Verse of the week to think about....

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come blessings and cursing. My brothers, these things should not be this way. Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening?

James 3.9-11

Words are powerful and can never be taken back. Think before you speak.

Be Blessed and FEARLESS
Peace

Why are we called Hypocrites?

Ok, here's the deal. I am going to start off with a quote from someone you probably have heard of before today. Then, I want to write what the Bible says in its WORDS, and then I want to explain why Christians are hypocritical.

Quote: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Bible Text: 'Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.' Leviticus 19.13

'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.' Leviticus 19.15

'Do not go about spreading slander among your people.' Leviticus 19.16

'Do not hate your brother in your heart.' Leviticus 19.17

'Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.' Leviticus 19.19

'When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden. it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the LORD your God.' Leviticus 19.23-25

'Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.' Leviticus 19.26

'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.' Leviticus 19.27

'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.' Leviticus 19. 28

My Explanation of the above verses and the reasons I see Christians as hypocrites:

The first verse from Leviticus that I discussed is 19.13. I don't see or hear of any Christians in the US or the world for that matter that hold riots and go on strike until their employers pay them a paycheck at the end of each day since the WORD tells us to do this in Leviticus 19.13. This is only found in the old testament. Hummm......

The second verse I discuss is 19.15. Do not pervert justice.....yet we do this all the time! Do not show favoritism to the great or be partial to the poor! How often do we do this. But wait, this is OLD TESTAMENT so we can do that....NEGATIVE...read the new Testament law about this:
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. This is in the book of James, second chapter, ninth verse...So this still DOES apply to today's way of living. So this law is in both OLD and NEW TESTAMENTS!

The third one that I discuss is in Leviticus 19.16 about slandering other people. So does this include gossiping? Is talking behind someone's back considered slander? Is saying crude, rude things that hurt people considered slander? But wait, this is OLD TESTAMENT so we can do that....NEGATIVE...read the new Testament law about this: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. This is James third chapter ninth verse. So this does still apply today. So we can't gossip about people or to people about people, then in the next sentence praise the LORD. Hypocritical...

The fourth one I discuss is about hating your brother in your heart. So we can't have anger or hate in our hearts toward our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, or our non church going community involved and living in people as well?! WOW...so LOVE really is the answer. But wait, this is in the OLD TESTAMENT so we don't have to do it anymore...I BEG TO DIFFER...read the New Testament laws about this: If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. This is out of I John fourth chapter, verse twenty.

The fifth one that I discuss is about wearing clothes (ALL CLOTHES) that are not 100% cotton or 100% NYLON, or 100% POLYESTER, or etc. I am not sure, but I'd say the majority of my clothes are woven from two fabrics or materials for sure. I even own a CHRISTIAN CLOTHING COMPANY, but let me say, not all the shirts are one or even two materials, yet three or four! But this is not found anywhere in the New Testament...so Old only.

The fifth one is for all the farmers, ranchers, vineyard owners, and crop planters. If you plant a FRUIT tree....all of its fruit is forbidden for three years, it can not be eaten! In the fourth year the fruit is HOLY and as an offering to the LORD and then in the FIFTH year, you can EAT the fruit from the tree. So if I am reading this right, all farmers are to not eat their fruit tree fruit until the fifth year...so they are all sinning if they have fruit that they sell after the first year. OH WAIT, this is OLD TESTAMENT ONLY!

The sixth one is a law that any one who likes to eat beef that is not cooked well done is breaking. We are not to eat any meat that has blood in it...so my wife is really breaking this law because she loves her beef rare! So to eat any meat that still has blood in it is breaking the LAW! WOW!! Oh but wait, only OLD Testament law!

The seventh one is about hair and beards for the gents out there! Ok this is what is being said here: DO NOT EVER CUT YOUR SIDEBURNS AND DO NOT EVER TRIM YOUR BEARD...So if you are a guy and you have ever trimmed your beard or don't even have a beard, you are a SINNER and LAWBREAKER! If you are a gent and you have ever cut your sideburns, you are a SINNER AND LAWBREAKER. Wow...but oh wait.....OLD TESTAMENT ONLY!

The eighth one is the one that everyone loves and or hates! NO TATS!!! NO TATTOOS OR YOU ARE GOING TO HELL. NO TATTOOS OR YOU ARE A SINFUL LAWBREAKER. Ok so here is where I am going to elaborate on my point that I have that goes with this Christians being Hypocritical. Christians do not judge people today for not having employers pay their employees at the end of each day, but they hate tattoos! Christians do not care one bit if a guy has a beard that is trimmed, a beard that is un trimmed or no beard at all, yet they hate tattoos. Christians don't look at other men and criticize them and they them "the BIBLE says" when they notice that their sideburns are nice and neat instead of long, un-trimmed, and curly; yet Christians will be the first to see a person with a tattoo and say, "the BIBLE says..."!!! HYPOCRITICAL! Christians do not go to restaurants with other Christians or non-Christians and if there friends they are with order a steak rare, tell that person they are EVIL, SINFUL, and BREAKING THE LAW, but if a person has a tattoo, they will be quick to say the bible says not to! Christians will not get bent out of shape if they go to a store and see a sign that says fruit for sale and does not have small print underneath it that says "FIFTH YEAR FRUIT SO IT IS HOLY TO BE EATEN!" Or if they go to a friend's house and they are eating an apple, get bent out of shape since it is a first year fruit just picked and not a forbidden fruit for another 4 years. Also, I don't know any farmers that plant fruit tree and the first four years don't sell any of it because it is forbidden, yet if a person has a tattoo, they are SINNERS and DISOBEYING THE BIBLE. I don't know any Christians that go into a store to buy a new shirt or jeans, or shorts, or jacket, or hat, or fleece, or tee shirt, or swimsuit, or whatever other clothing there is and throw a fit in the store because all the products are not 100% ONE MATERIAL. I have yet to meet a person who judges themselves and EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE WORLD WEARING CLOTHING that is of two materials or a 50/50 shirt, or a 50/37/13 shirt or whatever the case; yet people throw a fit if a "Christian" has tattoos.

So tattoos...are they good or bad? Are they against the BIBLE or not? Are they a negative image or positive? My responses to these questions are these: They are a personal decision that each individual must make for himself/herself and realize they are a LIFE LONG COMMITMENT. Tattoos are mentioned in the OLD TESTAMENT and not the NEW TESTAMENT ANY WHERE, and last time I heard we, meaning churches, are based on NEW TESTAMENT LAWS, so I'd say no to against the bible. And the response to the third question is this: tattoos can be of anything almost nowadays on a person. They can be of negative images, drugs, gangs, sex, nudity, weapons, coarse language, etc. OR they can be BIBLICAL TRUTHS that are illustrated through art on a person's body! FYI SIDE NOTE: My tattoos have allowed me more ministry opportunities than before I had them! Story: The tattoo I have on my right forearm is the three Chinese symbols for FAITH HOPE and LOVE. Most people I come into contact with, ask, " Yo, what does that say?" I then respond, "It says faith, hope, and love, out of the BIBLE, but the greatest of these is LOVE!

So I leave you with this to think about: Are you an OLD TESTAMENT or a NEW TESTAMENT church/Christian?

If you are an old testament because tattoos are bad, then don't ever trim your beard or sideburns either, don;t eat fruit unless it is from the fifth year of a crop, don;t every eat beef with blood in it still, and only wear 100% cotton EVERYTHING, shoes, hats, shirts, jeans, and jackets, hats, underwear, socks, boxers, swimsuits, and glasses, and make sure every worker in the world gets paid at the end of each day, not every two weeks!

If you are a New testament because you realize we are in the 21st century and those laws were then and the laws of today are different, THANK GOD, then you don't have to worry about those laws and we can spend our energy on HEAVENLY THINGS like: Hey, why does that person not know Jesus? instead of Hey why does that "so called Christian" have tattoos.

We need to stop being HYPOCRITES...if you are going to judge based on the OLD testament saying NO tattoos, than be fair and judge based on all OLD testament laws, not the ones you like! That would be like us reading the new testament but only doing what we want to do or listening to Jesus' sermon on the mount but only doing what we want to do and telling Jesus thanks for the ideas but that doesn't suit my life.

NO wonder people call us Hypocrites!!!

Be Blessed and FEARLESS,
Peace

3 Things hopefully we all learned this weekend:

1. It is unbiblical for churches to NOT be culturally relevant

2. Leaders and shepherds in Churches must become more concerned with what's outside the walls of their building than what's inside

3.Preachers or Church Speakers should preach and teach about current RELEVANT topics that the Holy Spirit leads them to talk about rather than predetermined curriculum type series.


P.S. These aren't my thoughts.... These are three big issues that Dr. Lyn Anderson spoke about that I took away from this weekend.

Be Blessed and FEARLESS,

Peace

Here is the Church. Where are the People???

Man, this simple illustration shows what Churches as a whole are doing wrong. Something to think about?????

Be Blessed and FEARLESS

Peace

Now What...?

What a week so far! I've been very busy since Sunday morning and it has not slowed down at all yet! One of those weeks, where, I can't believe it is already Thursday. I say that to say that it has been a good week, just long and very fast paced. So let me explain what happened last night at re-LOAD.
I had a guy and a girl volunteer who were big, strong, and athletic enough to do sets of ten pushups and sets of ten sit ups. Now as I began to teach class, I asked everyone to please be quiet and let me talk. So, I had some kids that DISOBEYED my command and talked in class anyway, so the two volunteers did a set of ten pushups and sit ups for every kid that was talking. Then, I asked who in the room today had gossiped, said something mean, lied, cussed, etc. today to raise their hands. Everyone in the room raised their hands. That was another 230 pushups and 230 situps for the voulnteers. Then I had a kid ask me if he could take the volunteer's spot and trade him and do some of the work. I told him NO because I had CHOSEN the volunteers for a REASON and they were the only ones who could PAY for the other kids' mistakes in class. Then at this point, I think the kids were beginning to realize that I wasn't trying to have a police academy training day in my class or make the class watch two of their friends sweat and struggle for 30 minutes. They were beginning to see the reason I was doing this. I was illustrating in a very simple way a LITTLE BIT of what JESUS did for us. We all screw up all the time, but instead of being punished like we should, JESUS took the pain for us. You see the kids were feeling for their friends who were suffering for THEIR mistakes. I told the kids, if you guys wouldn't of talked in class or did what you did with your words earlier in the day, the two volunteers would be taking it easy on the stage with me. BUT, since no one is perfect, and we all fall short of the glory of GOD every day, then we need a SAVIOR, we need someone to take the pain for us, we need someone that can cover our mistakes forever.
SO then at the end of the illustration, I had all the kids in the class come and circle the two volunteers and I told them to tell the volunteers what they wanted to say to them after watching them do what they did. I gave them a minute to do this. Hearing what some of the kids had to say was good because it means they GOT the lesson. Some said, Im sorry, some said, Thank You, some said You Rock, some said, Thanks for taking my spot, etc. So then I had all the kids circle up on their knees and go around in a circle and have EVERY kid say something during our prayer. The goal was this: To have each kid say whatever it is they wanted to say to JESUS for doing what HE did for them. Some of the examples were AWESOME. A kid said, Thanks for dying for me because I screw up all the time. Help me not mess up as much. Another kid said, Lord, sorry I hurt you. Another one said, Sorry that I mess up SO much every day. I do a lot of stupid things, but thanks for what you did. The kids got it! They got what we wanted them to get last night.
I think it accomplished a few things: The group grew closer together as they watched two of their own do the work for their mistakes. Also, the group understood what JESUS really did for us. But some of you might be asking, Brandon what about Grace, what about Forgiveness, why didn't you show that in your illustration. Well, the answer is this: All of this was to lead up to what happens next for us. It leads us to the NOW WHAT...?

Be Blessed and FEARLESS,
Peace

The Intersection of Herdon and Cedar

You know what I love and hate at the same time? Do you know what I laugh at and get so mad at the same time about? Do you know what I am speaking of? It is this: THE LIGHTS BEING BROKEN AT A MAJOR INTERSECTION SO IT BECOMES A FOUR WAY STOP WITH ALL FLASHING REDS!!!!!! WOW!!! What a trip and sight to see. A lot of angry, impatient, rude, horn honking drivers. (And they all seem to be at the exact same intersection in a 500,000 populated city...hummm, I'm still trying to figure that one out.) It takes me back to the Police days in Abilene, TX. Abilene gets lots of crazy wind and thunderstorms, which always screw up the power lines and the LIGHTS at all the MAIN intersections. So, one night on a BUSY FRIDAY NIGHT, near all the bars where I worked (yes, I said BARS...ABILENE has 1 bar for every 2 churches and if you know how many churches are there, there you go on the number of bars...sorry to burst anyones' bubbles of Abilene), I had to work an intersection that the lights went out and I was standing in about 5 inches of water, so I was miserable and WET! Cars thought it would BE HILARIOUS to drive by when they got the "A OK go ahead it's your turn now" signal from me as fast as they could to splash water on me and then drive off really fast. I couldn't go after them since I was working the intersection, but it made me soooo mad!!!!!!! But anyways, that little side bar of random, useless information because it popped in my head while I was trying to PATIENTLY (not so good at that....) sit at this intersection and watching people drive. It was one of those times I was very glad I wasn't a cop anymore directing traffic at that intersection (directing traffic sucked!) . So it is almost my turn to go and venture in this crazy abyss called Herdon and Cedar...the jacked up, insane 4 way stop intersection on this particualr day. I am just about to go because I watched the car on the west go, the car on the east go, and so the car going north was about to go straight and so I was about to go with him going south. EAST AND WEST ALREADY HAD THEIR TURNS!!! So I slowly proceed into the intersection and as I am about to go, some fool totally lays on the horn and decides he was northbound but suddenly realized he needed to be westbound so since there was no green light or arrow only, he made his own rules in the middle of the intersection and began to turn west in front of me FLIPPING ME OFF SINCE I WAS OBEYING THE TRAFFIC FLOW.... What the heck is that about? I am doing the right thing, and this fool yelling at me honking at me, FLIPPING ME OFF because he is a HORRIBLE driver who made his own rules suddenly!!! Then, it hit me again for the second time in a few minutes at the same intersection: "Man, I wish I was a cop again!" I would've followed homeboy for a long time and definitely written him a citation for one of the following: Honking your Horn in a NON-emergency state, No use of a turn signal 100 feet prior to a turn, Violation of the City noise ordinance (loud Music), and then maybe even for Disorderly Conduct (FLIPPING ME OFF). Word to the wise....NEVER, NEVER, P.O.P. (Piss Off Police)...Not a good thing.....so anyways, back to my story...I just STOPPED in the middle of the intersection and watched this guy do this and then I just laughed, and said out loud, "EXCUSE ME FOR NOT KNOWING YOURE A CRAPPY DRIVER...NOW I KNOW." If we went to an intersection like this everyday, anywhere, we would see the TRUE side of a lot of people..."I'm first, move jerk, I'm Honking don't you hear me, I'm in a hurry, hurry up!" Man, drivers crack me up...I love it! Anyways, all that and I can still get somewhere with this to give us an application to take from this (besides all the great ones already included for free in this blog!) The application is this: " The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride."Ecclesiastes 7.8 Or let's look at another application, :"So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Matthew 20.16 Or maybe even this one could apply,:" and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3.24 (THIS ONE IS FOR ME!)

You see I had applications that came form the random story of the intersection...No man is above another man...No man is justified more than another man, all men sin and fall short daily, ESPECIALLY AT BROKEN STREET LIGHT BUSY INTERSECTIONS!! Remember, you never know who is watching you and what example you are setting for people around you...

Last note: The guy that did that was headed north that suddenly turned west in front of me that I wrote the blog about, his bumper sticker said "Real Men Love Jesus" and another one that said, " My student is on the honor roll at some school..." (It had the school name in there but I can't remember) and also the sticker in the back windshield, said, BABY ON BOARD...PROTECTED BY HIS ANGELS" (I don't think they are referring to the "LA of Anaheim of California of the USA of Orange County near Garden Grove in Santa Anna vicinity Angels of the MLB")

Something to think about...

Be Blessed and FEARLESS,
Peace

Most DEEP BLOG YET...for sure....

So it has been a week since I last blogged on here. I am trying to think of something to blog about today but I don't have much. Let me think, since my last blog, I haven't really had many deep thoughts about stuff. So I wanted to blog this blog for you daily blog readers so that you guys would see I blogged today about something but you don't know what so you are sooo excited to read it with a catchy TITLE FOR SURE to grasp your attention and here it is: HEY THANKS FOR READING... Also, I did go to a grizzlies game with 55 youth on Friday night which ROCKED HARD CORE. also, my youth group and I talked about TODAY, not the PAST, not the FUTURE, but TODAY. Don;t live in the past and dwell on it, don't worry about the future or live in the future hoping and wishing for , but live in the NOW, in the PRESENT, in TODAY. How often do we miss ministry opportunities due to our minds going 100 directions and when someone tries to talk to us about something, we blow them off unintentionally but did we just blow off a ministry opportunity? A chance to be Jesus to someone, somehow...let's think about that....till my next blog....

Be Blessed and FEARLESS
Peace