Recently, in big church, I was given the opportunity to speak—twice!

These moments come once every few months and I usually enjoy being able to have a conversation with the congregation from the stage.

Sunday was a mixed bag of feelings.

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy being able to talk about Jesus. I love to! I guess that’s why I chose to do that full-time. What made it feel weird was that when I was talking about the cage, the room felt so silent.

The analogy of the cage is the fact that there is a life that God wants for us and a ton of things will keep us from it. As I opened the cage, I read some of the things that are keeping us from living God’s intended life for all of us. Here’s a few that I read, but feel free to comment and suggest more.

Lost Connection- the fact that we’re far from God.
Purposelessness- feeling as if our lives have no meaning
Circumstances in life- life craps on us. Sometimes it may be our fault, sometimes it’s not.
Sexual Regrets- addictions and past experiences that wound us.
Guilt and Shame- the refusal of letting things go.
Fear of Man- the fear of what people may think of us.
Pride- I don’t need help
?- the beast in the basement we’re afraid to even name.

The Apostle John quoted Jesus speaking of light and darkness in his gospel. He said that people hate the light and don’t come into the light in fear that their deeds would be exposed. So true. Exposure will often come with a cost.

And maybe it’s a guy thing.

We like to act like we have it together.

We often think that if you don’t have it together, you’re a wuss.

And maybe if we come out and say that we suck at life, people will only point and laugh.

I think you can make the connection here.

That morning many people were able to make the connection. Cages were opened and they began to let Jesus deal with the crap in their lives.

But also, from the silence, I knew that just as many (and if not, more) were held back. Reservations can sometimes imobilize us. Silence can kill.

What is keeping you in the cage?

Do you have a friend who is in the same cage?

It’s good to talk.

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“But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.” (Mark 10:43-45)

As a follower of Jesus Christ, it breaks my heart to see how many “Christians” don‘t carry out this principle. It‘s so easy to get sucked into the rut or self-serving, not humbling yourself to the needs to others. I‘m not just talking about writing a check and you’re done. I’m talking about getting dirty, going to the places where others don‘t want to go.

Me and my wife had this conversation very recently. We are committing a certain portion of our giving to litterally helping the needy. It may be handing out sandwiches to homeless people, cleaning a friend’s house, watching someone’s kids, or buying groceries. In the words of Dino Rizzo, it`s Servolution, and we want to take this principle from Jesus to a whole other level in our lives.

So I challenge you to give your time, your efforts, your largest chunk of energy, maybe your money, your basement, or your spare bedroom. And if you can, do it annonymously. I have been the recipient of such gifts in the hour of my greatest need, and it is one of the biggest reminders of God you will ever experience.

What is God telling you to give?

Aaron

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We all have weaknesses, areas of our life where we don’t  believe that anything can work through us. God teaches us otherwise, though. And it is through a man who orchestrated the release of Israel as slaves.

In Exodus 4, God tells Moses to stand up to Pharoah, the leader of Egypt, and tell him to let the Israelites go free. The problem was, ending slavery in Egypt would shatter the Egyptian economy. Moses answers like many of us would in Exodus 4:10:

“Oh Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (NLT)

Moses used his shortcomings as an excuse to get out of what he saw as uncomfortable. In verse 14 it states “Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses.”

When we don’t live out our callings we are actually being disobedient to God. This makes Him burn with anger. When Moses decided to follow God’s calling on him, his leadership resulted in the Israelites escaping Egypt … and walking through the Red Sea, which was split in half. Pick up the phone, answer God`s call. He will work miracles in your life.

Aaron

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Jay’s Note:

This is the first guest post from James Kelly. He’s a good friend and a great ministry partner in my life. You’ll be seeing him around here a lot more in the near future. Enjoy.

My wife and I were watching Batman Begins the other night and when we heard the quote “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me” I asked her what she thought and she replied, “It’s totally contrary to the Gospel. It’s not what we do that defines us, it’s who Jesus is and what he has done for us.” Both Karen and I agree what we “do” is extremely important, but we believe what we do will come from who we are “underneath.”

I believe who we are underneath should define what we do. Far too often we ignore the deepest parts of who we are. Far too often we push who we are underneath the surface aside. What we believe. Why we believe it. Our deepest hurts. Our deepest joys. Our passions, our past, and our dreams. It’s these things that make us who we are underneath. It starts with who you are, and when you start dealing with that, you start doing.

A question I ask myself periodically is this: if I were to die tomorrow how would I want to be remembered (defined)? Currently, I would hope for four things: humble, disciplined, passionate, and a serving, inspiring leader. Some people tell me I’m passionate.  The others…not quit. But knowing I am weak in these areas help me focus on what I need to change.

How would someone define you today? Does that match up with how you desire to be defined? Take a minute and think about it.

Who you are underneath should ignite passion into action.

Deal with who you are right now. Write out a few ways you want to be defined and set out a realistic action plan to move towards becoming that person.  If it is humility, start reading about Jesus. Read books on humility and take actions to reflect on your prideful self. If it is discipline, find someone to hold you accountable to your time and stick to your plan! Whatever it is, you can’t just wait for life to change you. You need to change life!

If you think everyone would say great things about you and you believe you are exactly where you want to be, you have some serious pride issues and need to deal with those.  Its time to deal with “truly you” and then start watching your passions ignite into action.  Think it out. Write it out. Do it!

James

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God has been breaking me about money lately. I had neglected a lot of my debt for a while, and it caught up with me. As Dave Ramsey says “You cannot outearn your stupidity“. I have experienced this first hand.

My wife and I are $30,000 in debt, and we don’t want our lives to be like a country song. We are mad! We are getting out of debt! The Bible says in Proverbs 6:

1 My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt
or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—
2 if you have trapped yourself by your agreement
and are caught by what you said—
3 follow my advice and save yourself,
for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy.
Now swallow your pride;
go and beg to have your name erased.
4 Don’t put it off; do it now!
Don’t rest until you do.
5 Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter,
like a bird fleeing from a net.

Do you know what this means? If you get in debt, bust your butt and get mad!!! Get out of debt!!! I’m putting this out for 2 reasons:

1. You can officially call me a loser if you don’t read a blog post that is titled I’M DEBT FREE!!!! Now that the SexRev has so many readers, I have over 11,000 accountability partners!

2. If you are in debt, I want to encourage you to put together a plan and GET OUT!!!

So, share! What are your goals, dreams, aspirations? Believe me, no debt will enhance their possibilities. Are you in debt? Check out these two websites:

DaveRamsey.com
IWasBrokeNowImNot.com

Dave Ramsey and Joseph Sangle both offer God’s advice on money. You can purchase resources, write out a quickie budget, build an emergency fund, put together a debt snowball, and kick it in gear baby!!!

I love you guys.

Aaron

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