Pick up your Nets!

You ever have one of those days where everything you read or see reminds you of something that you're thinking a lot about. Well I'm in the middle of one of those times. No matter where I am or what I'm doing I'm constantly being reminded of what i feel like God is going to do on 9/9/9. And I'm not trying to be all super spiritual but I know that God is going to open up a whole new way of thinking and a whole new season not only for Elevate, but in me as well. And it was interesting because this morning during my devotion time I was reminded once again of what I believe God has been setting us up for. I was reading in Luke 5 and I began to see what God has been up to for the last 2 or so months. When you read you'll see in verse 2 that as Jesus approached the disciples that Peter, James and John were all cleaning their nets. Now that's something that normally you probably just look right over, but in it you'll see that it's everything. The reason that fishermen have to clean their nets is because if they don't they'll get rotted out and will break if fish are in them. This is true spiritually as well. If you don't clean yourself up, meaning that if you don't work on purifying your life, then when you go out to try and witness or tell others about Christ you won't be able to hold up for very long. Practically it looks like this. When you were saved God pulled you right out of the pit, and now you see others that are still in the pit. Well if you aren't willing to clean your nets first, you're either never going to be able to pull anyone out because your too weak or they'll pull you right back in. And secondly you have to stretch your nets back out meaning that you have to let God stretch you and allow God to lead into situations that you might feel uncomfortable in, but know that if God's going to ask you to do it then there must be a reason. If you want to go fishing you got to be willing to clean your nets before and after every time. And here's the thing that got me. I read a statement about this scripture that said even after you've cleaned your nets you can't forget to go fishing. So many of us work on getting ourselves pure and then hide. We don't wont anything to make us dirty again. We can't do this, we've got to be willing to get out there and gets our nets dirty.
Elevate this is for you. We spent about a month talking about purity. Since Weeklong we've been letting God stretch us. Now it's time to get ready to go fishing. If you're willing to answer Jesus' call, then I ask you, pick up your nets.

Do you know what you have?

For the past couple of days a very simple but powerful question has been circulating and dominating my thoughts. It's a question that I asked some Jr. High aged boys Sunday and the guys in my tribe last night, and was quite surprised by the answers. It's the question how is your life different because you follow Jesus? I even put it how is your life different following Jesus compared to how your life would be if you didn't even know about him? When I asked the Jr. High students this I was quickly answered with some very standard super spiritualized terms like "well he's made my life pure and holy" or "God makes my life more righteous". Which I quickly came back with "well what does that practically look like and mean"? I was surprised that they were then speechless. I wasn't trying to stump them or trick them I just wanted to know if they knew the simple truths of what God has truly done for them, but I found out that they really don't know what God has done for them. They more knew what God had done in their parents lives, and knew the terminology that their parents used to describe it. This took me back because we're constantly trying to encourage our students to tell their friends about Jesus, but I'm seeing that that might be a difficult task if you don't even know what Jesus has done in your life. After all how can you encourage someone to have what you have if you don't even know what you have. Then got the very non surprising answer from my college guys last night of how God had saved them from difficult lives surrounded by worldly influences and emptiness. But what was surprising from them was the fact that so many of them are afraid to share that with people outside of the church. They feel like they don't know enough about God to share with others that don't know God. But the fact is that they know what God has done in them and that makes them completely qualified to share with others that need what they have. So I encourage you if you're reading this to first find out and pinpoint what God has done in your life, I promise He's done something. And then get the boldness to allow yourself to share what God has done for you with others. It could be the very thing that need to hear. And if they ask you a question about God or the Bible that you don't know, don't lie to them just say "you don't know but you can find out." Just remember, you got to know what you have before you can share it.

This thing called Twitter!!

I was watching espn the other day as I do quite often, it is the only decent and inspiring reporting that is done anymore, and heard a statement that a football player made about how he plans on sending out Twitter messages during games this year. When I heard this I knew instantly that Twitter really is going to take world media and communication to a whole new place. I have come to realize that Twitter is here to stay. Now that's big for me because I've been fighting the urge to sign up and partake in this new tweeting revolution. I have refused thus far because I've seen first hand the dangers that Twiitter can cause. I've seen some of my coleagues becoming Twitter addicts and I'm truly fearful for them. I've even debated the need for Twitter Twelve Step Programs that can really offer help to this addiction. You see I've watched people progress in their Tweeting dependicy. Most people start off as casual Tweeters, only indulging once a week or so. And many times they are the ones that progress into social Tweeters. who like to send out tweet photos and messages when they are in the company of friends and large groups. They don't even think about it except when others are around. This is a very harmless form of Tweeting. It's when people progress into hardcore Tweeters that problems begin to arise. These are the people that begin to take in even into the workplace. They begin to send out messages any and everywhere. Many times we're seeing that is this the beginning of full on Twitter addiction, or as some would call it, a Twit Addict. They wake up every morning and the first thought they have is to Tweet. They think spend all day searching for new people to follow and try to get as many people to follow them. They can't go more than an hour without tweeting. And the more and more they Tweet they see loved ones and close friends stop following them. People that used to enjoy they're tweets begin to just get iritated by the fact that a tweet is more important than a casual text message. This is a serious problem and it's taking over our world, and we need to begin to learn to use procaution in our Twitter usuage. I say all of this to announce that I have joined the Twitter world to be an example. To show people the importance of using descretion when Tweeting. So if you would like to follow my Twitter I'm "billy_woods", and Yes you can follow me. Until next time, be safe Twitters, and don't tweet and drive.

It's more than just your Goliath

Well I'm back from Weeklong, and it was be far the best trip I've ever been a part of. I saw things happen to students spiritually that I had never seen before. It was an amazing week. One of the things that has been sticking with me from weeklong is the story of David and Goliath. It's a story that I've read I don't know how many times, and at weeklong saw Pastor Jurgen preach it in the funniest way I had ever seen before. Pastor Jurgen you have inspired me to learn to moon walk so I can do it one day when I'm preaching. He's the only guy I've seen preach and do the moon walk, it's taking multi tasking to a whole another level. But even after hearing it preached there has been a part of this story that God has revealed to me. I've never seen it this way. In the story we've all read that Goliath would come out and basically taught and challenge the Israelite army. But all of the Israelites became incredibly fearful, which I've now discovered was actually a sin. God made a covenant with the Israelites and part of it was that they should fear no enemy that rises against them, that God would deliver all of their enemies to them. So they actually where sinning by being afraid. So when David walked onto the battled field it wasn't that he was stupid or just didn't know that Goliath was a beast of a man and could easily destroy him, he walked out there knowing that the covenant of God was on his side and that God wouldn't let him down. But here's the thing that really got me. When Goliath looked at David and said "the birds of the air and the beasts of the field are going to eat you", David responded with "the birds of the air and the beasts of the field will eat you and the entire army behind you today." Goliath was challenging David, not the entire army. David challenge the entire army. And you know the story David killed Goliath and then the Israelites where encouraged and killed the philistines. So David challenge the entire army but only killed Goliath. The reason is because by him standing up to the challenge in front of him, the testimony of him overcoming that challenge inspired and motivated the rest of the Israelite army to know that they could overcome their challenges too. By standing up to your Goliaths, you will gain a testimony that will help others overcome theirs as well. All it takes is one willing to stand up and let God show up, and it can cause an entire army to rise up. So let's rise up Elevate and see some Goliath's fall.

How to live in Greatness

Well it's been a couple weeks since my last blog mainly because we are vastly approaching our Elevate Weeklong. I'm really excited about everything that we're putting into this trip and probably is going to go down as one of if not the best and most significant trip we've done in the three years that i've been here. But while preparing for the trip i've still been able to find some quiet times and just pick up a book for awhile. In one book that i've been reading, called The Unstoppable Force", the author made a very profound statement that caught me. He said that we Christians are used to talking about the Great Commision, but very few actually see it as part of the greatest commandment. He knew from Jesus' teaching that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second greatest is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Now think about it, the Great Commision is about reaching people and sharing with them the love and good news of Jesus Christ. But how many times do we see Christians doing this in public and private settings in a very hateful way. I was walking around at the University of Arizona the other day and there was a middle aged couple there trying to fulfill they're part of this commision, but you wouldn't have known it from what they were saying. Literally they were yelling at people to repent, and the walk away from their homosexual lives, and calling people sluts and whores. Just out right yelling at people. Now I didn't stay too long and listen but my guess is that not many people if any really heard the "GOOD NEWS". As a friend of mine put it, "it's supposed to be good news, not bad." If you're reading this and have or do this type of evangelism, I ask this as simple as I can. Please stop. Jesus intended us to deliver the Good News with the love that is that news. The greatest commandment is to love God and people, so make sure that anything you do lines up first with the greatest commnadment. And remember taht love is the greatest commandment to live by, the greatest fruit a Christian can show, and the greatest mission any of us can take.

The Man Date

Just a couple of days ago I was out at lunch with a friend of mine, more so he is a young man that I've been disciplining for some time. He asked if we could grab something to eat and that he wanted to talk to me about some stuff that was bothering him. So as we're there he was telling me about this situation that he is in and basically just wanted advise on how to navigate through it. After we ate we continued to talk for a little bit then I told him that we needed to get going. And as we were getting up he said to me "thanks man, this was a good man date." Now, instantly I was taken back. I had never heard a guy ever say that and I began to ask myself "what in the world is a man date? what kind of twisted and satanic thoughts does this guy have about this meeting? This is wrong I should have never come." Then I casually collected myself and asked "what is a man date?" He replied "a man date is when two bros go and hangout somewhere." As I heard this I took a deep breath and knew that I wasn't going to have to have a time of deliverance with this young man. But it got me thinking about what actually constitutes a "Man Date". I believe there needs to be some clarity brought to this phrase, because it can so easily be taken out of context. Webster defines the word date as "a social appointment, engagement, or occasion arranged beforehand with another person". With that said it can be made clear that a man date is a social meeting with one or more guys. The key to this is that it is social and there can be no premeditate emotions to it. Let me elaborate a little bit more. To truly have a man date you must plan the meeting as a completely social event. With that said the truth is that my meeting with this young man wasn't actually a man date. Because it was planned as an emotional time of counseling. We both knew going into it that he wanted to express emotions that were bothering him. If it were to be an actual man date it would have had to of been planned as we are simply going to lunch to just hang out. Here's a good example of an actual man date. Just a week or so ago I invited a buddy of mine to go to see a Diamondbacks game. I had an extra ticket and knew that he would probably like to go. All that was planned ahead of time was that we were going to go to a ball game and have fun. That's a man date. A man date is not inviting a couple of your friends to go watch The Notebook. That's called you can't get a girl to go see it so you asked a bunch a guys to go instead which is probably even worse than the fact that you can't get a date. And one last bit of advice, don't actually ask another guy to go on a man date with you. That's just weird. The correct wording to use would be something similar to "hey you want to go to a game?" Don't make it awkward! So don't use the term out of context. A "Man Date" can be defined as a planned social event with no emotional expectation what so ever. That's it, I'm calling Webster and added that trash.

Elevate Questions on Purity

Last night we had a rather interesting night at Elevate. With Pastor Waylon on a much deserving vacation with his family, me and the rest of the amazing Elevate staff led the service and had one of our Elevate Online nights. With the last two Elevate services being on purity we thought it would be nice to allow students the opportunity to text in their questions that they might be having on the subject. And with no surprise there was an overwhelming amount of questions, far too many questions to answer in one service, so I'm taking advantage of this outlet to try and bring a little more light to some of these pressing issues.

It was no surprise to any of us that the majority of the questions asked were related to sexual impurity. It's obvious that this is the most fore front issue, but I want to start this blog off with talking about an area of purity that many students, many people for that matter, don't even see as an issue. That's the area of impure speech. There are many students and even leaders that fall that struggle with pure speech. I saw it even last night in the texting. There were many questions asking if swearing or cussing is impure and the answer is yes. Paul says it in Ephesians 5 that obscenity, coarse joking, or even gossip doesn't fit the life style of a christian. Yet this type of speech is so common even in Christians. Not only is gossip a daily part of many students lives, so is coarse joking. And that's the problem with today. We have made sex a big joke. Now I'm a big fan of the show The Office, but even there what's the big joke that Michael always says? "That's what she said." I hear students and leaders both saying that same phrase with there best Michael impersonation every week. The same with cussing. It's so common in movies, music, and TV shows that even when students say or hear it, it doesn't have the same sting as something like stealing that is obviously looked at as an impure action. But sadly students don't see that impure speech is just as big of an issue.

The next question that I want to take time and respond to is a question we received asking "is oral sex still sex?" My first response to this is to ask you a question, "does it have the word sex in it?" The problem isn't knowing whether or not it's sex, this is a matter of students trying to get all the pleasures of sex without feeling like they are actually having sex. This is a matter of trying to justify something that is wrong and you know it is wrong so that you don't feel bad about doing it. It's like listening to our great ex President when he said "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," and knowing that there is a little stained dress that says otherwise. I'm sorry Mr. President but oral sex is sexual relations.

The last question that I want to talk about has two parts. We were asked "can you be pure but not holy," and "in your attempt to be pure can you become legalistic?" There are two main things that need to be understood to really find a grasp on this. First can you be pure and not holy, YES. Now let me explain. You can live a pure lifestyle in that you are a person that just doesn't enjoy impure things. You can be a person that really just doesn't enjoy doing bad things to your body so you never get drunk or do drugs. You can be a person that just really doesn't like to cuss when you talk and even be a person that really wants to wait to have sex. You can be this kind of person and do it simply because you don't want to instead of doing it because God has called us to live to a certain standard. If you only live this kind of lifestyle because your motive is it's all about you. Being holy is your motive says that it's all about God. So can you live a lifestyle that appears pure, then the answer is yes. But realize that it's your motives that make you holy. And this really takes us into the next part of the question about becoming legalistic. It's the same answer. Legalism is really just a motive. So if you're really trying to pursue purity in order to be obedient to God then it's a pure motive, but if you're pursuing purity because of how others will look at you or because you're afraid of what someone might say or think about you then it can become legalistic.

There are so many other questions I'd love to answer but as my pastor once said "it's okay to leave quality material on the editing floor."

Today I am a blogger!!!

I would like to announce that this is a day of historic importance. It is on this day that I get to cross off #72-c from my list of things to accomplish before my legacy ends. I feel a little overwhelmed with joy, and I believe that in times like these you should look back and thank those that made this memorable event happened. First and foremost I'd like to thank the man that first put the vision inside of me that one day I could be a blog master as he is. Pastor Waylon has been my blog yoda for some time now and it has been through reading his blog that I have thought maybe one day I too can master the blog. But first I must, as all beginners do, start as a white belt blogger. Then that brings me to my next insperation. It was this man's blog that captured my heart and drove me to search the depths of the web for this site. I know this young man wouldn't want to be named for he has a humbled heart, but it was his blog that pulled me in like gravity. It was the orginality and creativity that overwhelmed me and I knew that I must find this blogging home of blogger.com, for I too must belong to this community. It was then that I realized that I too would be the master of me own blogging page. And to you sir, I thank you.
Yes my dream has come to me sooner that most would have inticipated, and it has been a journey to get here. And as I look to the right of this page and see that I don't have any followers yet, my heart is filled with excitement that one day your name could be there. But if I can leaver you with anything, as I find myself with this new responsibility I want you to know that you too can one day live out your dreams and be a part of this journey called the blog.