"You shall not covet!"

Now, God was very specific when he wrote this commandment. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."

Now, if you are a human being, then you must be something that you want that someone else has. I have this problem constantly, and it's a difficult commandment to overcome. Here are a few pictures of the things I covet constantly.

The saying is true "The grass is greener on the other side"

Awesome cars~

Rich people with a ton a money.

Huge houses...

And more beautiful grass.

However I don't only covet tangible items. I also covet how people look or act. I wish I had muscles like the guy next to me in the gym. I wish I had the faith that Ray Comfort and Living Waters have. I wish for a lot of stuff but this commandment tells us not to.

Now, I'm not saying we can't wish for stuff...but don't wish you had something that someone else has. God will give it to you if He wants you to have it. But don't covet stuff in a way where you are doing it "religiously" ... meaning, don't constantly covet other people's things, everyday minute of your day.

The main purpose of life is to live for Jesus. We don't need anything else, we just need Him. That's it. Everything else will be destroyed later anyway! :-)

God bless!!
Josiah

"You shall have no other gods before Me."

I believe this commandment has a lot of arms and legs to it. First of all, God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5), and He hates it when His creation follow false gods. Think about when the Israelites followed other gods instead of the One who saved them? Or King Solomon when he started worshipping other gods instead of the One who gave him wisdom!

The word "god" has several different meanings.

1.  The creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.

2. A superhuman being or spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity.

3. An image, idol, animal, or other object worshiped as divine or symbolizing a god

4. Used as a conventional personification of fate

• - he dialed the number and, the gods relenting, got through at once

5. An adored, admired, or influential person

• - he has little time for the fashion victims for whom he is a god

6.  A thing accorded the supreme importance appropriate to a god

               - don't make money your god

Now, for the second "arm and leg" look at the definition #6. The example they gave I thought was very interesting; "Don't make money your god." It's true, do you love something or feel more passionate about something other than God? If you live for food, games, TV, money or something like that then you may be putting that in higher importance than God.

I myself have had many problems with this in my life, and I have put worldly and man-made objects and entertainment before God.

Don't put other things in the place of God, instead, follow the Lord full-heartily, and believe that He is the only One to make you Whole!

God bless,

Josiah

The Misconception on Modern-Day Christian Music

Is modern day Christian Music, turning us away from the Truth that Jesus put before us?
I recently heard that Carrie Underwood, a well known country singer, who claims to be a true Christian; has done something terrible. Mrs. Underwood promotes gay marriage. She exclaims that people shouldn't feel bad about who you marry... It's sickening...

Below is On The Box, a show that I highly respect from a group of evangelists from Living Waters. Ray Comfort and Tony, two evangelists, share their opinions about what Mrs. Underwood said.




The main point I want to make with this blog post is that we need to remember not to idolize the singer or the writer of a song. Every singer and song writer have a unique gift, these gifts were given by no one else but the Lord. We need to focus on who the song writer was directing the song to.

Why do we sing praise and worship songs? Because we are worshipping the One who created us, not because we want to sing a song that some popular artist sang...this should be our main purpose of singing songs.

Psalms 33:1-3

"Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the Lord with the harp' Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy."

Psalms 67:3-4

"Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Selah."

There are many more references to how we should praise God throughout Psalms. David did a really good job praising the Lord. But we are idolizing him are we?? Not like we do with Carrie Underwood, and people like Philips, Craig and Dean. Everyone falls off the path sometimes, we just need to make it a priority not to idolize or "look-up" to singers too much...they are just people, like you and me.

Praise God, not the singer. Follow the Creator, not the writer. Believe the Word, not the script. Idolize the One who made all, not the one who sang the song.

Thanks for reading,
Josiah

Should we "dance" in church?

Mrs. Pastoor sent us an e-mail asking what we thought of dancing in church. Here is what she asked:


" Some people think that dancing in church is a sin. Do you think you can write something about dancing to show that dancing in church is good as long as you are dancing to god praising to him. That would be very wonderful if you did that because that is something that has always confused me."

Below are the responses from several of the authors.

From Matt: 2 Samuel 6:14 says "Then David danced before the Lord with all his might....."

David worshiped the Lord with dancing. We can worship God in song and in dancing. God wants us to give him Glory in everything that we do. If you dance, then you should dance in a way that glorifies God and brings Him honor. If you play the piano, you so pay in such a way that brings honor and glory to God. The same with Football, and anything else.

Dancing to praise God is great, but I would say that it is not appetite to dance in front of everyone in church. You should be aware of what you are doing, too. Some dances are not appropriate or meant to bring glory to God. Exodus 32:19 "So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain." Lots of dances are made to worship idols, not the one true God.


I would conduct your own bible study on dancing and see what conclusions you come up with.


From Victoria: I think it’s obvious that dancing for the Lord is a positive thing. It’s accounted so many times in Scripture as a legitimate worshiping of our Lord, I think it’s pretty undebatable. Things become less obvious when we start talking about dancing in church. So is dancing in church a sin? The short answer: no I don’t think it’s a sin. Is it wise? That depends. Like everything we do in church from singing, to raising hands, to clapping, to testifying, I believe there’s a time and a place. Church is for the saints, and more specifically for the edification of the saints (1 Corinthians 14:12), so whatever we do in church must be to encourage and lift up our brothers and sisters. Does dancing in praise to God fit that bill?

Before you start dancing in the aisles ask yourself these questions. Am I doing this for Christ and will this edify my church, not causing dissension? If the answer is yes to those, then I believe you are perfectly in the right to rejoice. "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." 1 Corinthians 14:33 I don’t believe dancing in church fits into the “confusion” category of this verse. I think if entered into with discernment and the right heart attitude, rejoicing before the Lord in the house of God can edify your fellow believers and bring much glory to Him.



From Josiah: Just like Matt quoted from the Bible, David did dance to glorify the Lord. He danced along side the ark of the Lord! Now I have mixed feelings about this topic, and hopefully I'll be able to clarify what I mean in the following paragraphs.


First off, glorifying the Lord in anyway, whether by dancing, singing, or praying, is wonderful; however I don't think that we should be a "scene" or make others marvel at what we do. Don't be like those rock stars who draw people's attention to yourself. You are doing it for God, not for man. Keep that in mind.


Second, today's culture in America (not sure about other cultures, but they are probably the same) dancing is a form of drawing closer to someone intimately. If you were dancing on your own in church, then it might be okay, but if your dancing with others then that is probably not okay in a church.


Overall, I would just be careful, don't dance in a church because you want to show off your skills, dance with someone, or be popular; dance because you want to glorify the Lord in what you do best. I wouldn't say that dancing for the Lord has to be done in church, you could do it at home also! :-)


From Matthew: Throughout the Bible and throughout our culture, dancing has been used as a form of expressing joy and having fun. My friends have expressed that in their responses. I do not have the time to go into all of the concepts and topics I would usually like to, but I do want to go into a few things that have not been covered yet.


When I read the question, the words "in church" stick out at me. I am not against dancing as a whole, and usually enjoy doing it. But in church is a different matter entirely. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 14:40.


"Let all things be done decently and in order."


When in church, our affections should be set on the Lord Jesus. When I dance, it is usually at an organized event where everyone dances in sync... to a degree. But if one person is dancing in church and another is singing, etc. That does not seem orderly to me. When worshiping, we worship in order. When we dance, we disturb that worship. That brings me to my second point. Let's look at Romans 14:13.


"Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."


When we are in church, it is a place of fellowship with other believers. Though a lot of true Christians disagree on several minor points, we all get along together with the unity and love of Christ. The second part of this verse talks about not being a stumbling block for another. I have several friends who do not believe dancing is something they should do. This falls under a minor point in theology, meaning it is not something that determines Salvation. But we should still be considerate of another's Christians beliefs. If you are dancing in a church where others have convictions against dancing, it can hurt their spiritual walk.


So I would not recommend dancing in church... but dancing as a whole is alright in my opinion.

From Tirzah:

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:" Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV)

Personally I love to dance; I think that to truly dance for Jesus, and Him only, is an incredibly beautiful sight. I believe that certian kinds of dancing, however, are not pleasing to Jesus. Some kinds of cultures only learn certain dances though, so I think that your dance, if it proves to be a stumbling block to others, should be done someplace where it is just between you and God.

"A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,

And a time to dance;" Ecclesiastes 3:4

Hopefully these responses answered your question Mrs. Pastoor!


God bless!


The Dedicated Christians Team

What is the point of Easter?

What is the point of Easter? Is it to celebrate with family and friends, eating chocolate and candy, collecting little plastic eggs? No... It's about the wonderful news that our Lord and Savior is risen! :-) Jesus has risen and is with us today, everyday!

Matthew 28:1-8
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightening, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shoot for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you." So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

May you all have a wonderful day, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

God bless,
Dedicated Christians

Worthy or Unworthy?

A question has come up this last week on our blog. I myself understand the answer to this question, but I will attempt to fully explain the answer in detail (by using scripture, people's opinions, and a ministry's thoughts). I first want to mention that his post is completly out of love and is in no means trying to hurt or to be arrogant. I am only trying to give the truth, to how the Bible puts it.

The above YouTube movie is from Living Waters. I highly respect their beliefs and they are true examples of modern day Christian evangelists. I asked Living Waters a question like this: "Are we worthy to have Jesus die for us?" They repeated and answered my question around the 19:00 minute mark. Please either watch the entire clip, or skip ahead to view their opinions/answers to the question.

(Note: The e-mail I wrote was a little bit wrong. The blog post Tony was referring to is not bad or incorrect. The link provided at the end of this post can be viewed for a further accurate description of what the post meant.)

The below few pictures, hopefully you can read them, are from Facebook. I asked the same question I asked on Living Waters and I got several replies from some of my Facebook friends. Each color represents a different person (if a color is place more than once, it is the same person.)

The below comments are from the post (the link is below this post) that started this whole conversation.

Someone commented the above text on one of the blog posts.

These two "clips" are what I wrote in response. To get a clearer example of the comments that were exchange, view the below link to the previous post.

>These two are connnected<

This is what another one of the authors for Dedicated Christians wrote in response.

As the above comments state, we are not worthy of having Jesus die for us. That is what makes His death so amazing and wonderful! Jesus died on the cross because we were (and still ARE) ungodly, and sinners. (Romans 5:1-8)

Someone on the Facebook comment replied Ephesians 2:8 which says: " For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

Another verse that I thought was good, other than Romans 5:1-8, was Mark 2:17. "When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentence."

Sinners...are unworthy.

I looked the actual definition of unworthy in the Noah Webster Dictionary. It said: "Unworthy - Not deserving; followed by of. As sinner, we are utterly unworhy of the divine favor. 2. Not deserving; wanting merit. 3. Unbecoming; vile; base. 4. Not suitable; inadequate."

Thus, as you can see, the definition of Unworthy is clearly an example of someone who is a sinner, not deserving of forgiveness...but Jesus did it anyway! That's what makes the death of Jesus so amazing.

Overall, Jesus came onto this earth, not to save those who are worthy, but those who are unworthy. There is not one of us on this earth who is perfect compared to God. Jesus said so Himself, Why do you call Me good? No one is good, but One, that is, God." Jesus came down on this earth to save us from our unworthiness and to give us a chance to turn to Him instead of sin. If we were worthy for Him to die for us, then the whole gospel wouldn't make sense and we should all be able to just go to heaven without turning our lives over to Christ. He showed us Mercy.

Thank you for reading my little (well...maybe it's a little long....) blog post. But I thought I would share with you what I have been thinking about over the past week.

God bless,
Josiah

With comments, questions, or concerns e-mail us at www.dedicatedchristian

View the original blog post (written by Matthew) that started this whole conversation.

http://dedicatedchristians.blogspot.com/2012/03/flaw-in-christian-contemporary-music.html

~ Weekly Proverb ~

About everyday, my family and I read one chapter of Proverbs. Proverbs is a great book to find a small amount of wisdom needed to begin the day. There are exactly 31 chapters in Proverbs, covering tons of information that everyone goes through all everyday. They are awesome verses, and I would like to share with you a Weekly Proverb that meant the most to me.

Proverbs 24:1-2

1 Do not be envious of evil men,

Nor desire to be with them;

2 For their hearts devises violence,

And their lips talk of troublemaking.

I used to work at a little Pizza restaurant, and I wanted to be a lot like the people that worked there. I acted like them, and I talked like them, and I tried to be like them because I thought they were "cool." However, as time went by, each one of them either got fired by doing something stupid, or they quit their jobs in anger and in rebellion.

Do I want to be like that??? No! I do not want to be envious of evil men, nor do I want to desire to be like them. They talk of drugs and of not of the fruits of the Spirit, rather they talk of the sins of the flesh. I do not want to be like them, and nethier should you.

Do you have someone you look up to, and who you want to be like who isn't a Godly person? Or who doesn't give wisdom to others, but teaches evil and lives it? Maybe it's time for you to turn away from them, as I did my "evil" role models. Do not let other influence your life if they sin and speak evil.

Hope you all enjoyed the first Weekly Proverb, let me know what you think

The Lord....Full of Mercy

This is something I typed up the other day. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Psalm 51. It's the prayer of my life and it has meant to a lot to me over my faith.

"When I fall away from the Lord, He always seems to find me again. When I fail Him, He always finds a place in His abundant mercy to forgive me. When I cry, He lifts my head up. When I am ashamed, He comforts me. When I am happy, He laughs with me. And when I need someone to talk to, He is always there, to listen and to answer." -Josiah Blanchard

I thought I would just type out Psalm 51, not only so you could read it, but so that I could see this chapter on my blog as well.

Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindess;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight --

That You may be found just when You speak

And blameless when You judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,

And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me hear joy and gladness,

That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins,

And blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take You Holy Spirit from em.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinner shall be converted to You.

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

The God of my salvation,

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and contrite heart --

These, O God, You will not despise.

Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

Then You shall be please with the sacrifices of righteousness,

With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully this chapter can also help you when you fell away from your Faith with Jesus, or are struggling to keep Him in your life.

God bless,

Josiah

Take up the Cross and Follow Him

Something I was reading in my Bible the other day, that "stuck-out" to me, was Matthew 16:24-27.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.'"

I have to deny myself and give up the lusts of the flesh, and follow Jesus. Another verse I was reading yesterday, was all about how the Holy Spirit and the lusts of the flesh are against each other. I can't have both of them at the same time, just as I can't have the Savior and sin inside of me. Below are the verses I am referring too.

"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Galatians 5:16-18

Now I loved this part. My whole life I have struggled through my flesh. I have prayed that the Lord would give me the Holy Spirit, however, I have never gotten an answer. Well, one that I liked anyway. The Holy Spirit cannot be inside of me, if I let my flesh rule my life. Thus, I have to deny myself and my flesh and give myself wholly unto Christ.

If you keep reading in Galatians, 5:19-26, explain more about what the works of the flesh are, and what the works of the Spirit are. They are completely different and have given me knowledge and some comfort in knowing what I must work on to gain this works of the Spirit, and lose those of the flesh.

"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornications, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will NOT inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." 

I loved this part, and my parents are always reminding me to keep the fruits of the Spirit. It's a great reminder, and hopefully the Lord will help me when it comes to this area. I need to work on keeping the fruits of the Spirit, and not those of the flesh.

Thanks for reading,
Josiah

Give-a-Way!!!

Hello Everyone!

Recently I went to a Christian - Rock and Worship - Roadshow. :-)
I also got a free Mercy Me music CD! I would love to share with you so I'm posting this as a give-a-way!

Here is how it works:

Write 1 comment for each entry. The different types of entries will be described below. Make sure you write a DIFFERENT comment for each entry to increase your chances of winning! The winner will be randomly picked using a website to filter through all the comments, randomly picking a number.

How to enter:

1. Follow the blog
2. Share your favorite Bible verse and explain why it is your favorite
3. Share the Give-a-Way with your friends by Facebook or Google + (Please provide the link in the comment to your post)
4. Post about the Give-a-Way on your blog!
5. Have a friend refer you to why they followed our blog.

(NOTE: You need to provide a way to contact you in at least one of the comments you write.)

Hope that makes sense. These entries do not have to be in order, however you DO need to follow the blog to be able to enter.

If you share the give-a-way on your blog or social networking site, just make sure you tell your friends to tell me that you were the one that shared the give-a-way, you'll receive an extra entry for that comment as well.

All comments should be separate, to increase your chances of winning.

The Give-A-Way will end on Friday (10th) so that everyone has a chance of sharing it with their friends and getting more entries.

Thanks a ton!
God bless,
Josiah

Jesus>Religion

Is religion and Jesus the same thing? This topic has been on my mind, as well for thousands of other people around the world. Below are two videos. The first is a Christian who is explaining why he hates religion and loves Jesus. He also explains why they are different and how they both affect  a person. The second movie is from a Catholic, who loves both religion and Jesus. I'll let you watch the videos before I further explain what I concluded with some of my personal Bible reading and with some of my beliefs as a Christian.

(Received 15,400,000 views in 20 days!)



(Received 122,000 views in 16 days)

So sure...the first one, that was originally made by the Christian, got the most views. However I threw that fact in there to show you how many people saw and might have been influenced by 1 movie on YouTube. Today's technology can be dangerous. However, used the right way, such as this movie, the Internet can be used for God's glory!

Now, back to the topic. Here is something I typed up while comparing the two videos together.

The major difference between the two videos is that Jefferson explained what Jesus and following Him has done to himself. He shared how great Jesus is by dying on the cross for our sins, and shared how he was affected by Him. Now, the catholic guy (not sure what his name is) shared what pleasures of the world would be unavailable to us if catholics weren’t around. He says that the Trinity was understood by them first. Did not the Lord provide a Bible for us to learn about the Trinity? It’s not too hard to figure that part out; all you need to do is read the Bible for what is says. (That’s another post for another time) Pleasures such as: hospitals, education, charities, science, literature, art, college, catholic church, etc. And if you notice, this guy brings all of his foundation to the “church,” his mother. He says that the reason for pretty much everything is the catholic church, and the religion that he believes in. Jefferson however, clearly defines that Jesus is the reason for everything, and it’s not some religion that is the purpose of it all.

If you listen and watch the two videos closely, you'll probably see where I got my conclusions from.

I would also like to share with you what Jefferson wrote for the description of the video.

A poem I wrote to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At its core Jesus' gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can't do your own list of rules and feel "not good enough" for God. With Jesus though you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don't represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect putting us in perfect standing with God!

What did the catholic guy write? Here it is.

Jefferson Bethke's video 'Why I Love Jesus But Hate Religion' has stirred up a lot debate in the past couple days. And while he has many, many good points to make, many of his critiques apply directly to the Catholic Church. I have nothing but respect for Jefferson, he is an incredibly talented, sincere, and gracious guy. In the spirit of dialogue, I thought I'd make a Catholic response!

Nothing about Jesus what-so-ever in his description...however, he does explain that he wants to "defend his catholic church."
Some of the key points Jefferson shared are listed below.

Jesus is made by God, religion is made by men.

One is the Cure, and one is the infection.

Religion is man searching for God, where as being a Christian is God searching for man.

Some of the key points the catholic-guy shared are listed below.

Without the catholic church, today people wouldn't have the comforts of education, charities, hospitals, science, literature, etc.

The catholic church welcomes anyone in.

The catholic church understood the Trinity first.

Now, obviously you can see I believe in Jefferson's video more. However I do have one question about his video, and I want to ask your opinion on it as well.

Should we "hate" religion? The word hate is such a strong word, should we truly hate religion? Is it in our place, as Christians - followers of Jesus Christ, to hate religion?

This is a question that has been going through my mind for the past few weeks. What do you think?

Thanks for reading,
God bless,
Josiah

Note: I thought it would be great to attach these two comments from Matthew and myself to better explain what I mean by religion. Please feel free to leave a comment and tell us what you think about religion or anything else on this topic! God bless!

Josiah, great post! The only thing I have trouble understanding is what you mean by religion? Is it religious affiliations, doctrine, or denominations? Or something entirely different? As Christians, we do not have a "religion," we have a Faith in Jesus Christ. So isn't religion anything we hold above Jesus Christ? ~ Matthew

Hmm, interesting point. I would define religion as following or believing in something, other than Jesus Christ. However, my definition is a little more twisted than that because not all "Christians" are Christians. Mormons, catholic, Jehovah's witness, etc. all believe in Jesus, however how they believe and what exactly they believe in is false. The devil even believes in Jesus... So, yes, I believe religion is anything we believe in or have faith in more than Jesus Christ, however to be a Christan, has way more to it then accepting Jesus as the Lord and Savior. :D Does that makes sense? Thanks! -Josiah

Do not Judge!

This title is so hard for me to follow!

In Matthew 7:1-6 Jesus says: "Judge not, that you not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye ? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."

This is incredibly hard for me to do. I judge people all the time! Whether they are family, friends or people I don't know, I usually judge them. "Judge not, that I will not be judged." This verse hit me today, square in the eyes. I judge people a lot. I correct people, I talk about people and their wrongs, and I continually think about people and their wrongs.

I need to stop judging people actions, how they talk, or any other characteristic that I dislike about a person. I challenge you stop judging others as well. I myself have a really hard time with this. However, I am going to work on this, throughout the many years of my life. I need to work on this, and I ask that you work on this in your lives as well.

Thank you for reading and God bless,
Josiah

 

Go the Second Mile

I have been reading through the Bible for my daily devotion, and I came across the section where Jesus commands us not to hate or avenge a evil person.

Let me share with you the entire section in which I am referring too.

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

That was long wasn't it? (Matthew 5:38-48 [NKJV]) However, there is so many awesome rules to follow and instructions for Christians to do that is different from others!!

Recently, the previous posts that were written, we have been discussing how Christians are different from the world on purpose. The same is explained here. I highlighted several of the key words we need to do towards those who hurt us, persecute us, or hate us.

To start off, I am horrible at this, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Constantly I argue with people who hurt my feelings or who do something wrong towards me that should be right. Even with my family I fight and argue with them so that no one is doing anything "bad" towards me. Jesus is clearly saying here, just let them.

So many different discussions can come from these 10 verses, it's one of the reasons I love Jesus's teachings. The main one I'm trying to point out is that, as Christians, we need to BE DIFFERENT from the world, by loving those who hate us. Twice, Jesus refers to how tax collectors do the same thing that we do. We all love those who love us back. Back when Jesus and the disciples were on the earth, tax collectors were the most hated people, because they took money from those who had none, and took extra for themselves. They were liars, thieves, and were called some of the worst sinners in their time. We need to love our enemies to be different from the world.

But why do we need to be different from everyone else? The reason is explained in verse 45 and 48, but also when people are different from others, people are automatically drawn or interested in that "different" person. Think about it. When you go to school, a party, or a social event, and there is a extra happy person, or someone who is extra nice and friendly, you want to hang out with them or want to meet them, right? Same as for Christians and the world. The world sees Christians in several ways, but if we actually follow the Word, and do as Jesus tells us (by loving those who hate us for example) people will be interested in us as people. They will ask us why we are so happy, why do we not hate, why are we kind, etc. and then we can share with them the good news about Jesus.

Hopefully that makes sense. Jesus wants us to love those who hate us, so that we can be different from the world, so that we can share the good news about Jesus and the Faith.

Thanks for reading!
God bless,
Josiah

With questions, comments or concerns please write to us at dedicatedchristians@gmail.com Thank you!!

Book Review 4

The Evidence Bible is New King James Version with commentary from Ray Comfort!

Ray Comfort is known for his ministry, Living Waters, that is dedicated in helping and encouraging Christians to evangelize with others and share the faith. Living Waters has many resources such as Bible tracts, Informational CD's, excellent videos and many more resources that help everyone share their faith to others.

The most recent book I purchased from their ministry is the Evidence Bible. It's just a normal bible, with a hardcover case and paper. However there is commentary from Ray Comfort throughout the Bible to help you explain certain parts of the Bible better while evangelizing.

To better explain this, let me give you a small example.

Lets say your evangelizing to someone and they ask you one of these following questions that are hard for most Christians (such as myself) to give an accurate, perfect answer. I will also provide a little argument people may have when asking these questions in ( ) .

1. Where did Cain get his wife? (There must have been aliens or other people if Cain had a wife...)
2. How did God create the whole earth in 6 days???
3. How could all the animals fit on the Ark? (It must not have happened...)
4. Did God really wipe out the whole earth? If so, how could He be so evil?? (If he is such a loving God, how can he kill those people like that?)
5. How many angels were at the tomb? ( 1 or 2? )
6. What gender are angels?

These are only some of the questions provided in the book, each one has an detailed answer to give to them, or even to yourself if you want to know why God wiped out the whole earth.

It also has commentary and explains what you should say if someone asks you questions like: "Have you ever lusted?" It also shares how to witness to someone who belongs to a different denomination but isn't trusting in the Savior or following the commandments.

Also provided is awesome quotes from popular and respected men from the past, such as: Patrick Henry, C. S. Lewis, and many others...

One of my favorite quotes is from Oswald S. Smith, "No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once."

This is an excellent book, not only because it's the Bible, but also because it gives good answers and helpful information to those who want to evangelize but don't know what to say to someone when they ask a tough question.

I am not quite ready to evangelize like Ray Comfort or any of the other members from Living Waters, however, with the help from this book, the Holy Spirit and my relationship with God, I hopefully will begin someday.

Thanks for reading!
God bless,
Josiah

 

Book Review 3

I recently just finished a book called, Tortured for Christ. It was really cool, but it also had it's "touching" moments when the Christians were tortured, beaten, or killed for Christ.
The book was written by Richard Wurmbrand, who is the founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, another great book you should read! Anyway, Wurmbrand was the main character in the book. He described what happened to himself and others around him when Russia was overtaken by a Communism government.

Pictures are also included in this book, of Wurmbrand and his family and friends. It also shows some of the scars Wurmbrands received from his tortures.

The book gave some encouragement, because it gave detailed descriptions of how Wurmbrand felt when being tortured. I knew, after reading this book (and a couple others) that if these Christians can withstand pain from being tortured over and over again; I can withstand the "little" things that come up and are a stumbling block in my faith.

I recommend this book, it's a great read! :-)

Thanks for reading,
God bless!

Josiah

Culture and the Effects it has on Christianity

One of the hardest things a young man or woman can endure, is when several people rise up against them. I don't mean anything aggressive, and that's what this may sound like. Let me better explain with a story about myself and how people used their authority, personalities, and language to changed how I acted as a teenager.


1 year ago, I worked at a place called Jet's Pizza. The store was just opening and I got the chance to work with the first employees and managers of the business. When I first started working there, I was known as the "Christian kid." or the "kid who never sins." Why was this? Well, I got called these names because I wouldn't sing their songs, talk the way they talk about people, swear, and be disrespectful to my bosses. I was a beginner Christian, however, at age 14 (almost 15) I was easily persuaded to the "dark side."

With much persuasion from the employees, which soon made me feel like everyone was nagging me, I started to become a part of their culture. By culture, I mean the way they live, how they act, and all the differences from my own culture to their own.

I started listening to secular music, ones that didn't glorify the Lord at all. I started talking about girls the wrong way, I wasn't giving respect to people, and I continually was slipping away from the relationship I once had with my family. I was removing myself from the Christian and home school culture I had been raised in, and was becoming a sinful punk who didn't do anything that honored the Lord.

I was able to hide the way I acted from my parents, and lived two separate lives that were both dishonoring to my family and to the Lord.

However, a year passed, and my family forced me to quit my job. Not because of how I was acting, but because I was starting High school+college and I didn't have the time to work. I was really mad and this cause my heart to turn away from my family and the Lord all the more.

Although my life was confusing, chaotic, and very sinful during this time; the Lord found me and saved me from all those thoughts, songs and images I had in my mind. Quitting was the BEST option for me. I spent more time with my family, spent more time growing back into my original culture, and started learning more about God and the way Faith works and how Jesus washes away all sins.

I shared this story with you, to hopefully show you how people can influence other people to accept certain characteristics, habits, and/or language. I also shared this story with you, so you can better understand the background I came from, and so you can understand the glory of God; how He saved me and took me from that darkness.

Sure...I know what your thinking, surely all that stuff I learned from those people didn't leave me once I accepted Jesus. That fact is, it didn't. I am still struggling, to this day, with the sinful lusts of the flesh. However, with Jesus's help, I know I can be redeemed from these sins and be able to better serve Him.

Now, back to the main topic I was trying to cover. I know this post is long, but hang with me for a couple more paragraphs! :-)

Culture effects the way Christians behave and act around the world. Sometimes the culture we are a part of is good, and sometimes not so good. Thousands of different cultures live in the world, and every one's stereotypes (the exact characteristics of a person: such as, White, Northern European, Christian, Homeschooler, etc.) are pretty much different!

Let me share with you a conversation I had with someone on Face book. The name of the those who comment on my post will be anonymous. AND I MEAN NO DISRESPECT WHEN POSTING THIS. I am only trying to help prove my point by sharing an example from a couple different people, who are a part of different cultures and have different stereotypes.

As you can see it's a long discussion, however several times "culture" was thrown in there. This is just an example of how culture effects the way Christians think. G is saying that because culture says one way, it's best to just agree with them because you'll fit in as a person better. Does that make sense? There is more details and different lessons that can be learned from the discussion...but that's for another time.

I am sharing all this informmation with you because I am trying to warn you from the effects culture can have on us, as young teenagers, and I want to encourage you to stand your ground! Do not let others persuade you into sin. Instead, pray and ask God to help you stand strong.

Hopefully this makes sense and is an encouragment to you. Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, opinions, or comments by writing to www.dedicatedchristians.com

Thanks for reading!

Godbless,

Josiah

Book Review 1

Recently I got to review a book called Night of the Living Dead Christian.

This book was a fictional story, based on Zombies, Werewolves, and Vampires. I normally don't read books like these, and I hate what these three "figures" do...

However, this was labeled as a Christian book, and I thought I would read it. I tried keeping an open mind, not letting my personal knowledge/feelings interfere with this book in anyway.

So, to start us out, I will explain what I thought of the book.

First of all, I thought it was very immature. The writing was kind of poorly written, and I thought I was reading a children's book. The "adult" in this story was especially immature, and made several remarks/statements that disturbed me because of his age.

Also, the book had zombies, vampire, and werewolves....I don't like these figures at all, however they did play out an "important" part in the book, which I will explain later.

Also, the values of a Christian were mixed up...such like the "adult Christian" using a Message Bible, just to make the bible to read more interesting...the Adult Christian (main character in the book) was also extremely immature in his Christian faith, I myself am immature as well, but this character in the book, played out a role where he was helping a werewolf turn to Christ, but didn't even have any knowledge of how to become a Christian. All the "adult christian" was, "Go to church."

This book is all about how everyone has sins, and those sins resemble the creatures such as vampires, zombies or werewolves. Vampires are lustful and prideful, zombies follow anyone who tells them to do something even if it is wrong, and werewolves are rebellious, angry, and abusive. The author was pretty much stating that everyone who did not die for Christ, is one of these creatures. Which is something I do understand and believe. I was a "monster" as well, before I turned to Christ. This was the only highlight of this book for me.

The werewolf is taught how to receive Christ, by Jesus actually appearing to him in a burning building. Jesus asked him if he wanted to believe in Him, and than proceeded to tear off the werewolf's skin and face, revealing the true "human" he was.

I do understand the author was trying to preach a message to the unsaved people of this World...however I was not told this, and I thought it was for Christians as well. This book lacks good information about how to become a Christian, and it lacks the mature content it needs for older readers.

However, Thank you Tyndale Publishers and Matt Mikalatos for letting me review this book. Although my review may seem negative, I enjoyed reading another person's view point of the Christian faith, and how to enter into the Lord's kingdom.

God bless!!!

Josiah

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Christmas is a time to celebrate the time of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!

A long time ago, I decided to see if Christmas was biblical to celebrate. Now, I’m not talking about the gifts, Christmas tree, and other traditions people have for the holiday. I’m talking about the celebration of Jesus’s birth. Should we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ? Does the Bible clearly say we should?

I asked several people for their comments on the question, and I got some pretty awesome results.

A fellow blogger and friend said this:

So CHRISTmas..... Well, you have probably heard the whole Christmas tree subject discussed in reference to Jeremiah 10... I think it's pretty obvious that it's talking about an idol, not a tree, but a carved wooden image. I don't think it's wrong to have a tree, but I don't particularly like the idea of it just because; it distracts from Christ,
fake trees are ugly, and real ones are expensive,
if you can't have Christmas without it, then it IS an idol, what's the point?,
and why can't we pick something like a Nativity scene instead?!

I think Christmas started up north somewhere, maybe Iceland?? When these pagan people got saved, and the Christian leaders made up a holiday during "Yuletide" (or whatever it's called, that probably isn't it! ;) called "Christmas" so that the people wouldn't want to join the pagan celebration. Of course it's hard to know because there are so many different supposed origins of Christmas that it gets confusing, as my comment is probably becoming about now...

The thing is, I don't think that the Bible clearly supports (or is against) celebrating Christmas. So, since there is no Biblical proof, I think it is up to each person to know what God is telling them they should do.
Of course we know that Jesus wasn't even born in December, but in the fall, more like around September or October, during the Feast of Tabernacles. So it's weird that we celebrate it on a totally wrong date. I guess we Christians could really be rebels and celebrate then...

ANYWAYS..... Yeah. I don't think it's wrong or right, really. Except Santa is disgusting, and too much spotlight is given to the gifts. It seems right (to me, personally) that we would want to celebrate the day that our Lord was born, just like we celebrate the day He died/rose.

This helped me determine where Christmas started from, and when is became a holiday. I looked more closely into the subject I am amazed at some of the facts I learned. I learned most of these facts at a site I used for college; http://www.history.com/topics/christmas. Like the comments above, this holiday, “Christmas” it started in Germany, and several places in Europe. Now, this day was not celebrated for Jesus, instead, it was celebrated for their pagan god Oden. The time was set to celebrate Oden, during December, because that was when the farmers would have the most meat (from cows that they slaughtered for food) and didn’t have much work to do. In Rome, they would celebrate two pagan gods, the planet Saturn, and Mithra (and infant god born from a rock). December 25^th was the day Rome, celebrated Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun.

So, this gives a little information about how the holiday got started. When Rome and Europe were celebrating these holidays, America was yet to be colonized.

This brings me to my next point. Christians did not celebrate Christmas, instead they only celebrated Easter. Which the Bible, 2^nd Timothy: 8-9, says that we need to remember Jesus’s death and resurrection. So Easter was started for the remembrance of His death and resurrection.

Jesus wasn’t even born during the December 25^th, so why do we celebrate it then? Well, Christians in the past didn’t want to celebrate pagan gods; however, they too had an abundance of food and time to celebrate. So they decided to celebrate their God, Jesus, who was born. So that’s how Christmas got started, and this I believe is glorifying the Lord in a remarkable way.

I will now share with you another comment from another friend:

I did some research on the topic of Christmas last year and did a little more now. I do think some of the parts of Christmas came from wrong origins but overall I think it's a good thing. But in the last year I've found the terrible effects of taking "Christ" out of CHRISTmas. Many companies will not allow their ads to say Christmas in it, instead it has to be "Happy Holidays." It's really sad. Below is a segment of a blog post (that never actually got published) I wrote a while ago, I don't know if I agree with it all now, but I think it's good food for thought.

"...The birth of our Lord Jesus was an amazing thing. A group of people have decided to make December 31 the day we celebrate his birth. All of the things signify something in our holiday.

·         The tree (What Jesus did on the cross)

·         Lights and ornaments (representational of the glory and wonder of what Jesus did on the cross)

·         The gifts (God gave us the gift of Jesus on his birth, the wise men gave Jesus presents, and Jesus also gave us the gift of salvation on the tree. We continue the tradition by following in the joy of giving gifts)

As for "Santa," I've heard about the "Satan" thing before and I believe it may have turned into that. The following quote illustrates what I mean.

"...Young children sometimes confuse Santa with Jesus Christ since "he knows when you've been sleeping, he knows when you're awake, and he knows if you've been bad or good . . .

The idea of gifts for good behavior can connote a "reward for good deeds" mentality which is opposed to God's gift of His Son through faith. Scripture does promise rewards for obedience."

And later on the same page:

"The Santa Clause idea originated with a man by the name of St. Nicholas who was the Bishop of Myra in Lycia in the area of present day Turkey. He went about, often at night, giving gifts to poor and needy children. He later became the patron saint of children in the Roman Catholic Church. From here the story grew and became legend in country after country with various details were deleted and added as the legend of St. Nick grew."

It's all very interesting to think about. We've never done an extensive study of it (I study things for fun all the time) but I think, in ways, it has gone wrong. But we have to remember that around the season it can give opportunity to explain to others where the "Christ" part came from, how He came to earth to die for our sins. What a gift! That should be what we celebrate over Christmas!!

This helped me get a better understanding of the “symbols” we use during Christmas. Such as: the Tree, the gifts, and the ornaments on the tree. I agree with these, however, I noticed that they also glorify the fact that Jesus died for us. So they are linked. Christmas is a way to celebrate Jesus’s Birth as a way to remember he died for us. However, I don’t think most Christians explain this part to their family during Christmas. And most of the families I know (none of you following my blog) don’t even state the fact that Jesus was born.

I will share one more comment from a good friend, and then wrap this up:

At first I thought that it was kind of a silly question!!! Of course Christmas is biblical; it is celebrating Jesus Christ and his Birth! I couldn’t think of any verse or anything though. So I started to look it up in the bible. I still could not find anything about celebrating his birthday! The only thing I found that was sort of close was “...rejoice and be exceedingly glad in His birth…”!!!
And since I couldn't find it in the bible I started to look it up on the internet!!
I found several “Ideas” about how it started … lots of mocking Christ and the “traditional” Christmas, but not much else!
About the tree being an idle… I agree with the previous comment when they said “if it’s not Christmas without it than it is an idle” . I don’t think that it necessarily distracts from Jesus, but if it does than I don’t think that it is right to have one. But I personally think that Christmas trees are so much fun and smell wonderful!!

The Lord, Jesus Christ, was born and we can celebrate his birth. Why? The Bible says to remember and think of Him in all way do. This is why I believe Christmas is Biblical. However, santa and the other things we celebrate such as elves and some of the “symbols” we use during this day, I don’t believe glorify the Lord.

Thanks so much for reading my post, I know it was long, but I learned a lot, and I know I won’t think of Christmas the same way again. Also, I know I will be thinking about Jesus’s birth, as well as His death and resurrection.

God bless,

Josiah