David and Goliath

Most of us have heard the account of David and Goliath growing up at some point in our lives! This morning I was reading for class and I came across the account of David killing Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. All of the Israelite men were afraid of the nine foot giant, Goliath who for forty days would come to ranks of the Israelites and challenge them to send a man for a duel! I then read that David came to the troops to bring some supplies from his father and began to question who giant Philistine was by saying "....who is this uncirumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 1 Samuel 17:26. David then assured King Saul that the Lord would deliver him from the giant Philistine just as he had delivered him from the bears and lions.

David then approached the line to meet the Philistine with a staff and a slingshot. David said to Goliath "This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may now that there is a God in Israel" 1 Samuel 17:46. This is interesting because David could have easily thought with a rational mind and said to himself "There is no way that I could take him with my own strength... I'm young and I'm much smaller that he!" But what was David's secret? David didn't look at himself in relation to the task that he had!!!!! He looked at the strength and glory of God and was out for the glory of God and was tenacious in seeking that glory for God!! He saw that this giant Philistine was reigning curses on Israel, blaspheming and defaming the glory of God and his people! So David looked 100% to God when he hopped into this battle with Goliath and slain him with a stone!! David wasn't out for himself or for fame, but out for God's glory so that His name would be made known to others!

Neat account huh? But what does this have to do with our lives today?
We as Christians have a monunmental task set before us today called the Great Commission given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ! We have been appointed by God to bring the gospel of Jesus to this lost world, and what a great and difficult task it seems like to us. We have all sorts of opposition that we cannot seem to get past, like thoughts of discouragement, unbelief, slander, personal reputation, fear, and the list goes on! But just as David faced a seemingly impossible opponent and eagerly met him at the frontlines with his eyes focused on God, we are to do the same with the Great Commission! We are to meet this great task of reconciling souls to God head on with our eyes totally on the Lord! We are to focus on spreading his glory and fame throughout this world, and not on ourselves or what it will make us look like, feel like, or even what might happen to us! I fear that many of us have turned our gaze inward or on the wrong thing as we have tried to spread the gospel of God's grace! Maybe we have been too introspective or maybe we have worried too much about what others may think of us!

Take David's example and keep your eyes Fixed on Jesus Christ, and remember that you're out battling for the glory of the Lord... not your own or even the glory of those that we try to reach! If God was with David when he stepped up to Goliath for His glory, will he not be with you, His own child, when you step up to the task of the Great Commission for the glory of Jesus Christ?

The woman at the rock.

I have had only one class today and I've been somewhat studying for an exam, but I felt like it was a good idea to go out and hand out some tracts before I ate lunch... so I did! I handed out some tracts as I made my way to the Turlington rock and sat down there. I then struck up a conversation with a young woman sitting next to me, and we talked briefly about everyday things.
I then asked her "When you die, what do you think is on the other side?" She said she decided not to think about it much anymore, but after I did alittle more probing she said that maybe heaven and hell. Then I asked her "How do you get to heaven?" and she replied, "by being a good person". She then told me that she goes to the Catholic church across the street from my dorm. So I asked her a few more questions, and then proceeded to walk her through the Ten Commandements and she admitted to being a liar, a blasphemer, a coveter and she failed to obey her parents at some points. After reasoning with her for a bit about sin and death, God allowed me to transition to the good news about Jesus Christ and about how he was crushed under God's wrath for our sins.
She then told me that she believed that and was trying to live for Christ. At that point I was a bit confused because her answers to my questions early led me to believe that she wasn't a believer, so I talked about the new birth in Christ alittle bit. She then left for class and thanked me for talking with her.
I then just thought "hmmm I wonder if she was being honest or not?" And you know.. I've wondered that on many different gospel encounters, but a person will know in their heart whether or not they are right with God. God won't let His word return void, but it will always accomplish what he wills it to, but we as believers must continue to faithfully plant the seeds of the gospel no matter what because we all know what happens after death....but sadly many do not!
Until Next time.

The Great Challenge..

Here is a monthly post of something that has been on my mind and my heart!!! It's late, I have some work to finish, so I'll make this quick!

I have a great desire to see the souls of men and women on this campus saved, it is a frequent prayer and a task in which I frequently take part in! But I've been greatly challenged in my consistency of the great task of preaching the gospel to every creature as Jesus commanded! I find that I struggle with apathy, fear of rejection and of the unknown every time, everyday and it almost never goes away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know what God desires and I know that he will not withhold the strength needed for the gospel to go forth on this campus, but I find it so tough to consistently remain steadfast in prayer for God's churches and the as I should, but I continually feel God nudging my heart to continue on in the work of chasing the souls of men!!

Everyday that I wake up I feel the nudge on my heart saying "Are you going to cast your nets today?" It never ever leaves me!!!! NEVER! And by gollie I won't ignore the call that God has given to seek him and fish for men with the message of the gospel! Yes it's hard, yes it's scary, yes it's uncertain, yes there's rejection, but what a mistake it is to ignore the calls of the living God. For Jesus has said "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15. I cannot neglect it, will not!

I'm reminded of a missionary named David Brainerd who gave himself wholly to be used by God to reach the Native Americans in the 18th century and went through such tremendous hardship and pain that he died at the age of 29. He frequently prayed and wept for their salvation and preached with a tongue of fire because he had obeyed the commission of God and took it seriously with all of his heart! He even viewed suffering as a friend! As a result of the work that God did through him, many Native Americans came to Christ! This is an example that I'm challenged to follow as well as the Apostle Paul's and when he says "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:" Romans 9:3.

I'm challenged to give myself over to God and his work as these men have done! There is a campus of 50,000 people, most of whom do not know the Lord Jesus. I'm living in a dorm and I suspect that most here do not know Christ either! I've sat idley, and prayerlessly long enough. I must do what God is nudging my heart to do... I must preach the gospel to them! I've been lazy and scared, but I must trust in the Lord! Everytime I hear their voices in the hallway and make small talk with them when I see them passing through I cringe inside and ask, "what if I brought up Christ? How would they respond?" And I think the worst and say nothing because I want no offense! Haha but alas! The message is offensive!!!!!!!!!!

But this is what is going on inside my mind and my heart at the moment for the cause of Christ. This isn't really for entertainment or for people to read and be entertained.... who reads blogs anyway? *wink* May God give us all the strength and wake us up from Spiritual apathy and lack of concern for the lost and dying world!!! Amen!!!

Giving into the War

It is 7:55pm and I'm taking a break from working on a hg teaching for tomorrow evening. I was just doing some reflecting about my life and passion for God. I look around and I see people who are in need of the Lord! I see a great harvest that God wants us to thresh as believers. I look around and I realize that there is great work to be done here at the University of Florida, and the Lord is constantly giving me a desire to tell everyone about Him! God wants sold out men and women to use to reach this campus with the gospel, and it's in all out war. I'm writing this blog because in my mind and my heart... I want to commit to this war that is waging between the forces of spiritual light and darkness!
There are souls in the balance, there are dead men and women who are in desperate need of the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning I rededicated myself to fighting against the dark spiritual forces that rage in this world for the glory of Jesus! It is a scary thing, but fear is the enemy's greatest weapon in incapacitating the Body of Christ and it's tough to admit, but this tactic has been very effective! But I'm throwing myself into the arms of Christ! The hands of Jesus! I'm surrendering myself totally to the will of the Lord because there is a great work that needs to be done!!!!!!!!! Reader, will you do the same? Will you hop into the arms of Christ so that he can use in this War of reconcilation?
I want to tell every person that I come across about the saving power of Jesus Christ! The people in my dorm, on the bus, in turlington plaza everywhere! I want to preach my heart out for God, ahahah. I thought of this verse "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." Luke 4:43. This is the mission given by God for us to do and this is the cause that I will give my life to.
Until next time.....

When things went wrong......in evangelism at FSU

I just want to share some of the experiences here in which people have gotten offended or angry from me trying to witness to them for one reason or another! Hey! It happens, but rejoice and reflect because we are representing Christ and his word says "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you" 1 Peter 4:14. However, this is not a verse to cover yourself with if you are not speaking the truth in love or if you're being a meddler! But people will misunderstand those who preach the gospel at times. So my hope is that whoever reads this is encouraged when the not so nice witnessing experiences come by and to share your faith in general!

Earlier in the summer I was with a sister in Christ, Lauren and we were able to give a spiritual interest questionaire to an atheist(I won't put his name). This guy was kind of proud and didn't believe in God and the validity of the bible. So I reasoned with why God exists with an order, art, design, and creation argument. I don't know if he was convinced or not, but we talked alittle more about it, then I decided to address his conscience rather than his intellect. I asked him if he considered himself to be a good person and he said "Yes". So I proceeded to walk him through the God's moral Law. He failed the test just like everyone else, and said that if God existed he would let him into heaven. I reiterated that he was guilty and that he would have alot to think about if this is true. Then he quoted a bible verse to me! "Judge not lest ye be judged" he said! I told him that this wasn't my judgement but God's andI asked him what he think would happen to him if it was true. He then, got agitated and said that I was forcing my beliefs on him, but I was asking him "what if it was true?" He then said that the bible is not reliable, and asked me where Cain from the book of Genesis got his wife. This caught me off guard, although I knew the answer. It wasn't good enough for him, and he laughed at me, ehheh.... Afterwards, he had to go back to work, and I urged him to think about these things more.

During another instance, I approached some FSU students who were tabling for a study abroad program. I struck up a conversation with a girl who had a cross around her neck. This caught my eye... I eventually turned the conversation to spiritual things by asking her if she would go to heaven if she died. She had no idea, and she pointed to a guy to her right and told me to ask him that question then she left to talk on her phone. So I proceed to talk with the guy behind the table about spiritual things. He had a churched background, but was an agnostic. I talked with him about the existence of God, but he didn't really believe in a heaven or hell. Since he was churched, I asked him if he knew the Ten Commandments, and he looked at me with this "Well, DUH!" expression, lol! So I asked him to name them. I don't think he named them all, but he named most of them. I then asked him if he kept them and I think he said that he didn't keep them all, but some of them. So I asked him, "Have you ever told a lie?" ,Yes he said, then I asked "What does that make you?". His face then went flat and he answered "a liar", then I asked him, "Have you ever stolen something?" he answered "yes, but I'm not a thief". I tried to reason with him on what a thief was, but I moved on. Afterwards, I asked him, "Have you ever used God's name in vain?" he answered "yes", then I said, "that's called blasphemy". Then that set him off! He replied, "NOW YOU'RE PREACHING TO ME! I WAS NICE ENOUGH TO TALK WITH YOU ABOUT SPIRITUAL THINGS AND USE MY TIME. I SEE THE TRACTS IN YOUR HAND! YOU HAVE AN AGENDA DON'T YOU? I HAVE LIED AND STOLEN AND USED GOD'S NAME IN VAIN AND EVERYTIME I DO IT I FEEL GUILTY! Then I said, "I came over here to tell you something important because if you died tonight, you be punished for your sins, and not only you, but many other people here!" I then told him about the cross of Jesus Christ!!!! "You feel guilty because God gave you a conscience." He then replied, "You must care alot about people to go about trying to save their souls. You're very kind". He then took a tract and said that he wanted to talk again sometime. This was very encouraging, but his conviction caused him to get angry which will happen when you testify against peoples works..

I have another one, but I don't feel like typing it because it is late! But may you read this and be encouraged!

Grace and Peace! Until next time!

Witnessing encounters on FSU's campus

Today between 1 and 4 I got to go out sharing the gospel with my fellow intern and brother in Christ, David. We shared the gospel with 11 people today on campus, which has been really amazing! God has been giving us great boldness to approach groups of people and tell them of the saving power of Jesus Christ. David and I were able to approach a group of 4 people sitting at a table, and we gave them a spiritual interest questionaire. None of them were actually sure if they were going to heaven or not, but they said that they had God in their hearts. They were doubtful because of their lifestyle. One of the people left, then I began to reexplain the gospel to them and at this time, my heart began to feel heavy as I was reitering that Christ paid our full debt, and by believing we are justified by his blood. One of the people that was listening began to clap, and I started to explain that we can know 100% that we are going to have eternal life, and that we are new creatures in Christ. The person began to clap again and they thanked David and I for our time and we thanked them for theirs.
Next David and I were able to approach 4 more people who were having a conversation on a sidewalk on campus. We gave them the questionaire, and they were not sure if they were going to heaven or not, and thought that if they could get there then it would be by their good deeds. I walked them through the ten commandments and they admitted that they were guilty before God and were not going to heaven. So we then shared the gospel with them and 3 of them listened very intently, while one of them walked off to talk on his phone. When I look back I think I should have challenged them with a decision for Christ, but I gave them some gospel booklets then they headed off to class.
Afterwards, David and I approached 4 more people and gave them the survey. They then were interested in knowing how they could have eternal life. David then walked all 4 of them through the ten commandments, and it was interesting to see their reactions when they saw how they measured up against God's Law. It's interesting because it shows us what we really are in truth! David then shared with them the saving power of Christ, and all of them listened very intently as well, even though two of them said they were Christians. I then explained to them the power that the Holy Spirit has to sanctify us.The most skeptical guy of the group seemed to be affected the most, and had the most questions, but that day everyone left knowing that they had alot to think about. God really blessed that day of gospel preaching. We pray that all of those seeds that were planted and watered would bear a crop of salvation!
Grace and peace!

Update

It's been a while since I have posted, the time is 4:20 pm and it is the 4th of July, haha. I'm here at the FSUbmerge program which is a church planting and leadership training program! I've been support raising for the program and I am now at 87% of my support! God has amazingly come through with the support. I had no idea how He would do it, but He has!
God has been teaching us alot here at FSU in the program! He has been personally testing me tremendously as a leader, and it has been very challenging! I used to pray regularly that God would grow me as a leader and He has answered them lol! There have been alot of growing pains through this but God is faithful and will come through. God has also been growing my diligence in evangelism which has been amazing. There are so many more details that I could include in this post, but I will maybe save them for a later time. Until next time!

Trial, Renewal, and Personal Reflection.

The time is 5:23 pm and this is the first blog entry of this month. I have not posted here in a while, but now I feel compelled to post.

For the past few weeks, I believe that this has been a period of trials, and my heart for God has been tested. The trials have come in the form of busyness, and I have also been trying to learn more about myself and who I am in Christ. None of this may make sense because this is coming straight from my brain and my heart.
Lately, so many things have come up such as, tests, ministry, school work, support raising, and conference preparation. I have been swamped with obligations, and it feels as though my heart for God has been tested. It is so easy to forget what God has put on your heart or what He wants you to do when daily chores come up. And for the past few weeks, the flame in my heart for God and the gospel has been put under strain it seems. But yesterday, it felt as though my heart was renewed for the work he has set out before me. Yesterday morning during quiet time, I prayed to God and asked him to damn my fears, my complacency, my pride, my uncaring attitude, my reputation, and to give me the boldness to live for Him. I then got dressed and left the dorm with the mind set of serving God, mainly through witnessing to anyone that I could because that's what God has put on my heart!!!!!!!!! My heart was filled with compassion and I could not help but feel a overwhelming love for those around me! I got the opportunity to share the gospel with someone from my economics class, and later that day I tried to share with a guy on the bus, but he rejected me. Afterwards, joy just flooded me as I continued to look around on the bus for someone that I could talk to. I felt totally renewed!
I've also been doing alot of reflecting and asking myself... who am I????? I've been looking at who I am in Christ, examining my own personality closely, and even comparing it to what it was in high school. Lately, I have been exposed to more leadership responsibilities and that has caused me to look at my personality and who I am in Christ with respect to leadership.... hehe does that make sense? I have concluded that I'm definitely not gifted or skilled as a leader ehhhh..... I always make mistakes! But I believe that God is trying to grow me as one and is using mistakes to teach me how to be a leader, and this process is not easy because it is exposing personal pride, and I am very critical of myself! And I usually come down alittle hard on myself when I know that I could have done something better (Bad sentence structure I know..). So, with regards to examining my personality, I have found that I'm on the introverted side and usually in large groups I'm not very vocal . I'm always reminded of this in large group settings such as home group or hang out times. I have always been like this since I can remember, but what's cool is that I feel like God wants to use me to say alot to others and encourage them. I also feel this supernatural burden to spread the gospel verbally, although, I'm not a trained, eloquent, or constant speaker. I want to shout from the roof tops!

I have more to say, but until next time..

By the way, the reason that I write this blog is because I have alot of thoughts that I usually don't share very much, so I type what's inside of me.

The Fire Inside and Outreach thoughts.

The time is 3:10 p.m.

I woke up this morning at about 8:00 am and had a quiet time. Afterwards, I went to church. For the past few days, I've been looking inside and pondering about the fire inside of my heart for God and the gospel. It's there, it's burning, and it's real! But it's hard to channel it into something that is practical and hands on. Not sure how I can put this but, it seems that all around this campus there are people who are gospel resistant I guess.... those who have been exposed to the good news before and maybe many many times, and there are even believers who don't seem to care so much for one reason or another. Of course, there are those who don't quite know, but what about those who do know and are extremely harden to the gospel? This can be a challenge, even if you are gung ho about the spread of the good news. I know that I'm not the only one who has been wrestling with this situation, but I think we can shed some light on how to actually spread the gospel with some fruit I guess... eh. It seems that in other places in the east such as India and China, you hear about multitudes of people coming to Christ within a short period of time, but here in America, the number of born again believers is hardly growing at all! Now right now I am not sure where I'm going with this because my mind is now an open platter, so bear with me, heheheheheeheh. This is a complex yet simple subject! Why do our outreach efforts here seem so ineffective? Here's where it can get very cloudy, but here is what I think.
We have strayed away from the biblical way of outreach. Today, we don't see God's hand in our witnessing attempts as much as should I believe. As I mentioned before, multitudes of people in the east have been coming to Christ for the past 50 years or so....millions!!!!!! There have been tons and tons of miracles also, which has been a powerful witness of the truth of the gospel in Asia. But here, we don't see tons of people coming to the Lord and we don't see very many miracles. Now I could go on and on with thoughts, but I'm going to make this short. I believe we must rely on God when it comes to spreading the gospel, not social events, not our own intellect, and not even our own personalities or kindness!! Look at the books of Acts, the gospel spread like wildfire because when people spoke, God confirmed his truth with His power and presence. There weren't apologetical arguments like we have today because the Lords hand was on there efforts. We must cry out to God and plead with Him to change the hearts of men whether we know them or not! I believe that we have made the mistake of taking the matters into our own hands when it comes to outreach, and as a result we have not seen very many lives transformed by the gospel. I think that we need to go back to the pattern of Acts even it does seem like it won't fit into this culture! God will fight for us if we let Him, step out on faith!!!!!!!!
If you want to really getting a glimpse of how God is moving in Asia check out the newsletter archive on www.asiaharvest.org.

It continues..

It's been a while since I have posted here.... But today is my 20th birthday, lol. I feel like I'm getting old haha! Does this mean that I have to actually act older since I'm no longer a teenager?

Catching up.... I have recently changed my major, and I am no longer on the microbiology track! I am now on the religion track and so far it is pretty interesting!!! I've been warned about my future however by my family to really make sure that I want to do this because of job opportunites, but this decision was a leap of faith and I trust that God will use this some how. I came to this decision by examining my heart and what God has put on it. It is on my heart to serve God full time when I graduate college, and I was experiencing a growing discontentment with my previous major, so now I am doing religion.
The fire to spread the gospel still burns within my heart and it has played a role in my decision to change my major. This summer I am going to be involved in a church plant, and I am very excited.
This is all that I have for now, more soon to come.....