Spreading the Word (Not What you Think)

(Psst. It’s not by sharing verses on Facebook.)

Seriously, it’s a pet peeve of mine, when all people do is share verses on Facebook instead of actually talking about what the Bible is saying. Like, yeah, verses are great, but you have to understand them and their application.

And you can’t share God’s Word with other people by just repeating it like a parrot.  It will mean absolutely nothing to non-believers. They don’t read verses and think “Wow! That’s so amazing. God is great. My life is changed.” No, they challenge them. And if all you can do is give them more verses instead answering the question in a practical way, you will never reach anyone.

It’s different if you’re dealing with a Christian. If THEY won’t accept verses in context then something is wrong with their faith or their perspective on things. It’s God’s answer book to us. As a Christian, you either believe all of the Bible or you don’t. You can’t pick and choose.

With that being said, my mom and I read John 4: 27-42 today. It was Jesus finishing up with the Samaritan woman at the well and how he changed the lives of all these Samaritans. Pretty awesome stuff.

Jesus said that His first priority was to do the Will of God, always. He denied himself food and rest in order to talk to people about God.

He foretold the revival/conversion in Samaria, which was pretty epic since it was the Samaritans He was talking about.

A cool thing that people don’t seem to realize is that Jesus knew everything about this adulterous, sinful woman and still loved her. He’s like that with us. No matter what you’ve done in your past, God loves you and is ready to forgive you, You just have to ask and repent.

Jesus delighted in His work more than anything in the world. He loved it more than taking care of himself. Jesus got so excited about telling people about God that His disciples couldn’t help but get excited with Him.

Near the end of this passage He used a metaphor of harvest time for spreading the Word of God, which is why I started out my blog post the way I did. By using this little metaphor, He told the disciples that they shouldn’t be waiting for a harvest time to come. It was harvest time now. He was telling them not to wait to tell people about God, that you can do it anytime and the best time is now.

Also, when reaping the harvest, everyone must do His share. If you don’t do the work, you don’t get the benefits. No free stuff. Work.

Now, I don’t believe that works get you to Heaven, but Jesus said there was a reward in heaven for people who spread His word, so obviously it’s important. You can’t rely on others to do your part though. You have to get out for yourself and share the Word. You have to do more than parroting Scripture, however. Jesus didn’t do that. It made it relevant, applicable. We have to do the same.

As always, I pray that I am in the right to say this, but I believe God has put these issues on my heart for a reason. I have felt led to blog about sharing the Word, and my Bible study this morning was conveniently on that exact topic, so it seems like this is what God wants me to talk about.

Please consider the words I have said and let God change your heart if it needs to be.

Adultery and Living Water

The Samaritan Woman at the Well. John 4: 4-26

First of all, to all the people who have tried to use this against me, Jesus pointed out the woman’s sin almost right off the bat.

He told her how she was sinning.

Ok, let me start at the beginning. A Samaritan and a Jew walk up to a well. No, this isn’t the start of a bad joke I promise. The Jew talks to the Samaritan, which is crazy, because Jews just don’t do that. It’s “below them.”

She can tell He is a Jew and is super confused. She talks to Him anyway.

Jesus asks for a drink of water and she asks how a Jew could ask for anything from a Samaritan.

Jesus replied by saying that if she knew who she was talking to, she would’ve asked for water back, the kind that completely satisfies your thirst.

I like how Jesus really drew people in with the way he spoke. He was all mysterious and wise and weird, and it made people ask more questions, get involved in the discussion. He was a very talented speaker.

So, then He explains how this water quenches all thirst and the woman’s like, ‘well give me some so I don’t have to haul water all the time. It’s messing up my back.’

Jesus replies with ‘go get your husband and come back.’

I imagine this made the woman a little fidgety, if she had any clue at all who she was talking to. She admits that she has no husband.

Jesus tells her she was right the say that because she has had, in fact, FIVE husbands (no way all those men died) and pointed out that she was living in adultery.

If you don’t believe divorce and remarriage is adultery then read Romans 7:2 and Matthew 5:32. I can give a couple more references if you still don’t believe the Bible.

This. Is. Important. He tells her straight up that she is an adulterous woman. There was no sugarcoating, no super-sweet “I love you but you really shouldn’t be doing this…”

NO

Jesus was like, “You’re living in sin. Cut it out.”

She realized He must be a prophet and He starts telling her that the Samaritans are wrong in worshipping what they do not know and that soon people will worship in spirit and in truth.

A couple things to point out here. First, historically Samaritans worshipped idols AND had a fear of the Lord. They tried to mesh their culture with the Jews’ and cover all the bases. But it doesn’t work that way.

Believe it or not, that’s happening in today’s world, the modern day Church. People pick and choose what they want to keep from the Bible (mostly verses out of context and a supposed “faith”) but at the same time they worship the world and it’s idols, such as science and the word of people instead of God’s Word.

Jesus said people must worship in spirit and truth. Several times the Bible refers to the Word of God as truth. Seriously, take the Bible seriously. It is super important!

I realize that I need to work on the part where I show people how God can fix things, but the first step is pointing out the wrong, the sin. Warning against it. Trying to steer other Christians clear of it.

I do NOT see many Christians doing that at all. I know this theme pops up a lot in my blog, but I’m very passionate about it. Really, what’s more important than trying to lead people closer to Christ?

I pray that people don’t only challenge my words, but that they make people think. It seems like too many people just want to argue with me and don’t actually take the time to consider that what I say might actually be right. Don’t count me out just because I’m young. Maybe I’m still clinging to a scrap of child-like faith that others have already discarded as juvenile.

I try my hardest to take the Word of God seriously, literally, and I look to it for answers. I don’t know a better source for answers. Please, fellow Christians, instead of arguing with me right off the bat, pray about it, read the Bible on the subject, and then see if there is really something that I’m doing incorrectly.

Thank you so much for reading!

A Collection of Problems

I get frustrated pretty easily. Not angry, but frustrated.Things that frustrate me:

People who can’t take a joke.

Pro-choice advocates.

“Gay Christians” (You are not actively following Christ if you choose to be gay.)

People who get offended at everything. (Guess who the Biblical example of getting offended easily was? Not Jesus! The Pharisees. Just saying.)

Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip. Seriously. That’s just not cool.

Not being able to do petite allegro. Ugh.

Pro-choice advocates (yes, again)

FEMININAZIS ( x 3,000,000,000,000. Aghhhhhh. Ok, I’ll be honest, feminists legitimately make me angry sometimes, just because they are so ridiculous.)

Racism from anyone. Not just white to black. Blacks are racist towards whites too. All ethnicities are capable of being racist towards a different ethnicity. It’s really, really, really dumb.

There are more random things that frustrate and/or annoy me, but there’s some. And most of them are not just because of personal preference or whatever, they’re because the Bible clearly says they are not good things.

Please read your Bible.

Back to the Rosin

Dance starts back up today!

After an insanely long break it’s back to the hardwood, metal bars, and oh-so-glorious rosin.

Tonight I get to teach the first class of the semester and I’m looking forward to it.

I bought 95 new songs, I have some new experience under my belt and I am feeling prepared. New leotards don’t hurt either 😉

I honestly don’t know if I’m looking forward to teaching or actually dancing more. I love both so much. I love working and seeing improvement in myself, but seeing improvement in the girls I teach is very rewarding too.

I have mixed feelings about the upcoming show, but hopefully it’ll be great. It’ll at least be cute.

I thank God so much for my dance family and the opportunities I get with it. I am so blessed by ballet.

For my lovely dancers reading this, can’t wait to see you this week! Love you all!

I Tell You the Truth

Jesus really liked that phrase. I mean it’s fair, He was telling the truth. I don’t quite know what to make of his persistent use of “I tell you the truth” so I’m just going to leave it at that.

Today we read John 3:1-21.

PAUSE

Break out your Bible.

Read it.

It’s worth it.

The first thing about this passage is Nicodemus. He didn’t go to Jesus to question Him. He went to Him to state that he believed that Jesus was God. To support Him (Ah, that must feel nice. 😛 I kid, I kid.)

Jesus still used this as an opportunity to teach. He told Nicodemus that the only way to see or enter the Kingdom of God was to be born again.

Now, this was a pretty radical idea to Nicodemus and everyone else. They didn’t understand the phrase, I don’t think. Jesus explained the difference between the Flesh and the Spirit quite well.

He put a lot of emphasis on being born again and how it is the ONLY way to enter Heaven. Just take a moment and ask yourself if you have been born again.

In the second part of the passage, Jesus references the Old Testament (If it was relevant to Him and His teaching, it’s relevant to us.) He talked about Moses lifting up the snake in the desert, and how the Son of Man must also be lifted up.

We need to keep our focus on Jesus. As Christians, we need to lift Jesus up for others to see Him. Are we doing that in todays society? Not the vast majority of us. It’s a Sunday thing. We go, we sing, we pray, then we forget about it on Monday. That’s not how it should be. We are a broken church. The only way to be the church Jesus intended us to be is to lift Him up above petty politics and what humans want.

God did not send Jesus to judge the world, but to save it.

NO, this is not a verse that can be used to say we should not judge others. Another word for judge as used in this verse is ‘condemn’. So calm down there. As I’ve mentioned before, the Bible still tells us to judge our fellow Christian and warn against sin.

The last bit of the passage talks about Judgment from God, righteous judgment, and how He has already judged those who choose to follow darkness.

I think it’s powerful how Jesus said that God sent Light into the world (Jesus) but men loved the darkness (sin) too much to go to the light.

You know how, as a kid, almost everyone is afraid of the dark. But then we grow up and we realize that it’s silly and childish and that the dark is nothing to fear. I think we’re wrong. Darkness is terrifying, on a spiritual level. It’s what separates us from God. Why aren’t we as afraid of THAT darkness as we were afraid of the actual darkness as a five-year-old? We need to claim child-like faith again. We should still be afraid of the dark.

In conclusion, you should read 1 John 1:6.

One thing I want to say about me blogging mostly to believers; It’s very important to share the Word with non-believers, to try to get them to come to faith in Jesus. But if we have huge problems in our theology, how can we do that efficiently? If we are not examples of Christ, not exclusively His loving nature but all aspects of Him, how can we paint an accurate picture of what the church is? That is why I blog to a believing audience for the most part. I’m trying to share how I think we all need to act more like Christ before we tell others how they ought to. Look at yourself first. Do you look like Christ? I don’t as much as I would like to, but that’s why I’m doing this Bible study. I’m figuring out what Jesus looked like.

I Am….

A  Bible-believing Christian.

A Conservative.

An Anti-Feminist.

Pro-life.

Anti-Racist (Which is not exclusively white-black. Everyone is capable of racism.)

A dancer.

A writer.

A teacher.

In love.

I have no reason to hide or be ashamed of any of these. And I am certainly allowed to speak out for what I believe in. More Christians ought to start speaking against sin more, it is Biblical. Maybe if we had kept that practice up, the world wouldn’t be quite as bad as it is now.

I am proud of who I am. I am firmly rooted in my beliefs. I encourage you to take a look at what you believe and whether or not it is Biblical. I can give you verses supporting all my positions, verses in context. If you, as a Christian, can’t do that then it might be time to look a little closer at what you believe.

I am saying this in love, because I do worry for Christians who believe things contradictory to the Bible, such as abortion and gay rights. Pray about your beliefs and what you should believe and speak out for. I do, though I probably should more often.

Have a fantastic day everyone.

Homeschooling Wins

I graduate this summer.

I’m 100% done with my school. Every credit is accounted for. I even got a head start on college. How did I get all this done?

Homeschooling.

No, it’s not suppressive and anti-social.

And we aren’t Amish…

Homeschooling has been a huge blessing on me and my family. It has allowed me to do things that public school wouldn’t, such as dance and taekwan-do classes during the day.

Homeschool also allowed me to get a 7-credit head start on college last semester.

My mother had the chance to personally see over my school and was able to approve of everything I learned.

Speaking of, I got to choose what I learned a lot of the time, especially when I got to high school. One semester I had a focus on archaeology. I got to study mythology. I learned about astronomy for a semester. I got to pick what science to do, what English to do, which foreign language I wanted to learn.

Homeschooling gave me time to write a book. (Or two and a half…)

Homeschool connected me with my boyfriend. If I had been public schooled, I never would’ve met Golden Boy since we met in a homeschoolers chemistry class. The thought of not having him in my life is physically painful.

I’m sure public school has it’s good points, like sporting teams and dances, but don’t tell me it’s more social. Sure, you may see a lot of people every day, but how many close friends do you have? I have four very close friends, not including Golden Boy, and a handful of other good friends, friends I can trust. I met the majority of them because of homeschool classes. It may be a different story for you, but I don’t hear about having that many close friends from people I know who are public school.

There’s less drama in homeschool! There’s no backstabbing, breakups, “She-said he-said” or any of that junk. It’s you, chilling at home, listening to music and taking an hour long lunch break.I mean, you have to deal with siblings, but you have to do that anyway.

(There’s also less drugs, underage drinking, and sleeping around)

I was able to get closer to my mom than  I would’ve if I was gone every day. I got to focus on my faith through my school. Apologia science is a wonderful thing.

I will definitely be homeschooling my future children, as long as it’s still legal. Making homeschool illegal is really such a stupid idea. The government is just afraid because the majority of homeschooling families are Christian, conservative, or both and they don’t want either group in America anymore. So I pray for the future of homeschool, especially since public school has gone SO far downhill.

Are you homeschooled, or were in the past? What are your experiences with homeschooling?

Flipping Tables

One of my favorite parts of the Bible: when Jesus got angry.

I’m actually going to start with  John 2:1-11, which is  Jesus turning water into wine. That was his first miracle. Also look at John 7:6.

An important point is that Jesus knew when He was supposed to do things. He said it wasn’t His time to perform his first miracle. That being said, I don’t really know why he did it if it wasn’t His time, but He must’ve had a reason.

Yay, now it’s time for flipping tables! Read John 2:12-25. It’s awesome. It makes me happy.

Jesus went and cleansed the Temple because a bunch of idiots were turning it into a business. Jesus walked in, saw all this happening, and made a whip.

He made a whip.

He didn’t walk through calmly saying “You really shouldn’t be doing this, friends, but if you feel like it’s the way you were born, or if you just love everyone, it’s ok.”

No. He went through driving people out with a whip and flipping their money changing tables over. He yelled at them to get out because His father’s temple was not a place of business. He had some really awesome righteous anger.

Jesus was not meek. He was not always gentle and kind. I do not know why people paint him that way. He took action, he was aggressive, he was physical..

One of the verses says something about zeal for his Father’s house consuming Him. The Greek word for zeal translates into jealousy. He was jealous for His father’s house because it was not what it was meant to be. It had become taken over by the world. It was no longer a place of reverence. People were changing money and selling doves.

This brings me to a concern about today’s mega churches. A lot of the times they have coffee shops, stores, something. They are selling things in their church, and I don’t know how they justify that.

I think it’s ok if it’s a fundraiser, but if people are getting paid to work it or it pays for a pastor’s salary or something, it’s a business and it’s wrong. It’s just plain disrespectful.

One more point to draw from His actions was that he spoke out against what they were doing wrong, not against them as people. He didn’t attack anyone personally. I strive to do that in my blog and I think I do a decent job of it. I speak out against sin without involving a certain people group as best I can.

If you look from Jesus CONVERTING water to wine and then CLEANSING the Temple right after, you see what He does in us. After we convert, we are cleansed, we are renewed. Jesus has wonderful power, let Him work it in you.

Beatitudes (Bee-Attitudes)

At least I’m pretty sure that’s how you say it. Not an expert.

Today we read Matthew 5:1-12, which lists the blessings. It’s counterpart, starting at Luke 6:20, also lists the warnings, the “woe to you”s. I won’t be talking about those today though.

The first one talks about the poor in spirit. What on earth does that mean? As far as I can tell it’s talking about being humble in your faith, not being spiritually arrogant.

The next says how those who mourn will be comforted, the kind of comforting that can only be found in God.

These verse are really pretty self-explanatory, I hope you take the time to read them.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Meek does not mean quiet. It’s more like humble and gentle. But NOT silent. This is important. We still need to speak up, but remain humble before the Lord.

If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be filled. We must seek God first, and if we really do that, we will be rewarded.

If we are merciful, we will get mercy back. This is a difficult one. We have to forgive to be forgiven.

Those with a pure heart will see God. Before you get too panicked about how pure you’re heart is, remember that we are, or can be, purified through Jesus Christ.

This next one is a tad bit confusing. It says that the peacemakers will be called the Sons of God. However, peacemakers does not mean ‘appeasing everybody’. In 1 Corinthians 14:33 it uses peace as an antonym for confusion, so my understanding is that peacemakers create clarity more than appeasement.

A point to make about that is that Christians who misuse scripture create confusion. I try my best not to do this and hopefully I don’t, but we all need to be careful.

The last is that those who are persecuted for righteousness will be rewarded. Read 1 Peter 3:14. You don’t get persecuted if you never speak up.

The last two verse are about that subject as well and are pretty self-explanatory. A couple good verses to go with those are 1 Peter 4:14-16.

I hope you enjoyed my installment on the Beatitudes.

Judgement

I’m tired of getting called judgmental by judgmental people who don’t admit that they’re judging me.

Because when you call me judgmental, you are, in fact, judging me.

Now, I never said that I never judge people. Here’s the reality people; we all judge. Yes, you judge people too. Every last one of us make judgments about people and events.

I try not to judge people, and I thought I had been doing a pretty good job about only judging the sin on my blog post, but when I slip up, it’s not really your job to call me out, because that my dear friends is called hypocrisy.

Again, I’m not saying that I’m never hypocritical, but try to think through it before you call me judgmental. I’m trying my best not to be. Are you when you call me out on my every failure?

On a different note, we’re supposed to judge fellow Christians and try and make them aware of their sins. That’s what I’m trying to do. We need to be more careful when we talk to non-believers, and that’s something I need to work on, but I’m blogging mostly to believers and mostly believers comment.

Read these verses in context:

Hebrews 3:12-13

John 7:24

John 8:16

I Corinthians 5:12

1 Corinthians 6:2

Galatians 5:26- 6:2

Ephesians 4:25

Colossians 2:8

Before you throw it at me, Romans 14:13 needs to be read in context. It is talking about different levels of maturity in faith, and how you should not judge if one’s faith is slightly different than yours, not whether or not you should judge sin or make him aware of it. Please, please, please read all the verses in context so they are not abused. You can’t just pick and choose.

Also, Paul, who was not blameless like Christ, spoke out against sin to the churches. He was not silent. He straight up told them what they were doing wrong.

In short, we have been called to judge sin. That is what I am doing. Judging the sin, not the sinner. If you have any reason why that is not Biblical, please tell me, but don’t talk about “feelings” and ignore what the Bible says.