I hope you followed along with us last week in memorizing Galatians 6:9. This week's verse comes from Ephesians 2:8-9...
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Do I Care Where You Spend Eternity?
Lauren and I just got back from spending 4 days with students from our local schools at FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Camp. The last day, Mark Cahill (the camp speaker) asked all of us this question...
"Do you care where your friends, family members, and the people you pass by will spend eternity?"
He told us that when someone dies they are still very much alive either in heaven or in hell. I never thought of it that way. I have been asked this question many times before, but for some reason it actually stuck with me this time. I can say all I want to that "I care", but the reality is that I don't care if I don't share Christ with the people around me. True or not?
Maybe the reason that it actually stuck with me this time is because Mark Cahill (www.markcahill.org) is constantly sharing Christ with everyone he meets: waiters and waitresses, passengers on the plane, hosts and hostesses at restaurants, workers in the cafeteria at camp...literally everyone. He is not willing to ask you to do something that he is not willing to do himself.
When I asked myself that question, my answer was obviously "NO", I do not care as much as I thought I did about where people will spend eternity. I had to swallow my pride. I have family members that I do not know if they are born again, I have neighbors that I do not know if they are born again, and I have people all around me that I do not know if they are born again. I will only know if I actually ask them that question. But even if someone says they know where they will spend eternity, you have to know if they know the ONLY way they can be with Jesus when they breathe their last breath.
Here is how you can know...
In John 3, a man named Nicodemus asked Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" and Jesus' response was, "You must be born again." (The following scriptures will explain how you can be born again.)
Romans 3:23 says, "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (I have sinned, you have sinned, we all have disobeyed God and His standard.)
Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Because you and I have sinned, we deserve to live eternity in hell, BUT God sent His only son Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins when He died on the cross. He rose again 3 days later and is alive in heaven right now longing for you to come spend eternity with Him.)
1 John 1:9-10 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives." (You must confess your sins to God and He will forgive you of all of your sins.)
Jesus said in Luke 5:32, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (You must feel extreme sorrow for your sins and turn away from your old ways.)
Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved." (You must confess that you want Jesus to be Lord of your life and you must believe that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved.)
Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Jesus is the ONLY way anyone can go to God the Father in heaven when they die. There is no other way.)
Jesus said in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life." (God loved you and me so much that He sent His only son Jesus to die on the cross. Whoever believes in Him will live in eternity with God.)
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." (There is NOTHING you can do to earn salvation. You cannot be good enough, you cannot go to church enough, you cannot do enough good things to earn salvation. It is a free gift from God through His grace that we are saved.)
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." (You do not have to change yourself. God will give you a new heart and a new reason to live. He will change you if you truly believe in Him.)
To be born again you must confess your sins to God, repent and turn away from your old way of life, and ask Jesus to become Lord of your life. This is what Jesus described to Nicodemus in John 3 about how to be born again. Wherever you are (at home, at church, out shopping), you can ask God right now to be the Lord of your life.
If you are reading this and you would like to give your life to Jesus Christ, I would love to know about it so I can rejoice with you! If you have any questions, I would love to help you find the answer. You can email me at drewstartup@yahoo.com .
Once you are born again, the Bible commands us to be a part of the body of believers (Acts 2:42-47). Find a local church that teaches the truths of the Bible and get plugged in quickly. As a new believer the Bible also commands us to be baptized. Once you find a local church, let someone know that you would like to be baptized because you are born again. This is an outward symbol of your inward commitment to Jesus Christ to let everyone know that you have made Jesus the Lord of your life. Finally, go tell other people about how Jesus changed your life and how they can be born again.
Jesus commands us in Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
May God speak to your heart as you allow Him, and ask yourself...
"Do I really care where my family members, friends, and the people I meet will spend eternity?"
"Do you care where your friends, family members, and the people you pass by will spend eternity?"
He told us that when someone dies they are still very much alive either in heaven or in hell. I never thought of it that way. I have been asked this question many times before, but for some reason it actually stuck with me this time. I can say all I want to that "I care", but the reality is that I don't care if I don't share Christ with the people around me. True or not?
Maybe the reason that it actually stuck with me this time is because Mark Cahill (www.markcahill.org) is constantly sharing Christ with everyone he meets: waiters and waitresses, passengers on the plane, hosts and hostesses at restaurants, workers in the cafeteria at camp...literally everyone. He is not willing to ask you to do something that he is not willing to do himself.
When I asked myself that question, my answer was obviously "NO", I do not care as much as I thought I did about where people will spend eternity. I had to swallow my pride. I have family members that I do not know if they are born again, I have neighbors that I do not know if they are born again, and I have people all around me that I do not know if they are born again. I will only know if I actually ask them that question. But even if someone says they know where they will spend eternity, you have to know if they know the ONLY way they can be with Jesus when they breathe their last breath.
Here is how you can know...
In John 3, a man named Nicodemus asked Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" and Jesus' response was, "You must be born again." (The following scriptures will explain how you can be born again.)
Romans 3:23 says, "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (I have sinned, you have sinned, we all have disobeyed God and His standard.)
Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Because you and I have sinned, we deserve to live eternity in hell, BUT God sent His only son Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins when He died on the cross. He rose again 3 days later and is alive in heaven right now longing for you to come spend eternity with Him.)
1 John 1:9-10 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives." (You must confess your sins to God and He will forgive you of all of your sins.)
Jesus said in Luke 5:32, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (You must feel extreme sorrow for your sins and turn away from your old ways.)
Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved." (You must confess that you want Jesus to be Lord of your life and you must believe that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved.)
Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Jesus is the ONLY way anyone can go to God the Father in heaven when they die. There is no other way.)
Jesus said in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life." (God loved you and me so much that He sent His only son Jesus to die on the cross. Whoever believes in Him will live in eternity with God.)
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." (There is NOTHING you can do to earn salvation. You cannot be good enough, you cannot go to church enough, you cannot do enough good things to earn salvation. It is a free gift from God through His grace that we are saved.)
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." (You do not have to change yourself. God will give you a new heart and a new reason to live. He will change you if you truly believe in Him.)
To be born again you must confess your sins to God, repent and turn away from your old way of life, and ask Jesus to become Lord of your life. This is what Jesus described to Nicodemus in John 3 about how to be born again. Wherever you are (at home, at church, out shopping), you can ask God right now to be the Lord of your life.
If you are reading this and you would like to give your life to Jesus Christ, I would love to know about it so I can rejoice with you! If you have any questions, I would love to help you find the answer. You can email me at drewstartup@yahoo.com .
Once you are born again, the Bible commands us to be a part of the body of believers (Acts 2:42-47). Find a local church that teaches the truths of the Bible and get plugged in quickly. As a new believer the Bible also commands us to be baptized. Once you find a local church, let someone know that you would like to be baptized because you are born again. This is an outward symbol of your inward commitment to Jesus Christ to let everyone know that you have made Jesus the Lord of your life. Finally, go tell other people about how Jesus changed your life and how they can be born again.
Jesus commands us in Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
May God speak to your heart as you allow Him, and ask yourself...
"Do I really care where my family members, friends, and the people I meet will spend eternity?"
Monday, June 20, 2011
Memorizing Scripture...
My wife and I were talking the other night and we came to the conclusion that one aspect of our spiritual life that we are extremely weak at is memorizing scripture. So we decided to commit to learning one verse each week. We would love to encourage you to memorize scripture as well because David says in Psalm 119:11, "I have hidden Your words in my heart that I might not sin against You." To help us hide God's Word in our hearts we are going to make note cards and place them in places where we will constantly see them. This week's verse is Galatians 6:9...
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
We must continue to do good and trust God for the results! We will reap a harvest of blessing in God's perfect timing.
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
We must continue to do good and trust God for the results! We will reap a harvest of blessing in God's perfect timing.
The Meaning Behind "Immeasurably More"...
My wife and I already had all the details of our future planned out while we were dating in college. We would wait a year to get married after we graduated, then wait 3 more years till we started having kids, and we would have our third and final child by the time my wife was 32. The plan started off pretty good. We graduated from college, we worked for a year to save money and got married, then three years later we started trying to get pregnant and we did. Life was great! Everything was working out just like WE had planned, until 6 weeks into the pregnancy when my wife miscarried. People told us that it wasn’t unusual to miscarry on your first try, so we shook it off and tried again. Boy, were we good at getting pregnant! Six weeks passed by and we miscarried again. This time we didn’t shake it off as well. We tried again…miscarried. Tried again…miscarried. By this time bitterness and frustration were setting in and we didn’t know what to do. After 10 miscarriages we stopped counting. My wife didn’t want to be around anyone with children, so as our friends began to have kids of their own we quietly withdrew ourselves from their company. It was hard. It was painful. It was tough, as a husband, to watch my wife stare into nowhere knowing there was absolutely nothing I could say, nothing I could do, no love that I could give her to ease her pain. I prayed that God would work on her heart in a way that would allow her to feel like her life was worth something. You see, my wife’s only desire was to be a mom to our kids. She knew that is what she was created to do, or at least that’s what she thought she was created to do.
Time passed by and not much changed. We kept to ourselves and we didn’t want to hear anyone tell us that everything was going to be ok. The only people we were receptive to were the ones that had been down the road we were traveling. I remember my wife telling me years before we had pregnancy issues that when she got pregnant she didn’t want to tell anyone until we were far enough along in the pregnancy to know that our child was going to be ok. For a long time we told no one about our miscarriages. We kept our burden to ourselves. A couple of years into our troubles God gave us a peace about telling our family and a few friends. Of course they were heartbroken for us, but instead of feeling sorry for us they decided to pray relentlessly. One night my wife and I were in the bedroom and she looked at me and said, “I can’t do this anymore. I have to let God have total control of this situation and I must be ok with the fact that He may choose not to give us children.” She had been doing a Beth Moore Bible study and God had spoken to her heart and told her that she had to be willing to give up her desires and allow God to do what He needed to do in His perfect timing. She read Ephesians 3:20-21 that said, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”This verse became my life verse and we expected God to do more than we could ask or imagine!
We began praying this over and over again, and asking God to go above and beyond what we thought He could do. He began using me and my wife in ways that we never imagined, and we were given the privilege to disciple and minister to high school students and watch their lives change for God’s glory. As soon as we let go of our plans, God’s plan began to unfold. It was a plan that far exceeded the plan we dreamed up many years ago. Through the prayers of family members, friends, teenagers, and people we had never met before, God gave us a miracle. It wasn’t until we completely surrendered EVERYTHING to Him that He said, “Let me give you something you weren’t expecting.” Our son, Anderson Price Startup, arrived December 8, 2010 at 7:11 in the evening. Our hearts melt when his eyes meet ours because we see our faithful Lord and Savior in the eyes of our son. Surrender your desires to God today and let God make His desires your desires!
IMPACT!
Last week, Cartersville High School held it's second annual leadership academy called IMPACT! The goal of IMPACT is to teach students at the high school how they can be leaders at school, in their home, and in our community. We had 30 students participate and they are from all walks of life. Over the 3-day training the students performed team building exercises, heard speakers from our community share their thoughts on leadership, and their favorite part was hearing the stories of their own peers about how they have overcome obstacles in their own life. We laughed, we cried, but most importantly lives were impacted!
The theme this year was "Overcoming Obstacles Through Leadership" and we used a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." These students took this quote and ran with it! I will share one quick story...
Lauren and I were over at a friend's house eating dinner on Friday night when I received a text from one of the students who participated in IMPACT. This student said, "Hey Coach, my friend and I just did a prayer walk on Main Street. We went in every open store and asked if they had prayer requests and then prayed with them." I then asked what made him decide to do a prayer walk in the middle of town and his reply was, "I'm just trying to impact the lives of others."
WOW! One student did not wait till school started to make an impact. He knew he had to start now! That is an upcoming sophomore wanting to go where there is no path and leave a trail. I am looking forward to this upcoming year and seeing how many of the 30 will leave a trail. To God be the glory!
The theme this year was "Overcoming Obstacles Through Leadership" and we used a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." These students took this quote and ran with it! I will share one quick story...
Lauren and I were over at a friend's house eating dinner on Friday night when I received a text from one of the students who participated in IMPACT. This student said, "Hey Coach, my friend and I just did a prayer walk on Main Street. We went in every open store and asked if they had prayer requests and then prayed with them." I then asked what made him decide to do a prayer walk in the middle of town and his reply was, "I'm just trying to impact the lives of others."
WOW! One student did not wait till school started to make an impact. He knew he had to start now! That is an upcoming sophomore wanting to go where there is no path and leave a trail. I am looking forward to this upcoming year and seeing how many of the 30 will leave a trail. To God be the glory!
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