Who Are We?

Rebel, Renegade, Outlaw, Rulebreaker, troublemaker?

Who am I discussing? Probably not who you are thinking of. These words would have been used to talk about Jesus in the time He was on the earth. Jesus was a counterculture force that did not conform to the world in which He lived. Could that describe us? How are we living our lives? Who would call us a rebel?

To close, the lyrics from REBEL by Lecrae :)

Yeah. Just wanna die with a beat. Swim around in it. Let's rebel I'm in Rebellion (To all my rebels out there.) I'm in Rebellion (Rebelling against the culture. Being transformed. )I'm in Rebellion (Ya'll conformed to the ways of the world.Or this age.) I'm in Rebellion(Welcome to the revolution.) Jesus was a rebel, a renegade, outlaw A sanctified troublemaker, but He never sinned, naw And He lived His life by a different set of Rules
The culture ain't approve So you know they had to bruise 'em That's the way they do Man, they swear they so gangsta but everyone's the same Everybody do the same stuff Tattoos, piercing Smokin' up and drinking Money and sex plus them extravagant weekends Man if that's the high life I'll puff past thatYou live evaporated like your missing a gas cap I guess I'm passed that I am in rebellion I'd rather have a dollar in my pocket than a mill-ionI'm scared to worship money, and my wants over Elyon I'll remain a rebel while the rest of them just carry onThis is what I live foThis is the hill I'm buried onIf Jesus is the Truth That means one of us is VERY wrongThink about it. ]I'm in Rebellion(I know in our day rebel means sinner.) I'm in Rebellion(But everyone is sinning, so it is no longer rebellious to sin.)I'm in Rebellion (Jesus was a rebel that was a counter culture.)I'm in Rebellion No glory in meGlory to the King on the throne (Jesus) You either love Him or leave Him alone but you can't do both Yeah, I know you heard that once in a songI pray you hear 10 mo fo ya gone Hey listen up, holmesStage is the corner Crowd is the streets And I rap the bread of life cause they dyin' to eatI'm a rebel you know the kind that die in the street Cause you refuse to conform, won't eat the kings meat yeah Christ rebelled by shunning the cultured He eat with sinnersGivin' Pharasies ulcersHe never got married, He was broke plus homeless Yeah that's the God I role witya boy gotta wife and no I neva cheated I'm prayin' for humility whenever I get heatedForget about the drugs Rebel against pornography This ain't how it oughta be, homie This is how it's gotta be
A Rebel I'm in Rebellion (You're just a conformist Drunken, Naked, Driving around a loud motorcycle, Smoking cigarettes, Breaking commandments,Getting pregnant outa wedlock,Everyone's done that,It's so tiring,If you really wanna be a rebel,Read your bible,Because no on'es doing that,That's rebellion.That's the only rebellion left.<p>

Rant over .

Preparing for the Mission Trip

As most of you know, Hagood has a church-wide mission trip June 12- 17th. Its an annual trip to Cleveland, TN. It is a life-changing experience not just for those we reach out to, but also for those of us who attend.

The January issue of Homelife had an interesting article on p. 48 called the "Mission Trip Prayer Countdown". Since we are six months out, I thought I would share the 6 month preparation.

6 months prior to the trip we should start praying for encouragement for each individual who is preparing for the mission trip. I pray that God lays a burden on the hearts of Hagood members to be involved in this mission trip in some way. Be it prayer, service, or financial support.

What the Bible says:

Hebrews 10:24-25 (New Living Translation)
24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Why is God so Narrow Minded?

Hey ya’ll, not much to talk about today…but I do want to put this awesome quote from a book I’ve been reading on. Hope ya’ll enjoy it!
Peace Out Ya’ll!!!!!!!!!!

Why is God so Narrow Minded?

We are still left with the problem, however, of a narrow-minded God who provides only one way of redemption. Does this not mean that the people who live in a culture where one religion is proclaimed have a decisive advantage over people living in other cultures? …but lets examine the deeper question of the narrow-mindedness of God who provides only one way of redemption. We remember the words of Jesus when He said, “Broad is the way and wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many are they who go in thereby. But straight is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to life and few are those who find it” (Matt. 7:13). What kind of God would have such a narrow gate? The question implies a serious accusation; that God has not done enough to provide redemption for mankind.
Let us examine this accusation from a hypothetical perspective. Let us suppose that there is a God who is altogether holy and righteous. Suppose that God freely creates mankind and gives to mankind the gift of life. Suppose He sets His creatures in an ideal setting and gives them the freedom to participate in all of the glories of the created order with freedom. Suppose, however, that God imposes one small restriction upon them, warning them that if they violate that restriction, they will die. Would such a God have the right to impose such a restriction with the penalty of forfeiture of the gift of life if His authority is violated?
Suppose that for no just cause the ungrateful creatures disobeyed the restriction the moment God’s back was turned. Suppose when He discovered their violation instead of killing them, He redeemed them. Suppose the descendants of the first transgressors broadly and widely increased their disobedience and hostility toward their creator to the point that the whole world became rebellious to God, and each person in it “did what was right in his own eyes” (Judge. 21:25). Suppose God still determined to redeem these people and freely gave special gifts to one nation of people in order that, through them, the whole world would be blessed. Suppose God delivered this people from poverty and enslavement to a ruthless Egyptian Pharaoh. Suppose this priviledged nation, as soon as it was liberated, rose up in further rebellion against their God and their liberator. Suppose they took His law and violated it consistently.
Suppose that God, still intent on redemption, sent specially endowed messengers or prophets to plead with His people to return to Him. Suppose the people killed the divine messengers and mocked their message. Suppose the people then began to worship idols of stone and things fashioned by their own hands. Suppose these people invented religions that were contrary to the truth of the real God and worshiped creatures rather than the Creator.
Suppose in an ultimate act or redemption God Himself became incarnate in the person of His Son. Suppose this Son came into the world not to condemn the world but to redeem the world. But suppose this Son of God were rejected, slandered, mocked, tortured, and murdered. Yet, suppose that God accepted the murder of His own Son as punishment for the sins of the very persons who murdered Him. Suppose this God offered to His Son’s murderers total amnesty, complete forgivness, transcendent peace that comes with the cleansing of all guilt, victory over death and an eternal life of complete felicity.
Suppose god gave these people as a free gift the promise of a future life that would be without pain, without sickness, without death, and without tears. Suppose that God said to these people, “There is one thing that I demand. I demand that you honor my only-begotten Son and that you worship and serve Him alone.” Suppose God did all of that, would you be willing to say to him, “God, that’s not fair, you haven’t done enough”?
If man has in fact committed cosmic treason against God, what reason could we possibly have that God should provide any way of redemption? In light of the universal rebellion against God, the issue is not why is ther only one way, but why is there any way at all? I know no way of answering that question.
From Reason to Believe by R.C. Sproul

Cultural Revolution

In his book How Now Shall We Live?, Chuck Colson says, "Yes, cultures can be renewed--even those typically considered the most corrupt and intractable. But if we are to restore our world, we first have to shake of the comfortable notion that Christianity is merely a personal experience, applying only to one's private life. No man is an island, wrote the Christian poet John Donne. Yet one of the great myths of our day is that we are islands--that our decisions are personal and no one has a right to tell us what to do in our private lives."

While Christianity requires a personal commitement and decision, it as a whole requires us to expand our faith beyond merely ourselves. We are called to live in such a way that our lives not only are different from the culture in which we live, but actually influence that culture. Part of our commision as Jesus followers is the redemption of the culture. Every part of Gods perfect creation was corrupted by the sin of man, and the redemption offered through Christ is for more that just us as people. It is for the rest of creation, and for the culture in which we live. As Christians, we should be involved in the culture in order to transform that culture. We cannot separate ourselves from the world like monks, and we cannot simply condone the evils of the culture in which we live. In this spiritual battle, we have to get into the fight. Culture can be renewed, but only if we are willing to do our part in that renewal.

Weakness

Weakness. This is a word that many of us are uncomfortable with because when we see that word it reminds us of the weakness we have. None of us really thinks we are without fault. We may put on a brave face and act strong, but inside, where our self-deceptions do not reach, we realize the truth--that we all have weakness. Now, those weaknesses may vary from person to person, but we all have weakness. Saul of Taurus, or as we know him, Paul, had a weakness. In the Scriptures we see him talk about that "thorn in his flesh," and though we may not know what that weakness was, we can all relate to it. Paul saw his weakness in a different light that we usually do though. While we see weakness as a terrible thing and something to be hidden and avoided, Paul saw his weakness as an opportunity. In the book Pivotal Praying, they say it this way, "The difference is clear. Paul began to love his weaknesses, because they reminded him he was always in over his head. He had nothing to prove, nothing to lose, nothing to hide. When he stared at huge challenges, he'd boast about God's strength..." How awesome is that! We do not need to be ashamed of our weakness, because it is in that weakness that God is shown strong, and through that weakness we get to tell of God's strength. We will never face a situation that we cannot handle, because God is with us. Next time you seem to face insurrmountable odds and feel weak, remember that in your weakness God is strong, and take heart!

The Bible teaches us that God has great plans for each of us. God gives each of us who follow Him a dream and a plan which is custom made for us. And so many of us fail to realize that dream, fail to even really seek after it. The reason for that is simple. We are comfortable where we are. We don't want to leave our comfort zone and go after that dream, because it is scary.
When we hit that wall of fear that comes with leaving our comfort zones, too often we freeze up and give in to that fear, or tell God that we will be happy to go when he provides the way and removes the fear. But God doesn't take our fear, rather he tells us to take courage and to not be afraid. The true definition of courage is not the absence of fear, but rather choosing to
act in spite of it. When we realize who the God we follow is, those walls of fear will crumble before us, because we will realize that no matter how large the wall is, our God is bigger! This coming week, we have a lot of people from this church who are leaving their comfort zone to go and live out part of God's dream for Hagood Ave Baptist Church. I pray that any wall of fear we might run into there, or here back home would be met with
courage.

"Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake, but you're not supposed to question adults, or your coach or your teacher, because they make the rules. Maybe they know best, but maybe they don't. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didn't at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up, and joining with the other side? I mean, valley of death that's pretty salty stuff. That's why courage it's tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't. It's who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good. I think that's what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too. "

I saw The Blindside for the first time this weekend, and this quote from the movie stood out to me. To often, no matter what our position, we forget to think about what the "other guy" is going through. Courage is a hard thing to find in many situations, and is impossible to fabricate. You can maybe fake it for a while, but when the pressure is on, your facade will fall. True courage, true honor, and true power is found only in Jesus Christ and His resurrection, and that is why we celebrate Easter with such vigor. With the Resurrection, we can have courage and honor and power in the face of even death itself, because our Lord has already defeated him. Next time we face a hard situation, we must lean on Christ and His resurrection power. HE IS RISEN!