Justice is Sexy!

Justice

·         The quality of being just: righteousness , equitableness  or moral rightness( to uphold the justice of a cause)

·         The moral principle determining just conduct

·         The quality of being fair and reasonable     

“Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Isaiah 1:16-17

The idea of justice has become Cool or Sexy in our culture! In fact there are hundreds of thousands Social Justice Groups in America. They have Justice groups to protect donkeys!  To Protect against Sex Trafficking and so on! The Church is and should be at the forefront of this movement!

God=Justice

“The Lord is a God of Justice.” Isaiah 30:18

God is for the very lost people that need Justice the most!

“The Lord is righteous, he loves justice.” Psalms 11:7

“The Lord is beyond our reach and exalted in Power; in justice and great righteousness.” Job 37:23

“The Lord will be exalted by his justice, and the Holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.” Isaiah 5:16

When we as Christian think about Justice we have to think of a bigger idea than Right vs. Wrong! We must see the very image of God and who God is and then asks ourselves some questions in the light of that!

As followers of Christ, we have to take a serious stand for Justice it is in our very image. The call to justice is a large part of what God wants us to do. He wants for us to fight for his people and show his love and grace. Often we are the source and cause of injustice in the world around us, whether it’s through the way we treat others, how we talk about people(to their faces and behind there backs), the choices of how we chose to live our lives with no regard for how it affects others and so on. In order for us to take a stand against injustice we must start with ourselves!

“While women weep as they do now; I’ll fight. While little children go hungry as they do now; I’ll fight. While men go to person in and out, in and out as they do now; I’ll fight. While there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girls upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll Fight I’ll fight to the very end.” William Booth

Confessions of Grace

I have to Confess
Grace is more scandalous than Teenage Pregnancy
Grace is racy like the concept of Christian and Homosexuality
Yet God still gives away Grace like water out of a tap
Grace is more Captivating than drugs to an addict
It is more luring than the web to a porn addict
Grace is more potent than our guilty plea at Christ murder trail
Grace is something we can never earn
Yet we treat it as something we deserve   

I have to Confess
The measure of  my faith is different from yours
The measure of my faith has been laid  out before a thorn
The measure of my faith once was how well I could hide my sins
And how well I cast a stone
The measure of my faith once was how many times I hid behind a church pew
Not willing to share my Grace with you
The measure of my faith was all about he Grace I took
And did not deserve


I have to Confess
My faith now must be shared
I must show Gods grace
Because grace is for all
Its for the addict like me
Its for the lost soul that I once was
Its for the hate filled and lost loved
Its for the fatherless child
Its for all

I have some Grace to Confess
Grace from God takes away all condemnation
Grace erasers the sins that we hide to show how strong our faith is
Grace is for the addicted, the gossip, the greedy and the needy
Grace is for the who cheats on his wife
Grace is free to the ones that choose to believe
Grace is for the Apathetic its for the drunk on the corner
Grace is for the Judged and Judgmental
Grace is Straight and the Homosexual

I have to Confess
I once looked for people I could judge
I looked to see if I could call out there sins
And say hey that's worst than me
I would cast stones
As if I was the one with out sin
But I realized that I am a sinner
So grace I took
And now I share

I have to Confess
If I call myself a Christian
I must confess to the Grace
For Christ came for people like you and me
He came for weak and the healthy
He came for the poor and wealthy
His grace is for the all
Grace is for the prostitutes, the sinners and the whores
Its for people that hide sin behind closed doors
So if I claim this faith I must share this grace

I have to confess
I am a sinner
My hands are stained in crimson
My eyes are painted in lust
My lips are chapped with the lies that I have spit
My body filled with the death of images,drinks and drugs that show have condemned and sent me to hell
But Grace saved me from the mess that I made
Grace that is so racy it comes to the sin
It cleans the dirty body if you let it in

I have to Confess
I no longer hide behind the lies that I have told
For the Grace that God has given
The Grace that came into the mess and made me whole
I must confess that with out Grace
I would be dead
For drugs and drink and lies and sin would have made my soul black
But Grace came into my mess


I have some Grace to Confess
Grace is more racy than Sin its self
Grace is more scandalous than tabloid front cover
Grace is for the sinner and the saint

So I must share this Grace with you

Grace is racy and scandalous
But Grace will make you whole
 

And we worship freely!

Three strong knocks that is the key to get in. And you enter into a cellar that is damp, nasty and smells of death. There is about 7 candles that bring light to the space that otherwise would be would be dark as night. Three strong knocks at the door and a young Burmese man and slowly opens the door, three people walk-in. Again three strong knocks at the door, the young man walks up and a group quickly walks in. The young Burmese man locks the door behind him, five bolt locks for safety. He does this because he is the pastor of an underground church in his native Burma. They have to have service in hiding for fear of death or imprisonment. Among the group of 14 belongs one Bible it is there most loved possession. They each have at least 100 verse memorized because that is the only way to have a Bible ever. They worship with very little noise so as to not let the neighbors know they are worshiping God. The pastor reads for Romans 8 and tells they each are Conquerors. And reads from Ephesians 6 and tells them that the battles that they are going through were spoken of and that they need not worry but just take up armor of the lord. They end with some songs of Praise to God and prayer for their nation and brothers and sister that must hide the fact that they worship the Lord. They leave as they came but with a calmer spirit. They each walk off into the night but they carry with them hope and the word.

World Wide there is some 100 million house churches much of them hidden for fear of death or imprisonment.

Now imagine America was under a Communist or Dictatorship rule and we have no real freedoms. The Salvation Army and all churches have been banned. There are no religious freedoms; no churches are allowed to exist. The church buildings themselves are nothing more than abandoned buildings. How far would you be willing to go to worship the Lord? Would you be willing to face death or imprisonment? We live in a country where we can freely worship and do pretty much as we please. If it was different I know I would try my hardest to still find out a place to worship. Or for that matter up open the doors to others and worship in hiding.

Even more there are stories in these countries that have restriction on worship of love. There are stories that show Police Force that are meant to jail or imprison all that worship the lord. There is a story were Military forces came into a worship service and asked people if they believed. And those that stayed and said yes would be imprisoned or killed. And some stayed the ones that did found that the guards only wanted to worship with the ones that would lay their lives down for Christ.

40,000 to 60,000 Christians are currently in prison/labor camps because of their faith

Yet in countries that hold people back from their own belief the church is growing. People are being saved by the hundreds, pastors are being trained. Bibles are being given out and tracts are being handed out.

13,684 new house church plants

1,072,567 individual decisions for Christ

13,388 pastors and workers trained

2,944 church planters and workers trained

365,000 Bibles and Bible scripture portions provided

5,703,000 evangelistic booklets distributed

2,050,000 tracts distributed

So you see the Lords work is still being done, no matter the foe that comes against us. So our problems that we face in ministry our big to us but in the world’s eyes they are small. We can help or brothers and sisters out by praying for them.

There are some 50 plus countries that restrict the Christian faith:

Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Israel, Algeria, Oman, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Qatur, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Mauritania, Somalia, Chilapas(Mexico), Cuba, Colombia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan, China, North Korea, Mindanao(Philippines), Bunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Lybia, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Burma(Myanmar), Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldiues, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Comoros, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Tunsia

So Pray for our brothers and sister a crossed the world that most deal with things we may never have to deal with.

And keep in mind what you would do if you had to for God. And may that help you go boldly into all areas of life with your faith.

Putting out the Fleece

"Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew."

(Judges 6:36-40 ESV)

I have always been one to live by faith. But lately I have been stuck in a rut. I have not been wanting to live by faith and allow God to guide me 100%. I do not know if it is a fear thing or if it is something else. I just do not know or know how to change it.

This has never been a real problem of mine. But right now I face a challenge I could go back into the field that I love and I know God has called me to! I want o throw out my fleece but I am finding it hard for me to do at this time just because I have a great job and I am being provided for 100%. It odd that I do not want to just jump into the wind and go for it with this job.

My mind today is flooded with adolescent miss deeds and young adult failures. The love that I had and the Love that I missed out on! The fact that at 28 I am just now owning my first car and really living on my own! I am one to always say go with out fear because God has been there before you have and he knows just what is meant to happen! So I wonder why right now why my head is plagued with fear and thoughts that I can not explain. I am one who normally has a clear vision for what I am trying to do with my life. But right now I have a lack there of, I need a God moment.

I need for it to be like when Doubting Timothy saw Christ after his death, for Christ to just out right tell me you I died for you. I know he did but right now my heart is weak and it is down. I feel as if I am back to my old ways, slowly slipping back in to my old ways that keep me hidden in fear. The old and dark addictions of the past.

I am reminded of the times when I would get high basically based on fear. I would smoke pot to not worry about the next day or what was going wrong in my life at the time.

And I also remember when I became sober and did not need to do any of the crap that had filled my life so much and kept me hiding in fear. So today my heart aches and burns and hurts, because for some reason I feel as if the fear is coming back. The need to hide from what ever is going on in my life. But I do not want to go back to riding the subway baked out of my mind not knowing what stop to get off at. Not have a clear vision of my life. Not being in control of anything in my life!

Today I know I have control. And it is because I have seen Christ and I know he is real.

" What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who was raised who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword? As it is written. " For your sake we are being killed all the day long: we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more then CONQUERORS through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angles nor demons, nor things in the present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39