Change me Lord

Good Morning!

  I will keep this short and sweet. Today's topic, change. God brought my family and I to church back in 2001. With that said, I was 11 when we started regularly attending. I had many childhood friends, kids I went to public school with. I grew up in Hollywood, this is all I knew. Hollywood is not glamorous! The way it's made out to be. It's full of crime and drugs. A whole lot of others things that need not be mentioned. Kids that grow up in these areas, generally share the same feeling. "Is there anyway out of here?" Dirty overcrowded apartments were common sight. There is this heavy feeling out there. Sin weighing people down. I thank God, my family and I got out of there. Thank God for his mercy and grace. So, after I got the holy ghost and was baptized. I couldn't find myself hanging out with the same groups in middle school. Most of the time I felt out of place. lol I'm truly grateful however, looking back. Friends and family members would mock our believes. My cousin who I grew up the most close to would tell me, "You changed man". He wouldn't say it as tho to congratulate me, if you get what I'm trying to say. At first that hurt, coming from one of my closest friends. I no longer felt close to him from that day on. Old friends faded away. Like previously mentioned, we moved out of the area. Like Bro. Brown taught at PCC. Distance people. lol :) Let God put you on the potters wheel and mold you. I want to make it clear were not talking about change in doctrine or standards. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;behold, all things are become new". 

YES I did go through a change.
YES I'm no longer the same person
YES I no longer run with the same crew
YES I go to church 3 times a week minimum. lol
YES God is more important than family.
YES this is a lifetime commitment

NO, I'm not "better" than you.
NO, I won't be "back"
NO, I haven't been perfect, I made my share of bad choices. 
NO, it won't all be good if you just leave church


Proverbs 13:15 "Good understanding giveth favor: but the way of transgressors is hard".

 It's easier to live for God. Dark clouds will come but your in HIS hands and that's the difference. For other's this world is all they have and that's a sad way to go about life. I pray if you read this and you haven't lived your life for God, you would reconsider. 

Luke 12:48 "But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

There's more change that follows however. We weren't saved to warm up a pew, we have to be involved in reaching souls. Also, be involved in church. This helps you grow spiritually along the way. There of course is reading his word and digging deeper in prayer. With that said, you don't want to be at the same place in God 10 years down the road. With all the preaching and teaching you learned along the way, you should have applied it to your life. Mix the word with faith=Action! 

We should never reach a point where we have "Arrived" but we press towards the mark! :) 





Have a good day! it's a 100 degrees out here! for those who wish they were in Southern California right now. We are suffering too. lol Get a starbucks and cool off!

-Elias
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