2009 June | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Jun 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

I know that is seems that there is controversy over Rap Music in fact I know of some people that would hate rap music no matter how Godly the lyrics might be.  However I do not fall into that camp.  In fact I love Rap Music.  That reminds me of an old DC Talk song that said  ”I luv rap music, I always have, and I always will”.

A little over a year ago I started listening to Shai Linne and was immediately blown away by the lyrics.  This guy’s music in one song typically has more then you hear in one year of some churches.  This morning while exercising on of his songs came on the ipod.  The name of the song is Atonement Q and A.  I have to tell you as I was going through my exercise and listened to the song I could not help but think how often our churches are failing at teaching any type of theology from the pulpit yet in one song a lot is taught.  I may not agree with every minor point but at least and attempt is made.  So look at the lyrics below and perhaps learn some Theology from a rap song.

Verse 1

Who is God? God is the universe’s Creator

And Sustainer plus the only Savior, there is no one greater

He is triune, holy, omnipotent, omniscient, absolute

Loving, sovereign and righteous are a few of His attributes

How do we know this? Well, we know this from the Bible

Where God has revealed Himself- anything else is just an idol

What’s the Bible about? Man’s complete ruin in sin

And what God has done in Christ to bring us to Him again

What is sin? Sin is the breaking of God’s law

Plus our condition, which means from birth we all got flaws

What’s the result? The result is by nature we’re God’s enemies

And must pay the penalty unless God provides the remedy

What’s the remedy? The remedy is the cross of Christ

Where He suffered all the strikes for the lawless type

I’ve been rescued by the Lamb, I’m convinced that He’s risen

And blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven!

Chorus

Just fall back, and with the eyes of faith

Behold the beauty of surprising grace

Because the Lamb has died, third day He had to rise

He’s magnified- God’s wrath is satisfied

Just fall back- there’s an atonement now

The cross of Christ is holy ground

Because the Lamb has died, third day He had to rise

He’s magnified- God’s wrath is satisfied

Verse 2

Regeneration- the Holy Spirit’s true work in His love

To the elect, who receive new birth from above

Expiation- expiation means God’s removed my filthiness

The old testament type was the goat into the wilderness

Redemption- we’ve been freed from slavery to sin

And His very own blood is the price He paid, my friend

Propitiation- Propitiation means since the Lamb has died

His work is finished- God’s wrath is satisfied

Adoption- adoption means God is now my Father

I got the hottest Poppa and by the Spirit holler Abba

Reconciliation means there’s no more enmity

God is now a friend to me, we’re no longer enemies

Justification- God declares us righteous

Sanctification– we’re being made into His likeness

Glorification– that’s what happens at the finish

When God conforms believers perfectly to Christ’s image!

Chorus

Verse 3

God’s grace is magnificent, He slayed His innocent

Son- through faith and repentance we get the benefits

What is faith? Faith is a gift from God- when we receive this

We trust and treasure the person and finished work of Jesus

Repentance? Repentance is turning from your sin

And trusting Christ as the Spirit cleanses you within

What is grace? Oh, grace is unmerited favor

Our inheritance major ‘cause we cherish the Savior

Right, and if I may quote again, we were doomed with Satan

But believers get Jesus’ righteousness through imputation

Imputation? God takes Jesus’ righteousness amount

Through faith He credits it into the Christian’s account

Anything else? Well, I guess this overview must suffice

But none of this is possible apart from union with Christ

And finally, once you know the ways of the Lord than the

only thing that you can say is Soli Deo Gloria!

Chorus

2009 February | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Jun 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

It has been a week since I have had a post so I thought I would get in gear.  I have been watching some basketball games of the local High School here.  The girls team is ranked numbers in the state for 3a ball and they are undefeated they have a good club I hope they do well.  Well anyways I am not going write about basketball but continue my series from the book Why Guys Need God by Mike Erre.  Today I want to share a couple of quotes from chapter 10 and talk about them a little bit.

When we come out of hiding in front of each other, relationship will take hard work and lots of grace.  The church gets lots of criticism because of its imperfections.

So many times we hide who we really are.  Sometimes it is like we have to put on some sort of facade  so people do not see the real us.  I am not sure what drives this perhaps it  is fear of people seeing the real us or fear that we are not good enough.  Rarely do we tell people our real struggles or the things that are keeping us from being all we want to be in Christ or all we can be in Christ.  The truth is if we really do be ourselves then in fact it will take alot of hard work and lots of grace.  Grace to forgive others even when we really do not want to and grace to ask for forgiveness even when we do not want to.  But if we continue to pretend to be someone we are not then the church is just a place where we go to be fake.  The church definitley is not perfect and we are indeed a bunch of reformed sinners going thorug the process of sanctification yet many times we act like we have already been fully sanctified and that we have no problems whatsoever.

I often wonder what would church be like if people were real.  What if a man walked into Sunday school and said I am struggling with pornography and I need help, or what if a woman walked in and said I struggle with gossiping I need help, or how about I have bitterness in my heart I need help.  The church is supposed to be a community loving each other and holding each other accountable but I am afraid we have become a community where everything is based on only what we want people to perceive us to be and not who we really are.  We don’t want people to know our secret sins what will is take for us to stop being superficial and just be honest.  It is so hard.  Here us the second quote.

Most churches teach men how to pretend behind religious fig leaves.  We learn to act in the right religious ways, look the right religious ways, sing the right religious ways, and so on.  We usually are not encouraged to actually share how things really are.  So even though we need to connect with other guys at a really deep level, the church actually often hinders this process.

Prayer isn’t a place to be good; it is a place to be honest.

I already spoke about this above.  I do not think this is a problem for just men either.  I think often we go to church to pretend.  Pretend to be someone we are not and we rarely go just to be honest and admit our struggles.

2009 January | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Jun 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

I know much is said about Rick Warren and there are verying opinions of him especially in conservative circels.  However I praise God for the prayer he delivered today.  Here it is both by video and the text

Almighty God, our Father: Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama,

the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity,

the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans–united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you–forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone–forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve–forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations–and all people–will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, ‘Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

2008 December | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Jun 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

Dec 31

My Conversation With An Atheist

Posted by Josh

I wanted to write a short post about my recent conversation with an Atheist. Sometimes I think Christians are intimidated to talk with someone that believes that there is no God. However I had the privilege to do just that and trust me I am not all that intellectual if you know me you know this is true ha. This guy had his phd in Micro Biology I believe it was so trust me I was way out of my league I know little about biology. However I greatly enjoyed our conversation and my opportunity to learn why he believed what he believed.

I would like to say that many times Christianity gets lumped into just being another religion. However when I stopped him and said I am not part of a religion and that I can never get to God but that my faith is about God coming to me he stopped for a moment and said well it is all semantics. When I confronted him that it is not all semantics but rather there is a large difference he agreed with me. It is good to have conversation without arguing. The fact is I will never argue someone into heaven and I wil never be argued out of my belief that God exists. There are people alot smarter than I scientifically that believe in Jesus Christ.

I must say I really wrote this to say this. In my conversation this man relayed to me that the most hatred that he has seen from people have come from those that profess to be followers of Christ. He then said that he had friends that were Christians but when they found out he was an Atheist they wanted nothing to do with him. Isn’t this a sad commentary on our faith. How often do we do this to others just because they believe differently than us. These are the very people we find Christ hanging out with and if someone who does not believe in God does not see God lived out in us then we have a major problem.

I guess what bothers me the most is that we are notorious for making excuses we say things like “they are not interested in following Christ so it does not matter” or I have heard one pastor say “if they really want to grow they will grow” I have said similar things at times we so often excuse our failures and even sins as no big deal.  This is just not acceptable.  We must show Christ to the unbeliever.  I hope in some small way I showed Christ to this man.  When he left he thanked me for talking with him and told me it was good to meet me I told him the same.  

I am thankful that on that day I had a conversation with someone that did not believe like me. 

God Bless.

Uncategorized

Dec 27

What A Great Story

Posted by Josh

I remember hearing about this story but this is the first time I have seen video of it.  This story is such a great story and very moving.  Watch the video.

Amazing Softball Story – Watch today’s top amazing videos here

Uncategorized

Dec 24

The Gospel Lived Out

Posted by Josh

Please take time to read whole Story. So powerful.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on by name.

“I never in my life thought I’d hear people cheering for us to hit their kids,” recalls Gainesville’s QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. “I wouldn’t expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!”

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he’d just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five handcuffs ready in their back pockets and marched them to the team bus. That’s because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

Please Read the Whole Story here.

Uncategorized

Dec 18

Learning From an Atheist about Evangelism

Posted by Josh

I believe this video speaks for itself.  You may recognize him from Pen and Teller fame.  The video should really cause us to rethink our evangelistic efforts.

Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application

Dec 15

President Bush is Fast

Posted by Josh

I happen to like president Bush and I know that is hard for some to believe especially living in a world where he seems to be hated by so many people.  When I saw this clip on the news I was not surprised by the guy throwing his shoes I was surprised by how fast President Bush was able to get out of the way.  Not only that I was surprised that the President kept a smile on his face the whole time.  Well here it is.

Uncategorized

Dec 08

Unconditional Acceptance It Is real

Posted by Josh

The phone rang at about 7:35 this morning and my wife woke me up and said it was a school wanting me to sub.  As I answered the phone and was asked if I could come in an sub this morning I agreed and then asked what class i was subbing for.  The response Kindergarden.  I have greatly enjoyed my time in the classroom and my time substitute however I have not subbed for elementary in a long time much less I have never subbed for Kindergarden.  Suddenly I had vision of the Movie Kindergarden cop and I wondered how in the world will I deal with 21 Kindergardeners.  

I arrived to the classroom and immediately had two teachers helping me out and showing me the ropes.  A day that I thought might turn out to be a day that I definitely would loose my last few hairs turned out to be a day that was awesome and a day that God used to teach me more about acceptance than anything.  I walked into the class with some preconceived ideas but I left with not only a greater appreciation for Kindergarden teachers everywhere but with a realization of how we can influence such young children.

Granted my day was filled with alot of tattle tailing, whining, and crying but that is not what the day was about.  The day was bout the kids that accepted me as their substitute and how they listened and most of all about all of the hugs I received from these little children and how they would tell me how much they liked me and even tell me they loved me.  Now we might say that is just the way these kids are but in them I saw Gods wonderful creation today.  I could not help but wonder what if we accepted others the same way these children accepted me.  What if we hugged on one another and let others know we loved them and we really did care about them.  What if we took the time to love on those that we barely even our acquaintances.  many times in the church we find it difficult to love those we know well this way much less those we barley know.  What would it look like if we only learned from these little kindergarden students.  I wonder.

Uncategorized

2008 November | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Jun 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

Yesterday was a busy day for me.  I spent the day seeing patients for the first time and spent the day with several people.  I had a good day it was fun to spend time with some people yet at the same time difficult knowing that these people are in the last days of their lives. 

I enjoyed my time with one patient in particular.  We took time to look at an old car magazine together and I read to him about some of the cars.  We looked at the prices of some of the cars when they first came out and I shared with him what the horsepower was.  Even though he could not speak well enough fro me to understand him I could see in his expression and in his eyes that he liked the fact that I took the time to be with him.  It saddened me to know that perhaps this guy had a very little interaction with men now that he was in a nursing home and more then likely he was lonely and wanted a man to just show some interest in him and who he was.  I knew he liked cars because he had a picture of an old car hanging on his board.  My time with him was valuable.

However, this got me to thinking.  What would it be like to talk to someone and to know that they can not understand you.  I know his mind works but it must be difficult to know you can not communicate in a way that people understand you.  For some reason my thoughts turned to forgiveness.  What would it be like to want to say to someone “I forgive you yet not be able to”.  How difficult that must be.

My thoughts have turned to my father.  My father was alcoholic and that is really all I knew him as.  In fact it was a rare moment that my father was sober.  I remember the yelling and the screaming I remember the violent way he behaved when he was drunk.  I could not stand it.  I wanted an escape a way out.  Eventually my mother and father were divorced and I rarely saw my dad.  It got to the point where I never say him and in fact did not even know where he was.  I remember when my dad first found where I was and I m in that first letter he wrote and asked if I would ever be able to forgive him.  My response was “dad I forgave you long ago”  It was barely a year later that my father was murdered on the street of Arizona for a measly 11 dollars.  But what if I had never had the opportunity to tell him I forgave him and what I he never had the opportunity to ask.

This has been on my mind.  Forgiveness can be a powerful thing and I am so thankful that I have been forgiven by Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful for the grace that is experienced through the blood of Jesus Christ.  It took me a long time to get to the point where have forgiven some in my old congregation and how things were handled.  In fact if I am honest bitterness began to take root in me.  Do I agree with how things were handled?  The answer is a resounding no.  Do I forgive how things were handled the answer is yes.  I did not want to forgive but God began to break me and I got to the point where I knew without forgiveness my life would eventually be useless in the hands of the potter.  Now perhaps there are those that think they have done nothing wrong but regardless of the fact I forgive, and have forgiven those that have hurt me.  I pray God’s grace may abound.

I also know that in my life I am not so naive to think that I do not need forgiveness.  I know I have screwed up many times and many times my errors have hurt others maybe those I have hurt will forgive me.  This I know without forgiveness we are not following Christ.  It would be a terrible thing to want to tell someone you forgive them and not be able to say a thing.  

Tomorrow I will spend some time with a man that will most likely be dead very soon I am responsible for his spiritual care.  What would it be like to pass away without forgiving I pray I never know.