Monday, March 14, 2011

Message at @houstonsfirst by @afshinziafat

This is www.twitter.com/afshinziafat message to my church www.twitter.com/houstonsfirst last night,coming from Philippians 1:20-21, 3:2-9 and few other sections.

The overarching principal we need to understand for this and any message about the gospel or Christ is this: Bible teaches that life is only found in Christ. In otherwords, life cannot truly be found apart from Him and just doesn't make sense.

Paul's singular passion is that Christ would be honored in his life and body. Fully and in such a way that Paul would be unashamed of his message to the world, free or in chains, let Christ's will be done in all circumstances.

Paul then helps redefine the definitions of life and death, by completely and totally turn them on their heads. Life becomes completely immersion in Christ and His being both, physically and spiritually. We are custom-made for Christ and His use of us as His bond-servants, until we fully understand that, then life cannot fully be experienced.

This allows Paul to reassess his life and what he had been striving for and hoping to achieve, as a Pharisee, a Jew...Paul realizes that all his "good works" to fulfill the law and all he put his trust in and believed in, were not assets as he once believed but in actuality losses.

"Religion is man's way to God. Jesus is God's way to man."

Paul not only counts everything as loss but then actually does lose everything that he had held dear, prior to his conversion to being led by Christ's mindset, areas such as: freedom, his standing as a religious leader all were stripped from him as he put self aside and picked up Christ'sview of life. A full understanding of relationship with Christ and His call on our life equals out to us putting aside all the trappings that the world offers as a substitute to Christ. Sin if left unchecked will lead us down the treacherous slope of Entitlement and conceit: which is empty or vain glory.

Grace leads us to put down self and pick up Christ's view of life and put others in front of ourselves.

Paul then redefines death as gain, since death leads Christ's followers to His side for all eternity. So when your life is all about Christ, death is sought after and prized since it brings us to Christ, but if our life is about something else, the loss becomes an even greater loss that is uncomprehensible. Only in Christ, does death go from the enemy of life to a sought-after goal of life!
Our call is to cling to Christ and all He is and nothing else. Thus allowing us to live out what should be our singular passion: live out a self-less life that advances Christ and knowledge of Who He is. The grace from a Christ-led life should cause us to constantly set aside self and reach out to the world and help meet their needs with the Love of Christ.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Stronger,seems to be based in/on Book of Romans

Anyone who knows me knows I love the song #Stronger by www.twitter.com/hillsong and feel that it has the book of Romans woven all through it and since that is the book I'm helping lead,then I am relating to it even more than usual, first noticed the song, primarily because prior to leading study, I was doing quiet time on the book,not knowing I would be asked to lead a study on it for my sunday school class: http://nightlightbiblestudy.blinkweb.com which you all can check out if you are in Houston or planning on being here anytime soon.
Meanwhile back at the ranch,haha,love working in ridiculous and irrelevant phrases into a blog or conversation! I fell in love with "Stronger" and the words resonated with my soul "You are stronger,You are stronger, Sin is broken, You have saved me, It is written, Christ is risen. Jesus, You are Lord of All."
Think that chorus resonated with me so strongly, since I daily struggle with feeling like much I have done in my extremely checkered past and how it affects my future. I have made a vow to make as big a difference for God equal to or exceeding how much I'm well-known in bars,clubs and shady dives across the city of Houston, and that is a HUGE task! I gave myself over to a life fairly well separated from God and His influence on my life for such a long time.
" so let Your Name be lifted higher,be lifted higher,be lifted higher,be lifter higher." it is Jesus' name that we are called to lift up,not our own. I forgot that for such a long time and allowed my name, my reputation as the "party/good time guy" become what was important and what mattered most to me!
"There is Love that came for us, humbled to the sinner's cross,broke my shame and sinfulness, rose again victorious." Jesus came and is here for you and I anytime we ask. Think on that,let it percolate and simmer in your soul and being. It is NEVER about us and what we bring to the relationship with our Savior. It is Christ that is breaking my shame and sinfulness. The One paying the price set down for us is not us, but only the Perfect and Sinless Christ. So ends my sermon for the day!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Feel disenfranchised

The last month or so, just have felt completely and totally isolated from my fellow followers of Christ, been some bright moments in there but they seem to be few and far between. I have come to completely dread walking into church service and have gotten to the point that I am taking an indefinite time off of church and sunday school, will fulfill my time at midweek to continue lead and facilitate but nothing else.
I also have decided as of right now, I am only going to be "just friends" with people and nothing more. Period, end of story. Any greater commitment seems to lead to disappontment.
It seems like and probably is, a time of testing and trial for my faith and Who I put my faith in. Have heard barely audible whispers on both side of me, from God and the enemy, one telling me not to put my dependence on people within my sunday school class but to depend on Him for my needs and the other whispering that the class will inevitably let me down and not to take time to invest myself.
Yes, I have gone from positive about life and people, to pretty much negative but as said before I don't always acknowledge my problems or allow people to see I'm struggling.