Tuesday, September 29, 2009

How many of you have had or have role models? Probably all of us. When I was younger there was a person that was a couple of years older than me and I wanted to be exactly like him. I dressed like he did, combed my hair like he did, and I even tried to talk like he did. I thought he was the coolest person in the world, I put him on a very high pedestal.

One day I was around him and I heard him cuss. Most of you are like no big deal, everyone cusses, but I was very surprised I didn't think he was like everyone else. I thought he didn't sin, I guess I thought he was perfect. I kind of shook it off and thought well that's not that bad. I then started to hear that he drank and he did this and that. Everything changed in a matter of seconds. I had put so much faith in this one person, and he had let me down. I was devastated, I had tried to be exactly like this person and it turns out he wasn't any different then anyone else.

I learned a valuable lesson that day, be careful who you imitate. Once you start imitating someone you become that person. The only problem with that is people mess up and let you down.

In Ephesians 5:1-2 (Read It) Paul tells us exactly who we should imitate, God. Who better to imitate than someone who can't sin. God will not let you down and he will always be there for you. As Christians we must imitate our heavenly father. In 3 John 1:11 it says, "Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God." We must "walk in love" like Christ did. If you are imitating God you are going to be different than the world. You won't hate people, get drunk, have premarital sex. God didn't do those things, so why would someone who is trying to imitate do those things.

We are to give God everything just like Christ did. Christ gave his life for us, so we could have eternal life. The least we could do would be to live our lives according to God's will. Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Not to just give him the parts of ourselves that we really don't like, but to give him even the stuff we do like. Our addictions, the things we treasure most, so that nothing is greater than God in our life. Until we do that we can not have a relationship that is pleasing to God.

Take a good look at your life and ask yourself who are you imitating? What does God want you to give up? What is holding you back in your relationship with him?

-Ryan

Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Way: Part 2

Last week, we talked a little about our new theme verse for RAC. This week, let us look a little deeper. Paul begins the passage by talking about the new v. the old. Before we can get to that, though, we must take a step back. We must talk about God reconciling the world unto himself (v.19). Why was this necessary? Again, we must take a step back. A large step, all the way back to Genesis.

Genesis 1:31: "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

Pause here and read Genesis 3.

Look at the difference. Just two chapters earlier, God saw all that he had created and said it was very good. One indiscretion later, here we are today. You see, we were created to have intimate and personal relationships with the Father. God was walking in the garden with Adam and Eve for crying out loud. We were created as eternal beings, to live forever. We were created to be innocent, not knowing pain, suffering, or embarrassment. Life was to be very good, as God himself had said earlier; however, how many people would tell you today that "Life is very good."? Sin entered the world and wrecked all that was created and all that we were created to be.

I have a shirt that has this saying printed on the front: "T-shirts did not exist before sin." Haha, very true; however, it's what is on the back of the shirt that is really interesting: "Neither did cancer, or murder, or rape, or AIDS, or pain, or death. The cause of the world's brokenness is sin." Not as funny as the front of the shirt, but just as true though. Paul says much the same in Romans 8:19-22: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now."

See, Jesus Christ's death took place so that God could restore not only us but also the earth, as we read in Romans. By accepting his sacrifice, our relationship with him can be reconciled. It can be all that it was intended to be. We can be all that we were created to be. "[T]hat is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." God is extending his hand to us to join him in his work to reconcile the whole earth unto himself. To join him to proclaim the gospel so that the sons of God may be revealed. At that point, there will be a new earth, and we will have a new body. The world will truly be restored. But first, we must join him in carrying the ministry of reconciliation as his ambassadors.

Will you?

-Trace

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Movin' On

I don't know how many times people have come up to me and told me that, "Ryan I know that God forgives me, but I don't think I can ever forgive myself". Every time I hear that it just makes me sad. It is almost as if that person, without them realizing it, is saying, "I realize that God, creator of the universe that created everything I see and knows all, forgives me, but me, a person that cannot even predict what is going to happen a minute from now and the only thing I have ever created was something out of Legos, cannot forgive myself." There is something wrong with that picture.

How come God can forgive us, but we cannot forgive ourselves? It can be a very hard thing to do. At times I feel like there is no way that God has called me to do certain things in ministry. Did God forget what I did last week? In a way yes. In Jeremiah 31:34 it says, "For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Now I don't believe that God actually forgets our sins, because he knows everything, but he has forgiven us and has moved on. We should also move on.

If we continue to dwell on our sin and continually worry about everything we have done, it becomes harder and harder for us to do work for the Kingdom. We begin to think that we can't be an ambassador for Christ because we have done this or that. If that was true then Jesus would be the only person that could have ever done anything for God. We all sin, no one is perfect.

We are better than our sins. God gives us grace and forgiveness so that we can become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Accept his forgiveness and move on from your sins. We are new creations and must be constantly renewed in the spirit of our minds. Start to think of yourself as a new creation and not as a sinner. Our identity is in Christ, act like it.

This week at RACTASTIC I will be talking about what you must do once you have become a new creation, the things you must put off and what you must put on.

-Ryan

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Welcome

Hey guys...Ryan and I are so pumped to start this. I really hope you guys enjoyed last night. Ryan's message was RACTASTIC. Cheesy and corny, I know, but I love it. Like he said last night, we are called to be ambassadors of Christ, who have already been reconciled and are carrying out that message. That is why we are now known as RAC. Our hope and prayer is that you latch onto this vision. Meditate on 2nd Corinthians 5:17-21. Own the vision.

Again, this is a place where we will be talking about a lot of different things; however, one thing will always remain the same, the purpose. The purpose of this blog is that we become more informed about our faith and how to live it out, in order that we might be his ambassadors. On Tuesdays, Ryan will be giving us an inside look at what he's preparing for Wednesday night. On Thursdays, I will be talking about....who knows? What we do know though is my Thursday blog will be called The Way. So, with no further ado, thanks for coming along on this ride. Let's get started.

The Way:
Week 1- September 17, 2009

You know, when the church was first starting, it wasn't known as Christianity. It was known as The Way (Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). As a matter of fact, the term Christian is used twice...in the entire NT! We are left to believe that they were named The Way as a reference to John 14:6, in which Jesus claimed that he was "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." I love the name The Way and wish that we, as Christians, were still known by it. For so many today, Christianity is just a religion. A show. A concert with lights and a great speaker. Dead and filled with hypocrites. The Way stands in sharp contrast. The Way indicates an active faith. A journey toward the Father, through Christ, and with the Spirit's help. A path filled with hope. A relationship that existed in the beginning, that was wrecked by sin, and that has been reconciled through Christ's death.

That's why I love 2nd Corinthians 5:17-21: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

The beautiful thing is that God is reconciling the world to himself and he has asked to be a part of that. He sent his Son. Christ died for our sins. Now, he has made us new creations. That intimate relationship that Adam and Eve shared with God in the Garden, where he walked and talked with them, has been restored. And that should pump us up. That should control our mind and shape our worldview. That should be our passion. Take this message of reconciliation everywhere you go. Join The Way.

-Trace