Do

As followers of Christ we are challenged by Jesus to “do” something with our
life. In Matthew, Jesus lays it out pretty concisely.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

-Matthew 28:19-20

If you’ve grown up in the church or not, it’s easy to find yourself stuck in a
comfortable and complacent lifestyle. It can be difficult to receive the severity of
the message that Jesus is trying to get across here in Matthew if you are just serving
your time on Sunday mornings and have the “hippie, limp wrist, tree hugging,
tolerant Jesus” that society likes to make out to be “our example”. This box that
Jesus has been put into by our culture today to fit our likings is not the Jesus that is
in the bible. He took a beating with a whip embedded with shards of metal, bone or
pottery that tore deeply into his flesh and left him so physically torn and mutilated
that people were not asking, ”What happened to that man?”, but, “What is that
thing?”. The wounds from scourging typically were so deep that the victim lost a
great deal of blood and went into severe shock even before the actual crucifixion.
Not everyone survived the scourging so that quite commonly the crucifixion that
followed would be that of a dead, or at least dying, body. Jesus was not only forced
to drag Himself to a mile or two to Golgotha, the place where He was to be nailed
to the cross, after being scourged, but our mutilated Savior carried the patibulum,
cross-arm, which on average weighed about one-hundred and twenty pounds. After
nailing Jesus to the cross, He then proceeded to muster up enough strength to hang
on the cross for hours and to promise the thief next to Him that he would spend
eternity with Jesus then He offered His spirit up to God.

This is not some meek, limp wristed, sissy of a man. Christ bore more pain
and hurt then any modern day “hero” Hollywood could dream up. He felt the
abandonment of His Closest friends, His family, and God. If the physical pain wasn’t
enough the emotional pain of having no one there for Him was even worse, His own
mother was at least a quarter mile away, watching from another hill. The physical
and emotional abandonment and pain that Jesus felt was only a glimpse of the pain
He truly felt. God then proceeded to pour out all of the wrath that not just you and I
deserve but the punishment for all men before Christ, after Him, and after you and I
are long gone. He was completely alone.

This is the example that Jesus left us.

This being said, Christ gives us a mission in Matthew 28. It is called the
Great Commission for a reason, if it wasn’t so, it would have been called the Great
Suggestion. Christ lays it out in the most concise manner. All men are to go, baptize,
and teach others to observe Christ’s commands. This is a pretty straight forward
message.

Are you still uncertain if the Great Commission really applies to you
as a follower of Christ? A good friend of mine once put it this way, “The Great
Commission applies to everyone, if it didn’t it would be called The Commission.”

Don’t be content with the way the world is. God wants to reach the world and
He uses His Word and you and I to do it. Step into the Glory that God has in store
for His Children and His Ambassadors. Make your life count and make your blows
count.

Coastin'

If you know me at all you know that I’m a bit of a bike fanatic, specifically fixed gear bikes. These bikes are so appealing because when you are on them you can build up a “cadence, flow, rhythm” or whatever you want to call it. It’s impossible to coast on a fixed gear because unlike other bikes the cog on the rear wheel is actually mounted directly to the hub, this means when you pedal forward the bike moves forward and when you pedal backwards it goes backwards. At some point while on a fixed gear you can reach a speed where your legs cannot keep up with the pace your crank arms want you to go, this is known as pedaling out, when this happens your feet can slip out, you cannot stop as quickly, you have to plan way ahead for any kind of turn, stops, or intersections. Though it very rarely happens in Manhattan, when it does the effects are sometimes brutal. Scaring, bruises, and stitches are all just minor consequences of “pedal bite”; BUT there is no greater feeling than coming out of an incidence bleeding, hurting, and still on your bike pressing forward to your destination with a little more character than when you started. It just feels right.

Lately I have been riding on a single-speed rear-wheel (thanks for letting me borrow yours Sam) because my old wheel fell apart while riding on it. When riding on a wheel like this it is impossible to have a cadence after a certain speed and then you just coast until the need to pedal again. There is no real danger involved or as much reward physically. I’ve been riding on this wheel for a little over a week now; Like all new or different changes in life it was fun for a couple of days, but I really miss the “flow” of my fixed wheel.

This is relevant to my spiritual life lately, specifically my relationship with God. Two weeks into school I had a “cadence” going, I was riding hard for God, I was connected to Him daily. It just felt right. At some point between then and now I traded my “spiritual fixed wheel” in for a “spiritual single-speed”. In doing this I’ve begun to just “coast” using excuses like “I’m really busy!” or “I just don’t have the time to read!”. Or when I do read I just “coast” through it and move on with my day. While these statements are true, it is still no reason for me to ignore my relationship with God. I can’t just occasionally pedal and then coast. I don’t want to sprint for a little bit of my life and then coast out. I would rather “pedal out” for Christ and carry the scars from “spiritual pedal-bite” the rest of my life and remember the times He sustained me, then just coast through life on a free-wheel of complacency.

“(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”
1 timothy 4:10

Cody J Hill

altitude

a mile high gasping for air still doesn't quite compare
to the feeling that we will all one day have to be prepared, for.
when the sky rips open and down comes the Son
on his white horse that burns brighter than the sun.
doesn't matter if you believed in Him or not,
we will all have to face judgement and some, well, some will rot.
these mountains have a way of pointing to something greater
it's like the peaks are beacons just suggesting we put our hands in the air
and fall to our knees and acknowledge God, the All Mighty Creator.
so yes it's been fun, and yes it's beautiful
but nothing compares to the altitude of Heaven
and an eternity with my brethren.

Breaches

"You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the LORD." Ezekiel 13:5

We are in battle 24/7 a spiritual, emotional, and physical battle. Are you willing to take a stand, willing to allow yourself to be wounded, and allow God to rebuild you?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17WLQNyYO0o

Flesh

A reminder that we aren't home yet.

365

When I was four life seemed so care free, I was innocent. A year at that point was a quarter of my life and those 365 days until my next birthday seemed like ages. Now at the age of twenty a year seems like no time at all. I’m no longer innocent. The law (ten commandments) has revealed to me my need for a savior, the necessity of a perfect sacrifice, and the grace of God.

When I lived outside of the law I had no understanding of what sin was. Man to me was good. I went to church, I didn’t do what everyone else was doing, all the time. I tried to obey my parents (at times), I did my best to serve others. But all of these things were to build me up and it was on a scale made up by humans to just keep me from ‘not doing bad’ instead of pursuing God.

My next couple of posts are going to be over the ten commandments and understanding our standing with God. These fundamental borders are necessary to understanding the need for a savior, they are necessary to understand the weight of eternity and to grasp that this world we live in, these vessels we dwell in, and this life we have been given are not eternal. The ten commandments are more then suggestions they help you to realize that ‘ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’-Romans 3:23, and because we are sinners we needed a sacrifice we needed something to pay our debt and because of that…‘for God SO loved the world that He GAVE (this means it was a choice, God didn’t have to) his ONLY son that WHOEVER believes in Him will have eternal life.’ –John 3:16, and ‘While we were still sinners Christ died for us.’ –Romans 5:8 God’s love for us is eternal and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you anymore or any less than he already does.


(completely irrelevant from the above post)

Something to chew on
‘I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.’
–Revelation 3:8

‘Open the gates
that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.’
-Isaiah 26:2

‘On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.’
-Acts 14:27

The works of a God fearing man will never go unnoted. The works of a God fearing church changes not only the community but changes hearts, wins souls, and preaches the Gospel. God has set before me and all of his followers an open door. It’s not just an open door but a door that no one can close except God. We have an opportunity to live the life that God intended for us. God is calling us to something greater than just ourselves. God is whispering, ‘come, listen, follow me my child. I have much to show you.’ We are but mere mortals and our lives are just a spec in light of eternity, our flesh will rot and decay before we know it. How are you going to leave this earth, as just a “good person” or someone who allowed God to rule in their life and really leave a stamp on eternity? Walk through the door.

grow grow grow

spiritual knowledge does not equal spiritual maturity
but you can't be spiritually mature without spiritual knowledge
it is a continual growing experience
not just a chapter of your life
but its a whole book
one full lifespan on this earth of growing
and allowing God to lead

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:12-14

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." 1 corinthians 13:11