Rain, Rain, Go Away.... wow that was easy

Matthew 8:23. Jesus calms the storm... we all know it. The disciples follow Him out onto a boat to cross a body of water, night falls, a storm to end all storm rages... and yet Jesus is asleep.

This absolutely, unequivocally blows my mind. Jesus... sleeping!?! who'd a thunk it? I guess why i'm taken aback by this is because He's 100% God. but anyways...

This isn't just some cute little story for us to read, hear a sermon on, and completely forget about it. The disciples went and woke up Jesus yelling about the storm and how they were going to sink. Jesus' reply astonishes me: "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"

He then got up from His nap, (again, mind=blown), and rebuked the winds and the waves... i don't know if you caught that so i'll type it again... He rebuked, stopped, calmed, ended the winds and the waves. When the sailors on the boat saw this they were astonished, saying "what kind of man is this? even the winds and the waves listen to Him."

He calmed the storm.... as easy as getting up from His nap. I'm pretty sure my brain would've exploded right then and there... not even gonna lie. So the question is... do you believe that Jesus really did this? or do you just take this story like every other fictitious story you've ever read. As for me, this story is as real as i am. We get so numb to the fact that all of this stuff really happened that we take it for granted and just take it at face value.

I challenge you to stop doing this (me included) and dive into the Word of God. And dive into the stories that are 100% true and see how awesome it is.

They saw Jesus die. They saw Him take His last breath...But Sunday was coming

This past Easter weekend was great! One awesome service led to a great afternoon with my family and now i'm off to write some papers. But just thought i would say a couple things before i went and started to slowly kill my brain.

Jesus was beaten, crucified, killed, and rose again. We can all agree on this.. if not hit me up on my cell or something and we'll get that straight. Anyways, Jesus gave up His life for us. Again, we can all agree on this. But have you ever thought about Him giving up His life?

Surrender: To give oneself up, abandon, or relinquish

Sacrifice: an offering

God put these two words into my head and showed me the difference between them. You see, some people like to say "yea, Jesus surrendered and died to save us."... YOU'RE WRONG. To surrender is to quit, to give up. My Jesus DID NOT give up.

You might be saying "then what the heck did he do?"

My Jesus sacrificed himself for the rest of the world that had come, that was on Earth, and for the future generations on this planet... NOT because he wasn't good enough or because he quit living... He willingly gave up his life. i know, i know... What's the difference?

We all agree that Jesus is God incarnate right? If so, this means that He is fully God and fully human. He DID NOT have to come down to this earth for you and me. He DID NOT have to live a human life and be tempted like we were. He DID NOT have to be betrayed, beaten, spit upon, and crucified. He DID NOT have to die, go to hell, and then come back to life to prove He was God's son.

You see, the difference between the two is that sacrifice requires that you willingly do something. Jesus willingly carried the cross, got nailed to it, and died. FOR US. He willingly died to show that He went to hell, punched satan in the face as He left to show him wassup, and He rose from the dead... to prove the He is God. He is the King of Kings. and He did not quit.