to the ends of the EARTH pt. 2

I have been studying the book of Matthew and a few verses in chapter 5 brought me back to the blog I posted a few weeks ago "to the ends of the EARTH"


You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16). The world is dark and the moment we asked the Holy Spirit into our lives we became that light of the world, whether we realized it or not. So how do we do this? How do we reflect the light we have recieved? Do we stand on the corners and shout repentance over people that pass by? Do we walk thru our campuses and workplaces preaching to people telling them what to change in their lives to become more righteous? The other night a band, that my brother and I have become good friends with, was playing in a bar in downtown Auburn. We were really excited to see our friends and more excited to hear some really awesome music! On the way to the bar we stood on the corner waiting for a good time to cross the street and we were met by a few men that were handing out small comic book things about people that, due to sin, were condemned in hell... I took what they handed me and kept walking, I finally read the "comic book" they gave me, and I was honestly pretty upset! I took great offense to the "get out of hell free" pass they gave me. I wanted to run back to the corner they were standing on and tell them my entire testimony and tell them how much I love Jesus, but instead I kept my thoughts to myself and had a very fun night with some really good friends that love Jesus and love good music! Im not sure if anybody gave their hearts to the Lord that night because of the evangelism on the corner, but I cant help but to think that there is a better way to reach people!

Love is the answer to the questions in the last paragraph. God and love go hand in hand and we must set examples to our lost world by spreading love!! Proverbs 10:12 says "hatred stirs up dissention but love covers over all wrongs" this has been my favorite verse for years because I feel like it truly defines what it means to love. "All wrongs" wow, thats a huge statement, try to think of ALL things you have done in this life, if you are like me, many of the things were probably wrong to do. God loved us so much that he abandoned his only Son so that we were shown love that covers over ALL wrongs. Jesus sets an amazing example of what it means to love people in John 13. In this chapter Jesus washes his followers feet, try to picture walking into work tomorrow and your boss telling you to relax and that he would do your chores. The disciple's master was washing their feet! Verse 14 says Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one anothers feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

We as the light of the world need to relfect love over everyone we come across. I understand that it is super hard to love some people because of many diferent circumstances, but God could have turned His back on us, but He loves us entirely to much to do so!

He is love and we are made in his image, so what does that make us?

God is GOOD

"God is good" its a statement that is told to kids in vacation bible school. It was said before every meal I ever ate when I was young. It is on many stickers that hang on kids shirts. Its very easy to understand and very easy to recite, but is it over used?? I dont think so at all! Under- meant? maybe but certainly not over used! I dont think that it is said enough! We all try to use super fancy words in prayer and in small group meetings but the entire understanding of the Lord can be summed up in three words... God is good!!!

God is so good, and before I really focused my life the Lord I thought this was just another meaningless religious saying. The fact of it is, that God IS good and God keeps his children's best interest in mind. God created us so that we could love and worship him. God does not NEED any of us and if He wanted to He could wipe the earth completely clean of sinful people, us. The Lord provides for our every need, Luke 11:9-13 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy spirit to those who ask Him?" This is such an awesome example of God the Father, not God the ruler or God the master. God is very genuine and very sincere and longs to provide for his children! God will take care of us and never lead us down paths we cant handle and never present things in our lives that will break us to pieces. We get so stressed over school, and money, and relationships but we need to lean on the Lord and give all of our worries to Him because alone we could never survive in this world!

God is good, God is very very good! We need to adopt this phrase as sinful people and never forget that we are His children, and the Father provides for his children!

EASILY ACCESSIBLE

It is so awesome that we serve a God that is very accessible! So many times we think of God as standing in the center of a maze and once you make it thru the ever-changing maze you can see his glory. It is such a blessing that we dont have to search for the Lord! The God that spoke the earth into creation is within our reach and sent his son to die on the cross so that we may know him!

to the ends of the EARTH

We, as Christians, are called to be living witnesses to a dying world. If God's only intention for our lives is to reach heaven he would have struck us dead the moment we asked Him into our lives. Our lives do not end at the cross, they simply begin with the cross! There are still places in the world where it is illegal to follow God, there are still places in the world where whole populations have never heard of our living God! The Holy Spirit is alive and powerful, we are simply God's instruments to reach the ends of the earth, places that might only have one link (YOU) between individuals and the creator of the universe!! We were not created to only worry about ourselves when it come to salvation, it is our obligation as followers of Christ to spread the word! Now, I understand that not all of us were called to be pastors and ministers, but our callings are all very personal and very appropriate! No matter your profession we are all called into the ministry! A coach can used his or her passion for a sport and their influence to spread the word of God, a teacher can use his or her love for educating to further the kingdom!! Lets face it, we are the next parents, teachers, business owners, husbands, wives, presidents, ect. if we want to SAVE the world it will be through our generation!! Its time to start believing that we can change the world, and its time to act on our calling...