Get A Life!

What is Life? Recently I have been mentoring some students from a local school in town and have realized that this question should be addressed. As I searched through scriptures, and then gave the presentation at a chapel this morning, God assured me that this is something worth sharing to the masses. Not saying that a ton of people read this, but this is my obvious and easiest way to reach the masses :)  


Dictionary.com defines life as
"the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally."


In other words, it is the essence of everything living and it is the term to decipher whether or not something is animate or inanimate. So what is Life? It still feels undefined because we don't have the proper lenses at time to see the definition.

John 1:1-4
"1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God. 
2 He was with God in the beginning. 
3 All things were created through Him, 
and apart from Him not one thing was created 
that has been created. 
4 Life was in Him, 
and that life was the light of men." (HCS)

There are many things to look at in this passage, but the thing I want to focus on is the fact that an uneducated man that followed Jesus over 2000 years ago gets what life is! He explains in this passage that the Word Made Flesh, Jesus, not only has always existed with God, but He is the Essence of life. Let me rephrase it for you. Life is the essence of everything that is animate, and Jesus is the essence of everything that is living. This means that from the beginning of time as WE KNOW IT, everything has sustained life because of Jesus. 


So when the title of this says, "Get a Life", I'm trying to remind you that you need to get right with Jesus. 

John 14:6
"Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.""(HCS)

If Jesus is THE LIFE that means that there is no other life. Now the real thinking question comes into play. Why then Bryan are there a lot of people I know that are living that don't know Jesus? Isn't what your saying that Anybody that doesn't know Jesus dead? 


If you are to look at my argument literally you could read it that way, but what I am here to state is simply,  "it's not that life is too short, it's that we are dead for so long." (Anonymous Author) 

John 10:10
"A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance." (HCS)

Think about the way our city, our schools, our families, our friendships, ect.. could be if we truly acted as though we believed that Jesus is Life! Do we think that students of this generation would act, dress, and defines success the way that they do if WE lived our lives as if Jesus is Life? There is a part of the divine nature of man that longs to be fully alive in Christ.


See when you are born of your flesh, normal birth, you are alive in the sense that people define you as living, but God may not see it that way. It's the idea of the God-head saying "Let Us make man in Our image...." (Gen 1:26) It's the flesh we carry around everyday. But Jesus as Life is something that is the essence of living.

John 3:3
"Jesus replied, “I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”"(HCS)

What He means is that your spirit can only be made alive by Him! That the only way to truly fulfill the idea of, "according to Our likeness...." (the other half of Gen 1:26) is if a man or woman fully submits themselves to Jesus. This is because Jesus is Life, so to become alive to have to lay down what you think is living to receive the life He gave you through the power of the Holy Spirit by His resurrection from the dead. Do you believe Jesus is Life? If so, are you alive or are you metaphorically brain dead in the spirit (the flesh is alive, but the brain is dead)? 


I challenge you today, Start Living! 

Romans 8:19
"For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed."(HCS)

I love you beloved!

How Humiliating!!

As I sit here tonight reflecting on my day, I felt lead to share a moment with you that I had earlier today and humbly use it as an example to encourage you all right where you are! For those of you that have been around me a while, or for those who have read this blog a lot have noticed that I enjoy sharing God’s word and challenging others to not only read it but notice some things for themselves about it and how it relates to them. This blog is one outlet arm of what I’m talking about. The other is something I have the privilege of doing on Sunday mornings.

For the past two and a half years now I have been pouring my heart into Junior High Students at Northpoint Church. I love everyone of them as if there are my own little brother or sister. I preach to them three out of four Sundays a month and have really come to know them. During this time I have realized that God not only uses me in the JH environment, but that He uses me in the lives of other Christians of almost any age. PTL!! As I said, currently my heart is for JH and HS students, but I have seen myself in thoughts and in ministry doing bigger venues as well.

All of this is simply the backdrop to this story. I currently am also the Teen Coordinator at the local YMCA and our facility is one where my church uses the auditorium on Sunday mornings. Normally I preach in front of 15 to 20 JH students as compared to the ample amount of seating in the auditorium. Tonight at the Y I had a moment where I stood on the stage and looked out at the empty seats, the lights were off (even the stage ones) and there was just enough light coming through a side door that allowed me to see everything dimly lit. I looked out and said, “God how awesome would it be to be an insignificant, filthy man that could one day preach the truth of God and the power of His son Jesus on this stage someday.”

As the word left my mouth I was reminded of a few things.

1) The bold advice of Paul when he instructed Timothy to guard what God had entrusted him with (1 Tim 6:20*) God said, “Bryan you are already doing what that desire declares, but only the world and your flesh is telling you that the stage is small. WOW that on rocked me!

2) When you have this heart in mind, something like the future desire will happen. For example, Matthew 25:21,23** are the responses of God to those who are diligent and trustworthy with few things and He promises more. Now some people will focus on these promises as something God owes them for being faithful, but tonight I’m led to believe that God doesn’t owe me them, He is just so awesome that these statements are true. But in that moment tonight I was reminded that what I have may be few in some people's eyes, but in being trustworthy bigger things will come.

I know this is somewhat different of me to not place all of the scripture up here, but I’m writing to those of you who look at one thing in this Christian walk and place it as the pinnacle of where you want to be by the end of this side of heaven. God’s heart for you and me tonight is simple. REJOICE IN THE POSITIONING YOU ARE IN NOW AND BE TRUSTWORTHY WITH THE FLOCK HE’S GIVEN YOU! Everything else will take care of itself!

I love you Beloved!

* “1 Timothy 6:20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent, empty speech and contradictions from the "knowledge" that falsely bears that name.”

**“Matthew 25:21,23 "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master's joy!”

Oh To Touch His Garment

So the other day I had an encounter with my flesh that was more real than I’ve ever had before! As some of you may know I have had the opportunity to interact with students at my current job and through the local high school next door. In this time I’ve made friendships with people who are all over the spectrum when it comes to social acceptance, popularity, and what is seen as normal behavior. It’s been very interesting to see this, in fact it has blown my mind how unaware I was of this stuff when I was a student even in a small school. That being said, I had a choice the other day at lunch to interact with someone that could be known as one of the uncool and easily picked on at this school.

She is a very sweet girl and always full of joy! I’ve gotten to know her through my job I’m currently at. It wasn’t until I attended lunch on Tuesday that I realized what lunch period she was in. This lunch period is one where one of the students I connect with the best is, and I tend to spend more time at his table because of this. As we had our normal conversation about life and school I saw her about one table over enjoying her lunch. Something in me said, “Silly, go say hello!” Then something else came up inside of me that said, “I don’t think that is smart dude.” The classic angel and devil on my shoulder feeling came into play. After reflecting on this situation I was reminded of this story from Mark’s gospel in the fifth chapter.

“24 So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against Him. 25 A woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. 27 Having heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His robe. 28 For she said, "If I can just touch His robes, I'll be made well!" 29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was cured of her affliction.”

The crowd was bigger than what I deal with, but I have found that, by the grace of God, there are a lot of students that want to talk with me. Now my situation is somewhat different than this passage one the level that this girl didn’t come through the crowd to come see me. But I feel as though God used her in my life to remind me of something.

I was literally looking down at her and said to myself, “She’s forgiving and it’s not a big deal if I don’t go say anything to her.” In that moment I felt the Lord say, “Bryan I can’t believe that you feel as though I don’t want to talk with you. I can’t believe that I’m not worth your time for even a small visit.” I’ve gotta tell you, that revelation was spiritually shattering. In the moment I knew that even if this girl wasn’t doing everything she could to see me, that I have the ability to brighten and change the atmosphere of her day by sitting at her table. 

Let get one thing straight… We as Christians represent Christ everywhere we are! I repeat… We as Christians represent Christ everywhere we are! Having said that, I eventually got up and went and sat at her table. The student I normally talked with didn’t make a big deal about the visit, and I’m not even sure if he noticed me leaving to go say hello. I do know though that when I sat down at her table, she gave me a smile that could make anybody’s day brighter. The visit was short and enjoyable. This young woman didn’t have to come through the crowds to have an encounter with the Lord. As I write this I realize now that this girl isn’t the woman in the story. I am! The crown of my story are the lies of my flesh, the ideology of our society, and the fear that a move like the one I made would only end up bad for me. Thank you Jesus that on Tuesday you let me touch the hem of your garment and be healed of these things!

Lord, I pray that if there is anyone reading this that struggles in this area at times like I do, that you speak to them as loving, yet stern as you did to me!

The ball is in your court fam, it’s time to decide what your position is, and what role you play in the kingdom in your specific atmosphere. Never let fear hold you back from being the best example of Jesus to someone!

I love you beloved!

With a Cherry on Top!

So God recently brought me back to a verse that struck on of those spiritual nerves and you think, ouch that hurts! It’s one of those praise God and feeling of complete humiliation at the same time type of moments. Let’s take a look at Romans 12:10:

“10 Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

First I want to break the first section down. In our society the structure of the family is crippling, so of course it’s hard to see the proper meaning of the first part. In Hebrew culture family has a much different meaning than it does in our day and age. Hebrew culture would sometimes consider cousins and cousins of cousins as brothers and sisters. To say you had a friend that was closer than a brother, means that was a really great friend. Of course there were squabbles and frustration as times, look at King David’s family history. All of that said, it means that to call someone outside of your family your brother or sister, better yet treat some one that way, probably meant the world to them!

The thing that God really beat me around with was a new idea that reflects on the second half of the verse. “Outdo one another…” I had a love/hate relationship with this phrase but came to love it when God reopened the thought the other day. When we talk about outdoing someone, we tend to put it in a way that could be derogatory to someone else. It can birth competition. Then God reminded me that there is healthy competition and unhealthy competition. What if we had a healthy competitive spirit that promoted showing honor to others?

I was like, “God what does that look like?” Then poof, came the idea. Have you ever said the phrase, “Pretty please, with a cherry on top?” God said, “Bryan I’m calling you to be the cherry on the top of someone’s ice cream! It doesn’t matter if someone is in a bad mood, or a good mood, I’m calling you to put them in a better mood than they were before because of the honor you give them!” Imagine what our lives would look like if they were full of people who where outdoing one another in showing honor or being the cherry on your ice cream. Imagine what your friend’s lives, your work atmosphere, your school setting, or your own family situation would look like if you followed this challenge.

My challenge is simple, as funny as it may sound, be the cherry on someone’s ice cream this week! Outdo me in showing honor to others.

I love you beloved.

Beware Of The Judas Spirit

So it’s been a real long time, but this was very good insight the Lord showed me so I want to share it with you! This blog post is called Beware Of The Judas Spirit not because Judas Iscariot had an apocryphal gospel in his name. Not because he simply betrayed Jesus. It’s called this because God showed me something different about Judas today. Let me use Matthew 26:22-25 to show you what I mean:

22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

Did you catch it? It’s very subtle. Jesus brings it into the open that He is about to be betrayed by one of His closest friends. One of the people Jesus called to be His future presence in this world will be the one that betrays Him! But notice the response of I’m guessing about eleven of the twelve of them. They say, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” This term Lord shows that they are submissive to Him. He has an authority in their lives. He is whom they follow. But notice what Judas calls him, “Rabbi.” He subtly says, “Jesus, you the great teacher, don’t mean me?”

Bryan, what does this have to do with anything? See Judas had a level of intimacy with Jesus that some of us here and now will never have in this life. He walked, talked, ate, drank, and even laughed with Him, all in the physical. He probably shared struggles with Jesus, prayed with Jesus, and did ministry with Jesus. In spite of all of this, this passage shows us that Judas never saw Jesus in the proper view. Throughout every Gospel Judas never calls Jesus his Lord. He simply calls Him his teacher, his Rabbi.

Some of us today are just like this, some more than others. Some of us call ourselves Christians and don’t realize that that term IMPLIES submission to Jesus as Lord. We simply look at our life and what happens and say to ourselves I’m doing this Christian walk, thing, trend like Jesus would want me to. I’m living a good, moral life, yet in the process we miss the point. On the other hand, there are some of us who submit that Jesus is our Lord, yet in certain instances in our lives see him as a teacher. A teacher is someone who tells you the right answers, and how to come to those conclusions; but you don’t have to follow or agree with a teacher at all times. So with that in mind, there are instances in some of our lives that some of us know what to do and how to do it, but since in this area of our lives Jesus is our Rabbi, we follow our own way!

Both of these ways of living the Christian Walk have terrible endings. When your walk is put under the scope of your friends, your family, your spouse, or you significant other and they want to do something contrary to the things of the Lord; for some reason we will throw Christ right on the cross for the thirty pieces of silver we call reputation, affection, or lust. Even worse yet, you may find your spiritual walk diminishing because you are constantly walking in your old, sinful ways and the conviction is so thick that you feel like you committing spiritual suicide. There is such a big disconnect from you and The Lord. All of this comes from us having a similar mindset. I challenge you today fam, submit yourselves to Jesus! He is the Good Shepherd and in your surrender will give you a call and a purpose that nothing or nobody can take from you!

I love you Beloved!

El Salvador Trip 2011 Part 1

Hey everyone, hope all has been well. It feels like a small eternity since I've last written, but I think God has given me some things to share with you guys that hopefully inspire you to ponder on him and his character. See as Christians we sometimes forget the basis of our name and what it means to be Christian. The term Christian in the greek literally means "little Christ." In other words we must exemplify Jesus, the Christ, in our daily lives as much as possible to be called by this name. It should also be noted that this was not a term that Jesus' original disciples called themselves. This was a term given to them by worldly rulers of their time. That being said, Jesus' way of doing things, the things his live bring people, and the freedom we as believers walk in, should be displayed in walking this walk. Now remember, we are not able to do any of this without the help of the Holy Spirit, a gift that Jesus graciously gave us, but we can accomplish this.


With all this build up, I want to share a small piece of Jesus that I saw in a very real way down in El Salvador that has awakened me to see a side of me that isn't quite fun. There was an intern down there named Jenissa and she humbled herself to the Lord all week as to teach us something. To some, her actions were overlooked or easily forgotten, but I simply couldn't shake what God was showing me. Every day we would do 4 to 5 evangelistic dramas a day. These dramas took anywhere from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, and in very hot humid weather. With all this work being done I had to drink an average of 8 to 9 bottles of water a day to stay hydrated. This wasn't much different for everyone else on our trip including Jenissa. 


What she did is what some might say is simple, but I couldn't say that at that time I would do. With 25 of us from Northpoint, 5 leaders from El Salvador, and our bus driver; we were all always asking for our water bottles to be refilled. PAY ATTENTION TO THIS NEXT PART. Jenissa stood at the front of the bus and asked everyone who wanted their water bottle filled. She would fill everyones water bottle before she would get her bottle filled. I Would remember several small trips that she never got to fill her bottle. YOU CATCHING IT? I'll give you one more example. She at one point had to use the bathroom and asked if anyone else had to, simply to make sure she wouldn't have the bus stop simply for her. When nobody had to go, she told the driver that she would wait. She waited for 45 minutes then some others on the bus raised their voices to use the bathroom, and they all went. CATCH IT YET?


She waited in both instances to make sure that she wasn't going to be served. Her heart was make sure she was going to be served last. She had many other examples throughout the week. Her display reminded me of some very important passages that I have recently been looking at more closely.

"3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3-4


"26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-28

See Jesus wants us to understand that he never came to this earth to be served. He came to serve and in some cases I think this is something simple yet amazing that we sometimes miss as American Christians. Can you imagine what your workplace would be like if you never complained and just served your managers? Can you imagine what our families would look like if we served them without hesitation? What would our city, our nation, our world look like if we did things like Christians, Little Christs? 


I love you Beloved.