» Some thoughts...

Enough bible, no? hehe! I can never get enough. I love it. I love God's word. Sometimes it points the way and assures my steps... and sometimes it hits me hard. What an awesome God we serve. I love my Jesus. Thank you for saving me...

I have been reading "The Radical Reformission-Reaching out Without Selling Out" by Mark Driscoll... It is a good read.

I want God's power to rest in me. As I think on my life... the experiences in my 21 year ol life... the sweet moments of being in church with friends... the people that I have met and encouraged me, from the prophet that had a word to the little old lady that told me that she had prayed for me that previous night. It has been a ride. A sweet one.

AND, It's not over... My God! What a relief. Good experiences and bad experiences, I will serve God. Betrayals and new relationships are all part of life. I thank God for that. Sometimes, I get to thinking and kind of say to myself like that guy in the bible said, "Will I only accept the good things from God and not the bad?"

There is a whole bunch of people in this city of Houston... in this state, in this countrty that are so frustrated of church... I see young people and they are wanting something real. Who will give it to them?
Will you wait to be ordained? Recognized? Licensed? Oh man! Those are good things, but that has been the excuses that people have used to sit on their butts and do nothing.

I know of so many young people (and I know you do too) that have talent and potential. Just think, if we could teach them just a couple of things about "Character" and "Confidence."
I pray for young people to stand up and do something.

Preach something relevant based on Scripture (Preach Jesus).
Write a Book.
Write a Journal.
Make a movie.
Lead a ministry.
Make a series of short films.
Draw a comic book.
Teach.
Pray.
Love people.

Do something..

» Gospel, Church and Ay Bay Bay! (Part 2)

I hope we all learn something new. We have to get back to the basic principles... the basics. It is so easy. Let's take a look at these 3 Principles one more time and let's go deeper.

• Gospel - (loving God)
• Church - (loving our brother and sister in Christ)
• Culture - (loving our neighbor)

When we mess up and do not love God, or our brother, or our neighbor, we fall into different categories that I will outline in this post.

These categories are: PARACHURCH, LIBERALISM, and FUNDAMENTALISM.

In what category do you fit in?
Hopefully in neither of these. Let me explain.

Gospel+Culture-Church=PARACHURCH
You have the Scripture. You have the Culture. But, you do not have the Church.
There are some people that are hurt or frustrated with the church that they start a ministry without having a local church to refer them back to. "Young Life" falls into this category. Also, any organization or outreaches that do not have a local church as a backup. This is good. It's O.K., but the people that go to these meetings are not motivated to evangelize and have little knowledge on biblical stuff (Theology).
PARACHURCH loves the Gospel and loves the Culture, but does not love their brothers.

Culture+Church-Gospel=LIBERALISM
You have the Culture. You have the Church. But, you do not have the Gospel.
These churches are so relevant... that they are so into the culture in the church. Everything they do is based on what is going on in the world at that time. The negative thing that this brings is that they do not base anything on Scripture. And anything that does not begin with Scripture is bound to start wrong already. Their belief is to bless people and not confront their sin with love.
LIBERALISM loves the Culture and loves the Church, but does not love the Gospel.

Gospel+Church-Culture=FUNDAMENTALISM
You have the Gospel. You have the Church. But, you do not have the Culture.
This is where I can relate the most. Haha! These people have the gospel down. They study like crazy and they are always at Church. So you know they got Scripture and Church. The only thing is that they cannot relate to lost people. They cannot relate to this Culture. When they teach "love your neighbor"... they often mistake that for "love your brother." There is not a genuine love for the lost. They judge people's appearances.
FUNDAMENTALISM loves the Gospel and loves the Church, but does not love their neighbor.

The new Christian has to be taught these 3 Principles. We have to be in touch with the Gospel, attend our Church, and relate to this Culture. To that I say, AY BAY BAY!!!

Failure to not aquire at least one of these principles forces you to go to the extreme of being strict and legalist or head the other direction, by preaching a watered down message with no substance (Scripture).

Let's nail all these principles.
I hope you learned something. Let me know what you think...

Ay Bay Bay!

» Gospel, Church and Ay Bay Bay! (Part 1)

Ay bay bay means Culture to me in this post! For those that will stop reading because it has a lyric that will send you to hell if you hear it in the street, get over yourself and please keep reading (just having a little fun).

This post may be worldly to some, but just hear me out... Let's make sense of some things! Because we are in trouble.

This generation is acting out only on what their grandparents and parents believe, to the point that we are not checking the "subject" (whatever it is) for ourselves with the scripture. Although I believe that the things that parents and other men and women tell us, often have great value.

But let me check it out for myself With the Scriptures.

I don't want any of your traditions. I don't want any of your "I think this way" beliefs. I want to be like JESUS!

(Wow! I had to get that off my shoulders, hehe).

Hear me out. Learn something with me. I don't know everything. I learn from the best. One of my favorite writers and theologians, I can say is Mark Driscoll. Check him out. I got some stuff from him.

Anyways, let's do this...

There are 3 main Principles that Christianty revolves in...

1. Gospel
2. Church
3. Culture (Ay Bay Bay!) Haha!

1. The Gospel of Jesus is the good news of Christ.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also ye have received,
and wherein ye stand... Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures"

The gospel tells us about the death of Christ, the Burial of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ.

2. The Culture that we live in.
It changes all the time. People act and dress differently. For example:

• 2,000 years ago, Guys wore robes and cultivated the ground. Ugh!
• 500 years ago, we had different cultures. Indians were hunters and wore nothing and English people wore spandex-looking pants under their "skirts" (Huh! Taking you back through History class here).
• 2007, Guys wear shorts with sandals and work at mcDonalds, while girls cut their hair short and wear t-shirts.

Culture! It changes. It evolves. Our lives are shaped by the culture that we live in.

The gospel has to be adapted to the culture. Read that last sentence again. I said ADAPTED. I did not say IMPROVED! The gospel is unchangeable. It cannot be renovated or redone.

So that our witnessing of Christ is effective, we have to strtategize to fit the gospel in the culture.

You may disagree with me. But if you keep playing your cassette preaching tapes and not switch to podcasts on your ipod. Your evangelism will be weak.

Some people are so ridiculous! They drive a 2007 Honda, have DVR in their homes, but cannot adapt to the culture when it comes to reaching the lost. They can't relate to them. They say big words and do not explain the meaning. They pass out boring "tracts" (flyers) that have their doctrine printed in black and white with 7 pt. font. They scream in church without knowing what the heck for (O.K. I'll stop).

3. The Church.
Matthew 16:18 says:

"...that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

The Church is the place where God's people and even sinners (aren't we all in need of forgiveness?) come to be equipped and get prepared in God's word to go out and have community with one another. I should say communion with one another...

In Part 2, I will talk about how these 3 Principles are used in Christianity. You need these 3 Principles to be effective in this thing called "Your Walk With God." Sometimes we only get 2 out of 3 and it puts us in categories that will be discussed tomorrow. I can't wait.

What say you?

Really give me your opinion. I would like to know.

If you disagree, tell me, I don't mind.
If you agree, tell me, that shows you have been praying (just kidding).

» SOUND DOCTRINE, PLEASE!!!

Titus 2:1

"You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine"

"Oh God! Please give us teachers that will teach your word! Give us men that will be men of God and preach your word. I want my heart to burn as we talk about scriptures, just like the 2 disciple's hearts that burned whenever you were talking about the scriptures to them."

That is my prayer tonight.

I am so excited of going back to school. I cannot wait to hit those books... and those classes. I think I'll be taking 2 or 3 classes this semester. I wish I could take 4. I will be taking:

• Bible Study Methods (I can't wait for Paul Helbig to teach this one... He is amazing! I enjoyed his Old Testament 1 class).
• New Testament 1 (I wanna be rocked by the gospels which I started to read again today).
• English Composition (Boo! Since I'm trying to get my degree in Biblical Counseling, I need this class. Sucks!).

I am excited, though. I really cannot wait to hear those lectures... It is an experience, I tell you. When I went for my first year, I was shocked to feel that no one was imposing their belief on me. They taught straight from the Bible and I went back and researched it myself. That's how it should be. Oh man! Sometimes we had mini debates because some students did not agree with others. Other times the students did not agree with the professor. It was fun.

Sound doctirne is what we need, guys. We don't need any more fluffiness... Paul said:

1 Corinthians 1:23

"but we preach Christ crucified:

a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,"

Let's preach Christ! Let's preach Jesus! That has to be our center... I have been getting a burden and conviction to preach Jesus. His redemption. His salvation. His resurrection. That's why we preach. That's the gospel! Those are the good news!

Like one of my favorite theologians said,

"We focus too much on the Kingdom... The Kingdom this, The Kingdom that. What about the King (Jesus)?"

Let's talk about Him.

Sound Doctrine.

When I think about the young people that grew up with me... oh God... Most of them know just know Acts 2... Hehe. (whoops!). Some don't even know that. They don't know of the Sin in Genesis. They don't know of the details of Christ suffering our penalty for our sin. They don't know of the Tomb. The Resurection that's talked about in 1 Corithians 15. Not even that...

"Oh God... Send us REAL teachers, and let us be RECEPTIVE to your Word!"

That's what is on my mind...

Sound Doctrine.

» Are you converted to Jesus' mission?

Nehemiah 4:17-18

"...Those who carried materials did their work with one

hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the

builders wore his sword at his side as he worked..."

We are called for a mission. We are called for service. I think that we have lost sight of that. I was raised with preachings and teachings on winning souls for Jesus. My friends and I were taught to be great soulwinners... We could evangelize in school and not be ashamed of it.

I remember one time when we missed the last Metro (bus) to take us home, and we stayed and evangelized. In about 45 minutes, at around 11 PM, we had a deacon open the church to baptize 2 men that had felt conviction and had repented. That was normal for us. But I am starting to realize something. Those 2 men came to services for about 2 months, I think. They did not come for a long time after their conversion. Why? I did not know at the time. I was so busy scurrying around trying to get more people baptized. hehe! (Ah, memories!). But really, I did not understand why.

Now I am starting to understand why these 2 men did not stay for long. I believe that these men were converted to Jesus. I was witness of that. I saw them cry and repent of their sins when they were going down the steps of the baptistry. These guys knew that they were being forgiven. But the reason that they did not stay in church for long was because they were not converted to the mission of Jesus. Now I understand this.

You can be converted to Jesus, but not converted to Jesus' mission.

WOW!

The church is so busy converting people to Jesus. They want to baptize, hold crusades, have campmeetings so ppeople can come to Jesus and be saved, but what we need to work on is our follow up. After converting people to Jesus, we need to teach them that there is a mission that we need to work on.

The only way to grow the church is if we teach people about Jesus' mission and motivate them to do it.

To grow a church people need to be driven by a mission.

To grow a church people need to feel that they have a purpose in their life.

So... meditate on this.

When we are building a wall (soul wining), we do it with a trowel (construction tool; evangelizing), but also we need to take care of our work, tending to it, defending it.

When the enemy comes to steal and to tear down our wall, mess with our deliverance, taunt us with the guilt of our past, we need to draw the sword and keep doing Jesus' mssion.

In another view, we build people, but do not defend them when the enemy comes to tempt them.

We are experts at building the wall, but we do not defend it well.

We are experts at winning souls, but we do not equip them with Jesus' mission.

Are you converted to Jesus? Sure.

Are you converted to Jesus' mission? Hmmm.

Make sense?

I think so...

» TEXANS WON!!!

I'm not really following everything in football right now, but since I knew that the Houston Texans were going to play the Dallas Cowboys, I got excited. Knowing that the first game that the Texans ever played, they beat Dallas 19-10! I knew that this was one game not to be missed.

Well, we beat them! HAHAHA! YEA!

Final Score: 28-16!

Wow! That game was awesome... Matt Schaub did a great job. And although we kind of grew up watching (or hearing...) the Dallas Cowboys win all the time, I'm looking forward to giving another chance to my home team The Houston Texans.

Good job, Texans!

Don't hate... Dallas Cowboys!

» A little bit about me...

Hi! hehe! This post will be dedicated to something very different than what you're used to, so enjoy!
In this post, I will be letting you know of the things that I want to do, places that I want to visit, dreams that I want to accomplish... so here goes!

Oh... I forgot to tell you. People usually asked me, "What's your 5 year plan? How about your 10 year plan? Where do you see yourself going in 7 years? What are you going to eat tomorrow?"
I sometimes do not have answers to these questions... Sorry. I don't have it all together. (I'm kind of human). Although I understand that a person needs to plan out their life and have a goal, I will start with this.
These do not come in order so don't judge...

5 Places I want to visit before I die:

• Egypt: I was watching the History Channel... and it's amazing that those pyramids and statues and temples are still standing. I really would like to see them.
• Israel: I want to go to see where Jesus walked, where Jesus' tomb is at, where Jesus prayed, where Jesus... O.K you get the point.
• El Salvador: That is where my parents were born and where my parent's families live... I want to go visit, but also start some kind of ministry over there (an extension of the church here in the U.S), just a dream. One day.
• Europe: I would like to go to France, Spain, Italy... all those countries and see the sights.
• Hawaii: Uh yea... everybody wants to go there, no?

4 Things I want to accomplish before I die:

• Get married! God, help me! Hehe! I really want to marry my woman... slip that ring on her finger and pop that question. Let me hear her scream, "YES, IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU PROPOSED!"!!!
• Plant a church! I believe that God has called and given a Vision... I want to fulfill it. It is my desire to be a churchplanter and to pastor people.

Side note: We need pastors. Real pastors. We have too many "pastors" that are wasting people's time, money, and life. See Jeremiah 12:10. Sorry, I had to say it like that. Let's get back to the list.

• Start a Churchplanting network! I believe that there are young men (and also adults) that have been called of God to start churches. It does not matter what age or social status they have. We need to reach people. Of Course, this network would be organized and effective.

Side note: If the "experienced" leadership of today would stop wasting time and let these men go out and minister, we would be able to reach more people. These men should have a calling, a vision, the message, and a passion to reach this generation. Being approved is vital and being mentored is necessary (just to avoid hurting people and not to reproduce the stagnant ministries that we have now).

• Write a book! I think I repeat a lot of things when I write, and that's not good for an author, but one day I'll write a book. So look out for the second edition of "7 steps to a better life" Haha!

3 qualities I want to aquire before I die:

• Faithful: I want to be faithful in everything I do. I want to be faithful to God, my family, and the church. I want to be faithful to my future wife (Go Ruthie!), to my future kids (Socorro and Obadiah! Wohoo! Great names).
• Consistent: This is difficult. Pray for me on this one. I have areas in my life that need consistency. In this time of our generation, where the world changes every minute and new things suddenly become obsolete, I pray to God that I can be consistent in everything that I do.
• Passionate: I want to have a motivation like no other. A drive that will take God's word into people's heart, causing them to change, becoming what God intended them to be. Passionate about life, about God, about my family, about ministry...

1 Car I want to own before I die:

• Honda and Toyota... Haha! nah! I'll pass! No really! Let me think hard on this one...Oh, I got it.
• Range Rover: I just love the look of those cars... they are luxurious in every way...

This car will most likely end up in some auction or sold... to support Missions or Ministry. I bet!

I know that some of these things can be accomplished in the next year, but some will take time... and my deadline is, from today until I die. So, bear with me, 'cause I got time. Haha! Just kidding.

I enjoyed this! I love being honest.

What do you want to accomplish?

Where do you want to go?

What qualities do you want to acquire?