"wild parties"

hey guys! I'm on my spare and wanted to post my devos on time for once...
When it talks about trying to be with God through "circumsision" I feel that it can apply to our "faith". Like we can't be with God by just saying we are you know? We have to have a constabt relationship because like rohan said, we would be bad "boyfriends/girlfriends".
Also this chapter touches up on the bad influences in life, and while reading them I felt guilty because, like everyone on earth, we ARE guilty of all of them
But then the next part talks about the good things we should be and I think we should constantly remind our selves of it.

Hope you guys had a great tuesday!

-Enjoy

Lol, today I tried keeping a note that God is always with me, and it makes you realize that you have been half-assing the relationship. There were so many moments where I was like crap!!! that was a big NO No. I think it's a good way to evaluate ones self, lol just felt like sharing because I always forget, but today it was with me 24/7.

Lol also all my classes had no teachers. Suppose to have an on-call but they never showed. So we built a race track in the classroom and raced each other with wheel chairs, and we made prank announcements, man we really do need to find a better outlet. "MAKE A LEFT TURN A LEFT TURN...CRASH!!!

umm trying to avoid the whole circumcision theme...

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free.

Wow, I wished I read this earlier in my youth. We sometimes expect God to do all the work, and we kind of grown comfortable to this idea,but we have to make sure not to become slaves again. God set us free, and 'we" are the ones who have to keep being free. Don't have this mentality where you believe God has to do everything because that is wrong. You have to pull your own weight too. Don't expect that God will wipe your ummm butt for you all the time. He wants that determination to stay free, and he is always willing to set you free again and again.

Well this caught my attention when reading and I wish all of you guys a cool Tuesday

Sayonara

I was taking a nap and was pleasantly surprised by Sadie's call.
so cuteeee

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
I definitely think that faith goes hand in hand with love. We always ask, "Do we have to do certain things to go to heaven?" and the answer is "no". But if we sincerely love God, I think we would all do what it takes to please Him and bring Him joy. I think this also relates to Sam's sermon from last week about us choosing to be on God's team. If we want to be on His side, would we choose to be on His team and just stop playing the game? With faith, there is love, and, through love, I definitely think that believers have some sort of commitment that they want to make with God.

I really like what Allan did with that piece of note reminding him that God was watching him all the time. I'm going to challenge myself to do something like it, but focus on loving other people. So no gossiping, no hateful glares.

denise no gossiping? Then the "investigation" is over???

hey guys, sry for not posting my devo lately, but ive been doing them with joshua...mini leadership team..anyways heres my devotion...

v 13. You brothers were called to be free, But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather serve on another in love.

So in this passage, God is telling us that since we have freedom, it doesnt mean you can do what ever you want. God is always there watching you. Yes, God has given us freedom, but when he say "Freedom" i think God is telling us that we are free from out sins. And thats when jesus Christ comes in. Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross for our sins. So Jesus came down to earth to save are souls. In verse 14 it says The entire law is summed yp in a single command: "Love your neighbour as yourself". In this verse, God is also telling us to serve and love your brothers and sisters. Why, because God has always loved us and he always will. We should love our neighbours because if we cannot love others, how can we love God.

v22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience kindness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is no law. Those how belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited provoking and envying each other.

So in this passage, i learned that we should always love, have peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control. God has given us all these gift. I believe sam talked about this in one of his sermons that these words are so powerful. The Holy spirit has all these words in it. There is also a song with these words in it. Sick song. So when you are out in the world, use these words with others, and keep it in your hearts.

Amen.....

Hey Guys
I just got back from the doctors. And it turns out that my simple 'cough' was bronchitis this whole time. Grr.

13 "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love."
This verse reminded me that we are free. But it's not the same kind of freedom that the world describes. Most people have this perception that freedom is the ability to do whatever we want. And very often, we find ourselves defining freedom in this way too. But when Paul speaks about freedom, he talks about the kind of freedom that makes us free from sin. We are blessed with the ability to have this sort of freedom, but many people interpret this and use it as an excuse to do whatever we want. But that is not what God had planned for us. Instead, we should be using our freedom to do good - to overcome sin and act out of love.
I think I really need to discipline myself mentallly to act out of love. I find my thoughts wandering a lot and becoming really judgemental, really gossipy. But God calls us to love - and Peter reminds us by telling us that our greatest command is to love

Oh wow. my medecin is making me drowsy.
Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY, EVERYONE!

Denise, pleasant surprise from Sadie? I WISH.
Jessica from Moose Deer called me 5 times today. I've been sick all day so I decided to pick up the fifth call because I was sane enough by that point to press send and pick it up. I thought it was Julia for half a minute, until she said, "Roh, I miss you and Jacob so much!". I replied with a sarcastic, dry laugh (for I didn't know what else to do) and I realized that she really did miss us a lot. I miss Moose Deer too, and I can't wait to go back! Then she said, "I can't wait for Sunday". And she kept talking about Sunday, but I was trying to pass it, thinking that it's probably not important, but she pretty much made me ask her explicitly what Sunday was...And she said it was her birthday. So if you guys have a chance and you have her email, wish her Happy Birthday! She's turning 14. But I swear I thought that girl doesn't look 14.

Anyhow.

The first verse in this chapter starts off with a bang -- I really liked it: "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up in slavery to the law...we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love."

Let me explain the concept of circumcision: For the Jews back then, this was their sign of commitment of God. For all persons who were faithful in God were circumcised. I can imagine though, that this became merely a tradition and people started to miss the point. A parallel comparison we can make to our traditions today is being baptized. If you're a Christian and you're not baptized, it doesn't make you a bad person. Baptism is a public declaration of you joining the family of God and being cleansed from your sins. However, it becomes merely a process that you decide to partake because of your parents' pressure or family tradition. What Paul is saying in those verses is that we need to snap out of thinking that following traditions is enough in serving our God. If you are faithful in Him, there's no point of getting baptized anyway, because God already knows your commitment. It doesn't matter if you go to church every week, or serve at the church, etc. What really matter is whether or not you're expressing your faith in love.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you shouldn't get baptized, or serve at the church outwardly. What I am reminding you, is that through your daily actions and words, you need to ALWAYS WORSHIP. Show your faith in love.


Roh

it's beeeen a long day.
One verse really stood out to me, other than Denise's verse in verse 6.
In verse 13 he says "Use your freedom to serve one another in love."
We as Christians all know we are free, but what does it mean to serve others in love? i think it just means to humble ourselves and give. Just like how we did street missions, why don't we share a little bit of OUR freedom to those who thiink they have it, but actually don't. i htink the definition of freedom is divided into 2 separate meanings, when we talk about the CHristian way and the earthly way. In CHristianity, to be free is to be free fomr sin. Earthly freedom is to be free from whatever is holding you back or containing you. SO why don't we just share a little bit of our freedom unto others? TO humble ourselves before them because it's really sad to know that we can inherit the kingdom of God, but they can't......yet. All we can do is serve others and PLANT a seed, and then just PRAY God will make something happen.

hello all..here it is!

Right at the start it says "stand firm" i think this is a crucial point here. I mean we get saved, but whats the point of being saved if you are going to go back in to your old routines and in sin once again. We need to stand firm on what is solid, which is God and stay there for as long as we can, we have our spiritual highs and lows and everyone goes through that, but we must always remember to stand firm. Next it says that circumcision will not matter to God, because this means that he will follow the law, but following the law isnt of concern to God..faith is. So once again no matter how hard we try to follow the law, bottom line, it won't get us in to heaven. Next is faith expressing itself through love, i think that this goes for loving God, neighbors and enemies. First we must learn to love God fully, then next our neighbors and enemies. We get to show love to others because God has loved us first, no matter who we are, or what we did. Well, the next parts are parts that we probably know inside and out.. the fruits of the spirit. No need for me to resay everything...

lates!

This Chapter reminds me of the teachings of Martin Luther (the German guy not the black guy)
Just like him, when I first "became" Christian I thought "Man.. I think about doing these bad things and I feel guilty because of these thoughts. If the only way to be with God is to simply not do these things, then where would thinking about these things get me?"
And this Chapter and Martin Luther's 95 Theses gave me the same answer:
We can be with God through His grace alone and our acceptance of His love and grace. There's no such thing as Jesus Points which makes you look more favourable to God.
Knowing that was a load off my back, not because I could sin as much as I wanted and still know that at the end of the day I could get into Heaven because God loves me (SARCASM) but because of the fact that our God is just.
Also, He gave us consciousness and freedom to choose for a reason, and I want to use all the gifts He gave out to me, including my awesome ankle-breaking ballage (haha jks)