Changing The Norm

What does it take to live for Christ? What are we called to do to become a disciple?

These are questions that run through my mind so often. I wrestle with cost of discipleship and how does that apply to my life.

We live in a country that has us running 120 mph everyday in 12 different directions, but the cost of discipleship does not change. We are called to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Christ. Does this mean change the flow of life? I believe it does.

We must change the norm of life. We must fight the flow of life that causes us to look to jobs, sports, vacations, and family more than Christ. Are we willing to give this all up for Christ? Whether we are to literally do this or not is not the point. The point is that we must change the norm. Change our priorities. If that means give up sports so you can devote yourself more to prayer, then God says yes. If that means quit your job so that you may spend more time ministering to your family, then God says yes.

Cost of Discipleship = Changing the Norm

Quit fighting to defend our American Dream and start pursuing God's Dream of Discipleship.

Success Is Attributed to Attempts

i was reading some blogs and ran across this. what an interesting perspective. i would like to add one more thing to this. strike-outs were high, but he did not include that there are 3 strikes. think about that as you read this...

http://www.benarment.com/history_in_the_making/2009/01/you-cant-have-enough-bad-ideas.html

You Can't Have Enough Bad Ideas

Get this - Babe Ruth held Major League baseball's career strikeout record from 1926 until 1964. But what gave him such grief also made him the home run king. He swung at a LOT of pitches... and SOME of them connected! You've gotta love that. You can't have too many ideas because some of them will be great ones!

This year has been a year of strike-outs for me. I've asked favors that only got laughter on the phone. Feels like I've had more unreturned phone calls than answered ones. And I've had e-mail requests go completely ignored. The assistant to a very famous ministry leader wrote, "I don't know who this Ben is, but he'd better learn protocol."

Not easy for me, I'll admit. But I'm in good company. Call me the Benbino.

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The Balancing Act

everybody is amazed how the tight wire person walks the taut wire. the question arises, "how can any human keep their balance with death starring them in the face below?"

with our job, family, school, finances, recreation, and much more starring us in the face, how do we differ from the tight wire act? where the person tries to keep balance with his body, we try to keep balance with our entire life. both are a balancing act.

here is the difference. when the tight wire act is jeopardizing their physical life 100 feet in the air, we are jeopardizing our spiritual life everyday. God understands that life is hard and crazy. he understands that it is hard to keep balance. he even understands our hardship so much that he created an anatomy that our bodies are hurt when we are not balanced correctly. we have a ph scale that makes us balance our acidic level. our body must keep an equilibrium in order to stay healthy. God created us to stay balanced. but that is not always the case.

if we are not staying balanced, then our lives, as we all know, will be a mess. Satan strategically puts obstacles or stumbling blocks in our lives to keep us off balance. when he does, we are tempted more easily, anxious, fearful, nervous, worrisome, and so on. (if this is the case then pray, Phil 4:6) God wants us to be balanced. placing him above all us, but also placing him with all else. our balance is weighed out by how much God is in each part of our lives.

• does God have weigh in on our jobs?
• does God have weigh in on our schooling decisions?
  
• does God have weigh in on family situations?
• how much does God weigh in on your every decision?

our balance is measured by how much God is weighed in with every situation in our lives.

how well are we balanced?

Disturbed With Status Quo

Relationships on the Clock

the other day i was meeting with senior guys for lunch. we have been meeting for 4 months on mondays to discuss discipleship and scripture. many times i get frustrated and tired of never being able to see results from our meetings. this monday in particular, there were results.

one of the guys that i love dearly, opened up to me. as i sat there talking to him for about an hour, i realized that relationships are time consuming, tiring, and frustrating, but profitable.

the moment that you initiate a relational bond, you have started your time clock. some relationships see progress and success early. some other relationships don't see this progress and success for quite some time. but what we can draw from all of this is, relationships require time. time that can deflate a person, time that can discourage another. please remember this though, time is of the highest necessity. we never know when we will see results, so keep plugging away.

I Love My Grandma

many years ago, i was talking to my grandma buckley. she told me a word of wisdom, she was full of them. she said, "treat all your elderly like they were your grandparents." that never left my head. every time i meet an elderly person i see them as my grandma or grandpa/granddad. i give them a huge and love listening to their words of wisdom.

why am i saying this?

the body of Christ was built up with a multitude of generations. in the new testament when a man believed and was baptized, he returned home and converted the household. the church was never designed to reach the baby boomers, gen Xers, gen Yers, etc. the church is designed to reach every generation and unify them as one.

when we go to family reunions, we don't separate saying, "you go over there because you are a gen Yer or you are a baby boomer." we come together as a family and converse, commune, and fellowship with the family. the church must come back to an intergenerational community. we must be one family fellowshiping, worshiping, and growing together.

stop worrying about who we are NOT reaching and start reaching all generations together. we must become one, unified in the name of Jesus Christ.

Leaders Doing Kingdom Work

tonight was another awesome night with the high school ministry. i am always blown away to watch our leaders minister to the students. you know that God is moving when you constantly see students staying after wards to talk to the leaders about different situations in their lives. i am truly blessed to be working with leaders that are doing kingdom work.

that phrase, kingdom work, has been hitting me a lot recently and i feel that the more we focus on the expansion of the kingdom, the more we will see of God putting kingdom opportunities in our laps. i believe that God celebrates when He sees His people doing His work.

tonight i watched a leader give her personal bible that her mom gave to her to a girl that has been struggling with issues in her life. the girl did not own a bible so our leader said take mine. WOW!!! our leader did not just give the student her bible, but gave the student God's word.

kingdom work was accomplished tonight...

Pursuing Christ or A Sin Free Life

a few months ago i was reading someone else's blog, sorry can't remember who, but one thing that the person wrote was that he believed that believers are focusing too much on the omission of sin rather than the pursuit of Christ. wow, did he really say that. some would disagree with that statement and say, "they are one in the same."

but truthfully they are not wholly the same.

Philippians 3:12-16 says that we must pursue the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, not looking back at our past, but pressing forward.

one of the biggest faults the Church is living with right now is, we are trying to become perfect by omitting our sin or living a sin free life and we keep on failing. when this happens we get frustrated, upset, and depressed that perfection can never be achieved. the sad response that follows those emotions is QUITTING. believers quit their service, their church body, and most importantly their relationship and commitment to Christ.

God is a god of faith, hope, and love. why would we assume that our relationship is suppose to be depressing, frustrating, and upsetting with a god that holds those 3 things of faith, hope, and love. Paul continually writes not about how to abide by the laws that God gave to us, but rather to pursue Christlikeness.

*ask the question, "who should i become?" rather than asking, "who should i NOT become?"

but what does that really mean? SIMPLE, we are to pursue a life that looks directly like the life that Christ lived here on earth.

impossible?

YES! you are right, but Matthew 19:26 says that all things are possible through God. if that is the case, Christlikeness or perfection can only be achieved through Christ that connects us to God.

this is the bottom line. if we had a world or a church filled with believers pursuing Christlikeness then we would have a grip load of believers moving forward. yes they will fall, but they will jump back up and continue forward. when we pursue Christ, we pursue to accept people and love them where they are at. the pursuit of Christ will expand the kingdom, but the pursuit to a personally sin free life will lead to limited people being reached because the omission of sin is a selfish act, but the pursuit of Christlikeness is a selfless act.


PURSUE CHRIST and this world will be turned upside down!!

I Just Don't Have Enough Time

what a popular thing to say. i have been thinking this for a while now and i hear that coming from so many different people. so why does it constantly feel like this?

look at the world around us? we go through each day overflowing with things that we have to do and items that need to get done. Satan has created a full schedule in our lives to make us feel overwhelmed. i have realized over the last couple of months, we will never have enough time in the day.

so what can we do now?

• live today for today. don't worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. we tend to see the whole picture in many details and get overwhelmed. stopping worry yourself about the items that cannot be taken care of today. plan for them yes, but don't dwell on them, hence spending way too much time worry about things.
  
• look at your day with a purpose. what are the non-negotiables that you must get done today? if you can get just one thing done today what would it be? get something done that will be productive and accomplish that.
  
• prioritize your life. easier said than acted upon. truly think about this. priority means putting what is most important in your life first. most would like to put God first, but sit back ask the question, "do my actions show that?" if your family is second to God then what are you doing to improve on that priority today. prioritizing your life means investing your time in the day to accomplish growth in those life areas.
• give back what you have been given. God does not ask for much, but the one thing he does ask for is huge. US!! God has given each one of us eternal life and all he wants back is for us to accept and continually give our moral life back to Him daily. how are you given back to God daily?
  

Surfing Discipleship - Part 2

2. Become Daily Devoted

• Titus 3:14
  
  • says we must devote ourselves daily to doing what is good so we may be provided with our daily necessities and not live unproductive lives. (paraphrased)
    
• this really comes with desire
  
  • devotion follows where our heart’s desires are
  • devotion is a commitment
  • devotion is a response
  • devotion is our obedience
    
• when we accepted Christ, we entered a constant growing relationship
  
  • NOT an inauguration party
  • leave that to the next president
    
• surfers have to swim everyday before they can surf
• disciples must devote ourselves daily before we can turn the world upside down
  

3. Take Your Faith Out

• Acts 1:8
  
  • “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
    
• our faith was never meant to for safe keeping
• faith is not what we obtain, but what must be shared
  
  • it is every believers responsibility to take faith to the none believer
    
• we will never learn how to reach the lost until we understand the lost
  
  • live in the world, but not of the world
    
• like the surfer who sits on his board getting the feel of the open water and the early forming of waves
• we must take our faith out into the world and get the feel of what we are about to encounter
  

4. Pursue Christ-likeness

• Philippians 3:10-14
  
  • 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 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. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
    
• discipleship is never said to be easy
• it is our attitude that must be set in place
  
  • put our attitudes to becoming like Christ
    
• growth is a direct result to effort
  
  • when we attempt we grow
  • our efforts my result in failure
  • our efforts might result in success
  • but, our growth will be measured by our effort
    
• we must become like Christ
  
  • humble
  • loving
  • selfless
  • be a servant to God
    
• learn that every step to a solid foundation comes from a gradual consistent growth
• like a surfer learning to ride a small wave, we might fall
  
  • BUT, it is not failure that makes us grow, it is what we do with that failure
  • learn how to ride the small waves first
    
• a true step in the discipleship process is to put a valiant effort into becoming like Christ

look for the final steps of the discipleship process...will be published in a couple of days