Congratulations Paul Harrison!

Just gonna kind of pour my heart out here. Kind of like how I poured out six packets of icing onto two toaster strudels the other day. 

Wow. What a past few days it has been. I've been so busy with fundraising, working, and most importantly serving The Lord Jesus Christ and serving at Passion City Church. I can't even begin to describe how amazing God is and how beautiful He is working in my life. First of all, this past Friday, I had little benefit concert in which some of my closest friends, and even some people I had never met, came out to listen to my friends and I create music and praise Jesus Christ and His almighty glory. I will say that the benefit was fantastic and we were able to raise several hundred dollars towards my DTS schooling with YWAM. But what's more important than that is that there was a couple people there who were impacted. I'm not going to name any names but there were a couple of people that while at the benefit felt that they saw a little bit of Jesus in the worship music. That's beautiful isn't it?! When someone sees Christ because God used your friends and yourself to worship Him and to ultimately, show Jesus to others. Like c'mon now. THATS SO GOOD. IF YOU COULD HEAR ME I AM SHOUTING BECAUSE I AM SO HAPPY WHEN GOD WORKS IN UNEXPECTED WAYS. PRAISE. YOU. JESUS. CHRIST. 

Then, today? At Passion City? Baptisms. Is there anything more beautiful in the world than to see a person publicly profess his/her faith in the name of the Father, Son, and The Holy Spirit. I absolutely love baptisms. You know what I love even more? When one of your best friends gets baptized. NOW I WILL CALL YOUR NAME OUT PAUL HARRISON. I absolutely love this guy and I can't say enough about him. I can say that ever since I met you Paul, my life has gotten better. Every time I talk to you I am postively impacted by you and your presence. You're a true joy to be around brother. I thank God so much that you were placed into my life. When I met you I immediately knew that we would have a friendship that would last. I think it was that perfectly manacured red hair. But seriously, this man loves Jesus so much and I have seen few people that live to serve Him as willfully and fully as he does. In the almost a year now that I have known you Paul, you have impacted my life so much. God uses this amazing man in everyday of His life. Every time I talk to him I feel impacted by his words of encouragement and his heart to serve The Lord. So Paul Harrison, thank you for your beautiful heart to serve and being so unrelentingly loving at all times. I am so proud to call you my brother and I can't wait to grow with you more and become even closer friends than we already are. Love you buddy. So happy for you and so so so grateful to God for you. 

Now has your half year been? Yeah. The first half of the year is over. Isn't that crazy! The message today at Passion City was a check up on your year and I just kind of wanted to share it briefly with you. Did you get your dream job? Did you make enough money? Did you meet your wife or husband? All those things would be nice to have done but you know what matters? Jesus. The "irreducible minimum" is that people need Jesus. So those of us who have Jesus, are you doing all that you can to be a bible to those God has put into your life? Are you being a representation of Jesus to the people that God has put on your heart to do so. 

"To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."

1 Corinthians 9:22-27

Paul writes that he becomes weak so that he might win the weak. How are we going out of our way to make sure that we become all that we can to show Christ to others. God wants to work in our life in some way that we become a light for Christ and a light for the gospel. The best way that people meet Jesus to this day is through evangelism and through relationships. Paul took all of His opportunities. Paul, while in jail, told those around him about Jesus. Would you do that if you were imprisoned? Who would you talk about? He absolutely had no chill when talking about Jesus. Why would He? Jesus is perfect. Jesus is life. Jesus is pure. Jesus is the reason we live.

If Jesus did not raise from the dead than we have wasted our lives. 

Don't stop preaching His name. Praise Him in an unashamed manner. What you have on this earth, no one cares about in heaven. Your house. Your money. Your sports team. How many followers you have on Twitter. It. Does. Not. Matter. What matters is Jesus. Many of us will go on for hours about how good out sports team is or how our favorite rapper is no doubt the GOAT and how your friend's favorite isn't even close. WHO CARES! That's not your identity. You are made new IN CHRIST. You aren't made new in your sports team. You can't find salvation in your job. All that matters is the Almighty Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. 

Be unashamed. Make the gospel the absolute forefront of all that you do. We need to stop being a one day a week availability to others and be open every minute of our lives to others all over the world so that all people all times can have someone that can tell them about Jesus Christ. 

Surrender

Well hello blog page and sorry I haven't posted in quite a bit. I have missed you, You're such a good listener! So I ate a Toaster Strudel for breakfast today... and for dinner. I have a problem. But they are sooooooooooo good. I like to eat them without the icing for the first five in the box and then put all the icing packs on one toaster strudel. Sound gross? Well that's because it is a little gross, but mostly fantastic. I saw an Instagram post from a high school friend yesterday that really gave me some encouragement. Now before you laugh, it was not a picture of her coffee or food. It was her simply announcing that she will be attending her second year of schooling within the organization that is YWAM. As you know, I will be leaving for my first DTS in September and am beyond excited to do so. I was encouraged because of her willingness to surrender her life and devote her life to whatever God desires for her and wherever God desires her to go. I absolutely adore seeing that in people and it just makes my heart happy that she is so willing to take up her cross daily and completely give herself to Jesus Christ. I don't know if she ever even reads my posts but thank you Autumn for your encouragement. 

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."
-Romans 12:1

In this scripture, Paul, the writer of Romans, is referring to his last refrain of doxology of praise in Romans 11:36. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Since all things are for His glory, we must respond by offering ourselves for that purpose. Paul is encouraging us to surrender. When he uses the word "urge" he is, based on the original Greek root that means to "call alongside to help." Jesus actually referred to the Holy Spirit in a similar manner by using the word comforter in John 14:16,26. By the mercies of God. Wow. Is there nothing more beautiful than the mercies of God? There is grace, righteousness, and the gift of faith. All of these are gifts from God and by no means came from man alone. Even the ability to have faith came from God. The ability to accept Him comes from Him. By the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice. So because of God's great mercy, we must surrender our lives to Him. In the Old Covenant, God accepted sacrifices of dead animals. However, because of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, those sacrifices no longer have any effect. 


"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." -Hebrews 9:11

Now, in light of all the spiritual riches believers enjoy solely as the fruit of God's mercies, it only makes sense that we all owe our highest form of praise and service. In this case, it is understood that is priestly, spiritual service. I don't know about you, but the passion and detail that Paul writes with in chapters contained in Romans gets me absolutely fired up and I desire so greatly to serve God in the purest ways possible. He wrote with such sincerity and wrote with so much fire to aid in his brethren to service to God.

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man accordance to his deeds."
-Matthew 16:24-27

Deny himself. Take up his cross. The first time that Jesus uses the word "cross" is in Romans 10:38. "...and he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." When one pictures a death by the cross, it is as violent and ugly of a death that one can have. Jesus is demanding full commitment from His followers. That includes physical. Kill me Lord if need be. Be willing to die for Him. For it is in death that we are made alive. We cannot serve two masters. You may not be a slave to sin and a slave to Jesus. That's what we must be. We must be bond-servants to Jesus Christ and His kingdom. What shall a man exchange for His soul after judgement? Nothing. It is in this life where we must absolutely surrender to God's will and DIE to this life. 

Are you surrendering? True faith will always produce authentic obedience. Put this life to death. Put God before absolutely everything. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." That is a powerful piece of scripture. I don't feel that it needs a whole lot of explanation but instead just acceptance. Nothing is on the same level of worth as The Lord. Surrender your life to God. Jesus calls us to die so that we may live IN HIM. We must all take up our cross daily.

The Dragon Warrior

Wondering about the title of the post? Well wonder no longer. I am watching Kung Fu Panda and absolutely love this movie so I figured that this post would have a title in honor of Jack Black's brilliant performance in Kung Fu Panda. He is currently in the pool of scared tears, aka the birthplace of Kung Fu. Who am I watching Kung Fu Panda with you ask? BIL. Who is BIL you ask? Bae In Law. Who is my Bae In Law you ask? Brooke Miller. YES THE BROOKE MILLER FROM INSTAGRAM. She is dating my brother Jonathan. He has no acronym. Just Jonathan. 

Okay, so let's talk about Jesus. 

As you may or may not know, I am leaving for YWAM in 109 days (EXCITEMENT). At Passion City Church today, which by the way was fantastic as always. So blessed to be in the choir. Oh so blessed to be able to just be a part of the house that is Passion City. Anyway, I met a woman today that was just beyond encouraging. She is a full time servant of God in the mission field and had some of the greatest insight I have heard in terms of advice on how to walk in the journey I am currently on. God has an absolutely brilliant way of having the correct people enter into your life at the exact right time. She is originally from South Africa and now is at Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Like come on now. Praise Him. Am I right? I am constantly reminded of how He is truly in control of everything. What makes our God righteous is that He is just and sovereign. 

So the YWAM fundraising is going very well. I have raised nearly a thousand dollars in just the first few weeks of the process. God has been so good through the process so far and I have no doubt that He will continue to provide as He has been. I am actually having a benefit concert/show in which a few friends of mine and myself will each perform and showcase some of our talents in music for the glory of God to worship Him, and have fun with friends and probably some people that we don't know. The way we will be raising money is through the selling of lots of baked goods. The benefit however is really just to be with friends and family and other people to enjoy coffee and good music while relishing in the glory of our God who has blessed us all with our talents. So if you are reading this and wish to partake in such a fantastic event, be at the Vineyard off Highway 5 in D-Vegas (Douglasville) Georgia on June 27th at 7:00. 

1 Peter 2:9-10 "Reframe our identity in Jesus when it states: You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You once had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." We were trapped in darkness, yet now we are free to live in light. We once were God-less and aimless, but now we are His own possession, and able to worship in spirit and truth.