The Abundant Life

Growing in God by Getting Involved

Over 2 years ago I wrote a post on this blog on how I was stepping out and getting involved in church again. The ministry that I had volunteered for was the media ministry. I went to a meeting and even sat up in the media booth during a service to see how to operate their system for the projector.

I thought I was ready but it just wasn’t time.

The service that I sat in was the first and only service that I did anything in regard to the media ministry. I am not exactly sure why things did not work out, but I think there were still some areas in my life that God still needed to work on. It was kind of weird not being involved but I think you need to learn how to receive as a Christian and walk the walk before you can minster. So that is what I did. During that time my wife and I attended a couple of small groups so we still had fellowship and got to know people in the church. We are still involved with the small groups today.

Over the last six months due to some personal circumstances I saw the need to spend more time with God personally and began to do so. During that time I read the book Caught Between A Dream and A Job and am currently reading The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? In both of these books they talk about how God has a plan for your life and how you were created for a purpose. I believe both of these things and set out to see what it is that God has to do for me here on earth.

There are a couple of ways that I am seeking God in order to find out my purpose. Read the rest of this entry »

Christian Perspective on the Financial Crisis

I feel that it is time that I chimed in on the current financial crisis that is gripping the world. I think that I am not alone in my concern about the future and while I have not been directly affected at this point sometimes not knowing is as bad as something actually happening. Hopefully my personal experience in dealing with this will help others that may be struggling during this time.

The Last Financial Crisis

Before tackling the current financial crisis let’s look at the one that just happened seven short years ago. Back in 2001 it was the golden age of the internet. Billion dollar valuations of companies grew on trees and we were all going to be millionaires by 25 and retire billionaires by 30. It was a time of extravagance and money flowed freely.

During this time I was a couple of year into my Christianity and was newly married. I had gotten it into my head that God wanted to bless me and thought that these blessing were flowing through credit. I had gone wild and bought anything and everything that they would let me buy on credit including a house. Three weeks after buying the house I was laid off from my job due to the economy. I hadn’t even made the first payment on the house.

For the next 2 years my wife and I struggled along as she worked full time and I tried to start/run a business in the technology field. After 2 years we were stripped of just about everything (including the house) and found ourselves renting from her dad once again. I struggled another couple of years with the business until we started having kids. A couple of events happened and I found myself hitting rock bottom.

The Turning Point

The turning point for me was when I got into a business financial dispute with a really good friend that cost me our friendship. I remember sitting in my car with my wife looking at her knowing that if I didn’t change things that I could very well lose her next. It was at that point that I decided to quit the business and go get a job and try to take care of my family the way that a real man of God should. Read the rest of this entry »

New Theme Here at the Abundant Life

I have uploaded a new theme here at the Abundant Life. I had been having several different issues with the previous theme so this one not only looks better but it should funtion better as well. 

Please let me know if you find and problems with it.

Tithing in the New Testament

The subject of tithing has come up again recently in my spiritual walk so I thought I would share what I believe God has been showing me.

I know for a fact that God had me not tithe for some time. I think the reason for it was that I had a wrong motivation and/or thought process about it. I believe I wrote a entry in my personal journal a week or two ago about wanting to tithe but then I dropped off in listening to The Word and that fizzled out. So here I am listening to it again and the biggest thing I feel coming at me is to start giving.

This is very different from what it has been.

Old Testament verses New Testament

To sum it up quickly tithing was an Old Testament law and is not clearly defined in the New Testament. The church as a whole preaches that you need to tithe or your are cursed. I do not believe this to be true. The Bible clearly states that Jesus fulfilled the law and that we are redeemed from it (Gal 3:13) – we are no longer under the law’s curse and we are not to live by the law.

If you think about it that same scripture does away with the 10 commandments as well. So does that mean that we can now go around robbing, killing, and stealing? No not really. Jesus gave us the new command which wraps all of these into one – Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31). So instead of walking with God legalistically we are to walk with Him relationally. When we do that we do not rob, kill, or steal because we love our neighbor as we do ourselves. In other words we do not want someone to do that to us so we do not do it to them.

New Testament Application of the Law

In the same way that we would not do bad things to people because we would not want them done to us, we should do good things to people because we would want them to do that to us as well.

If I was a full time minister and I spent my days studying and spending time with God so that I could try to help people be closer to him I would hope that they would appreciate what I did for them. The New Testament is very clear in the scripture – A worker is worthy of their wages (Luke 10:7). Being a minister is not easy and I believe that they should be compensated accordingly. On the same note, church buildings do not build themselves and ministries do not get free utilities. They have to pay them just like you and I and that money has to come from somewhere.

For me, I have been at my church for some time and it has enriched my life. I know that I have NOT given back anywhere near to the proportion to what I have received from them. Despite that they still let me in the door. Read the rest of this entry »

It Can Be Tough Being A Transparent Christian

While looking over a couple of posts here at The Abundant Life I noticed some spelling and grammar errors and started to correct them. In the process of cleaning up my inconsistencies I had to actually read some of the posts that I put up here and started to get a little embarrassed. The reason for my embarrassment was the fact that it has been tough being a Christian, going to church, and having a relationship with God over the last few years. Not only was it was it tough but I was sharing my struggles with the world. Looking back I wonder if that was a good idea as people (especially Christians – sorry) can be really judgmental.

To combat this concern I have to separate what I think people would say about me from what I know God says about me. Read the rest of this entry »

Blast From the Past – Jason Lozano at Freedom Christian Center

I was setting up my iTunes podcasts with various ministries that I have been apart of and searched to see if Freedom International Christian Training Center with Pastor Jason Lozano had one. While I did not find Podcasts for his ministry I did find this cool video of his testimony that Kenneth Copeland Ministries did on him.

The thing that got me about this video is that I knew him when he first got started and actually helped him knock down a couple of the walls that he mentioned. The other part of the video that got me is that there is actually a picture of him and I together at around the 2:29 minute mark. It is really something to remember where he and I can from and to see where we are now. 

My congratulations go out to Jason, his wife and family, and his ministry for the blessing that God has on their lives.

P.S. Jason, if you read this setup some Podcasts of your messages so I can listen to them!

A Little Maintenance Around Here

I have done a little maintenance around here so that things hopefully run a little better. I updated my email address so that I will actually get notifications when someone leaves a comment. I also added the feed from my blog network to the side panel. The final piece is that this blog is signed up at Text Link Ads so you can by an ad on this sit that will appear in the sidebar right below the search box.

Please let me know if you see anything funky.

My Yearly Update Here at the Abundant Life

My last post was almost a year ago to the day. The reason for lack of posting here is several different reasons. The biggest reason is that I have 15 different blogs that I write and I have scaled down my writing on all of them. Another reason is that I have not been "engaged" spiritually as much as I was before which prompted this blog. My family and I attend church pretty regularly but are not currently involved in any ministries but do go to a connect group. I guess the message here is that things have settled down here spiritually – thank God.

Personally I feel pretty comfortable with my relationship with God and do have daily contact with Him. Recently I started reading several times a week out of my Bible and have started to listen to messages from different churches via Podcasts while at work. I feel that I am where God wants me to be and the recent step up in reading and listening are just the next step in my journey with Him. Also I have setup a personal journal that only I have access to where I can express my feelings good or bad and allow me to have another avenue to interact with God.

All-in-all it has been a good year and I feel that I have grown in my relationship with God which where I think we all want to be.

Wow, I Haven’t Posted Here in a While…

I was just looking over the page rank of all on my sites and pulled this one up to check it also. I saw that the last post was about the Media Ministry which told me that I haven’t posted here in a while. In fact it has been about 7 months to be more exact.

Well here is a nice list of updates of what I have been doing the last 7 months:

1. I quit the Media Ministry. I went to one training session and knew it was not time to get involved.
2. I quit school. Was not the time either. I was not spending as much time with my family as I wanted. Also it was very expensive verses the return. 
3. Started making some good, steady, money from blogging which helped our cash flow.
4. In addition to the blogging I got a steady side part-time job doing web design.
5. In addition to that I have had more side web design projects then I have wanted (OK, I wanted them).
6. Prayed for the last 5 months about buying a bigger house and finally put the deposit down this past weekend on it.
7. Have been pretty steady in going to church during that time.
8. Had a “Connection” with my pastor. No, I have not met him but he said a couple of things in a service that I felt spiritually connected me to him/the church.
9. Joined a “Connection Group” from the church. Went to the first and only meeting so far. It was cool. Really nice people.
10. Feel like I am closer to God then ever. I am led more by His peace then ever before in my life. I am comfortable with not moving (if at all) until He tells me it is time to move.

That’s it. 7 months wrapped up in a 10 point list.

The last 7 months have been good and I really feel that God has been working on my character during that time. The biggest area that He has been working on me has been managing my time between being a good Christian/husband/father/son/employee/business owner. It can be challenging, some days are better then others, but I am here and still kicking.

I am not making any promises on when the next post will be or frequency of posts. I am still alive though and throw something up here when the spirit moves me.

Until then…

My First Media Ministry Meeting Went Well

 I attended my first Media Ministry meeting last night and everything went cool. It is really nice to see that they are really organized and professional.

I signed up to operate the projector in the youth service and to operate camera 1 in the main sanctuary. It may be a couple of weeks before I start but I am excited.