freedom is not free

Just wanted to share some interesting thoughts I got from a pastor's sermon.

Yesterday, a guest speaker came in to preach for my church and his sermon title was called, "Served by Christ". There was a story that he told about a man who was rescued [a few years back?] from slavery from an organization that works to free people that are involved in human trafficking. The ex-slave told his story to this pastor and they talked and talked and he eventually made a point which helped bring together the message of the sermon, which was that slavery kills a man. I thought this was an interesting point he made because it's so true. When bonded to slavery, physically it will wear and tear a man down to his bones because unless by some great miracle, he is bonded to being a slave all his life. Spiritually, it has the same affect. When a you idolize something or prize something so much more than God, you more or less become a slave to it, whether it be pride, money, lust, greed...you get the point. Your heart then becomes so spiritually dead because it's almost as if you've been consumed by it, giving part of your heart to it each time you become more and more "lost" in it. In this case, your heart is almost a hopeless cause because it's been so caught up in the idol...but then comes Jesus and this leads me to my next point: freedom is not free. Just look at the past and the history of the world. Those that were in slavery and wanted to become free had to pay a price. That price was the lives of many men, women, children that fought to gain their freedom. It doesn't have to be just freedom from slavery, it could be freedom from anything. In the same way, for those who are Christians, the freedom you have is definitely not free. It was paid and bought at a price: the death of Jesus Christ and that, my friends, is one of the great fundamentals of the Gospel. Christ shed his blood for us so that we may experience true freedom from the things that hold us down, from the things that keep us from having that wonderful relationship with God. He came and paid that the ransom that we should have paid. He came and paid the debt that we would have had to owe as slaves: living eternally in the fiery pits of Hell. He knew that this was what He had to do because He cared for us deeply, because he wanted us to be free from our sins. His grace is far greater than any of us could ever conceive. I hope I don't sound like some pompous dictator, telling everyone to do this, do that. That is not the point of my message. I just wanted to point out the truth of Christ and what He did for us because it's amazing how so many times we say that we believe and we understand the depth of Christ and His love for us, but...honestly, do we really? We say that we will go anywhere and everywhere that Christ leads but when He actually calls us to do so, so many of us turn away and say, "No God, this is not what was planned." When was it ever for us though? I'm not pointing fingers because I'm as guilty as charged as any one of you guys are...

I guess I just want to challenge those that are struggling with whatever problems that you may have in your lives and take the time to really understand what it means to be free. This life is definitely not going to be an easy one but God is with us, every step and He will be with us every step until we have reached our finish lines. Let's encourage each other and those around us to continue that walk with God, no matter what comes our way. Christ loves us dearly and has proven that on the Cross so let's turn it around and show the world that through the Gospel, others can have the choice to no longer live as slaves, brought down by the heavyweight of their burdens. Through the blood of Christ, they too can have a new chance and a new life.

the weekend is finally here...sort of

It's actually pretty late right now. I don't know why I'm still up when I should be sleeping. It's finally Friday and that means it's finally the weekend! Well, it's 12 in the morning but it's still Friday so I'm happy. :]

I wish I was fluent in another language besides Korean and English so I could just bust it out on this blog and type away. Maybe I'll type up a Christmas wish list while I'm up. I must be crazy. Hmm, I do seem to have been a little off these days, according to some of my friends. Maybe it's because I've been listening to a lot of Hillsong lately...or just christian music in general. Would that have anything to do with it though? Eh, I don't know.

Ok, I should really get to bed. Gotta wake up early for classes tomorrow. Just felt like blogging so I could just let some steam out. Alrighty, goodnight world!

we the redeemed

Hillsong - We the Redeemed
Album: Faith+Hope+Love



Verse 1:
There is nothing like Your love
No exchange for all You gave
To be welcomed into life
So I can know the love it takes

Verse 2:
Now forever to be loved
To walk with You for all my days
There’s no greater love than this
You are the Author and the Way

Pre-Chorus:
This is the sound of the redeemed
Rising up to praise the King
Our hope is in You
This is the sound of the redeemed
Rising up to praise the King

Chorus:
Singing, glorious, glorious One, You have saved us
Honor and power and praise to the Savior.
You are the Answer
You are the Answer

Verse 3:
You come with power come with fire
As we lift Your name on high
And join with all the saints to sing
In bringing Honor to the King.

Bridge:
We the redeemed
Hear us singing
You are Holy
You are Holy

God, amidst my struggles and my fears, You still are tried and true. Your love is far greater than anything on thing on this earth.

lost in wonder

A song that my bible study group sang during worship time.

Lost in Wonder

You chose the cross with every breath
The perfect life, the perfect death
You chose the cross
A crown of thorns You wore for us
And crowned us with eternal life
You chose the cross

And though Your soul was overwhelmed with pain
Obedient to death You overcame

I'm lost in wonder
I'm lost in love
I'm lost in praise forevermore
Because of Jesus' unfailing love
I am forgiven
I am restored

You loosed the cords of sinfulness
And broke the chains of my disgrace
You chose the cross
Up from the grave victorious
You rose again so glorious
You chose the cross

The sorrow that surrounded You was mine
"Yet, not My will but Yours be done," You cried

Because of Jesus, because of Jesus, because of Jesus
I am restored

I am a sinner in need of forgiveness and grace and Jesus gave that to me, fully paid on the cross. Yet, I still continue to let Him down everyday, in some way shape or form but He is still willing to take me back into His loving arms like a father embraces his children.

God, I need You more than ever in my life.

things happen for a reason

I was on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine who I met at a college conference a year ago. I think I've mentioned him before in my previous posts...maybe not outright but discreetly I know I have. It's surprising to think that even after a year, we've still kept in touch...which I find extremely strange since in all my previous experiences with trying to keep in touch with my retreat friends...I completely failed. Either way, there's been a lot about him that I've been thinking about lately. That probably sounds really weird and I'll do my best to try and explain.

I've brought it up with him numerous times that I found it strange that we still talked, considering the fact that we live absolutely no where near each other [he lives in Texas, I in Pennsylvania] and we act and talk as though we do. I guess before he never really thought of it as much, he just saw it as another opportunity to meet a new friend? Just yesterday though, he was sharing how he started beginning to realize just how strange our relationship was, in the sense that we talk as if we've been friends for a while now when we don't see each other at all. It got me thinking about something that my pastor mentioned a few weeks back, during one of our college bible studies. He was saying how God places certain people, certain events in your life for a reason, which I totally agree to. My question is, why has God placed this...dude...that I don't even see ever in my life and why have we still kept in touch???

The college conference, called One in Love [O.I.L. for short], is held once a year in my state in Montrose, PA. I had a very blessed time there last year and so decided that I would go again this year. My pastor, a month or so back had asked if I would be able to lead a certain role during on my church's joint retreats. I told him I'd pray about it first and let him know later on. On the one hand, I wanted to help out with retreat and be a part of it but on the other hand, I really wanted to go back to O.I.L. I guess that's when I started really evaluating why I wanted to go back to O.I.L. instead of going to help out at the retreat. Even though initially it wasn't my reason to go back, I felt as though having this relationship with my friend was sort of a drive for me to go back to O.I.L. so that I could see him again and that to me...was a big iffy. As much as I wanted to see him again, if I did go, I didn't want either of us to be a hinderance for each other during the conference. Ugh, even now, although I have decided to go, I'm still trying to be really cautious with what I say to him when I talk. God, I honestly don't know what to do with this whole...I don't even know what to call it.

Anyways, so yesterday while we were talking, I decided that maybe I should more clearly define our relationship? As in, just say that because this is a very strange relationship indeed, we need to be more cautious about how we act and what we say with each other. I didn't mention it to him yet but if the chance comes, I think will. I really, should be praying about this more.

This is all so new to me. I don't think I've ever cared so much about a guy's sprititual relationship than this and considering that I have many guy friends, I don't know, it just seems all so weird. I'm trying not to think about it so much and just give it up to God right now because I feel like, there are more important things to deal with at hand...although, this seems pretty important too...heh. I just really hope that if we do grow closer, that we'll both have this relationship Gospel centered and really push each other towards God. I really want him to grow more in Christ and I hope he'll wish the same for me and encourage me to do so [which I guess is something that we've been doing eversince we started talking but I mean MORE than...what...we've been doing? What am I even saying???]. I also really want this relationship to be pure and not misleading in any way. I don't us to hype it up to something that it isn't because it's only going to hurt us in the long run. I don't know. Prayer and scripture is what I need right now...as well as guidance from other people.


"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus"

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the Light of His glory and grace