need to work on is truly caring about the person.  I do care but sometimes it seems like the same old thing but I need to always constantly care and try to help the person.  I have a great friend.  We have only known each other for a little over three months, but over that time we have become very close.  This is the most deep and best friendship I have ever had.  She is a Christian and firm believer and we both build each other up and have become closer to God through the relationship.  She is very trustworthy, she cares about me, and she loves me for who I am.  She is one of the most caring people I know and it has been a blast being able to get closer to her over the three months.  I look forward to the time we will continue to have together.  God is great and hasn't just blessed me with her, but many others who are great people to be around...“The righteous should CHOOSE HIS FRIENDS CAREFULLY, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Proverbs 12:26)  "As iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

Lyrical Study

One of my favorite songs is I Will Follow You by Chris Tomlin.  I like this song because it is a good model of how we should live our lives.  The song talks about doing everything that God does and that we should try to love, serve, and live as He does.  It also states truths about God's awesomeness.  We need to only trust in Him and only Him alone.  Everything that He does is good and right. If we try to model our lives like that, then we will do good in serving Him.  Of course we will fall short and mess up, but this is a good way to try to live: do everything in the way that God does it.  By doing this, we will not seek the pleasures of the world but will seek Him.

I WILL FOLLOW YOU by Chris Tomlin- Lyrics

Where you go, I'll go. Where you stay, I'll stay.
When you move, I'll move. I will follow...

All your ways are good. All your ways are sure.
I will trust in you alone. Higher than my side.
High above my life. I will trust in you alone.

Where you go, I'll go. Where you stay, I'll stay.
When you move, I'll move. I will follow you.
Who you love, I'll love. How you serve I'll serve.
If this life I lose, I will follow you. I will follow you.

Light unto the world. Light unto my life.
I will live for you alone. You're the one I seek.
Knowing I will find all I need in you alone, in you alone.

In you there's life everlasting.
In you there's freedom for my soul.
In you there's joy, unending joy,
and I will follow you.