Advice from Our New Author
Hi, this is Mary here. You are all probably confused because "Mary is not a new author!" That is true. But, I am here to copy messages from a new author whom you will hopefully see more of later.
Jake Williams is a PK- a pastor's kid. He helps out in the church often and is using his gift of serving to honor the Lord. This friend of mine has a strong relationship with his Maker and a well-developed understanding of the Bible. He, of course, is not perfect (and I am sure he would be one of the first to admit it as well). He has lots of good things to say, and great points he makes whether helping TEAM as a new leader or just randomly spilling thoughts on his mind. I may create some of these paragraphs as unique articles once he makes time to create some, but for now, I wanted to give you readers a sneak peek of what is hopefully coming from Jake Williams.
"I've had people tell me that they don't feel like they have the right to talk to or serve God. When people tell me this though, my answer is always the same, "You're right, you don't." John the Baptist himself said in John 1:27 that he is unworthy of even untying Jesus' Sandals.
Well, there are two ways of saying we're unworthy of it, we can say it with humility or we can say it in pride. "But wait, how do I say something like that with pride??" If you put yourself in a place like that and therefore you don't talk to God, then you're putting yourself above Him. When you say it with humility, then you're saying "No, I'm not worthy, but God had mercy and love for me." The bible says that love covers a multitude of sins, well, God's love covered all of mine. And because of that, I do get to talk to him. I do get to serve him. "
"Tonight my youth worship team played the song "How Great is Your Love." In this song, we sang about how great God's love for us is. And man, it's amazing. God sent his only son down from heaven to die in our place for our sins. We didn't deserve that, not at all. But he loved us so much that he saved us by grace. After that, we were called to spread that love. We are to be the example of Christ, we are to be the light of the world. It doesn't matter what someone says to you, and it doesn't matter what they think. You still need to show love and encouragement to them. Even from that, we're not here to please the Lord. We're here to please God. He is my judge, not the world. He is loving and merciful, but he is Just."
"[Sabine: So what do you say to this? When someone says that they have been taught that God will give us more than we can handle because that is only when we can recognize that we can’t handle it, that we come to God and ask Him to take it since He can handle everything.] Well, there's a couple things. One of the most important things is to keep your eyes fixed on the eternal purpose and not the small-time of hardship on earth: Acts 20:24. We can look at Philippians 4:13 which says that we can do all things through him who gives us strength. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our anxiety on Him. Jesus said to cast our burdens on him so that he may give us rest. We look at John 16:33 where Jesus tells us that he has overcome the world. We receive trials to bring us closer to God. That's the point of them. For trials, read James 1. It's about trials and testing your faith. The point of us having trials is to look to God and say "I can't do this on my own." And we have to rely on God to help us get out of it. I honestly don't know the exact answer to your question about whether we are given more than we can handle or not. But what I do know, it that the point of a trial is to bring us closer to God. We go through trials because we're sinful. He doesn't put us in a trial just for us to have a difficult time. Look at it this way, you can look at tons of strong founded Christians, and the only reason they are there is because of difficult trials they have gone through. I know so many of these people myself. Think about Job, he lost everything, which God allowed to happen. But still, Job looked to God and rejoiced. Because of that, God gave everything back to Job in double. That's exactly right, it's all about God's perfect plan for us. I know it's hard to wrap our heads around that but that's what matters, but it only happens with trust and reliance on Him."
"Here we are, completely imperfect. And then there's God, completely perfect. Well, perfection cant is with imperfection otherwise it becomes imperfection. So we were separated from God by a giant gap. But God said, "No, I want them in eternity with me." And he sent his son down to die for us, a perfect sacrifice. God gave us that bridge: Jesus. God is love, agape love."
"Well, God gives us the free choice, so you can tell her what you know but it's her decision in the end. You can't push it on her. The hope God gives us is not that hopeful, It is a hope that will come true. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1. I mean look at this, we have the assurance of the things we hope for. Besides I, as a Christian, have a wonderful life living for God. The world is a horrible place, full of terrible sins. But here I am living an awesome life of love. Now that's just some ways to think about it."
"1 John 2: 15-17 tells us not to love the things of the World. Verse 15 specifically says "...If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." You guys, it's so easy to be enticed by the "great" things of the world. But it's never worth it. I think we all know that a small moment of sinful pleasure is not worth it. We are told that God convicts us of our sins. Then we can look at verse 17, "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." This world is passing away, but we as Christians get be in the presence of God forever! But it still comes with perseverance, we are also told that we will be tempted by the desires of our hearts. But we're also told we will always have a way out. Faith, clinging to His word, trust, and perseverance will give us eternity with Christ. I don't know about you, but I sure want that. "
These are just three different conversations he has had in the TEAM group chat. We are really glad Jake has joined our TEAM for the past few months.
Jake Williams is a PK- a pastor's kid. He helps out in the church often and is using his gift of serving to honor the Lord. This friend of mine has a strong relationship with his Maker and a well-developed understanding of the Bible. He, of course, is not perfect (and I am sure he would be one of the first to admit it as well). He has lots of good things to say, and great points he makes whether helping TEAM as a new leader or just randomly spilling thoughts on his mind. I may create some of these paragraphs as unique articles once he makes time to create some, but for now, I wanted to give you readers a sneak peek of what is hopefully coming from Jake Williams.
"I've had people tell me that they don't feel like they have the right to talk to or serve God. When people tell me this though, my answer is always the same, "You're right, you don't." John the Baptist himself said in John 1:27 that he is unworthy of even untying Jesus' Sandals.
Well, there are two ways of saying we're unworthy of it, we can say it with humility or we can say it in pride. "But wait, how do I say something like that with pride??" If you put yourself in a place like that and therefore you don't talk to God, then you're putting yourself above Him. When you say it with humility, then you're saying "No, I'm not worthy, but God had mercy and love for me." The bible says that love covers a multitude of sins, well, God's love covered all of mine. And because of that, I do get to talk to him. I do get to serve him. "
"Tonight my youth worship team played the song "How Great is Your Love." In this song, we sang about how great God's love for us is. And man, it's amazing. God sent his only son down from heaven to die in our place for our sins. We didn't deserve that, not at all. But he loved us so much that he saved us by grace. After that, we were called to spread that love. We are to be the example of Christ, we are to be the light of the world. It doesn't matter what someone says to you, and it doesn't matter what they think. You still need to show love and encouragement to them. Even from that, we're not here to please the Lord. We're here to please God. He is my judge, not the world. He is loving and merciful, but he is Just."
"[Sabine: So what do you say to this? When someone says that they have been taught that God will give us more than we can handle because that is only when we can recognize that we can’t handle it, that we come to God and ask Him to take it since He can handle everything.] Well, there's a couple things. One of the most important things is to keep your eyes fixed on the eternal purpose and not the small-time of hardship on earth: Acts 20:24. We can look at Philippians 4:13 which says that we can do all things through him who gives us strength. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our anxiety on Him. Jesus said to cast our burdens on him so that he may give us rest. We look at John 16:33 where Jesus tells us that he has overcome the world. We receive trials to bring us closer to God. That's the point of them. For trials, read James 1. It's about trials and testing your faith. The point of us having trials is to look to God and say "I can't do this on my own." And we have to rely on God to help us get out of it. I honestly don't know the exact answer to your question about whether we are given more than we can handle or not. But what I do know, it that the point of a trial is to bring us closer to God. We go through trials because we're sinful. He doesn't put us in a trial just for us to have a difficult time. Look at it this way, you can look at tons of strong founded Christians, and the only reason they are there is because of difficult trials they have gone through. I know so many of these people myself. Think about Job, he lost everything, which God allowed to happen. But still, Job looked to God and rejoiced. Because of that, God gave everything back to Job in double. That's exactly right, it's all about God's perfect plan for us. I know it's hard to wrap our heads around that but that's what matters, but it only happens with trust and reliance on Him."
"Here we are, completely imperfect. And then there's God, completely perfect. Well, perfection cant is with imperfection otherwise it becomes imperfection. So we were separated from God by a giant gap. But God said, "No, I want them in eternity with me." And he sent his son down to die for us, a perfect sacrifice. God gave us that bridge: Jesus. God is love, agape love."
"Well, God gives us the free choice, so you can tell her what you know but it's her decision in the end. You can't push it on her. The hope God gives us is not that hopeful, It is a hope that will come true. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1. I mean look at this, we have the assurance of the things we hope for. Besides I, as a Christian, have a wonderful life living for God. The world is a horrible place, full of terrible sins. But here I am living an awesome life of love. Now that's just some ways to think about it."
"1 John 2: 15-17 tells us not to love the things of the World. Verse 15 specifically says "...If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." You guys, it's so easy to be enticed by the "great" things of the world. But it's never worth it. I think we all know that a small moment of sinful pleasure is not worth it. We are told that God convicts us of our sins. Then we can look at verse 17, "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." This world is passing away, but we as Christians get be in the presence of God forever! But it still comes with perseverance, we are also told that we will be tempted by the desires of our hearts. But we're also told we will always have a way out. Faith, clinging to His word, trust, and perseverance will give us eternity with Christ. I don't know about you, but I sure want that. "
These are just three different conversations he has had in the TEAM group chat. We are really glad Jake has joined our TEAM for the past few months.
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