Adoption

Adoption

Over the last several months adoption has consumed every part of my family’s life. So I guess it is not surprising that it has made its way into my thoughts about being a Christian and the comparisons to my relationship with God.

The word adoption is an action noun, meaning adoption acts like a verb with someone performing the act of adoption.

Understanding this it prompted the question for me why does someone need to be adopted? Well, orphans need to be adopted. We all need the security, nurturing and love that a family brings and orphans definitely need that.

This brought along the next question why do we need God to adopt us? The answer can simply be found in scripture.

John 14:18
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Ephesians 2:1-2; 4-5
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient....But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Galatians 4:5
to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons

If orphans need to be adopted and Christ refers to us as orphans then we need to be adopted by God. The verses in Galatians and Ephesians tell us how much God loves us and how He wants to make us His children.

Jesus is God’s Son and He is never referred to as adopted. Adoption is an amazing thing it brings in a child who is unrelated by birth and makes them part of the family. For my family this looks like Matthew our son by birth and Nathan our son by adoption becoming brothers. For us as Christians salvation puts on a standing with Christ being our brother.

With adoption comes privileges and rights. When a child is adopted they gain a new family and a new life. When we become believers in Christ and receive salvation we receive the privileges of being adopted into the family of God.

We receive a new standing with God, we can call now call out to Him as our Father (Daddy) because we have a parent child relationship with Him.

Galatians 4:6
And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

Not only do we get a new standing but we get a new nature, check out these scriptures.

2 Corinthians 5:17
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

2 Peter 1:3-4
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Adoption has privileges but it also has a process. Adoption is a gift that has to be planned for, you have to find a child, go to court and pay a price to finalize the adoption.

With us as Christians it is the same way, uur salvation and adoption are given by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:15
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

John 1:12
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

The word right refers to a legal right, we have the legal right to call God Father when we accept His salvation.

Our salvation and adoption was planned by God through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:5
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

John 1:12-13
But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

All this talk of adoption makes you ask the question what are the results of adoption? Well for Nathan that means he has the same rights and inheritance as Matthew. For us as Christians that means we gain the same fellowship and inheritance with God that Christ has.

Mark 14:36
“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Romans 8:32
He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?

Galatians 4:6-7
And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”  Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

Romans 8:16-17
For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Our fellowship and inheritance come with responsibilities just like in an earthly family. As adopted children of God it would make sense that since Christ was persecuted we will also be persecuted. Like Christ we can count on the Father being at our side through any situation.

Let me take a brief aside: If all believers are children of God and are equal, then why do we treat each other like step-children. I believe this causes our Father great sadness.



Adoption, how important is it for us to find?

Letters from Kazakhstan 3

Letters from Kazakhstan 3

What do you believe?  An easy enough question...or a trick question.  We all say we believe in something but do we really believe.  Most Christians say they believe in God but what does that look like?  We as Christians are our worst enemy in the cause of Christianity, we say we believe in the Bible yet live our lives apart from its teachings.  A quote I try to constantly remind myself of simply says:  "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle.  

Being a Christian should give us freedom yet so many times we get entangled in do’s and don’ts and then we wonder why we fail at being good.  I think it is time we get back to the basics and forget the rules we have made as people and start with the simple rules found in the Bible.  I believe if we focused on one rule everything else would fall in place.  It is a rule based on love and where I believe all other rules would be made self evident if we just followed passionately after this rule.  Here goes:  LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH.  If we follow passionately after God and love Him with everything we are then the other stuff would fall in place.

With this simple rule our beliefs would line up with our actions and our problem would be solved.  So how do you begin to love God with every fiber of your being?  Simply put, READ YOUR BIBLE and PRAY.

God Bless,

Pastor C

Letters from Kazakhstan #2

Letters from Kazakhstan 2

While here in Kazakhstan I am finding a lot of time to read, some good fiction along with some really thought provoking Christian authors.  I am currently reading “The Importance of Being Foolish; How to Think Like Jesus” by Brennan Manning.  While I don’t always agree with Manning, his books are always thought provoking none the less.

I was reading the first chapter entitled “The Way We Live” and Manning points out that Christ had a relentless passion for the truth.  Then he directs us to think about our society in which the truth is often hard to find.  This made me think about a line from A Few Good Men, “You want the truth, you can’t handle the truth.”  I believe this is where we have found ourselves.  We say we want the truth but when it, the truth, goes against what we want to do, we choose to ignore it and do what we want to anyway.  We rationalize our behavior in disregard to what we know is Biblically correct.  To steal a little more from Manning’s book;

“Consider the man on his third luncheon martini quoting the Apostle Paul about a little wine being good for the stomach; or the “liberated” Christian’s vehement defense of the nudity in The Last Tango in Paris, the violence in Pulp Fiction, because they are “integral to the plot and tastefully done”; or the upstanding church deacon who overlooks cheating and manipulation in his business dealings because “it’s the only way to be competitive”; or whole churches in which the delirium of guiltlessness is reality, the mastery of biblical exegesis is holiness, the size of the congregation is proof of its authenticity, and on and on.  There is no limit to the defenses we contrive against the inbreak of truth into our lives.”

WOW, I find that harsh but the truth none the less.  The truth is a powerful thing, it can change lives and bring us closer to God but for it to have impact we must be willing to accept it and make changes accordingly.  We can’t cheaply purchase the affections of God with token lip service, He paid too high a price for our salvation for us to make the truth relative.  I believe I can sum it all up with this statement, either we love God and embrace His truth or we don’t love Him at all.  If you fall pick yourself up and embrace the truth once more, we all fall and make mistakes but to live in denial or to constantly justify our actions is playing games with the grace bought with a precious price.

Be encouraged and seek out truth, your life will be better and you might just find more peace.

Grace and Peace

Youth Pastor C

Letters from Kazakhstan

Letters from Kazakhstan

Being in country has overwhelmed me...I have seen the splendor of God’s creation from mountain peaks to the flat lands and have been reminded just how great our God is.  Being isolated from the distractions that normally surround life (internet, phone, TV) have afforded me time to think and reflect.  Not to mention this latest journey.

The last several days I have been thinking about love.  What is it, really what is it we all say things like I love you, I love cheeseburgers, I love my dog.  So what is love, think about it, it is a common word we use but do we really understand what it means?

I think I am finally beginning to understand love or at least that I have been mistaken about love for much of my life.  As I have moved along this journey I have ended up with more questions than answers, especially when it comes to the love of God.

Jesus died on the cross for my sins because He loved me.  I find this amazing because in essence He did not really know me because my sin separated me from Him.  This is a giant paradox because Jesus knows us because He created us but yet sin keeps a distance between us and He still died for me/us.  I don’t know about you but I definitely would find it hard to die for someone else especially when I really don’t know them.

The Bible says greater love has no man than he who would lay His life down.  Do you have this kind of love?  I’m not sure I am there yet.  I would lay my life down for Lauren or Matt or even my closest friend but I am not so sure about that person next door.

Love grows as we grow in our faith and my prayer is that God allows me to grow in His love so I can be better at sharing with others.

Verses for thought:

Matthew 22:37; John 17:23; Luke 15; John  3:14-15; John 15:1314; John 21:15-17

What are your thoughts?  Leave me a comment.

Kazakhstan Bound

Well we are off...we hope.  Been a crazy couple of days.  We can't wait for everyone to meet the newest Brogdon.  We are excited about what God is up to, we will be meeting our next child in just a few days.  Pray that we make all of our flights.

Stay tuned for Bible Studies from KAZ...

World Changers Chattanooga

World Changers was a huge success!  I am so proud of all our students and leaders who shared Jesus without fear and worked hard with amazing attitudes!  God is so good, I saw tremendous growth in everyone who participated and watched as God did some amazing things.   I am already looking forward to WC 2011 Birmingham and Poland!

Thanks to our AWESOME Summer and Project Staff, you guys rock'd out Chattanooga!

IWC Romania

WOW!  It has been a crazy month...I feel like I have been on a roller-coaster from mission trip to mission trip to all the craziness of our adoption.  With everything going on finding time to write has been in short supply.  So, here is a single post recap of the last several weeks.

Romania

Romania was an amazing trip and we had the opportunity to see God at work in great and mighty ways.  Our trip got off to a rocky start with our flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt was delayed by about 3 hours this delay caused us to miss our connection to Bucharest.  God showed up and we all were able to get on the same flight just a couple of hours later.  We finally made it to Braila and the Home of Hope orphanage around midnight.

Sunday was a great day, we got to attend church in Braila and I had the opportunity to speak to the congregation and give greetings from the team sharing what our mission for the week would be.  Later that day we met our crew for the week and had a time of crew planning.  We had dinner on the Danube, what would be the only touristy thing we did in Braila.

Monday it was off to the villages for our first day of work.  Three different crews, three different missions...One crew - mission - install flooring in two churches; next crew mission - two children’s camps and a youth camp a day; my crew’s mission -   in home visits with evangelism a children’s and youth camp.

It was incredible to be in the Roma villages and meet the people who live there.  We discovered a welcoming people who were excited and open to hearing what God was doing in our lives and how His power changes lives.  We all instantly fell in love with the warm and affectionate Roma people.  It was awesome to see God move and work in not only the lives of the people we were there to minister to but in each of our lives also.

As we have returned stateside we all have thought about the biggest thing God taught us during the week.  For me God reminded me about love and how I need to love more.  More specifically God reminded me I need to love other Christians more because we are all on the same journey just some are in different places along the road.  I have always found it easy to love the lost but sometimes my patience falls flat when I deal with other Christians.  Thank You God for teaching me how to love others again.

Romania will always hold a special place in my heart.  Thanks Bob and Gail our missionaries for sharing your passion for the Roma.  Thanks Robert, Vasilica and Victor for being my voice and teaching me a little Romanian.

Romania

So it begins, we are on our way.  I am very excited about the team of students we have going to Romania.  I believe God will show Himself in a powerful way as we minister in Brailia.  Pray that we have the opportunity to see people come to faith and experience the power of faith in Jesus!

Craziness

Wow, it has been a crazy couple of weeks…Finally finding time to sit down and write. So here goes a quick catch up…

Survived Easter – Check
Spring Break event - Check
International World Changers trained – Check
Taxes Prepared – Check
Adoption Finger Prints Round…(I’ve lost count) – Check
USCIS Paperwork – Check
National World Changers trained – Check
T-Shirt designs – Almost Check

It has been an interesting ride and the summer seems to be more of the same, a few more hurdles and look out Romania and Chattanooga, here we come.

Here’s a quick look at the next few weeks:

May 16 - Grad Sunday, AM Service
May 21-22 - Graduation Weekend
May 23 - Preaching during AM Service
June 2 - International World Changers final meeting
June 11 – Leave for Romania

OK God, feeling stressed, fill in the gaps and prepare my heart!

GO-Kart Frenzy

I had a blast with our students riding Go-Karts and playing mini golf during spring break. I had the chance to get to know a few students better and really enjoyed hanging out! Here are the long awaited pictures. I have also created an album on the Gum Branch Facebook page.

Re-Connect

How shallow can we be? We hide our inmost pain and fears from others as we keep the people who could help us at arms length. What are we so afraid of? Hurt, separation, mocking are just a few of the things we are afraid of. Why do we struggle so? The Bible teaches us that if we share our burden it is eaiser to bear. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says: “Two are better than on because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if somebody overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands in to easily broken.”

We know it is easier to share our burdens yet we don’t. Why? We have become so self centered that others have no place in our lives. We have become a society of individuals without a connection to others and most importantly we have lost our connection to God.

The loss of our connection has been a slow process it was not lost over night. Because of this the journey back will not be an overnight process.

Rediscovering our connection begins with the realization that the connection has been lost. To regain your connection with others you need to surround yourself with good Christian men and women who will help nurture you and who will provide you with a safe environment to share your thoughts, struggles, burdens and other demons. Your connection to and with God is the easiest and yet the hardest to regain. You must first put aside anything that is causing the separation and confess any unconfessed sin in your life. Then just talk to God and tell Him what’s on your mind. Daily quiet time and prayer help maintain the connection and strengthen your relationship with God by conforming your will to His.

May God bless you as you get re-CONNECTED.

TRANSFORMED

As we live a life consumed by God we will find our lives being transformed into His likeness. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says: “We all with unveiled faces are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” I find the more I think about transformation two questions come up. First, do I want to be transformed and second, how am I transformed?

Do I want to be transformed? Transformation has a cost and am I willing to pay the cost? What will I have to sacrifice in order to be transformed? These are personal and often times painful questions we must ask as we search our hearts. Take a moment to soul search before you continue. Do you want transformation in your life?

So you want to be transformed. What next? First you must have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus. For He is the Only Way, the Only Truth and the Only Life, you cannot connect to God without Jesus in your heart and life. Titus 3:5 says: “He saved us not by works of righteousness that we had done but according to His Mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit." After establishing that you have a relationship with God you must put aside things that are not glorifying to Him. Ephesians 4:22 & 23 tells us our old selves are corrupted by deceitful desires and our minds will be renewed by the Holy Spirit when we put them aside. Romans 12:2 says: “Do not be conformed but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good pleasing and perfect will of God.” How do we renew our minds? Let’s see, read your Bible and pray…regular worship attendance and discipleship with other believers helps too!

Transformation is a long process and you could argue that it is never complete in this life. Are you ready to begin? Take the first step.

Consumed

I have been doing a lot of soul searching the last two weeks and have not found all the answers I am seeking but have come upon some thoughts I’d like to share. The first one is founded around the word consume.

CONSUME. To Consume: to do away with completely; to spend wastefully; to eat or drink especially in great quantity; to engage fully.

Consume can be either good or bad depending on how we look at it. If we let a situation consume us to the point where we are no good to anyone, including ourselves, we are consumed badly. I have allowed my circumstances the last several weeks consume me and rob me of my joy, this is a horrible way to be consumed and yet I have allowed it to happen. I know it is ok to grieve and be sad but I must not allow it to consume my every moment. God gives us grace to make it through so I need to keep my eyes focused on Him. Are you being consumed by something and allowing it to take your joy?

So, what is consumed in a good or beneficial way? In Psalms, David writes, "Zeal for Your house will consume me." God is referred to as an all consuming fire. It we allow ourselves to be consumed by the fire of God, we will put away things that separate us from Him and others. By doing this we allow Him to use and transform us into His likeness. By becoming more like Him, our lives will be changed along with the lives of those around us.

Allow God to CONSUME you, not the things that will keep you down.

Be CONSUMED and Transformed.

Chase the Lion - Week 5

Embrace – to take up especially or gladly


Uncertainty – the quality or state of doubt and skepticism

Is uncertainty a quality that makes life better or worth living? I think so, uncertainty in life allows faith to enter giving you a great life, well not boring.

As long as you have spiritual certainty you can face circumstantial uncertainties. As long as you have a relationship with God, there is nothing you can’t handle.

Oswald Chambers said it best: “To be certain of God is to be uncertain in all our ways. You never know what a day may bring. This is generally said with a sign of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.”

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

God asks us to give up our certainties to follow Him. What certainties do you need to give up?

God has plans for our lives, it is not up to us to know them but to trust Him!

Chase the Lion - week 4

Reframe - to recondition a mental attitude or outlook

Problem - a source of perplexity, distress or vexation

Who you become is not determined by your circumstances, but by your outlook.

We may not be able to change our circumstances but we can change how we view them.

“If you want to see yourself the way God sees you, you need to look through the frame of Scripture. If you don’t, you’ll have identity issues.”

Philippians 1:29
”For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him..”

God grants us the favor of suffering for Him…This is a hard passage for me to swallow. However, it helps me reframe my circumstances.

Here are a few of the verses that came up last night:

James 1:26
“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

James 1:19-20
19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

James 3:14-16
14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

We all agreed that we liked the statement: “I may not want to write it, you may not want to read it, but God uses adversity to expand our capacity to serve Him.”

I challenge you to reframe any problems you have with scripture. Remember the adage NO PAIN, NO GAIN. Try this spiritualized version: NO ADVERSITY, NO OPPORTUNITY; KNOW ADVERSITY, KNOW OPPORUTNITY.

Chase the Lion - Week 3

face - to confront boldly
fear - an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation of danger.

What separates lion-chasers from everyone else...lion-chasers chase after their fears and confront them while everyone else seems to run from them.

Think about it like this a lion-chaser says here kitty kitty while jumping into the pit with the lion while everyone elses is running away from the lion.

God's will is for us to be revolutionaries while Satan wants us to be reactionaries.  God is not a God of fear and wants us to be bold in our pursuit of Him.

It is easy to act like a Christian but it is much harder to react like one...where do you fit in?

"The grace of God turns final mistakes into single mistakes"

Challenge for this week start chasing rather than running.

Chase the Lion Week 2

Colossians 4:5: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity."

Seizing opportunities is a part of Spiritual Maturity that we often miss. God puts opportunities in our path every day, sometimes the may look like a 500 pound hairy problem, but are really an opportunity waiting to happen. When we look at our problem with Spiritual eyes we can see the opportunity God has given us.

Don't wait for opportunity to knock, chase after it, seek it. Think about Benaiah, he did not wait for the Egyptian to come to him; he went after him, using his own sword to kill him. He did not wait for the lion to come to him; he went after him in the snow, down into the cave to kill him.

Chase the lion, seize opportunities as God brings them to you!

Chase the Lion

We had a great first night at Chase the Lion. Thanks to everyone who came out for this study. I am excited about how God will lead us to be risk takers over the next several weeks.

We started talking about Benaiah and the risks he took...Check this out.

2 Samuel 23:20-21
"There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it. Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it."

He did not wait for the lion to come to him, he went after the lion. This week's challenge is to LIVE OFFENSIVELY AND REJECT LIVING DEFENSIVELY.