Discipleship

Hello World!

 It is so great to be back and writing blogs consistently given I've set apart some time to write more. I hope everyone is doing great and having a God blessed week. A special thanks to the people that have been keeping me in prayer over the past week about my focus and growth in Christ. You all have my genuine appreciation and gratitude. God has taught me so much just over the past few months and it has been great to see His sovereignty in my life and how gracious He is despite the fact I do not deserve His grace at all.
  Today, I wanted to take some time to write about something that has recently impacted my life in a very amazing way. One of the most encouraging relationships a Christian can have outside of the Lord is a discipleship relationship. Not only is it beneficial, it is actually commanded in the Scriptures that we, as believers in Christ, pursue relationships that encourage us in our faith and further God's kingdom. One of the most popular verses in Scripture that speak about our Lord's command to disciple others is found in  Matthew 28:19 which says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". This verse is not a request, suggestion, idea, or plea. It is an imperative, authoritative command from Christ with the purpose of communicating to us how important it is that we follow this command. I remember always thinking of this verse as a call to evangelism or a call to encourage baptism. I rarely thought of what it actually means to be a true disciple. After doing some research, the word disciple means to embrace or assist in the spreading of another person's teachings. According to the definition of discipleship, we are not followers of Christ unless we embrace and spread the truth of God's Word with others.
  For me this is a very convicting passage of Scripture. How much time do I spend time talking or socializing with people and not even broach the topic of my Lord's wonderful gift of grace or the gospel? How do I work amongst people that have absolutely no belief in my Savior not take advantage of every opportunity I get to share the gospel with them? Of course there have been various occasions in which I have shared my faith with others or evangelized publicly. I have indeed obeyed my Lord's commandment to witness to others. But have I done it as consistently as I can possibly do? Have I  managed to avoid a conversation with an unbeliever due to the fact that maybe it would cause a conflict? These are questions that as believers, I think we have all been guilty of not focusing on Christ-like conversations and relationships as much as we should. For me, this call to discipleship from Christ is an inspiration. If we are not carrying out Christ's last command to witness of His amazing love and grace, we are not achieving the purpose for which God has left us on this earth. We as Christians definitely need to be fired up and passionate to share His word with the world no matter what the consequences. Easier said than done, nevertheless, with the proper mindset towards life and having a strong desire to obey my Lord's commandment I will, if I am truly saved, "go therefore, and make disciples". 
  We are not only encouraged in Scripture to make disciples, but to be disciples as well. Ephesians 4:11-16 says, "And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."

 There are quite a few ways we as Christians can be encouraged and discipled in the ways of Christ. One is through attending a church that teaches sound doctrine right out of the Bible. By being a regular attender of a solid body of mature believers who love and want to grow in Christ, one can gain so much knowledge and discernment in the ways of the Lord. Another way to grow in discipleship is through relationships with people who honestly care about your spiritual well-being and are mature themselves in their faith. Some may ask, "How do I know which person I should ask to disciple me?" For me I have found that if I am socializing with people who do not truly live out the God-focused lifestyle, I will never grow in my spiritual life. In fact, it is more likely that I will be influenced in a negative way and end up getting more distant from Christ. When looking to be discipled, I believe it to be absolutely important to choose somebody that you feel resembles Christ as much as possible
 Another important thing about discipleship is honesty. If a person you are discipling or being discipled by can't talk about the true genuine issues of the heart, you will never grow from that relationship. Without honesty, people don't really know how to keep you accountable in your walk with Christ and neither do they know how to best pray for you. It is key in discipleship to be completely honest and to make that person somebody you feel comfortable telling your more uncomfortable sins to. So yeah in addition to all of that, one might wanna make sure that there discipler is trustworthy as well as being a spiritual role model.
  It has been an amazing experience being in a discipleship relationship myself over the last few months as I have seen relevant growth in my life due to accountability and prayer (To God be the glory). I encourage anyone who has not pursued discipleship before, to ask somebody you respect, maybe a parent or older/mature friend in the faith to help you in your pursuit of holiness.

 And that is it for today! I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week and until next time, God bless! 

Back with a word

Hello World!

 It has been a painfully long time since I have sat down and wrote anything for my blog. I genuinely hope I haven't lost whoever may have been viewing my articles before. However, I get a lot of enjoyment out of blogging anyway even if nobody is reading. Just a quick update on things going on in my life!
 I am still working at In-N-Out Burger while looking for full-time work. Life has been extremely busy due to that and the Lord has blessed me with a raise and growth in my knowledge of the company. It is very hard work at times but I get through it with God's help and diligence. Also as of late, I have really entered a whole new stage in life. A stage in which I have been more consistent with my pursuit of holiness. I feel like I have been in a very vulnerable position for a long time when it comes to my growth spiritually. I have taken my focus off of Him and subjected my attention and desires to temporal and immoral things. This time in life has been a time to really get close to the Lord and forsake my fleshly desires. In fact, that is actually what life is really all about. If we allow ourselves to love things and people more than loving the God who made both, we find that life is very unsatisfying and miserable. God does not want us to live lives of misery. He wants us to achieve lasting happiness and joy in Him. I definitely had not been focusing on Him the way I should have been but thankfully the Lord has convicted me of this. It is hard to be so focused on God in a world that calls for your 100% attention to other things..however, this is no excuse. If there is anyway you can be praying for me this week(and the weeks to come) it would be in the area of focus. Being so determined to honor the Lord in my thoughts and actions that I achieve true happiness and a life that is successful in God's eyes.
 So how can I be praying for you? Are you struggling with finding your joy solely in the Lord as well? I believe we all do. Satisfaction can be found in so many things. Money. Relationships. Even things such as the way we spend our time. But when we sacrifice those things for the purpose of getting closer in our relationships with our Lord and Savior, we find that He is more valuable than anything else. I hope this testimony of the last few months of my life have been an encouragement to you! God bless you and hopefully I will be much quicker than last time with my last blog!

Hello again world!

Hello world!

  After about a five month break, it is time to resume blogging! and what about you ask? Well the first thing I wanted to make clear is that though it has been a long while since my last post, the mission of this blog has not changed..it is still my desire to talk about biblical issues on here as well as make this blog about sports related news as well..

                                                                             NBA

  Today I wanted to speak a little bit about some things that have transpired as of late (sports news, prayer requests, future biblical posts, etc.)  First bit of news that is rather old but relevant to the NBA world is that the Miami Heat won the championship this year..this marks their second year straight winning it and I know there are ALOT of haters out there but anyone who knows me well knows that I enjoy watching them win...its probably more likely that I am intrigued to see if LeBron James will win as many rings as Jordan..I dont think he will but personally I think he will go down as one of the greatest to ever play..and I dont think there are a lot of people that disagree..This year of NBA should be interesting...Andrew Bynum signed with the Cavaliers, Dwight Howard signed with Houston, Doc Rivers became the coach of Lob City(yes...Chris Paul stayed on as the point guard in order for it be Lob City) and Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) made a deal with New York. Who do I think was the best acquisition of the year so far? Tough to say, but I do believe Doc Rivers was a great move for Los Angeles..he is a proven winner. Its going to be hard to imagine the Celtics without his presence but what he brings to the table for Lob City is discipline..Rivers loves fundamental basketball and who better to facilitate that in his team then Chris Paul? My prediction for the Clippers this year is that they will make it to the Western Conference Finals only to fall to Oklahoma City (who by the way are going to come back with a vengeance after being eliminated by the Grizzlies last year due to All-Star Russell Westbrook being injured)..and that is all I have to say about the NBA for today! Time to move on to a better, more physical sport!

                                                                              NFL

I get really excited about every NFL season. There is almost nothing better than watching your favorite players and teams hit the gridiron on a beautiful ( or not so beautiful) Sunday morning/night..pretty much anyone who knows me realizes that I am a St. Louis Rams fan and believe me, that takes commitment these days..It feels like forever since the Rams last made it to the playoffs though it was only 2004..the Rams offseason moves include acquisitions tight end Jared Cook, All-Pro left tackle Jake Long, and the troubled Titus Young who is no longer even an option after an incident inwhich he was arrested twice in one night.
 Now for what I think about these acquisitions as a hardcore fan...I'm going to be honest about Jared Cook. He was a waste of money and a poor acquisition by head coach Jeff Fisher..I look at Cook's career and I see 4 years of inconsistent play..The guy has ONE year of catching just 49 balls..I just feel that Fisher brought Cook to the Rams because he used to coach Cook and thinks he can do much better with a fresh start..I hate to be the skeptic when it comes to my team but I find the former Titan to be yet another bum the organization has signed out of desperation..they hardly ever sign free agents that are high in value. To me this shows a lack of discernment on behalf of the owner Stan Kroenke. He has to do a better job at making sure his team is adding winners and not losers to the team.
 I am not half as upset about the signing of Jared Cook as I am about the trade done with the Detroit Lions for Titus Young. Titus Young statistically has potential to be a great wide receiver in the league. He posseses great hands, speed, route running and he can even make a few nifty moves with ball in his hands..however, the only thing stopping Titus Young from achieving NFL greatness is Young himself. It is very well known that this guy has issues when it comes to staying out of trouble..not long after the Rams signed him, 9 days to be exact. It was very apparent that Titus didnt play well with others from the very beginning..he sucker punched teammate Louis Delmas in practice while in Detroit and when he was moved to the Rams there was fear that he wouldnt get along with a player very similar to him in Janoris Jenkins (who happens to be his defender at the defensive back position) After being arrested twice in one night, Young was cut from the Rams and he didnt even know about it until almost the end of his stay in jail. With that being said, its pretty obvious that Fisher wasn't thinking very clearly about the kind of player he was signing and he paid for it.
 The one acquisition I was in love with from the beginning, was left tackle Jake Long. Long is a proven player in the league and one of the hardest players to get past if you're a defensive end. He is almost certain to bring a very much needed confidence to a young offensive line and no doubt Sam Bradford will sleep much better knowing this guy will be protecting his blind side...

                               Bible, prayer requests, and future biblical topics

My next blog will be titled "Focus on the Lord" and it is an article breaking down how if we keep our focus where it should be and rely on the Lord for every need we have, He will provide for us..the main theme of the message will be found in Romans 8:28, but I dont wanna steal my own thunder..as for today please be praying for my pursuit of holiness..as I have been examining myself and the way I represent Christ, I realize that I can do a MUCH better job. The Lord has been showing me things that I haven't seen before and He is leading me to repentance. I also desire prayer with my job..lately I have been working hard and just focusing on being a Godly employee at work and I want to continue to prove myself so that I may succeed in the company! That is it for today! Bye All!

Speech

Hello world!

 Feels like its been a while since I last wrote my blog but today I am back at it with the intention of discussing another biblical subject...a very important subject called speech. Why write a blog about speech you ask? Answer. It is perhaps one of the biggest ways to glorify God and it is one of the biggest ways to dishonor God at the same time. Speech is a powerful thing. People just don't realize sometimes how important speech is to God. He has given us tongues and the ability to speak for a reason. In this blog we will ask the questions "How do we offend God with our speech?" and "How can we best honor the Lord with everything we say". We will answer these questions using the Scriptures...

I. What would be considered offensive speech?

 Ephesians 5 is the one of the best chapters in perhaps of all scripture that paints the perfect picture of what kind of talk we are to avoid as believers in Christ Jesus..."Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.   But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;  and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.  For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
  So what is this verse saying? How does it communicate to us what we should or should not be saying? Verses 1-3 very much stress the importance of Christ-likeness. We are to walk in love just as Christ loved us and we are not to be impure or greedy. Verse 4 is where we can really see what the Bible says about the way we speak. There must be no filthiness, silly talk, or coarse jesting...now what defines filthiness, silly talk and coarse jesting? I believe we all know what silly talk is... it is anything said insincerely that is a violation of God's Word. Now let's not get crazy over this. The Bible is not saying that is never okay to joke..but when it comes to making jokes at other people's expense, or joking in a way that is deceptive, the Word of God is clear about the fact that this isn't Christ-like behavior. Filthiness. Crudeness..immorality..foul speech. These parts of speech strongly resemble that of unbelieving people. Coarse jesting is just the same...joking about sinful things, making suggestive gross comments, and saying anything that even comes relatively close to a curse is a sin against our holy Lord. Ephesians 4:29 says, " Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." These scriptures are very self-explanatory. We are to be wholesome with our speech and we are most definitely to be different than the world. How will people know that we are different and serve a different master if we talk just the way they do! It is a horrible testimony when we joke about sin and inappropriate things, when we lie in the name of joking and sarcasm, and when we decide that we want to poke fun at others. This message is for all of us. There is not one Christian who will ever master this completely but with the help of the Holy Spirit we can definitely do a lot better than what we do now..

II. How can we honor the Lord with what we say?

 The Lord is a holy God that cares for our righteousness. He wants us to use every opportunity we have in life to say the right things and glorify Him with our lips. When Ephesians 4:29 says "Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth" it is a way we can avoid using language that is offensive to God, but also the Word says "but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." Rather than tearing others down, making crude jokes or doing anything that would dishonor the Lord with our speech, we are to replace these sinful habits of speech with Godly habits. Building up others. Encouraging one another in righteousness. Using our speech to preach the gospel to others. This is what God has intended for us from the beginning. That we would be holy as He is holy and honor Him in everything....

III. Application

 How can be best apply this to our lives? Does this mean we can't tell jokes? Does this mean we cannot be sarcastic? Does it even mean that substituting other words in place of cuss words is wrong? The answer to all these questions is....do what you know to be right. If one knows that sarcasm is going to hurt somebody's feelings or that it is going to dishonor the Lord in its use (for sarcasm can be very funny but yet very rude at times), it should not be done. Same thing goes for crude jokes and cuss word substitution. When we substitute the F bombs with freaking and four letter S words with "Crap" our language and heart attitude is not right. All we are doing is cussing in our hearts and to joke around with such substitution words is also somethign that does not honor the Lord. The Lord only wants our holiness and purity of speech. We are free in His name to proclaim the gospel and when we are presented with opportunities, a lot of the time we are horrible examples because we don't speak any differently than the world.. even if we are not cussing or being blatantly crass, we have the responsibility of spreading the love of Christ even through every word we say. Not for a minute do I consider myself free of this sin in any way. I was recently convicted about my speech again during a family devotion time about two weeks ago. It was a good reminder and we all need them..especially in this crucial area of our lives where we have amazing opportunities to honor the Lord daily.

And that's a wrap! Please keep my family and I in prayer as we prepare to move on the 23rd and don't be shy! Comment! Bye all!

Matthew 18 Confronting Sin Biblically

Hello world!

   It is February 8th and today's blog will be talking about another biblical topic..and that would be confronting sin biblically. We will be asking questions such as what kind of sin should be confronted? How do I confront others in a way that is not offensive? What if others don't want to be in a relationship with me because I confronted them? These are all very good questions that I intend to answer in this post...lets look into the Scriptures and see what they have to say on the matter.

I. How often should we confront sin?

  Matthew 8:15- "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.  "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.  "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."   
  Wow...that is a mouthful. What does this passage of scripture tell us as believers? Observing the first part of the verse we see that it tells us, "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private;" The first thing we see in this verse is the part where it says "If your brother sins"...does this mean anytime someone sins we should say something to them? We as believers know that we are constantly sinning..we sin all the time. We never take a vacation from it and we constantly offend people without even realizing it. So should we ever take a break from confronting others sins...the answer is obviously yes. If a person is always confronting someone to the point where everything a person does gets confronted..the person can't ever get into the habit of repenting by themselves!
  So what should we actually do? Well there are two times we as Christians most definitely should confront our fellow brothers or sisters. The first situation in which we should do so, is when a brother or sister offends us personally on a regular basis. Why should we confront when this happens? Typically when a person offends us it can tend us to make us angry. When it is on a consistent basis we sometimes even get feelings of murder in our hearts over the constant offenses. We as Christians aren't to be angry or resentful but we are to be merciful and gracious. There is never anything wrong with letting a person know that they hurt your feelings..it will happen all the time. To avoid keeping resentment and bitterness in our hearts, the Lord wants us to talk to the person who offended us about it. 
 The other situation in which  this is practical is when you notice a CONTINUAL pattern of sin. A pattern of sin that could destroy a person's relationship with the Lord. This isn't an issue with preference..this is an issue of dishonoring the Lord consistently. Failure to confront people in sin when faced with these scenarios doesn't help the person in sin and it puts us in a situation where we are sinning out of a lack of courage to do what the Lord wants us to do. 

II. Privacy of Confrontation

  "Show him his fault in private"....people who offend us may or may not offend us in public. Sometimes it can be in front of a lot of people and sometimes it may be in a one-on one conversation. If it is in front of a number of people, the scripture clearly instructs us in this verse that we are not supposed to make known the sin in front of others. We are to pull this person aside and talk to him or her privately. It can't be any more clear than that people....

III. When they don't listen?

 Let's face it. Pretty much all of us are really prideful people. When someone confronts us on a personal issue they have with something we've said or done we are not always ready to admit that we are wrong. In fact, a lot of the time, we can perhaps even view the person who is confronting us as being a nag! Let me just say that this is the absolutely WRONG attitude to have as believers. We are not only to listen to what a person confronting us has to say, but we are also to respect the fact that they are coming to us in the first place if their motive is to help us be more holy! I think that there are many times in which someone will say something about our behavior to us and we will deny it rather than taking a step back and examining ourselves! We need to be humble. Humble and willing to change for the glory of Christ. 
 When people don't listen, Matthew 18 gives us instruction,  "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.  "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." We are to do whatever we can to make sure that the relationship between us and the person that has offended us is reconciled in a biblical way. We are to deal privately the entire time until it has reached a point of unrepentent sin. This process is very serious to the Lord even to the point that He commands us to church discipline or "put out" those who are unwilling to repent of transgression. We are to treat this person as a "tax collector".
  Its just yet another reminder that the Lord does not take sin lightly..especially when it comes to the holiness of those in the church body.

IV. How do I confront in a way that doesn't offend? 

   Another thing we have to deal with when it comes to confronting others...not all ends well. As we have already seen, failure to address or repent of continual sin or offenses results in serious consequences! Fact of the matter is, there is usually always a way to say something in the most loving way possible. We need to be kind and Christ-like in our approach. If we are really really eager to confront someone about something then it's probably not a good idea to tell them right away. We need to take a step back examine our heart and tell the person when we feel like our heart motive is right. We should enter every confrontation only seeking the holiness of the person you are talking to. Sadly, some people are very abrasive and might treat you badly for confronting them even if you are coming to them lovingly. I think we as people can be very afraid for this very reason. We don't want our relationships with a person to end because of sin. We even more so truthfully don't want to be labeled as legalistic and we don't want to face hostility. What we often forget as Christians, is that what men think of us doesn't matter. What really matters is that we honor the Lord with our conduct and that we are honest with our brothers and sisters in the Lord about the sin issues we observe. Regardless of how people respond, we need to be faithful to our Lord and confront those who need to be confronted.


That is all for today everyone! I really do hope these blogs are helpful and informative. My biggest desire through all this blog writing is that I (through what I type into my posts) will glorify the Lord greatly and put into my posts only information that will benefit people spiritually. I have grown a lot through these studies and I really hope this is the case when I decide to write on biblical topics :D Bye all! Don't be shy...comment if you have any questions or things that you wanted to add! God Bless!    

Ravens beat Niners!

Hello World!

 Not too long ago, I had written a blog predicting the winner of the Super Bowl this season and many of you most likely remember that I had predicted the 49ers to win. Thankfully I was wrong! What a game it was! A game of unpredictability and passion. It was a game in which both teams fought hard and the result was a game that came down to every last second. So how did the Ravens do it? How did they manage to halt one of the best offenses in the league led by Colin Kaepernick? Also what was the reason for the 49ers defeat? Could they have done things differently? Let's break down the game and analyze perhaps one of the best Super Bowl games ever played...

I. Ravens Strong First Half

  The Baltimore Ravens started the game with a defensive stop on the 49ers and then quickly afterwards, quarterback Joe Flacco connected on a pass with wide receiver Anquan Boldin in the end zone to make the score 7 to 0. 49ers got the ball back and drove down the field only to come up with three points. From that point on it was stiff defense by both teams really showing what this match really was. A defensive battle between two teams that play defense very well. There wasn't too much more than that to say about the 1st quarter for both teams. Momentum was on the Ravens side as they carried the ball into the 2nd quarter.
  In the 2nd quarter momentum really picked up for the Ravens. Flacco was completing pass after pass into the secondary of the 49ers. Flacco moved his team down the field and scored again! This time to Travis Pitta the tight end. The onslaught continued for the 49ers defense. Throughout the entire 2nd quarter the secondary struggled to contain the offensive attack of the Ravens. All momentum was being drained from them..they literally didnt have an answer on either side of the ball. The Ravens scored again on a deep bomb to Jacoby Jones and the score was 21 to 6 going into the half.

II. 49ers rebound

 Heading into the third quarter the 49ers had very little hope of a comeback. Their defense was struggling. Their offense couldn't move the ball. They had absolutely nothing going for them in this big game. It got worse. Right as the second half began, Jacoby Jones sprinted out of the end zone with the ball and ran 109 yards for a touchdown! If there was ever a death blow it was this. The 49ers were already feeling bogged down by points, but after this kickoff return, I personally though the game might as well be over.
 The 49ers got the ball back. It seemed as if this game was going to really get out of hand and turn into a blowout...then the craziest thing happened. The Superdome lights suddenly flickered and turned off. Half of them. Officials halted the game and it was by far the strangest thing I have ever seen in a big game like this. Players came off the field and referees scrambled around trying to get the lights on. It took forever! By forever I mean like almost an hour. With all of this time to just stand around and think about all that happened the 49ers looked very focused all of the sudden. The long break from the game enabled the Niners to take a step back and see what they need to do. The super strong momentum the Ravens had before had been vanquished with the lights.
 The minute the lights turned on, the 49ers went to work. A quick touchdown was scored on a pass from Kaepernick to Crabtree. And so the Ravens slide began. The 49ers unleashed some heavy hits on Joe Flacco causing some incomplete passes that stalled their drives. Kaepernick continued to thrive. He drove the 49ers down the field again and Frank Gore punched it in for another score. The game continued to slide backwards for the Ravens as the 49ers gained momentum.
 The 4th quarter began and Kaepernick was getting closer...closer to being the first quarterback to overcome a deficit of 22 points in a Superbowl. Kaepernick ran in it in himself for the 49ers and the score became 31 to 29 in a matter of time. Baltimore kicked a field goal making it 34 to 29. The 49ers had one drive. They could either be Super Bowl Champs..or allow themselves to succumb to the tall task ahead of them. The Ravens defense led by Ray Lewis was determined to get their stop. Kaepernick drove down the field again and got them to the red zone. And he had a plan. Throw the ball to their best receiver Michael Crabtree on 4th down to take the lead! He hiked the ball looked to the end zone and threw it up for his big man...the ball hit the turf as Crabtree couldnt get there in time due to the fact he had been grabbed by the Ravens defender. No flag was thrown and Baltimore closed out the game with a sigh of relief. The Ravens are world champions!

III. What could the 49ers have done to beat Baltimore?

The 49ers had some big moments that they needed to seize. Colin Kaeprnick did not play very well..the defense allowed Flacco to throw 3 touchdown passes and move the Ravens offense up and down the field without a problem. These are things the 49ers needed to prevent from happening in order to win. The Ravens simply played better and more disciplined. They won because they played smarter. The 49ers will most liekly be contenders again next year and for sure they will be looking to redeem themselves after the poor play in this Super Bowl. Had it not been for the power surge which allowed them to regain momentum...this game wouldnt have been close.

Well people that is it for today! My next blog will be on another biblical topic..but I cant reveal what it is just yet! Until then, bye all!

What is Christian freedom?

Hello World!

 The month of February is here and I am so excited! Yet another month in which there will most likely be many exciting occurences. I know for me, I have a move coming up this month in which I will be moving from Los Angeles to Lancaster on the 23rd. Just yet another thing to be thankful for and the Lord is for sure working all things out for His glory!

 So its been a little while since my last blog which was on the NBA MVP but today I want to focus on yet another biblical topic. The title of this article should explain what exactly will be discussed. What is Christian freedom? This is a very good question that I don't think a lot of Christians  truly know the answer to..let's take a look into the Scriptures to see what it has to say about our freedom in the Lord!

I. What are we as Christians free from?

Galatians 5:13 says, "For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty." Jesus said in John 8, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," and verses found in Romans 6 through 8 are constantly speaking to us about our freedom from the law. We are indeed free in Christ but many might wonder what exactly are we free from? Romans 6 has the answer. Romans 6:6 says "knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin." After reading this verse it is very clear to see that what we are saved from is from sin. Before we became saved as Christians, we were "dead in our trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1) and enslaved to it. Without the Lord we were just like every other person living unrighteously and unable to live holy lives. Freedom from sin is what makes us alive and able to function as believers. Without the Lord and the freedom He provides, we would all be destined to hell.

II. What does this freedom mean?

 Some people equate freedom with being able to do whatever you want. To feel unstoppable. To feel like the choice is always yours! Is this definition of freedom true? Not in the slightest! Scripture says in Romans 6:1-7, " What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." The Bible is very clear. We are not free to do whatever we please. Just because we have freedom in Christ doesn't mean go out and do whatever you please. Honestly speaking, I think that all Christians at times abuse their freedom in Christ by having a mindset of  "a little bit of sin isn't going to hurt. After all...I'm free in Christ" This is a complete mistranslation of what the Word of God says. We are not to continue sinning just because the grace of God abounds. We are to realize this freedom as an opportunity to honor the Lord not to live the life we want. A life that isn't being lived to the glory of God is a life enslaved to sin. 

III. Are there any special freedoms that Christians possess?

 Some people may be asking at this point, "Do we have any special freedoms?" The answer is yes. Yes we do. We have the freedom to choose God over sin. Non-believers scoff at this idea of freedom. They believe that to be truly free, you can't have boundaries. What they do not realize is that they are addicted to acts of immorality and no matter how hard they try, they can't escape the coming judgment. Those who practice immorality, murder, thievery, homosexualism,slander, violence, etc. will feel like they can do anything they want for a short while, but sin always has its consequences. We as believers need to realize we are not free to sin but slaves to God and we should never envy those who practice lawlessness and seem to get away. We as believers possess true freedom. Freedom so amazing, it gives us the ability to honor the Lord with our thoughts and actions.

That's it for today folks! I will be writing another blog the day of the Super Bowl to talk about the game and another one very soon discussing another biblical topic! Bye all!