There is no way that we can hope to offer our lives back to God without His power, but He has called us to do it. Sometimes it seems so hard, but we have the perfect model: Jesus Christ, who offered His very life, once, for all of us.

Sometimes it is hard to get Scripture to come alive, but after you watch this, you will never see these two chapters of Hebrews the same again.

Ryan Ferguson has memorized the entire book of Hebrews, but just shared these two chapters at a recent worship conference. Thanks to Bob Kauflin from Worship Matters for posting this. How incredibly inspiring is the Word of God!

Jesus was revolutionary.  Jesus was bold.  Jesus was willing to take some risks in order to have everyone know His power, and that He is the only one with the power to save.

He took a very bold risk in talking to the Samaritan woman at the well (found in John 4).  While every other Jew would have gone completely around Samaria to avoid that culture (they were a ‘mixed-breed,’ according to the pure Jews), Jesus made a point to go straight through.  Not only did he go through Samaria and actually talk to a Samaritan, he talked to a Samaritan woman, which, in a culture dominated by male influence, was revolutionary.

I had an experience this past week that was revolutionary, and that really changed my perspective.  I had read an article in the recent Worship Leader magazine called, “The Real Blended Worship.”  This title immediately caught my eye, but the author wasn’t talking about what you might think he would talk about.  He was talking about the blending of cultures.  He was talking about the fact that Jesus redeemed every people group, and that someday, we will all worship together.  He said in the article, “It is one thing to help a church overcome worship wars waged over diverse musical styles, but quite another to help a world overcome a history of international enmity.”

This article’s thoughts were on my heart when it happened.  I work with a guy who has spent some time in Mexico with Youth With a Mission, and I knew he could speak Spanish fluently, but that knowledge didn’t really strike me until he brought a lady from his church into the office we share.  They greeted each other (in Spanish), the talked for a bit (in Spanish), and then (from the little tiny bit of Spanish I can remember) I concluded that she asked him to pray.

What happened next was amazing.  This young guy (caucasian, youth leader, American) prayed for the meeting they were going to have in Spanish.  It was one of the most beautiful things I had heard in a long time; a Christian being revolutionary and reaching out beyond his culture to show the love of Jesus to this woman.

Revelation 7:9-10 says:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (emphasis added)

What an amazing picture of what God has done for us on the Cross!  How are you helping to break cultural barriers? I hear you saying, “Well, I don’t speak a foreign language, so I can’t.”

• Can you break the barrier between the culture of your non-Christian family and your own saved life?
• Can you break the culture that exists between adults and teenagers by mentoring someone younger than you?
• Can you break the culture between those of us with great homes, and those with nowhere to live and nothing to eat by giving them some hope this thanksgiving season?

So I’ll ask again, what are you doing to break down cultural barriers?

Let us offer our lives as living sacrifices of worship to break through cultural barriers and bring the light of Christ to everyone we meet.

(photo by Wendy Aros)

I just read an amazing book entitled, “The Barbarian Way.” by Erwin McManus.  In it, he stressed the point that the church has gotten so far away from Jesus and what He really called us to do and how He really called us to live.  Jesus calls us to a life where we should “deny (ourselves) take up (our) cross and follow Him.”

Often I talk about making worship more than just a Sunday morning thing.  This video made by Community Christian is a great, slightly humorous look at what it looks like to be a Christ Follower and not a Christian.

Last night in my devotions I read through Proverbs 24, and remembered how applicable the Proverbs are for today.  Take a look at vs. 30-34,

I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, {and} received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,” Then your poverty will come {as} a robber And your want like an armed man.

What do we do with our time?  I know that I have been very guilty lately of wasting a lot of time.  I have spent time on things that were definitely not pleasing to God, and I have spent time on things that, while not necessarily bad, just didn’t profit God’s kingdom at all.

When we spend our time during the day, do we think of the advancement of God’s kingdom?  Do we think of how we can be sharing God’s love with someone?  Or do we think of how we can take “a little folding of the hands to rest.”  While rest is of course good, when we purposefully put off important things just to relax, we get caught in the trap of having an overgrown vineyard with a broken wall.

But praise God that He doesn’t leave us without any power to be able to spend time wisely!  I pray that today you would not ask God for more time, but that you would ask God to help you manage your time more wisely, so that you can offer it to Him in worship!

How do you manage your time?