Kingdom Swagga Lounge~Youth With Real Swagga

Investigating the Manger Series: Jesus' Perfect Family?

2011-11-16T18:41:00.002-05:00

Biblically, when genealogies were written you only had the males' names (the grandfather, father, son, etc), but Matthew's genealogy has 4 women’s names: Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Ruth. What is more interesting is that these four women are Gentiles AND have interesting backgrounds: Tamar was a Canaanite and tricked Judah by pretending to be a harlot/temple prostitute (Genesis 38); Rahab was of Jericho and she was a harlot (Joshua 2); Ruth was a Moabite. Ruth didn’t have anything really wrong with her, but being a Moabite she was cursed (see Deut. 23:3). Bathsheba, some writers don’t even include her name they just write "the wife of Uriah". Bathsheba was a Hittite who slept with David, got pregnant, and then David killed her husband to cover the pregnancy up (2 Samuel 11).

Both the men and women in the genealogy had issues, but from an ethical and spiritual point of view of the Jewish writer, Gentiles shouldn’t be in the genealogy for the Gentiles were lost and not heirs to the promise and the Messiah and they shouldn't have been in the genealogy as they were instructed not to intermarry with the Gentiles or pagans. But with this unique family tree we see that EVEN Jesus' family had issues. Jesus' family wasn’t perfect, but Jesus still comes out to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Yet in our day and even in some of our history, we have allowed the history of our family and our family’s flaws make us feel like we should not and cannot aspire to be great. We allow our families issues to limit our dreams and manipulate our behavior. But through the “investigation of the manger”, we realize that through a DNA sample that even when there is a genetic malfunction there is still a spiritual genetic hope! For out of this family tree a cross is carved out that brings forth a hope and redemption for every human family! So through Christ and His imperfect family we see that God can still birth and bring forth kings and queens and change the world! You no longer have to misjudge yourself and/or your future based upon your family’s failures. You can be what God intended for you to be! Some people feel like, “well my sister got pregnant so I guess I am going to get pregnant too”. Others say, “well my brother and my father went to jail so I guess I am going to one day go to jail”. What happened in your family does not have to be your future!

What was it that helped Jesus rise above the mess in His family to be the Messiah, the Christ? It was the Spirit of God. Though Jesus’ family was imperfect, Jesus didn’t need to rely on His family orientation to make Him who he became. Jesus relied on the Spirit of God. If you rely on the power of God and if you live by the spirit of God you shall overcome every “genetic prediction” that would make you think you will experience the same negativities and fate as your family. The Spirit has the power to override every genetic code and genetically graft you into the family of God and you will be “a peculiar people” and a part of “a royal priesthood!”

Here are some more things to consider:

1. Embrace your genealogy. Don’t be ashamed of it and don’t deny it. Embrace the fact that there is imperfection in you and your family, but realize that life doesn’t end with imperfection, but it can be transformed to something greater through a life in Jesus Christ. Don’t use energy complaining about your family and don’t take on the failures of your family. Use your energy to be filled with and live by the Spirit of God and save your family!

2. Realize that there is more to you than just your family orientation and your genetic makeup. Your family and where you are from does not have to limit where you can go! Where you are from and the family you have is just the background and context from where the Gospel will come out of.

3. Realize the Spirit of Christ lives in you and if Christ made it and He lives in you, through the Spirit you can make it too.

4. Realize that you can be greater. The uniqueness of our families is based upon choice. We are a result of what we choose. So if you choose differently than what others have chosen then you will be different. Choose to live by the spirit!

YDOC Bible Study ~ "When Life TEARS You Up" Psalm 61

2011-10-12T14:36:00.000-04:00

You seem down. Are you okay?

No, life is really tearing me up!

I understand. Life is always full of the unexpected. It brings unexpected joy, happiness, sadness, pain, fears, doubt, faith and love. It’s easy to go through life when life seems to cooperate with you, but what does one do when life seems to be your worst enemy? When life seems to have your address and it express mails betrayal, lies, deceit, death, pain, and chaos to your door? What do you do when the bitter side of life rings your doorbell, when the downside of life decides to tear you up? How do you deal with life at provokes tears?

Can I read you something?

What?

I just want to share this scripture with you.

Scripture? That can’t help me right now! Give me a page, so I can wipe my tears!

Okay, here is one:

Psalm 61
For the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my cry, O God;
Give heed to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

I need that right now…..

I know, but check this out. David remembers what God did for him before and makes a request for his present situation:

3 For You have been a refuge for me,
A tower of strength against the enemy.
4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever;
Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.

I don’t think God cares about my tears… I feel alone on this one.

“No, never alone.” There is a benefit of being a believer. Look”

5 For You have heard my vows, O God;
You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.
6 You will prolong the king’s life;
His years will be as many generations.
7 He will abide before God forever;
Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve him.

I really don’t feel that way right now.

Your “right now” doesn’t have to dictate your “shall be”. Here’s the last verse:

8 So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
That I may pay my vows day by day.

When life tears you up, David lets us know that we can bring our prayers, concern and tears to God. There is nothing that you can’t talk to God about. He cares about every intimate detail of your life. God is not so divine and transcendent that God doesn’t sympathize and has compassion for you’re going through. As much as God is God, God is our father, mother, friend, supporter and love!

Who do you bring your tears to when life tears you up?

My friends, if they are available; my boo, and sometimes I even try some things to make me feel better and just forget everything.

Like what?

Hmmm….nothing. Never mind.

I encourage you to consider God. God is the only one that can take your tears and interpret your tears effectively to meet your needs. Some people will see you cry and not know why or understand. There are times when you yourself can’t articulate what or how you feel, but you are still in need of an understanding heart to give you the help you need. God is the only one that can read your tears and touch your heart.

Well, I have a lot of tears!

Well, God can handle your tears. God’s hands hold the oceans and the seas. God can certainly handle your tears. He will never fail you. Trust God with you tears.

When life tears you up and you feel like you are at the edge of sanity and you are on the shaky ground of instability, you can find a firm foundation in God.

Well, I can’t find my way out through these tears! How can I find God when I have an ocean of issues streaming down my face?

“When you can’t find your way out my friend, you can follow your way out.” Through the tears remember the WORD of the Lord and follow God through God’s WORD. Like the David in verse 2b, one song writer said, “When my heart is overwhelmed, I’m asking, ‘lead me to the rock.’ Lead me to the rock that’s higher than I, oh Lord, higher than I.” When you can’t find your way, God will grab your hand and lead you to a rock. When your world is shaking all around you and you can’t seem to keep a good footing on our faith, hold on to God’s hand and God will lead you to a rock that’s higher than the attitude your sorrows and problems have you. The rock is what you are in need of when life appears shaky. You need a rock that is impenetrable when your life feels fragile. You need someone and something that is higher and greater than you to get you through when you can’t get yourself through! You need a rock! The good news is you don’t have to go far to get to the rock because the God is the rock. God will never lead you to anything, anyone, or anywhere but to God’s self. GOD IS YOUR ROCK!

WOW! So you are telling me that God can not only handle my tears, but God can interpret my tears to see my real need and when my world is upside down and “I feel like I’m close to the edge” and I feel like I’m losing my head God can be my rock in a weary land?

Yup! “God will do exceedingly and abundantly…” Just Trust God, Follow God and Stand on God’s WORD!

But, also when you feel like life is tearing you up and you don’t know what to do, remember what God has done for you and ask God for an encore! Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” If God kept you before, God can keep you again! Just tell God, “Can I get an ENCORE!” God I want more! God I need you again! God is what and who you need! He is a tower of strength, a refuge in a time of trouble and he has a place that is design for only his children to abide, under God’s wings of safety! Like the mother hen covering and protecting her chicks, God will cover you with God’s divine wings. You have a feather called prayer, another for fasting, another for worship and another for studying God’s WORD. You are protected and sustained by the wings of God! God did it before; God will do it again and again and again!

WOW! “GOD, CAN I GET AN ENCORE!”

You see you got it! You are starting understand what David is talking about in verses 5-7. There is a benefit in going through with God! Don’t go through life with your tears by yourself. Believe in God and trust God with your tears! Follow God when you can’t hear him yet feel him. Like an employee of a company who is entitled to certain benefits, you, the believer, are entitled to divine benefits! God will be your keeper! That’s a benefit! God will be your rock! That’s a benefit! God will be your refuge and protector! That’s a benefit! God will never leave you nor forsake you! God is always on your side! That’s a benefit!

YES! YES! YES! I LOVE ME SOME BENEFITS! You, know there is a difference in having Jesus on your side and in your life! We all go through, but “through” for Christians should be different! You know what?

What’s that?

My situation hasn’t changed yet, but it’s starting to look different now. It’s amazing how you can see God in the midst of your tears! It’s amazing how you can see God in the dark places!

YOU GOT IT!!!!! So now, I found you with your hands up, all ready to surrender and you were half right. But don’t surrender to your problems or your tears, but turn around and surrender to God. Give your life, your issues, your worries and fears to God. God will never leave you nor forsake you. Surrender everything to God. With your arms raised in a posture of surrender and with tears in your eyes worship through! Praise through! Glory God through!

I surrender ALL! GOD IS MY ROCK! THANKS!

"Stop Looking for a Man"

2011-08-10T12:58:00.000-04:00

²Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. ³In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. ⁵And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? ⁷The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. ⁸Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. ⁹And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath- John 5:2-9

Like the man in the text, we all have found ourselves in some situation that we needed to be delivered from. Some of us may be in a situation right now. This man finds himself in a powerless condition and is in need of some help. He has been lucky enough to get close to some help, but because of his condition he believes he is unable to obtain that help. The man finds himself by a pool that when troubled by the angel the first one in the water would be made whole. This man has been walked over, brushed passed and over looked by people who are in need of their own deliverance. This man has been hoping that someone would see his need, his condition and his desperation and put him in the pool. But time after time again he has been disappointed by man’s individualism and man’s heartlessness.

At this point of the man’s life, after being in his condition so long, he is used to being helpless and dependent on others. He presently finds hope in a temporary and unsuitable source—the pool. The situation at the pool is not helpful because it doesn’t allow real opportunity for change. For this man, it only presents false hope.

If one looks at this situation closely, we should see our own reflection in the pool for we too are like this man, managing lives that are in need of change, but seeking unsuitable sources of change and we have placed our hopes in the heart of disappointing people. We go from relationship to relationship only to be disappointed and hurt by the issues of other people. We have been walked on, brushed passed and left for dead. We place our hopes in unsuitable and temporary solutions like drugs, alcohol, people, power, possessions, and fornication.

What is screaming out to me as I look at the ripple effect of this man’s situation is that when in the presence of Jesus, he is still looking for a man and placing hope in a temporary fix. The man’s ability to see who is before him, the Son of David, the Son of God, is distorted. He is still looking for a man when He was in the presence of God. He was looking for a man when God was available. Let’s be honest, we too have been in the presence of God still looking for intervention from something or someone else. While in church, during worship, and/ or during the preached word, we’ve thought about, cried for and text-messaged our insufficient help. While in the presence of hope Himself, we are mentally and emotionally taken away on the current and waves of false hope. The man needed to realize that the angel that troubled the water was created by the Creator. The man he wished could help him was created and given strength by the Creator. The man in our text and some of us today need to stop looking towards creation to do what the Creator can do all by Himself. We, like the man, need to stop looking for man (mankind) to do things for us. Stop looking for a man to heal your wounds, fill your heart, and change your life. Stop looking for a man to tell you what you were created to do! Stop looking for a man to make you feel like you are something. Stop looking for a man to give you a vision. Stop looking for a man to make you feel like you have purpose and look to the Creator, God Almighty, and allow His creative power to give you something you can’t get yourself! Stop looking for a man!

How many of us would feel better today, if we stop laying ourselves at the mercy of men and laid ourselves at the mercy of a merciful and all powerful God? Look at your life. Are you where you are right now because you are looking for a man or woman to do something in your life? Look to God, He is more than able. Stop looking for a man!

Prayer this prayer: Lord, forgive me for looking for and trusting in people and things to do what you are meant to do. There are so many things in my life that have been delayed because I have been in denial about my dependence on creation and not You, my Creator. Lord, I lay myself at your mercy and your creative power and I ask you to make me whole. Help me to trust you with everything. Allow me to now begin the journey of learning more about Your faithfulness that I may never again look for human beings to do that which is meant to be done my divine hands. In Jesus name, Amen.

Living in What You Say-Youth Summer Bible Study #2

2011-07-14T13:48:00.000-04:00

Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof

- Proverbs 18:21

Also see:

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh

- Matthew 12:34b

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man

-Matthew 15:18

Have you ever sat in a room with a friend and suddenly someone you don’t like or someone you have a problem with comes into the room and you feel differently now that you see them and now that you are around them? You were just telling your friend how you don’t like this and that about the person and how they made you feel and what you would do or say to them if you saw them and then they popped right up. Now your mood changes and now you’re frustrated, mad or sad.

There are times when great teams lose games they could have won. One of the reasons why I believe that Pau Gasol wasn’t able to perform at his highest level in the 2011 NBA Finals is because of how he spoke about the game, the Dallas Mavericks and especially his opponent Dirk Nowitzki. Pau Gasol is an excellent player, but when matched up against Dirk Nowtizki and the Dallas Mavericks his swag and confidence was on ZERO! Interestingly enough, I heard an interview where he spoke extremely highly of Dirk Nowtizki which is okay to do once the battle is over. He gave a lot of credit to Dirk Nowtizki as if he couldn’t be stopped before the series was even over and he played out the very thing he spoke, thus losing the championship.

SO what’s your point Rev. Max!?

The Bible says that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” We really don’t understand that we create and destroy things with our mouths. We are created in the image and likeness of God and we have been given the power of God from God through the Holy Spirit to have dominion and authority on earth giving life or summoning death to a thing or idea. Don’t you remember in Genesis, God caused life to exist by words? God has given us that same power residing in our own mouths and we sometimes misuse that power and authority to sabotage our own lives.

We must realize that we can have happier, more fruitful and loving lives if we change how we talk and what we talk about. Sometimes the defeat we experience is the defeat that we spoke right out of our own mouths. The negativity that we experience is the negativity we spoke concerning the day while we were getting ourselves together in the morning. We sometimes claim that we don’t like certain people and we don’t know why, but could the answer be possibly found in your conversation and thinking about that individual? Why are you depressed? Why do you dislike yourself? If you want to change how you feel about yourself then change the way you think and talk about yourself. We are victims of our own tongues.

If you want to have a different experience in your life, church or even school then change how you talk about those things. You have to stop setting yourself up to walk in awful experiences that come as a result of your words. Like the man in the picture above we live in our words so don’t get stuck in the phone booth of life with bad results that come from what you say. Change your words and you will change your life.

Pray this prayer:

Lord, thank you for the power and authority that you have placed in my mouth. Help me Lord not to sabotage my life with the death that comes from my own mouth. Fill me with Your Word so I may speak Your Word and live in the Life of Your Word. Lord, where I need healing in my life so I can think differently about certain things, please provide the healing so I don’t speak out of my wounds and continue to live an even more pain-filled life. Right now, in the name of Jesus, I speak love, power, joy, peace, kindness, and purpose in my life and I expect change to manifest itself in my life-Amen

Rev. Max

You Have New Strength-2011 Youth Summer Bible Study #1

2011-07-07T14:27:00.000-04:00

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” - 1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB

Have you ever said, “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYONE MORE!!!?” I have you ever felt like what you were facing was more than you could bear by just looking at it or hearing about it? Well I want to encourage you and let you know that when you find yourself facing something a little bigger or more than what you are a custom to, you are not being overtaken, but you are receiving a direct message and revelation from God that you have NEW STRENGTH!

1 Corinthians tells us that God is faithful and when we are going through life and face with temptations and other life challenges God will never tempt us with more than we can bear. It may seem extremely challenging and unbearable, but if you know that God is faithful then you know that you can overcome!

You may say, “Well, that’s not true, I have been through something recently and it was too much to say no to or deal with in the right way.” I will tell you that God knows you better than you know yourself and God’s word is true. “So why did I go through it and why did it overtake me?” I’m glad you asked!

You have to realize that God is consistently faithful. God is not about games or tricks. He has blessed you with the ability to overcome. God is not going to tell you that He has put a certain amount of weight on the bar and then make you lift it to make you fail. No! God doesn’t work like that. You must not panic and give in. You must be faithful to fight as God is faithful to provide strength and a way of escape.

I hear you REVIE REV, but still, why does God allow this!!!?

Listen, if you are experiencing new weight-greater temptations, challenges, and obstacles and you know that God is faithful and true saying He will never give you more than you can bear then that means this new challenge, temptation and /or obstacle is a revelation of your NEW STRENGTH!

God knows His children. God knows what you can take and not take. God knows what you need to bring out the best you that He placed in you Himself. So look at your week. Think about your life. Think about the various challenges you have ahead of you. Does it appear to be a little more than what you are used to??? Well, CONGRATULATIONS! You just moved up another weight class!

God doesn’t want us to stay the same way. You should always expect growth and with growth comes greater challenges. So whatever you are facing you can make it! Whatever you are going through, you are already showing growth by just the mere fact that you are going “through”! If you find yourself stuck in a certain place in life, continue in the strength of the Lord because He is only furthering your spiritual development by requiring more reps than usual. You have NEW STRENGTH!

Pray this prayer:

Lord, I thank you for being faithful. Thank you for knowing me the way you do and for being the best steward over my life. Lord, I trust you with my life and I know you will never give me more than I can bear. Help me to see my new strength that you have given me. Help me to operate in my new strength so I can give you more glory. Teach me Lord to remember that you expect me to grow and with growth come challenges and with challenges it produces more growth. Thank you Lord for all you have done for me and being a keeper and sustainer in my life. Amen!

Tell me about the new challenges you have recently faced. Tell me how this indicates that you have new strength. How is this different from your past challenges? What growth do you see from previous challenges from the ones you presently face by looking at how you want to deal with them now? Post your comments; send an email, or send a message to my Facebook inbox. God Bless!

Rev. Max

"STOP LIVING IN REARVIEW!"

2011-05-20T11:44:00.001-04:00

Kingdom Greetings Believers!

I am so excited about this year’s Youth Day! Through numerous discussions with some of our youth and with much prayer and guidance from the Lord, our theme this year is: “Stop Living in Rearview!”

This theme has been lifted out of the soil of the Old Testament rooted in Isaiah 43:18-19. The New American Standard Bible Version reads, “Do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?” But I also like Eugene Peterson’s Message Version which says, “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?” God is telling us “Stop Living in Rearview!”

Here is a picture of the vantage point from the driver’s seat. The driver has a small rearview mirror which shows him or her things that are behind them; things related to what they have already passed. Then there is a big window that allows the driver to see what is in the road that lies before them, places they can go, people they can meet and various experiences they could have.

Our lives are something like that, individually and as a ministry. God has a window of great opportunity for us while we do have a rearview mirror a past! But the most interesting thing believers, is that the creator of this structure and our life structure is our rearview (our past) is not bigger than the window to the road of opportunity. What we allow sometimes in our own individual lives and as a ministry is we live (drive) life (the road) through the rearview instead of looking through the window of opportunity and instead of properly encountering (pulling up to) opportunity, we miss and/or crash into opportunity.

Just imagine someone driving through life through the rearview? Would you ride with someone like that? Could they even make it down the street or get out the parking lot without some type of damage to themselves or someone else?

The “rearview” concept could be understood as being stuck in the past and it could be good or bad. It is a place or state of being. It’s being psychologically, emotionally, spiritually or even physically stuck in previous relationships, past issues, past pains or hurts, past successes, past failures, and past thoughts. An individual can’t enjoy new relationships or new opportunities because they remember what happened in the past; they measure and encounter everything by the past, which limits their life experiences even in ministry.

While we can learn from our past, God has uniquely designed our lives to be motivated, led and governed by proper forward VISION! It is the “already, but not yet” of God; the promises of God! Like driving you are not motivated by things in the rearview. You are motivated to move forward by the things you see (vision) in front of you. God places opportunities, promises, dreams and a purpose in front of you to pursue.

So many youth, adults and ministries find themselves in God’s collision center because we fail to keep our eyes (hearts, minds and spirits) open to the “new thing”, the road ahead that God has for us! We can have better grades if we stop thinking about last semester or quarter grades. We can have better relationships if we stop dealing with new prospects as if they were the other guy or girl. We can have evolving, relevant, creative, spirit filled, life transforming, and unpredictable ministry if we forgive, and work together; stay open to God’s new thing, stop worrying about who is here or not or how someone did what when they were a part of the ministry.

God is calling our youth and maybe our church to “Stop Living in the Rearview!” God has wonderful opportunities for us, but we can no longer allow a small mirror limit great opportunity. Life and ministry is about living things not dead things (the past). Our challenge in June is to “Stop Living in the Rearview” and let’s move forward in our personal lives and as a ministry and be all that God has called us to be. We can no longer speak about the possibilities of our lives and ministry based upon the rearview mirror. The Bible says, there is life and death in the power of the tongue. Sometimes we experience more of the death we speak than the death that is really in something or associated with someone. Sometimes we experience more of the negative in our lives and ministry that we have spoken through the misuse of the power God placed in our tongues than the real challenges that is in our lives and associated with ministry. “Stop Living in Rearview” and start speaking, expecting and seeking what thus saith the Lord!

That is the grace in the text, “Forget” and don’t ponder “the past” but God says, “BEHOLD! I am going to do something new!” God acknowledges that there is a past, but is motivating us not to live in the past. God is showing us that there is always something greater for us beyond what we have already experienced. Don’t let success limit the possibility of greater achievement. Don’t let past hurts detour you from available healing. We can’t move forward in our personal lives living in the rearview and we can’t lead our ministries with “rearview vision.” In the words of DeWayne Woods, we have to “Let Go and Let God!”

“Stop Living in Rearview!”

Rev. Maurice Maxwell

FBCV Youth Minister

Prayer: Your 4G Network- The Power to Change Your Life Experience #1

2010-10-15T14:33:00.000-04:00

Session#1 on Prayer

The Discipline of Prayer by Richard J. Foster Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (Chapter 3)

1. Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into continuous communion with the Father.

2. Real prayer is life creating and life changing.

3. To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us.

a. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ.

4. James 4:3- “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

a. To ask “rightly” involves transformed passions. In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills

5. All who have walked with God have viewed prayer as the main business of their lives.

a. Gospel of Mark has a commentary on the life-style of Jesus- “And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely, and there he prayed.”

b. Martin Luther- “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.”

6. Prayer must not just be a part of my day, but it must be my life.

7. Prayer requires a learning process.

a. Luke 11:1 the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.

b. They had prayed all their lives, and yet something about the quality and quantity of Jesus’ praying caused them to see how little they knew about prayer.

Being a Young Disciple: The Christian Transformer

2010-09-30T14:07:00.000-04:00

Being a Young Disciple: The Christian-Transformer

Romans 12:2 says “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, acceptable and perfect.”

We, as young believers, are cautioned not to be conformed to this world. We are conformed to the world by people, various types of music, television, certain conversations and more. Every encounter that we have with worldly things and people brings us a step closer to becoming more like the world. Being conformed to the world is a process, it takes time. If we are going to be Christian-Transformers, Young Disciples of Christ, we must stop this process that leads to our conforming to the world. We must be intentional about ending this process. Just as we were intentional to turn to the wrong channels, wrong websites, and answer or call the wrong person on the phone we must be intentional about ignoring and staying away from those things.

Christian transformation is an alternative, it’s a choice. You either look like the world; look forward to the consequence of looking and acting like the world or you choose to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It’s like DVR. You have been programmed to do certain things and live a certain way, but you must now remove the old program and upload a new station and programming. Renewing the mind, getting a new way of thinking, a new way of being is a process. It was a process in the area of sin and it’s a process as well with your spiritual walk with God. You must be intentional about spending time with God so your mentality can be renewed.

You maintain your transformed state by doing what Paul said in Roman 13:14, every day “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust.” You have to put on Christ every day. You put on Christ when you read and apply his word. You put on Christ when you pray before you go to school. You put on Christ when you take a stand for God when nobody else will. You put on Christ when you put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). You put on Christ by “making no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust.” Every time you say no to temptation you are putting on Christ. Every time you tell that guy or girl he or she can’t come over when your parents aren’t home, you are putting on Christ!

My prayer for you is that you be a Christian-Transformer and maintain your transformer state. Change the way you think and act by having a different mindset than the world. Yes, you truly maybe surrounded by negative things and negative people, but the truth is God has given you an inner power to tap into so you can be different from your environment, so you can have a different outcome than those you are surrounded by. Romans 8:5-6 says “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” So where ever you “set” your mind, flesh or spirit, negativity or positivity, you will become that place. When I was younger I made sure never to set my toys in the reach of my little sister or brother because if I set it in the wrong place my toy would be in danger. It is the same with your mind. Where ever you place your mind it will be at the mercy of where you place it. If you are constantly thinking negatively you will experience negative results. If you keep thinking lustful thoughts and occupy your eyes with lustful things you will lust. You are a product of the mental environment where you set your mind. To be a Young Disciple, a Christian-Transformer, you must set your mind on the things of God like His word, His praise, and His love. You must set your mind on ideas, thinking, and people who are of the Kingdom of God.

Where is your mind? Did you forget where you last placed it? Ask yourself what kind of things you have been involved in. What kind of things have you been thinking about? Then follow the path from that place and you will find where you mind is. If it’s in the wrong place choose to place it on things above;on Godly things.

Illuminating the Love of God (Sept. 14th Lesson)

2010-09-21T15:47:00.000-04:00

How Do I Really Be a Young Disciple of Christ? Illuminating the Love of God

I John 4:7-21

4:7 Dear friends let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered 3 by God and knows God. 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 4:9 By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him. 4:10 In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.4:11 Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us. 4:13 By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit. 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
4:15 If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God. 4:16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. 4:17 By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love. 4:19 We love because he loved us first.4:20 If anyone says “I love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 4:21 And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

Being a Young Disciple is not easy, but it is edifying (builds lives) to others as we strive to be more like Christ. One of the ways we become Young Disciple is by “Illuminating the Love of God”; by revealing or being a witness of the Love of God. 1 John 4 shows us that we, as Christians, should show love to others because God is love. Everything God does goes through His Love. God’s justice, mercy, grace, and even His wrath have to go through His love. Jesus did not merely come to save us but Jesus was sent through the divine motivation of Love as it is written “For God so loved… He gave”; Jesus is the written love letter to Humanity and Love is the Message!

Since God is love, and God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, dwells in us according to 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19 we have the ability to operate in God’s love. The same message of love that God gave us through His Son Jesus, we now send out through the Spirit of Christ that lives in us. You as a Young Disciple should love, must love and can love because God is love and God is in you!

I John 4 also tells us that we should love because it reflects our relationship with God. My wife and I do almost everything together and we spend a lot of time together. When we used to go out to restaurants I would always get chicken tenders because I loved chicken tenders and I was comfortable eating it. As I continued to hang out with my wife I began to try some of the different dishes she ordered. Now, I love want my wife loves to eat. My wife and I talk and laugh, and sometimes I find myself saying her little phrases and sometimes laughing like her. You usually act like who you hang around. It is the same with God. As you hang out with God in prayer, reading your word and in worship, you should see yourself acting more like God. You should see yourself operating more in love. God so loved the world, so you should love people too. God loves sacrificially, unconditionally and consistently, so you should too. Young disciples should love because it reflects your relationship with God.

Lastly, John shows us that Christians should love others because our love for God can only be real if you love other people. You can’t love God whom you’ve never seen if you don’t love people you see every day. If you want to measure how much someone loves God, observe how they love people. As you come to know love (God) you should love like love. If you don’t love all people, even your enemies then you do not love like love (God) because you don’t know love (God) for real.

It is my prayer that you would chose to love for God is love, it is a form of your witness of God who is love, and your love of God becomes real as you love others. Love is the message!

Rev. Max

Swag Like No Other: When Dad (God) Decided to Use His Hands

2010-08-31T08:56:00.000-04:00

Genesis 1:27- “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

If I bought you new Gucci shoes how would you treat them? How much value would you give to those shoes? Some would never play in them. Some would clean them every second to make sure they stay clean. You would make sure people stay hundreds of feet away so no one would step on your Gucci shoes. Why would you do that? Because you value the product because of who made them.

Then why do we treat ourselves like some thing made off the street? If you value Gucci then you should value yourself even more and have a sense of greatness when you look in the mirror because you are made in the image and likeness of Dad (God).

We wouldn’t play in our Gucci’s shoes but we allow people to play with our lives. We wouldn’t allow people to step on our Gucci shoes but we allow people to verbally step on and abuse who we truly are until we are so mentally disfigured that we live according to a false identity treating ourselves like cheap brand sneakers when we are God-made and blood bought!

You are made by the best! When you look at the creation and all its wonders, it can not compare to you! Realize that when Dad created the earth and the universe Dad created it with the “Word” and not His hands, but when Dad created YOU that is when He decided to put a personal touch on your life. Dad decided to put His branding on you when He created you in His image and His likeness.

“When Dad (God) decided to make you out of the dust of the earth, He took something that was virtually worthless and turned it into something of the highest earthly value. Then to make your creation even more extraordinary, Dad shared His every essence with you by breathing into you the sustaining force of life! With one breath, you became a vibrant spiritual being created in Dad’s image. Image signifies form. It’s not physical form that causes you to resemble Dad; it is your spiritual form. Dad made you a spiritual being with an earthly body. Likeness signifies function. You were created not just to look like Dad but also to act like Dad!” – Image to Likeness by Terry Warr

“So we are not a human being having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Terry Warr

So you must see the value of who you are. Soulja Boy talks about “Pretty Boy Swag”, but you have “Kingdom Swag”, “Swag from Dad!” You are greater than what you see in the mirror! You are greater than what people think! You are a product of the divine hands of God Almighty! Bill Gates couldn’t buy you! You are priceless for you have been made with eternal hands!

So do your relationships, behavior, and choices reflect your divine worth? Do your aspirations and expectations of yourself reflect the divine intention of Dad? Choose to walk in God’s likeness. Its swag like no other!

Rev. Max

Experiences That Impact Our Lives

2010-08-24T14:03:00.001-04:00

Do you know why you do what you do and why you are the way you are?

“The greatest choice you will ever make is your identity. Here is a critical question: Who or what shapes your life? In other words, whose image are you going to embrace as your true identity? I have shared four options: pain, people, parents, and possessions. You are faced with each one of these options every day. In fact, the reason I chose these options is the powerful impact they have in the lives of most people. “– Image to Likeness by Terry Warr

This is true. Pain, people, parents, and possessions shape our lives every day. One could even add one’s past to this list. Sometimes we identify ourselves by what we’ve done, places we’ve been and things we’ve said. These things have had an impact on not only our own lives, but others as well. How you define yourself is very important. Today, we identify ourselves by a lot of things, yet they are not the things that truly empower our lives and it is not the things that truly reflect who we are and who Dad (God) has created us to be. Our choices, relationships, attitudes, lifestyles, and aspirations would dramatically change if we had Dad as the primary influence on our lives. Our identity should not be determined by what we have done, what people say about us or have done to us, or what we have or what they think we should be. Our identity rest on who Dad is, who Dad says we are, and what we know about ourselves by knowing who Dad is in our lives.

As a military child, I had a military I.D. as a dependant because my privileges on the military base were “depended” upon who my mother was in the military. With this military I.D., I had certain rights and privileges. I was able to get on and off of the military base, go to all the stores and buy anything and I was permitted to participate in all of the events. If I didn’t have my I.D. or know who I was and used my I.D. that was based upon my mother being in the military, I would lose out on various privileges and my rights could be potentially violated. What I am saying is this: knowing who you truly are as Dad’s creation, created in the image and likeness of Dad, allows you to exercise your kingdom rights and privileges here on earth. The things you allow to limit you, would not limit you, if you really knew who you are. The people you allow to take advantage of you and the negative words they say about you that you allow yourself to live by, you wouldn’t live by if you know who you truly are. Get to know Dad today! Get to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior! You are not identified by people or things, but you can be Christ-identified with kingdom privileges with Christ as KING!

Rev. Max

New C.R.E.A.M. Christ Rules Everything Around Me

2010-08-16T14:59:00.002-04:00

Within our culture there is a stereotype against those who don’t have the “latest” clothes, sneakers and who aren’t up with the “latest” artists, songs, and dances. Our culture has made us materialistic and we have become identified by what we have and what people see on us instead what they see in us. So the culture tries to suggest, if you’re not Drake’s “Fancy” girl or if you don’t have Soulja Boy’s “pretty boy swag” then you are nobody. What one must realize is that we are not created in the image or likeness of the material, but we are in the image and likeness of the Maker. Our identity is not based upon the temporary our the cultures C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me, but we are identified by who Dad (God ) is and who He says we are! As believers, we have the New C.R.E.A.M (Christ Rules Everything Around Me)! So don’t be defined by the latest, but realize that you have be made for such a time as this, and that you are Christ-defined!! There is more to you than what they can see on the outside!! Begin to live your life from the inside out by living by the spirit and likeness of Dad! Share your thoughts…

Rev. Max
i2L Ambassador
http://www.imagetolikeness.com/

What Makeup Do You Wear??

2010-08-10T14:47:00.001-04:00

― Well, it is not my acting. I have been told countless times that my acting is great. But they say I don’t “look” the part. Most of the good parts go to women who….let’s just say they don’t look like me. So I have been trying different looks to see if I can fit in. To be quite honest with you, I think I am starting to lose myself in the process.‖ Page 33 of Image to Likeness by Terry E. Warr

―Hold your horses, my brother. That is all well and good. But your approach, while it is
noble, would have been the wrong approach. You see, the problem was deeper than the
makeup and the fake stuff. The problem was on the inside. You are concerned with style.
The problem isn‘t style; it is substance. It wasn‘t enough just to tell her to be who she was.
She needed to understand who she was before she could be who she was.‖ Page 33 of Image to Likeness by Terry E. Warr

What makeup do you wear? I know you are not auditioning for a part in a play, but all of us in some way are trying to find our “part” or “role” in life. Like the young lady, we have experienced some things in our journey that has made up believe that our “divine makeup”, how God created us, is not enough and we must put on other “makeup” to try to fit it. Like the young lady, we too have lost ourselves in the process and no longer able to identify the person in the mirror when we look into it. Who are you? Have you lost yourself under the makeup of the world like drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, your past, pain, relationships and disappointments? What makeup are you wearing to gain love, acceptance, happiness, popularity, and success? What things or people are using as the eyeliner of your vision, the concealer of your contentment, and the foundation of your faith? You don’t have to use the makeup that the world has but you can use the divine makeup that is already available to you! Post your comments, questions and/or experiences!

Rev. Max
(Get a copy of Image to Likeness at http://www.imagetolikeness.com/)

YDOC i2L Challenge Tuesday Nights

2010-08-02T13:28:00.000-04:00

Many young men and women are looking at themselves and the world in a broken mirror. Broken mirrors can distort the image that is in front of the mirror. One looking and standing before the mirror, not knowing that it is broken, can believe that what they see is true. There are various stereotypes, prejudices, negativities, lies, and painful experiences that have tainted and broken our internal mirrors and has given us the wrong perspectives concerning who we are and what we can do. The i2L Challenge in Terry E. Warr’s book Image to Likeness challenges us to see ourselves as God sees us and the purpose of why we are by giving us a biblical truths through a creative and climatic fiction. Enter the i2L challenge and share your broken mirror experience and how God has been in the process of repairing your distorted image. (If you haven’t entered the challenge, get your copy and begin your journey at www.imagetolikeness.com )

YDOC Tuesday Nights i2L Challenge

2010-07-27T10:56:00.000-04:00

Terry E. Warr’s book, Image to Likeness (i2L), challenges us to “live from the inside out.” So many youth are being defined by external experiences and the inner self, the one whom God created, is fading away. Who or what defines you? Does singing in the youth choir mean that you are a Christian? Does attending church make you a child of God? All those things we can see with our natural eyes, but the person we truly are is the person we can’t see. Are you close enough to God that you can call Him, “Dad” and He can call you, “son” or “daughter? “ Take the i2L Challenge and begin a journey that will transform your thinking about yourself and who God is to you. You will never see yourself the same again.

i2L Ambassador,

Rev. Max

www.imagetolikeness.com

YDOC Bible Study~ Dear Summer: Ending the Summer Time Pattern

2010-06-22T10:05:00.000-04:00

Summer time is here!! It’s getting hot!!! We all know what happens when the weather gets hot! People you didn’t see all year just pop up all of a sudden. People are comfortable wearing less clothing. People are out in the streets longer. During the summer time, you can count on more parties and with more parties you will encounter more people, more drinking, more drugs and more temptations! I don’t know about you, but the summer times used to be the hardest time of the year for me in my walk with God. It just seemed harder to say no, stay away and ignore some things and some people. I developed a pattern of sin and bad habits during the summer time. Do you share this experience? Do you experience a letdown of your guard and standards during the summer? Share your experiences and where you are at now? Where would you like to be this summer? What do you suggest to those who struggle during the summer? Post your comments. Then come back and continue reading.

The summer time is tough, but we have biblical principles and divine power to withstand temptations. The summer time is not exempted from and does not limit the truth of God’s word when it says, “Greater is He that is in you” (1 John 4:4) or “God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear” (1 Cor. 10:13). You can give God glory during the summer time! So much is lost and destroyed during the summer time and we live the rest of the year and sometimes our lives fighting or coping with the consequences of sin from the summer. It is time my brothers and sisters to change the pattern of our summer time experiences and create new patterns and new behaviors that will give God glory!! It’s time for you to let the summer time passions go, so write summer a letter letting summer know that you can’t do it anymore!! Dear Summer…..post the rest!

YDOC ONLINE BIBLE STUDY~ YOUTH & RELATIONSHIPS: SEEING WHAT'S REAL

2010-06-01T11:36:00.000-04:00

Youth and Adults alike find themselves in relationships and the relationships that they find themselves in are not what they think. The people we encounter on a “relationship” status are not who they say they are or portray themselves to be. If we are honest, we find ourselves changing to become what others want us to be. A lot of us loose our true selves in relationships. A lot of us get hurt by deception in relationships. We leave and come back again, why? They lied to you, cheated on you, talked about you and you go right back to them after they have clearly shown you no love and/or commitment, so what are you seeing? What are you really looking for? Share your experience.

YDOC Bible Study~ "The Proper Response to the Call: Upload into Your Destiny"

2010-05-25T14:19:00.001-04:00

This month we have discussed God’s Kingdom Agenda, His method of using man to expand the kingdom, and how God calls and equips you for your destiny. Tonight we will bring this series to an end with “The Proper Response to the Call.” We know God calls and we know God has a plan for us but what do we do? How should we respond? Read 1 Kings 3:1-15. How does Solomon respond to his new call as King over Israel? What are some of the things we can learn from his actions?

YDOC Bible Study~ The Theology of Avatar

2010-05-17T14:42:00.000-04:00

There is a plan and purpose for your life according to the mind of God! You are God's living thought! Everything that God had on His mind concerning you and what you shall become has been placed inside of you! This is similar to what we see in the movie AVATAR when the mind is transferred to the Avatar. As a Christian "Avatar", you must know your assignment and learn the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven. There is so much for us to learn as believers and you are called to grow in the way of Christ! Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus!"

YDOC Bible Study~ Prenatal Ordination

2010-05-11T13:38:00.000-04:00

There are things we experience after our birth that makes us question the purpose that God has given us before we were even born! There are a lot of young people who are searching for their purpose, who are running from their purpose, and who have spiritually aborted their purpose because of various reasons. The truth is we are a product of the hands, thoughts and mouth of God. Our very existence is not dependent upon what people say, what people do or what people think. As bad as your life may have been or is right now, your purpose and destiny is still attainable! You had your purpose before you were born! Before you ever experience any pain or any negativity, you already had a destiny. You can find and be who you truly are if you connect with God who has the true you! Don't live according to what has happened, live according to what has already been put in place before your very own birth! Stop living a lie and be who you were called to be!!!

Rev. Max

YDOC Bible Study~The Fight 4 You

2010-05-03T14:07:00.000-04:00

The Story of Joseph is a wonderful narrative that shows us that we can have dreams but there will be challenges everyday to kill that dream. It wasn't until Joseph had the dream that his brothers kidnapped him, put him in a pit and sold him to the Egyptians. It wasn't until Joseph had a dream that he found himself in a prison! Like Joseph, it wasn't until Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that evil decide to assassinate him. You have a dream, a purpose and a destiny. You are dealing with some things in your life because of that divine calland purpose from God because it’s a "Fight for You!" We are what we dream! We are what we purpose after and the enemy doesn't want you to know who you truly are and does not want you to fulfill your destiny! IT’S A FIGHT FOR YOU!!! Share some of your experience with adversity. What kind of things try to hinder you and keep you down?

YDOC Bible Study~ Spiritual Abortion

2010-04-27T11:47:00.001-04:00

Spiritual Abortion is when we terminate ourselves out of the birthing process of the Will and plans of God. There are many reasons why we commit spiritual abortion. Some commit spiritual abortion because of their age, height, appearance, and physical ability. Some terminate themselves from being used by God because of their family orientation; being a foster child, living in a single parent home, living with relatives other than their own parents, and living in an impoverish environment (hood, ghetto, projects, etc). Share some of your experience with the struggle and wrestling with the plans God may have revealed to you. Have you ever committed spiritual abortion? Have you ever try to deny the calling of God? Have you ever try to run from what God wanted you to do? Explain some of your reasons for opting out of the mission of the Messiah. Believe me, you and I can relate to some of the mighty people God has used throughout the Bible from Abraham to Paul. We will discuss more in Bible Study. Please post your experience.

Holla at a PReaCHA,
Rev. Max

YDOC Bible Study~ The Theology for Dealing with Haters

2010-04-19T12:14:00.000-04:00

How do you deal with negativity? How do you deal with frustrating circumstances that are caused by people who don’t like you? Do you live what they say? Do you give into the circumstances and loose hope? Does God have anything to say about these types of things? What does God have to say about haters, wicked people, and uncontrollable or unfair circumstances? Read Psalm 37, a psalm of David and post some theology for dealing with haters and unfair circumstances. David had a lot of haters. What does he suggest we do? Example: verse 1 says “Don’t fret.”

Why We Deceive: The Anatomy and Consequences of A Lying Tongue

2010-03-30T11:14:00.000-04:00

Some of us have created a false profile of ourselves for every day living and on the internet. We are deceiving people, making them think we are someone else, older than what we are or different from what is really true. Some of us have been victims of lies and deception. We entered into relationships with people who had a certain presentation of themselves the first few months and then they flipped the script on us. Now we are trying to recover. Some of us are trying to find our true and authentic selves. Others are trying to reclaim trust in dealing with people. Why do we deceive? How can we recover? What does the Bible say about deception and lying? Post your experiences and scriptures.

Scriptures to read: Proverbs 14:8, 25; 19:5, 9; Psalm 10:7; 34:13; 109:2

YDOC BIble Study: "Now Grow"

2010-03-24T12:25:00.000-04:00

This week, think about the areas in your life where you are spiritual weak like prayer, reading your Bible, and witnessing. God expects us to grow spiritual. As we are nurtured by sermons, worship, counseling and encouragement from our believers, God is looking for us to grow up in Him. Anything that stays the same is dead. Water that never moves, still water, creates bacterial. God wants you to be full of life! "Now Grow!"
Its time for you to join God's Spiritual Growth Gym. This week, take your weak areas and exercise them. Be intentional about picking a time to pray, read your word and witness then do it!!! If you like, make journal entries of your progress and from time to time reflect on your entries and see how your spiritual muscles have developed!

Maximizing Your Experience With God,

Rev. Max

Good Posture for Good Reception

2010-03-17T10:58:00.001-04:00

Read Exodus 3:1-10

What do you do when your cellular phone is experiencing bad reception? Some move to another area, walk around in circles, and wave their phone side to side, and some try to even position themselves in a better area if they are in a building. Well, that is similar to our reception and communication with God. We must place ourselves in a spiritual posture that will allow us to have good reception, so that God can speak and we may hear Him. We have too many things in our lives that hinder our reception. Some of our friends, activities we participate in and certain lifestyles hinder our reception with God. We have to remove some of these obstacles and posture ourselves in prayer, reading God's word, fasting, scripture mediation, holiness and worship, so we might hear from God. God wants to speak to us. God wants to reveal who He is, His heart, His Will and His plan and purpose for us. Take time this week and strive to posture yourself to hear from God!

"Playing House: Why It Hurts So Bad"~ YDOC Tuesday Night Bible Study Highlight

2010-03-15T11:28:00.000-04:00

OOOUUCCHHH!!! Tears falling down your face, it’s not physical; it’s an inner pain you feel inside. Torn, cut, broken, dismembered, sliced, severed, and tattered you sit and cry, cry, cry, cry… you see no blood but you’re experiencing internal bleeding. Lost, feeling like you are out of reach of healing… OOOOUUCCHH!!!! They said, “It’s over!” OOOUUCCHH!!! They said, “I never want to speak to you again!” OOOUUUCCHH!!! They said, “You’re not the one!” OOOUUCH!!! They said, “We’re done!” This is the break ups we experience, but it deeper than a break up. This is the feeling of relationships that have chosen to engage in premarital sex and now that relationship is over. “Why does it hurt so bad”? It’s not your normal experience of a break up because there are spiritual events that take place when you engage in premarital sex. 1 Cor. 6:15-16- Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” The sexual experience is two becoming one flesh. A relationship lead by God, to transition to marriage to be kept by God, finds itself on the safe operating table of becoming one flesh. Our premarital sexual experience is not God lead thus we find ourselves in a painful bloody mess.
We are in a society that enjoys playing house. We have male and females engaging in sex, which is what married couples are supposed to engage and as a result, many people find themselves hurt. You may not be with a prostitute, but the principle is this, when you have sex, you become ONE with that person. Marriages that are God centered (theo-centeric) will be kept by God and the two that became ONE will remain ONE in God. God does not keep as one, relationships that engage in premarital sex. God keeps God centered marriages. It hurts when you break up with your boy friend or girl friend you had sex because it feels like flesh is tearing and being cut. You both became one and because your union was not based upon God’s principles you find yourself bleeding from torn flesh (spiritually speaking). Let’s stop playing house. I know you want to be loved, but love does not have to experience that type of damage. God took that experience by loving you to the cross, taking your nails, cross, thorn and spear, bleeding for you. God chose to bleed for you to keep you from bleeding. Become one with God by following His Word and resist sexual immorality because it will only hurt you in the end. “There is a way which seems right unto a man but in the end there of is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25).

Highlight from this week's YDOC Bible Study "This is why I'm Hot"

2010-03-04T13:35:00.001-05:00

This past Tuesday, we realized that we were on our way to hell singing, "This is why I'm hot, this is I'm hot!", but God in His demonstration of His OWN love towards us, sent His ONLY Son Jesus Christ to die FOR us! He saved us from His wrath!! If you are a believer, you have been saved and God has given you a new life and a new song, "Amazing Grace!!"

God demonstrated His OWN love towards us. He didn't need persuasion or assistance; He possessed His own natural love towards us to save us. In fact, it would take His own love to decide to take our place, "Christ died FOR US" (Substitutionary Death).

Since Jesus died for you, why don't you live for Him? Galatians 2:20- “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Live for Christ...

Rev. Max

Bible Study Feb. 23, 2010

2010-02-22T14:55:00.000-05:00

Bible Study Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 at 7pm at First Baptist Church of Vienna! This is a must attend Bible Study! You will not think or be the same. We will look at clips and read the details of the punishment of Jesus Christ from trials to the crucifixion as we study the doctrine of Salvation (Soteriology). If you don'...t know how Jesus paid for your sins you will know by the time we are done and you will leave with a fresh understanding, conviction and love for the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf. I am watching it and studying now and my eyes are flooding! Bring Bible, notebook, pen, tissue and a heart to learn. This is a Youth Bible Study BUT yo!!! All are welcome to this one!! Really! Come on out! Bring a friend so they can get saved and renewed too!

Isaiah 53:5 He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.

Watch clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1eMNAQ4D5E

Responding to Jay-Z: Kingdom State of Mind

2010-02-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

When I heard Jay-Z line, “Jesus can’t save you life starts when the church ends”, I was shocked! I felt angry because I’m from New York, so of course I was a huge Jay supporter at one time then I was falling back from supporting Jay so much because I was falling more in love with Jesus but when I heard this I was like, “Yo Jay!! Son, you went too far now!” So my response to Jay-Z and for those who don’t know my Christ, here is my response:
JESUS CAN SAVE!!! John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (salvation). For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” Colossians 1:13-14 says, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 2:13-14, “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive tighter with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Ephesians 5:2:4-10, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Romans 5:8-9 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
Jigga, I can go on and on but the greatest verse or biblical translation is a living translation which is my own life. I was in sin and God saved me through His Son Jesus who is the living Christ, Son of the living God, the true God! Everyday no matter what I face, Jesus walks with me, Jesus keeps me and after all I have gone through having been from the streets of Brooklyn NY, I conclude that I am here today, enjoying life because of Jesus Christ and I am glad though from the Empire State, Jesus saved me from the corrupt Empire State of Mind and filled me with a Kingdom State of Mind!! Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you!” My Jesus has saved, is saving and will continue to save!
1 John 5:5 "Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? " Don't be deceived, Jesus saves!! Get your mind right before you get left!
The Streets are talking, and the Church is too!!
Holla back! Rev. Max Out! 1!

Responding to Jay-Z

2010-02-09T12:52:00.000-05:00

We play songs and sing songs usings words, phrases and ideas not realizing what we are actually saying. How many of us know that in Jay-Z song The Empire State of Mind featuring Alisha Keys, Jay-z in his third verse made the following statement: "Jesus can't save you life starts when the church ends." If you were Alisha Keys what would you have said to Jay-Z concerning your Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ? Would you have finished the song with Jay? Would you have just ignored it and not say anything? Using scripture references and your own experience respond to Jay-z's comments in the song Empire State of Mind concerning Jesus? Go to Blog and make your comments tonight?

Holla Back!

Rev. Max

Online Bible Study Feb. 2, 2010 Summary of Sin

2010-02-02T12:13:00.001-05:00

For the past month or so we have been discussing the doctrine of sin and we have been looking at how sin played out in King David's life particularly looking at the narrative of his dealings with Bathsheba and Uriah in 2 Samuel 11. Write a summary of what we have discussed concerning the doctrine of sin and what we learned from King David in 2 Samuel 11. Give some of your own insight and give your experience with resisting sin. Post your summary for comments. We will review all posts and comments on Feb. 9, 2010.

Roof Experiences

2010-01-19T20:41:00.001-05:00

Tonight we discussed David's roof experience and how he fell from the roof and sinned with Bathsheba. We all have some type of "roof" experience. Post your "roof" experience and tell us how you dealt with it. Remember honesty is the key to our growth and transformation.
With the Love of Christ,
Rev. Max

ROLL CALL!!!

2010-01-04T16:53:00.000-05:00

Hey young people,

Need to get a head count of everyone who is coming out to Bible Study Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2009 at 7pm. Trying to get food for Bible Study so PLEASE let me know ASAP.

HoLLa at a PreACha!

Rev. Max

Tuesday Night YDOC Bible Study 7pm Starting Jan. 12, 2010

2009-12-24T10:27:00.000-05:00

Youth ages 13-18 and anyone who would like to come out and grow spiritually and biblically on Tuesday nights @ 7pm at First Baptist Church, Vienna, Virginia we will have Young Disciples of Christ (YDOC) Bible Study. I encourage you to tell all your friends as a means of empowering their lives. There will be great teaching, real talk discussions and a lot of fun. Bring your Bibles, issues, and questions as we get ready to have a Real Word confronting Real Issues encounter. You don't want to miss all the hot topics, so come out and again bring a friend.

Holla at a PrEaChA,

Rev. Max