BRANDED!!!

Hey Guys,

So, in recent times, my church and its brother, sister and cousin churches, in the North Island, all went out to TOTARA SPRINGS CHRISTIAN CENTRE for BRANDED!!

Branded was truely a-may-zing, awesome speakers, awesome times, awesome moshing and what an awesome God! I KNOW something HUGE is about to happen, the youth of this world are not suppose to just sit here as the bums and clowns of society, we were meant, we were made, we were intended to rise up and take the offense against the devil in our society!

We were meant for such a time!!! 2010 is our time!!

…Ben…

Loyalty

Hey Guys,

Yep, so last night had a pretty mean night aye. Went to small group, played playstation there (lol) and had a good God chat there on Loyalty, so yeah we discussed this and we came to a conclusion. Loyalty goes hand in hand with Love. If you Love someone you are Loyal to them, and if you are Loyal to someone then you Love them. So yeah i was thinking about this, having a bit of a ponder, and this is a little bit of what I think about a part of the Loyalty topic.

So if we flick back to Genesis 1:27 ,one of its many famous verses, and it says, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” now i find that when many people discuss this they think about the physical, that we look like God looks. I think that theres more to this then that. I think that its not only the physical side that alike  but also the spiritual and emotional side.

What is Loyalty? Loyalty is when two people stick together no matter what, whether one person’s life goes down the drain, or they are highrolling it, they stick together. We see this also with God. He will stick by you no matter whats going on, He will be there in the good and in the bad, and even when we aren’t Loyal to Him, He is Loyal to us. He is where we get the ability of Loyalty, if He wasn’t Loyal, it would be impossible for us to be Loyal. It says in Genesis 1:27 “So God created human beings in his own image”, God is where we get what makes us Human, Love, Happiness, Sadness, Anger, etc.

I’m going to leave this thought a tad unfinished, tell me what you think about Loyalty

Chur,

Ben4God

I Am Young

Hey Guys,

Well it has definately been a very interesting near two months since my last post. But I have been thinking about way to make this more relevant to the people around me in my world. The world of a teenager.

Im not the most “qualified” person to be writing this but hear me out.

We all know how damaging negative peer presure can be to a person and their self esteem. But what do you think would happen if we were to flip the tables and put presure on the young people of today to unlock their potential.

I understand that some teens out there are going to read this and will be like “oh my gosh that means i actually have to work, no thanks” but i think this is a socially induced attitude which has become like a 1080 poison amongst all of us. One person comes in contact with the attitude, and anyone else that comes into contact with that person gets “infected” and it becomes a chain reaction.

Let me ask you one question, if you were able to do one thing, and you knew you couldn’t fail what would you do…

Build Me Up, Don’t Knock Me Down

Hey Guys,

So I Know I’ve been slack and haven’t posted for a while, so I’m sorry about that. But I have managed to think up a new “topic”and I reckon that todays one is a good one.

As you can see by the title this blog is about being built up. Now I’m not talking about going to the gym and building some muscle, what I’m talking about is encouragement. This word may be foreign to some of you but this is briefly what it means, Encouragement: 1. To inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence. 2. To stimulate by assistance, approval. Encouragement is all those things and it can also be what allows a person to make that crucial gear change for Godand help them exchange their power for the supernatural power of th Holy Spirit.

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be told that I’m “doing a good job” then “you’re a dick” or “you’re a douche”. Whether that simple encouragement makes you feel appriciated, accepted or even loved. It helps you to, both, give you a more positive mood and attitude and to let you work harder because youknow what you’re doing really matters and you are actually helping somebody.

Parents often say “If you’ve got nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all. I completely agree with this statement, its not going to do anyone any good to knock somebody else down. The fact is that with every person you meet you will also meet a new story, whether that person shares that story with you is their decision but you should never make that assumption that just because it was “only” a few unkind words or that that remark you made wasn’t that bad, because different people get affected by different things what may not hurt you may hurt someone else and vice versa.

New Zealand, to be honest, hasn’t got a great encouraging attitude, the culture makes it more normal to exchange a few bad remarks with each other rather then exchanging a few words of encouragement with each other. I actually believe that this is arrogant of us to do this and it is up to us to make a change in todays society and maybe we can stop that one person from going over the edge. We have one of the highest rates of teenage suicide in the world and I believe our “knock you down” culture is directly related to this.

I challenge you readers today to instead of saying those few bad words to someone else try and encourage them in an area of their life that they may be struggling with or are doing really well in.

Cheers,

Ben4God

Trouble….

Hey Guys,

I remember when I was a wee Lad and I was at my dad’s house there was this one time when I accidently broke some headphones that were for the computer except, as probably the typical small child decided to pretend like nothing happened, so I put the headphones down and retreated from the “danger zone”and sat down stealthly infront of the tele. Dad soon got up to use the computer and he soon discovers what has happened……not good, not good at all. Then that same old feeling sets in, no longer feeling good at all.

Maybe for you it wasn’t that you broke some headphones, maybe you’ve had some other trouble going on in your life and thats had you down, could be a loved ones turned their back on you or even passed away, or it could be that your family has run into some financial trouble, trouble is trouble none the less.

Trouble can be given to youfor different reasons, and yes it does suck, but you need to remember that no matter whats going on in your life God is in control! He’s the One who made you, He’s the One who knows what’s in your heart, He’s the One who knows what’s best for you even if at the time it doesn’t feel like it. “God allows freedom, but retains control” is a quote from Louie Giglio who got it from somewhere else, but I can not remember, but isn’t that quote amazing like how in the world do you have controlled freedom, not like China’s supposed “Freedom” but in the fact that no matter what we do will always work out for what God’s doing. Take the cruxifiction for an example, that day to the disciples probably seemed absolutly INSANE, chaotic and like God had left them behind. As chaotic as it may have seemed what came out of all that happened over that day and the days following it, how does Eternal Salvation for all Sound…absolutly AMAZING.

When trouble strikes and you call out to God, but it never seems to get better, your faith gets shaken, you start to doubt, and you feel like your faith is hanging off a cliff and the only thing holding it up is one, single fingertip, remember John 15 and 16, Jesus throughout it says time an time again with metaphors like “I[Jesus] am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” He is pretty much saying that without me you are a goner. But then we come to John 16:33 “I[Jesus] have told you these things so that in ME you may have Peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart for I have overcome the world.” what He is saying is that yes there will be times in this world when life sucks, when it sucks MOST, but lest we not forget that it is through Jesus that we all have Salvation, and are not Condemed. We need to remember that Jesus is the one who can give us Peace, not just a slice of it for an afternoon, but the whole thing you can HAVE Peace for it is He who has overcome the trials of this world.

Please Keep this in Mind when you life feels like its going down the drain, and call out to God ask for Him to give YOU Peace! We were not designed to go at this world by ourselves, for we are only human, but when we call out and pray to God for help He brings us into that supernatural and “I[You] can do anything through Christ that strengthens me” Phillipians 4:13

Cheers,

Ben4God

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned

You are what you watch.

Hey Guys,

You are what you watch, “what the heck does that mean?” you say. Well do you know the old famous saying you are what you eat? That pretty much means that if you are going to eat unhealty foods you will become unhealthy, and if you eat healthy food you will become healthy. But you are what you watch, what could this mean.

What I’m saying is simply if you are going to watch immoral programs and movies, thats what you will become over time. If you watch people getting drunk on the tele then thats what you will want to do, if you see guys or girls sleeping around then over time thats what you will want to do. The media has a strong hold over us and what we believe, it pumps messages both obvious and hidden into our minds 24/7 doesnt matter what we watch  therewill always be some message being “installed” into you.

If you eat corn, you will poo the corn skins. Corn skin is made of cellulose, indigestible to the human body. Now imagine thats all you eat for a week, just corn, corn, corn. If you were to do this all that would come out in your poop is corn skins, not necessarily the prettiest picture but an effective one none the less. Therefore if all you watch on TV is  people using drug, drinking alcohol and sleeping around,then this is what you will do. I believe that some TV programs are directly accountable for actions of modern teenagers, the replicate what they see on TV. So what are you watching on TV?

Jesus puts it this way “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” Matthew 5:28.

Or how about, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

We as Christians need to be careful of what we are watching, are we opening a gateway to help the devil to temp us, remember that just becauseits the norm in society does not make it right. What makes something right is an action approved by God, Father, Son and Holy Spiri, because he has set the standard and even though we may never be perfect it doesn’t hurt to be like King David and be the men and woman after God’s own heart. God leads you to life, yet everything else, drugs,alcohol, sex, etc. will lead you to death.

I challenge you who is reading this to think about, ponder and disect what you are watching on TV and what messages they are sending to you?

Cheers

Ben4God

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Servant of all?

Hey Guys,

So a something that has been coming up a lot in my life which I think is very relevent to us all is Service. Service for others is something Jesus talked about a lot whether we’ve realised it or not, “He[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”" Mark 9:35 in this verse Jesus says that if you want to be the people that are well respected by everyone else then you need to humble yourself, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 and you need to be doing things for others, “be the servent of everyone else” Mark 9:35.

For me I thank God so much because I love serving, I find it so much fun to do things for others and just have a chance to help them and show that love of God to them, but it is only because of Him that my heart is like this, He has changed me forever. But I do believe there comes a point. Serving should not become a burden upon the server, which is why it is so important to have that relationship with God built and super sturdy, He’s the one who will take your limits of serving and transform them into supernatural limits. But in my personal opinion you need to balance between getting The Word into you and serving, A friend of mine puts it very well, she says “There needs to be a balance in your life, don’t be an anorexic Chirstian, who just give and gives and gives but does not take anything[The Word, and sermons etc.] back in but on the contrary do not be an obese Christian who just consumes The Word and Sermons but does not give anything back.

This can be one of the most challenging parts of being a Christian but through doing this with a serving heart you are able to share the love of God with others, you’ll make them think “why is this person so elated to serve, when its just packing up tables?” or something similar. But I challenge all of you to get out there and find an area in church, in your school or in your community where you can serve without expecting anything back, even if you are already doing something like sound, music, preaching, then sometimes turning up just that 15minutes earlier to help with a bit of set up can make all the difference, this could be your only oppertunity share the love of God with them so make it a good one.

Cheers

Ben4God

Doing Hard Things, Doing Big Things! [Originally posted May 12 2010]

Hey Guys,

So recently I’ve been reading the book “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris, also the authors of http://www.therebelution.com/ Its an amazing, but challenging book, that addresses teens ands sets the standard. So I’m going to talk a bit about this with my own spin on it, Enjoy!

Hard Things. I know when I hear that an instant dislike comes over me and I start thinking “that means I’m going to actually have to work, no thanks” I’ve noticed lately that some people around me whether it be at school, at church or anywhere else, like to go for the standard, the average, the norm, but I want to tell you today that this could just be the blog that set you free from that shackled mind set, if not the definately check out http://www.therebelution.com/

Christian Teenagers today aren’t doing enough to change the world we live in. The fact is that today we live in a world of Drugs, peer pressure, alcohol, sex, slavery, world hunger and Human rights vialations, but what are we doing about this?

I believe that teenagers have a huge amount of untapped power, a power that teenagers today have been told that they don’t have. Teenagers are being fed constantly that they can’t do anything until they become an adult by teachers, friends,media and even family! This is not true at all, take Alex and Brett Harris (the authors of Do hard things, in the first paragraph) they were 17 they were asked if they were would do an internship for the Alabama Supreme Court when the usual age requirement is probably like 20+ and they were treated just like any other interns, that means no special treatment. Say What! These boys were the first gineua pigs of their own idea, that they could do much more then the world expected of them, straight after they finished the internship they were asked to be the grass roots directors (they recruit people to help with the campaign) for the 2006 Alabama Judicial Races. Truely amazing. I’m not going to go much deeper then that, you’ll have to read it for yourslef.

These boys are the perfect example of teenagers getting out of their comfort zones and doing big hard things. They changed the world they lived in. God didn’t put you here by accident, your here for a reason! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12. You were place here ON PURPOSE so stop ignoring it. Ask the Holy Spirit to give show you somewhere in soceity that you can make a change, don’t be suprised if you don’t get an answer straight away, keep asking! Whether you want to believe it or not, the instant age has corrupt this generations youth. If something takes more than a day then we don’t want it or we don’t want to do it. But you need to dicipline yourself and take the challenge head on. You cannot do it by yourself. You need God to help you with it, or else its most likely either going to be extremely stressfull or its not going to happen at all. Involve your mates, callaborate, group, make a community of people who want to see the same cause roar into life.

My challenge to you today is to ask the Holy Spirit what hard thing you could do today, and to reveal the reason why you are here in this place and in this time.

Cheers
Ben4God

Witnessing through loving your enemies [Originally Posted May 3 2010]

This is a continuation of the last blog as i kinda left something out.

Loving your enemies is one of the best ways to witness to people, through your love and compassion of them. Doing this means that your enemies are able to see the work that God has done in your heart, it give us the opportunity to not just talk the talk but to also walk the walk. Through the compassion of your heart towards your enemies you are able to bring people closer to Jesus, even if it doesn’t pay of straight away you’ve been able to bring them that one step forward to have a relationship with the one true living God.

Cheers
Ben4God

I Believe……. [Originally Posted May 3 2010]

Hey Guys, so today im going to deal with a topic thats a combination of two topics I’ve talked about before, but its completely different, I’m not sure how long this will be but I gotta feeling its guna be a good one. so just hang in there

So today the topic is kind of the modern day persecutions and its alsoa bit of what your message to the world is when you are suffering.

Here we go. At the moment I am reading through a book called Jesus Freaks, by DC talks its about people who loved God and what he did for us, Jesus, and they were willing to die for him no matter what happened. I just wanted to share one Testemony from it and I’ll kind of skim through it. The Testemony is called “I will always have Jesus before my eyes” so its starts off with a group of men, who I presume are all Christians about to be beaten by a Communist Colonel because they were preaching in the prison they were in in Romania, so the guy comes along and starts at one end of the line of men and beats each one until someone owns up to preaching in the prison. He gets to this one guy, John Stanescu, and when he gets to him John says boldly that this man will be judged in hevean when his time comes, and in that time if you were to say something like that then you probably wouldn’t live to the next day. So the Colonel is just about to beat him when he(the colonel) gets called out by other guards. When the Colonel arrives back he is thrown into the prison, but now as a prisoner himself. Now the other guys in the cell were pretty pissed and so they just go and try to beat him to a pulp, but John puts himself infront of the former guard and defends him from the many blows coming his way, so in the end John gets really smashed by his fellow inmates because he protected their persecutor.

I read this and my jaw dropped, heres this guy thats been beaten time and time again by this guard and when the tables turn, the guy puts himself in danger to protect the guard that had beaten him for so long. This is a part of what Im talking about today and its a really important message that we all, as Christians, must know. Luke 6:27-36 pretty much says Love your enemies as God love you, and be merciful on then just as the Father is on us.

Today I heard a question at a meeting that I had and it came down to this: what do you do when you or others are being made fun of or persecuted for being a Christian? So what do we do when this stuff comes our way. Do we fight back with mean remarks? Do we take it to the physical side? OR do we do what Jesus told us to do and Love them, even though at that point and time they are your enemy? I know that I choose decision No. 3. I know what your going to say, but its hard or I dont like them though >:( but  what I say to you is that you need to spend more time working on the relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is God, He is here to be in fellowship with you and He is here to help. Though the power of the Holy Spirit we gain the Strength, the Power, the Unconditional Love of God, these things are the things we often miss when we hear about God but I think that it’s THE MOST IMPORTANT thing that we need to be doing in our lives as Christian.

So to Sum up really, you will always have a persecutor because you are Christian but just because they are being mean to you does not mean thats what we need to be doing to them, remember what Jesus said in Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you”, Jesus makes it pretty clear cut, because we are human we want to be loved, so love others no matter what because thats what you would want them do to you.

Cheers
Ben4God