Get Over the Sun

Row 4 seat E sat a gentleman who demonstrated to me one of the most important marks of a Christian. At the age of 58 he travels as a speaker on terrorism and trafficking and this morning he was on his way to such a speaking engagement. What was more remarkable than his incredible story of how he became a renown speaker is the fact that he has never gotten over Christ.

In college he was approached by Campus Crusades and was introduced to the 4 laws and as he said, 'I was hook-line-and-sinker for Christ.'

4 Spiritual Laws by Bill Bright
* 1. )God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
* 2.) Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life.
* 3.) Jesus Christ is God's ONLY provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life.
* 4.) He must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives.

Over 35 years later, he still gets tears in his eyes as he talks about his Savior. He believes everything that happens is by God's appointment. He knows that his life is meant to glorify God, and everything should be done in a way that only brings love to Jesus' name.

He said he ever get over the magnitude of the beauty of the Gospel. And neither should we.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift from
God is eternal life in Jesus Christ Our Lord. ~Romans 6:23

Many men and women go to church each Sunday, join a bible study, are baptized, pray before meals, and own a bible. But so many of us 'get over' the gospel. We know it, we can shake our heads 'Yes' we accept it, we teach it, we consider ourselves Christians, yet we also allow the gospel to lose its 'awe' factor.
I'm just as guilty as the next person. Just this week there came a moment that I was focused on literally everything but the cross. I had over 50 sticky notes up on the wall each containing a part of my to do list. I had my day scheduled out hour-by-hour in an attempt to get all of the work done. I was a girl with a plan, but not a girl with an overwhelming reminder of her Savior.

Everything under the sun is meaningless, like
chasing the wind. ~Ecclesiastes 1:14

My eyes had become fogged over with things of this world and my view of the cross was hazy. Has this ever happened to you? Have you allowed it to get fogged over by other things in your life; the Gospel is not as crystal clear as when you first heard it? Get over the sun and focus on things with eternal value.

Do whatever it takes to remind yourself of the Gospel. The gospel can never be made too alive in our hearts!

• Read the Gospel of John


• Check out the 'Bridge' Diagram


• Teach your roommate the 'Bridge'


• Pray to Jesus to make the Gospel more real to you. He's the Ultimate Physician.

A true mark of a Christian is an ever
growing reality of the grace we've been given!

To Follow

This morning while we were getting ready for work-my roommate posed the question, "If Jesus walked in the door right now and said 'Follow Me' would i follow?"

Our Answers: YES!!!
i want to go, but wouldn't feel worthy.
i'm so bogged down with life--could i leave?
Would i be prepared to go?
Could i leave my family?

How would you answer?

Hopefully it's a resounding YES, YES, YES!!!

This should have been a simple conversation, key words 'should have been.' However as humans we continuously have barriers standing between us and knowing God more. Some of the challenges are created because of the decisions we make, some we have no control over, and all of life experiences are able to draw us closer to Him.

What's holding you back from fully committing your life to following Christ?

Perhaps in the next few months we'll dive into some more of the barriers between us and God---but this month we'll focus on this idea of thinking we'll wait until we're perfect. Big picture: We will never be 'good enough' to follow him or 'cool' enough to be a part of his crowd. Good news, we don't have to be. Jesus makes up for all of our fallacies.

This excerpt from a recent read is one of my new favorites. A reminder that we will never be made perfect until we reach heaven.

"Holiness" by J.C. Ryle

There be imperfections in our best works: we do NOT love God so
much as we are bound to do, with all our hearts, mind, and
power; we do NOT fear God so much as we ought to do; we
do NOT pray to God but with many and great imperfections.
We give, forgive, believe live, and hope imperfectly; we speak,
think, and do imperfect; we fight against the devil, the world,
and the flesh imperfectly. Let us, therefore NOT be ashamed
to confess plainly our state of imperfection.