contentment

Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

          This idea of contentment is foreign to most people, especially myself. Living in a society hinged on consumerism, being content comes hard. There is always a new trend, new clothing, new technology and because of that we can never keep our eyes on one thing. Contentment in its truest sense is to be satisfied, or to be at ease with ones state of living. However, since we are a broken and evil people, contentment is not appealing and does not meet our self-centered desires. I personally have encountered and still encountered this waging battle to remain content in whatever area I find myself in. Paul in 1 timothy 6 understood what true contentment looked like.

          …imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But bgodliness cwith contentment is great gain, 7 for dwe brought nothing into the world, and3 we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But eif we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.9 But fthose who desire to be rich fall into temptation, ginto a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that hplunge people into ruin and destruction.

          Contentment for Paul was fully grasping that all that we had was a gift from God and true satisfaction derived from knowing that all we pursue will stay here, and all we will have left is Christ. For many contentment Is hard because we wrongly assume that living a godly life will produce our desired end. However, in 1 timothy 6 godliness with contentment is great gain. Why? Because anything we place our trust in besides the living God equals nothing. Our chasing and pursuing things outside of a thriving relationship with God produces all kinds of evil and a heart that wanders. The reason we battle with this so strongly is found in Romans. We exchange creator and place the created things in his place. We don’t wanna be satisfied in Christ but feel as one pastor says that “Jesus + something=everything’. We forget that because our hearts our ‘idol factories” that the things we use to fill our longing hearts are never satisfied. Our voids are filled only by letting go of our preconceived notion that we need more things and rest in Christ who died on our behalf. Contentment is a hard concept and is the midst of our discontentment is where we find our idols. We must confront our hearts with the truth of the gospel ,letting nothing reign on the altar of our hearts but Christ and Christ alone. Digging deep to know him, encountering his truths and daily dying to ourselves.

Here are a couple things that discontentment is from a pastor at The Village Church

:Discontentment is ingratitude- We become so mindful with what we don’t have and what we want that we forget what we do have and what God did through his Son

:Discontentment is arrogance-we think we can manage our lives better than God has or will

:Discontentment is lust and greed-God has provided for all we need in Christ but we want more than that

:Discontentment is idolatry- we want something more than we want God-it’s a failure to believe that everything I need is found in Christ.

So we must repent of our grumbling and place faith in the finished work of Christ

                                                 Grace and Peace

Communities centered around Christ

The last couple of weeks I have been amazed at how God brings people from different backgrounds and cultures,into one body, to grow and to share life with one another. Community was created by God for the building up of the church and to express his glory to a world destroyed by sin. When reading through the Book of Acts a beautiful picture was painted, to show the importance of God centered community in the life of the believer. Acts 2:42-47 says

                2 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[a] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

         In this passage I noticed a couple things when it comes to the importance and the call for biblical community. First, community built unity amongst the body, they were constantly breaking bread with one another. While falling in awe with Christ who had died on their behalf, they saw the need of praying with one another and engaging in deep fellowship. Im pretty sure this fellowship involved each individual being transparent about their failures and successes,while propelling each other to deeper fellowship with Christ. The breaking of bread was centered on Christ (because they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings) and because of this centrality on Christ and the gospel, they felt a overwhelming need to share what they had, which leads to my second reason. The community was created so that none was lacking in the body. Since these people probably saw that all they had was a gift from God, they had no problem giving to help the bind stay strong. Gospel driven community is created for us to provide for those in need. If it was clothing,food or finances we are not saved to be on an island worried only about our well-being. Lastly, the importance community was shown through the impact it had on unbelievers. This community sparked a revival, because it trained people to preach truth and because of their faithfulness the lord added to the church daily. The way God's people present themselves to the world should reflect the community in The Trinity and draw people in.

     If you are attempting to walk by yourself,pray and seek Gods face that Godly people will come into your life. And if you think you don't need it, ask God to crush your pride, repent and find yourself actively involved in community. We need to be challenged, encouraged and sharpened by one another. The first church knew that in order for disciples to be built and the message of Christ to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth, that constant community was a must.
    Cherish community,seek for it, and fall more in love with the Father.

My Struggles and Gods redemptive work

SOOO!! Where should I begin? Well I guess I will start with the ROOT it seemed all my sinful tendencies stemmed from. INSECURITIES!! For as long as I could remember I struggled with the feeling of being inadequate. This feeling of being inferior or less than caused me to strive and work for the love of others, and when I would fail the confidence I thought I had would vanish. So in this pursuit to be loved and accepted I found myself living a sinful life, hiding it from those who were closest. My insecurities in relationships caused me to struggle with trust, to me my constant thought would be "Why would someone be with me, it must be something behind it". So when I encountered those who probably genuinely loved me it was hard for me to accept it, because I could not understand fully why someone would love "ORREN". My insecurities also displayed itself in another way, in order to prove to myself, family, and friends; in relationships I would try to prove my masculinity by having sex. In my insecurities I would pursue relationship after relationship, finding comfort and my identity in them.I lost many friends because instead of seeing their own sin they viewed mine as "greater" and wanted nothing to do with me. Instead of knowing my identity that was wrapped in the person of Christ I turned selfishly to women making them idols, serving them as God. In this pursuit I objectified women and because of that I lacked self-control and could not keep my hands to myself. So to these women who viewed me as a man who loved God and hated sin a different picture was painted. I know I had hurt those I had built intimate relationships with because they knew me on a personal level and noticed the double life I lived in. I would one day be holding small groups and the next min trying my best to maintain this beautiful image I had created before men. On twitter and facebook I was able to say "deep stuff", also able to engage in great conversations and hold my own. However, I lived a life addicted to porn, and sexual immorality, my life was driven by lust and I would do anything to fulfill my selfishness. So if that meant a relationship, I would appear "Holy" for a couple weeks but after that the real ORREN would come out. I couldn't keep up the great act I performed before an great audience. SELFISH, PRIDEFUL, LIAR AND VERY PIOUS was how I would describe ORREN. I lived and sometimes still live for the praise of men to be accepted and found as worth something. This is a guy who grew up in church, knew church lingo and how to "fake it until I made it". I knew what repentance was, I know the redemptive work of Christ and what that meant for me, but the lifestyle that should follow never seemed to appear. In this sin I practiced God remained and remains faithful to provide Grace when I lack strength to live a life that is set apart. I am a broken man, with a long list of sin but when Christ really saved me and continues to save me from my old nature, I am seeing constant fruit being bore (the fruit not coming as fast as I would like though lol). I still struggle with lust, I still find myself viewing women as my source of pleasure, but in those moments the God of universe is shaping and molding me by his word. I know how selfish i can be and I also know that when I am weak I can rely on the strength of Christ. I am living for a audience of one, my life is not a life seeking to be liked or loved but I am already those things because of the finish work of Christ. To those I might have offended or even hurt because this fallen man I wrestle with, I ask for forgiveness and ask for your prayer and for you to extend grace when I fall short. I no longer want to live as a punchline Christian who says deep things for twitter RT OR facebook LIKES but I live with this in mind. That "Christ is most glorified in me, when I am most satisfied in him". Pray for your brother I struggle and sometimes I fall but I am a guy who really loves God and want to live for him.

SEX!!! our way or GODS WAY

SEX!! Is probably one of the most fulfilling and gratifying pleasures on earth. Sex emotionally connects two people in a way that builds intimacy and deeper relationships. In our culture sex is saw as "hit it, then leave it" and in our churches sex is rarely talked about because its almost the "elephant in the room". So here we have two unhealthy views of how sex was intended and both lead to bondage. In the beginning God created Adam and Eve in perfect unity to enjoy sex with one another for life. In the original creation sex was not made for us to have multiple partners in order to gratify ourselves. Sex was for the pleasure of the other individual, where we satisfy our husbands or wives needs to build a long lasting relationship. Sex however has turned into a buffet where we choose based on the variety offered. We do as we wish objectifying the other individual, with no regard for emotional or mental state of the other party. In our churches sex is looked at as gross, never to be talked about, condemning those who have legit concerns about SEX. God made sex as wonderful and to be enjoyed within the confines of marriage. It is something not to be frowned upon nor indulged in outside of the proper context. Sex in my life has had profound effects on my view on women and has destroyed relationships that were once fruitful. While I indulged and enjoyed sex in "relationships" I found myself hurt and creating a deadly pattern. Sex had became my only motivation for relationships and because of those motives I was in relationships longer because sex has a way of keeping you involved way longer than you intend. It bruised my psyche and insecurities were built and it was extremely hard to trust myself or the other individual. Scientifically sex produces dopamine, which we find enjoyment or reward, which also cause addictive behavior if dopamine levels are too high. So recreational sex is dangerous because it destroys rationality and we will do whatever it takes to find that pleasure again, just like a drug addict.

1 Thessalonians 4 rocked me after reading again and saw that one who shows no control with natural sexual desires lacks self-control and could be compared to a wild animal.

 For this is the will of God, iyour sanctification:2 jthat you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own kbody3 in holiness and lhonor, 5 not in mthe passion of lust nlike the Gentiles owho do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and pwrong his brother in this matter,

I have saw that when I choose to break Gods laws concerning sex, there are consequences and it is an uphill battle to gain the right perspective again. All throughout scripture you see people who misused the gift of sex and suffered because of their disobedience from 23,000 people dying because of sexual immorality to a deeper perversion and having sexual desires towards the same sex. If you are saved by grace through faith, through the sacrifice of Christ and his resurrection, we have become his temple. This means our bodies are no longer our own to do whatever we please but to be used to glorify God with them. Sex is great,beautiful and enjoyable but only in marriage can we have the full range of Gods blessings and do it without the guilt and shame that stemmed from the fall. Trust God for your mate, our inability to wait is a a lack of trust and therefore our unbelief leads to more sin. Just because you have sex with an individual doesn't mean you love and individual and just because you wanna wait doesn't mean you do not love an individual. If a person can't respect your boundaries for sex, leave because they don't respect you. If you are single and feeling loneliness trust Gods provision for a future mate and if you are married use it not to abuse your mate. I have failed numerous times and I am still facing consequences but freedom I know will come and you can stay sexual pure.

WHO SAID IT ANYWAY

We live in a culture that pushes independence and the "right" to do whatever your heart so wishes. From the media to our closest friends, advice is being crammed into our heads and that makes the choice to make right decisions that much harder. JAY-Z even went as far as to have his "Doctrine" put on shirts "do as thou wilt". Now you see a guy who seemingly has everything, push a belief system very subtle and without knowing we are literally "using our freedom as an excuse to sin" Galatians 5:13. Not giving in to this can be extremely hard, especially sense the momentum is on the side where people actually agree with living life any type of way. We have our friends telling us in relationships to "try it before you buy it". We have music telling us that the main objective in life is to stack paper and splurge and repeat the cycle lol. Then on the other hand, we have pastors telling us that our lives are not our own but given to glorify the Father. Now with all these things bombarding us, our ability to discern the truth dwindles and we naturally do what "feels" right. Now , the bible teaches us that" our hearts are desperately wicked and deceitful who can really know it"Jeremiah 17:9. So this is saying that are hearts and what we deem as correct actually leads us to more bondage. We have become the captains of our own lives and we see this played out in everyone's life. We think we want a particular spouse then a month later it changes, we think we have our dream car then one comes out more official and it changes. We are not sure about anything in our culture, we are pushed back and forth double-minded never really sure. So this begs the question "if we are never satisfied in our pursuits and are hearts are mostly wrong then whats the remedy?" First, all throughout history we see a continual pattern of people who chase riches,fame and "excitement but come to the end of their lives seemingly lost. Thats because they have been listening to the wrong info. Their information made them feel good but left them with huge voids. The answer, the remedy, the key is found in the person of Jesus Christ. He pushed a different standard for living for our good and his glory. Its not selfish gain or worldly pursuits, but we were wired and created for much more than serving ourselves. It was built for fellowship with God, the creator and sustainer of the world; who knows are hearts and has crafted us to be filled and satisfied in him. The worlds way looks and feels fun, but it leads to death, the freedom many believe they are walking in is actually bondage cause they can't get out of living a particular way. Christ brought freedom to all who would repent and turn to him in humility not necessarily for a better life but a life with purpose built on the eternal God

The Gospel is wrapped up in one name JESUS!!.Since the great fall ,when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, God put together a wonderful, failproof plan to rescue us from our fallen nature. All throughout the Old Testament, a foreshadowing of this Person Jesus was brought to the forefront a picture of a perfect, spotless lamb who would become a curse on our behalf and given us his innocence.
      Galatians 3:13 says  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
This great news should lead all of us to reverent, worship and fear of such a loving God who redeemed us and purchased us with his perfect blood. However, we have though knowing of this extended love we rebel, and choose our own way.
       All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”

 We have replaced the Living God with "false saviors"..whether its a new job, a new relationship,money, we have placed these before God and find temporary pleasure and satisfaction in these things. The GOSPEL WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST, the creator and only eternal satisfaction, died a death we deserved and lived a life we could never live. His death would bridge the gap that was between us and God because of Sin and allows us to be restored to unbroken fellowship.
        God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This should bring us great joy, that through this unmerited gift of salvation, we no longer have to strive,and try to earn salvation. We have received Christ righteousness and are made whole in him. God being our loving DADDY doesnt require us to fight for his love but he freely extended this gift through the perfection of his Som. We can now live our lives in freedom, and no longer bondage to sin,hurt and regret. We have access to our FATHER not so we can get whatever we want but to reflect his Glory on the earth to all men. As John Piper states "God is most satisfied in us, when we are most satisfied in him".
Live your life knowing of this gift and find your joy in HIM who is beautiful and merciful, we have been adopted and we are his children.