A really great sermon

I had the privilage of hearing a spectacular sermon at Liberty last night. The talk was essentially about how we can be better contributors in our church community. One of the biggest problems in growing churches is the fact that so many people take but few are there to give. This might mean that fewer people are contributing financially to help the church grow or the fact that fewer are being utilized to help physically. It seems like much of the time we will attend church and sit in our chairs and grow complacent. We allow our walk with God to become a habitual activity where we become comfortable in our spiritual mediocrity. The sermon made me take a hard look into my own life. I had to take a look at whether or not I was really living up to my optimal potential. It seems like we make up excuses in our head so that we can put our own desires ahead of the desires of God. We need to take personal inventory and ask ourselves what it is we are living for. Are we living to further the kingdom of God with our actions and words or are we religious people who want to point fingers and judge without love and compassion for each other. It's funny how we can isolate and divide ourselves from each other when we were all crafted from the same clay. We are all in this thing together and we need to come together and seek out what God has for our lives.

Our responibilities

For the past week, I have found myself surrounded by the news of the oil spill that hit very close to where I live. In the beginning, I was almost numb to the news because of the fact that I hear on a weekly basis of terrible situations. We always hear about horrible floods, murders, earthquakes, and other disasters all the time so it makes it easy to turn on auto-pilot and not think about the severity of the issue at hand. The reality is that this oil spill is very real. The oil spill is going to effect the environment, industry, and the way people have enjoyed Pensacola beach for so many years. It is sad when these companies drill away and have no consideration for the consequences that could occur. Money and power become priority and the CEOs and presidents of these companies could care less about anything except for themselves. Religious leaders have been responsive to this tragedy in encouraging prayer which is important but we need to get real about the situation. Prayer can be very powerful and God can move in it but we also need to look outside the box and realize that we need to physically labor to try and make a difference. In the Bible, there is a story about a homeless person asking for food but the person responds with something along the lines of "I don't have any food for ya but I can pray for you". I feel like many preachers will say "This oil spill is terrible but this is just a sign of the times. Jesus is coming back soon!". It seems irresponsible for Christians to say that they want to make a difference but then they separate themselves from situations where God can use them. I don't want anyone to think that I am being judgmental because the truth is that I am preaching to myself. I know I could be more helpful with my finances and helping to clean up the beaches and do other things to bring God's kingdom down to earth. There are a lot of things that God has to work on in my own life. I am not even close to being the model Christian but I try to let God work on my heart and help me live a life that best represents Christ. I find that many of the things I hate about religion are the things that I don't like about my own ways. I am trying to make a valient effort to change and be used by God. I have realized that it takes work to make progress. We must show outwardly what is on the inside. If we say we should do something but don't do it, we will not accomplish what we need to in order to help others.