It was a slow process, but essentially, he shared, "I realized me as king of my life wasn't working and that we were created to find rest and satisfaction in God.
I also saw the cross for what it is and Jesus pursuing us while we didn't even want Him and it transformed my heart It's messy. It's gritty. It's not perfect. I'm still growing and just continually clinging to Him. And all it took was understanding. The day my life changed was when I realized that He saw all my filth, all my sin, all my shortcomings, and all my insecurities yet still looked me right in the eye and said,?
I'm loved and pursued by a God who does. I never went searching for Him, but He went searching for me. That's quite an awesome truth! I love Jesus, I'm addicted to grace I'm just a messed up dude trying to make Him famous.
Bethke makes a point to share his heart and faith with any and all that will hear it - hence his YouTube account "bball," which features every one of his poems.
In a way, it has become his ministry. He wants others to learn from his story and see just what God's mercy can do. Do dead people wrestle? Do corpses struggle? It is only because we have been made alive that we are a new creation. He wants people to see what the cross has done in their own lives. To give us a perfect and beautiful relationship with our Creator. We don't have to hide, feel guilty, or swim in shame.
When you feel the need to 'pay' for your sin, remember Jesus paid for it all, and with a triumphant cry declared 'it is finished! So rest in that fact - rest knowing that Jesus wants you, not your stuff or your behavior. He just wants YOU. The spoken word incited responses both for and against his message. Some accused him of being "anti-church," and others convicted him of being Biblically "unsound. Not everyone knew his name, but everyone knew his poem.
Following his debut, Bethke clarified in interviews just what he meant by his poem and why he wrote it. I meant religion equals any work of righteousness that has someone hoping to earn favor with God. In the scriptures, Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of His day.
Religion is man-centered. Jesus is God-centered. The poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair - pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can't do your own list of rules, and feel 'not good enough' for God. With Jesus, you have humble, confident joy because he represents you; you don't represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect, putting us in perfect standing with God the Father When I see people upholding rules or regulations more than Jesus and Him crucified, then it bothers me, because self-righteousness is essentially saying, 'we don't need your sacrifice, Jesus, we can do it on our own.
No one can. It can only happen through the cross. What's more, Jeff thinks that God would have a few things to say to "religious" folks today. Then I think he'd head over to Skid Row in LA to hang out with people that looked most like him while he was on earth. Also, I think his heart would break. Being God he is most sensitive to all the pain, strife, hurt and evil in the world. And since his heart is untainted by sin, I can't even imagine the brokenness he feels for this world.
Praise God for his sacrifice, love, and willingness to lay down his life for us. His heart is simply to reach his generation in any way he can. I am sick of people always thinking being a Christian meant 'hates gays, can't drink beer, and no tattoos' My prayer is my generation would represent Christ faithfully and not swing to the other spectrum.
Now, seeing where God has taken him, Bethke says that he couldn't imagine his life without God. I am thankful that the cross of Jesus met me where I am. I'm thankful that I don't have to perform for Him, but rather He has performed for me. That's the grace that drew me in the first place, and it's that grace I cling to daily. How could I not after all He has done for me? He is worthy of all my worship. He is worthy of all glory. I pray to God that through all of this I would grow and pursue Him more deeply, cherish Him more fervently and love Him more fiercely.
This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, and my hope is to steward it well, remaining faithful and pointing to Him! You might not believe in God, but everyone has that one thing that's king. Even the dictionary defines God as 'Whatever we make supreme. And no, it's not just about singing. Now I know you're like: 'Jeff, I don't worship, I put that on the shelf. See we all worship something. To an object we're all liable. Ladies, to some your boyfriend is your God, and Cosmo is your Bible.
Yet, we mock and we laugh at the Israelites Golden Calf, but we do the same right back. It just looks different than that. So question: what's on your throne? What do you chase so you don't feel alone? So what defines you, what do you give ultimate worth? And what if taken will bring ultimate hurt? Now see, that is your God. And all of us To be honest, we look like fools. We're like full-grown adults in the kiddie pool, going 'Oh my goodness guys, this is like so cool,' because we're slaves to our possessions.
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