Freedom 4-24

Just recently Brentwood (my church) launched a campaign of sort called Freedom 4-24 (www.freedom4-24.com). The mission is to reach prostitutes in Thailand through a ministry called Beginnings. $24 pays for a night where the girls are taken to a safe place and told of an alternative means of survival.

One of the things that struck me was that a huge amount of the men who come to defile themselves through the use of these girls come from the United States. We live in a fallen world.

Mark 7:20 ". . .That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man."

Wait . . . there is hope! Some of us won't be able to go to Thailand and fight there - fight here! Fight with donations, support and prayer - but fight another way.

Fight with the Truth!

Fight because there is a better way. Grip the sword here and let everyone know that we serve a God of love, grace and mercy. We serve a God of justice, truth, and righteousness and what it is that those men seek from Thailand won't be fulfilled because there is a way that is right and that way leads to true joy and satisfaction.

Donate, go, talk, wherever it is that you feel the Holy Spirit leading you to be involved, but make no mistake you are involved. It takes sharing Christ to the people around us to a whole different level, not just about the person but about the world! On www.freedom4-24.com it states, "the end must begin somewhere."

Let it begin here
Let it begin there

Let it begin.

"Best & Brightest"

Several days ago some major bonuses were given out to executives in a business that has caused a huge uproar. Part of the justification for this by the company was they needed to retain the best and the brightest. This captivated my thoughts, wasn’t it these same “best and brightest” that put the company in that situation?

How many of Jesus disciples were the best and the brightest? Most of them had been kicked out of “seminary.” These men were called to follow, not the guys you would expect, not top of their class. The majority of people that Jesus called and that followed Him were the bottom in man’s eyes but they were passionate and committed.

My whole life I’ve been picked close to the bottom, close to last. I have failed more than can possibly be imagined and delayed from pursuing and fulfilling my calling for 12 years now. I don’t know why, I don’t care. What I do know is that Christ is after the Holiness of my soul and has given me a passion for His local church that cannot be extinguished.

Matt 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied

Hunger and thirst, not full and quenched. It seems that the only thing Christ wants to do with the full & quenched is show them that what they have gorged themselves on is not righteousness. Interesting that it says shall be satisfied, looking toward the future, a future hope, a hope for the future.

So for us failures, us weak, us who are no where near the “best and brightest” there is still a calling on us, for us, a passion that burns inside aching to escape and a commitment to truth that will lead us to be satisfied . . .

. . .but in the words of the slave from Gladiator, “not yet, not yet.”