Movement.

Simply put, this post is going to take a brief departure from the route that I've been taking in my writing, and so I pray you will still find it appealing and enjoyable. I pray that, having read these words will impulse you to action, to steadfastness, and to love. Please give me your thoughts!

"What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice." (Philippians 1:17 ESV)

This past Monday night I made the hundred mile drive to Waco, Texas to attend Vertical Ministries led by Afshin Ziafat.

(See his story here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0XvEaVcf3A&feature=related)

I've known Afshin for a couple years, and am always absolutely moved by the words the Spirit leads him to, and couldn't miss the chance to worship with Shane and Shane.

Needless to say, I made the trek.

Upon realizing I needed gas, I pulled into the closest Chevron I saw and proceeded to run inside to make payment for the gas and to purchase a Five-Hour Energy for the ride home. As I was walking back to my car, a man driving an old beat up Ford Taurus drove in front of my car, perpendicular to it sitting at the pump. Being night, and traveling alone I was a bit wary as he called out:

"Hey... sir?"

His car was indeed old. Tan. And old. The driver side mirror was missing, and it seemed as if the vehicle had sat near one too many little league batting practices. As I approached the vehicle I saw not only a weary looking man in his mid-thirties or so, but also his three year old son, whom barely looked big enough to be sitting in the front seat. The back seat could not hold him though, for it was full of belongings.

"Hey man, what's going on?", I respond.

"Is there any way you can point us in the direction of Buda?"

Knowing all too well the drive from Dallas to San Antonio, I knew that Buda was a city south of Austin, to which I gave him brief directions continuing down I-35.

His next words have stayed with me, and still cut deep. Brian, the man's son, had sported an amazingly bright child-like smile until this point in our encounter. Often, as we meet others in this lifetime whom need a bit of help navigating through this world, we find it easy to question their motives. Often we are unsure of their integrity, or their story, or if we are truly being of assistance or funding a beer jar. The conviction on this three year olds face spoke to me of the validity of the story that his father proceeded to tell.

"Awesome! Thanks so much!... I hate to ask, but... See this is Brian, and within the past week or so, our home has become a dangerous place for us to be..."

At this point, Brian had stopped smiling, and with somber expression simply nodded...

Also, I think at this point I may have been so moved because, whether I remember it or not, at one point of my life, I was that little boy.

"My wife has been struggling with addiction problems, and we just needed to get out. We're headed to my parents house in Buda, but only have a quarter tank to get there... Do you think there is any way you could help us with some gas?"

I immediately told him to pull up to a pump before I changed my mind. His integrity was confirmed to me as his three year old boy gave me a high five and said thank you. He also stated:

"Please, we don't need a full tank. Just enough to get us there..."

At this point I was finally able to get a couple words in, and stated:

"I have been given much from a man named Jesus. And in Him I live, and love, and give. It's my joy to give to you because I've been given to, and in it I hope you are blessed."

I put $15 dollars in his tank and asked if I could pray over him and his boy. He said yes, and yes please. I spoke over them words of the scripture, and prayed for protection, and providence and peace. Above all, I prayed, that the Lord would be glorified and shown through the situation. Upon ending the prayer, I received one more high-five from Brian, and parted ways with the two as they headed down to Buda.

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Truth is, I may never truly know if the man was telling the truth. I may never know if they made it to Buda, or if Buda was ever truly the destination.

Above all, the gospel moved.

I was able to participate in an event in which the name Jesus was spoken, and his cross glorified. Therefore, it matters not what the grounds were, nor the reason spoken. The gospel MOVED, and in the end, I find this fulfilling.

Should you be a skeptic, I am not convinced that increased knowledge and understanding shall ever be enough of an eye opener to reveal your eyes to the gospel of grace. Until then, I will be praying fervently for people of faith full of love that care for you more then themselves. For Christ cared more for you more then he cared for himself, (

See: The cross)

and believe it or not, his church is supposed to do as he did.

Should you be a believer. Be an active catalyst in MOVING the gospel. For any and every reason. Under any circumstance, may his gift and grace be breathed from you in word and deed. May you seek to see from his eyes, and live in such a way that says: "Whatever, wherever, whenever. I want Jesus."

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Hebrews 13:2 ESV)

May the word move in you, and through you.

To Him be the glory,

-Matt Allen

People.

While the population of Earth can be broken down into many different groups, sections and subsections pertaining to race, religion, wealth brackets, belief systems, and genders, we're going to inspect four groups of people in regards to their relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Essentially, and many subsections and variations arise from these four main sections, you will fall into one of four categories. The first is complete separation from God. This takes upon many faces, but all hold the same outcome. Secondly, you believe that a prayer saved you at Vacation Bible School, and due to grace and freedom in Christ you find yourself living whatever life style you would like to. Thirdly, and this can be all of us at one time or another, you find yourself living within goodness and righteousness, but for all the wrong reasons. Whether it be legalism, to be seen by men, or for selfish gain, the God whom dwells in unapproachable light has nothing to do with your righteousness. Lastly, and greatest of all, are those whom accept the grace of our forgiving Savior, and worship him because of it through grace driven effort.

To the skeptic, who stands apart from the risen Christ, the charge is simple. Seek him. One day you will. In fact, one day you will worship him and bow at the very sound of his name. For your sake, with love as my charge, I pray it is sooner than later.

See: Philippians 2:9-10

Should you truly have never heard it before, the gospel is this:

We, in our flesh have fallen and are sinful.

See: Romans 3:23

See: Ephesians 2:1-3

See: Your (admit it) depraved thoughts and heart.

Our sin separates us from the perfect Lord, and the price for our failings is the eternal manifestation of the separation we exhibit here on earth in hell.

See: Romans 6:23

Because of his great love for us, even while we sinned and turned away from him, he sent his son to be the reconciliation and to bridge the gap between our depravity and his perfection by dying on the cross to be the sacrifice for our sins.

See: John 3:16

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 ESV)

While you sin, and while you have sinned, he still loves you and died for you. You have never fallen too far from the grace of Christ.

See: Ephesians 2:4-10

You are blemished, you are fallen, and should your life end, you know you would stand unjustified in front of the Lord. Please, I beg of you to see the cross and find in it your salvation. He wishes not for you to attempt to clean yourself up before coming to him, he simply wants you to come. Should you find yourself with any question, please shoot me a message on Facebook, or respond below in the comments section. The cross stands sufficient.

Secondly, and this burdens me much, I believe that we will find those everywhere whom truly believe their eternal security does not lie in the balance. Possibly you were saved as a five year old, as I was, and think that a prayer after running down the isle saved you. Yet, should you pursue the scriptures, we'll find that a prayer NEVER saved a soul. The genuine, veritable belief in the thoughts and words and faith spoken in the prayer do. Paul addresses this when he asks the Romans:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1-2 ESV)

While works do not participate in the salvation of one's soul, they are the outpouring of true salvation.

See: John 14:15

See: 1 John 5:3

Test yourself here, and seek the scriptures in these regards. Are you truly justified in the face of the Savior? Did a prayer long, long ago TRULY hold the power to save you, without yielding any fruit in your life? Pray. Seek. Ask. Repent. Bluntly, your seeking my prove that you never obtained the salvation of the Christ in the first place, which is an extremely perilous situation to sit within.

See: Matthew 7:21-23

Thirdly, you may understand the inner-workings of grace and are knowledgeable of the Word of God. Maybe you know that Ephesians 2:8-9, "for it is by grace that you have been saved..." is quickly followed by Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS." Maybe you are fully aware that Titus 3:5 is shortly followed by Titus 3:9. You know and have read that "faith without works is dead." (James 2:17) and that the love of God is to keep his commandments. (1 John 5:3) Yet. Potentially, and probably you miss the second half of 1 John 5:3, which states: "And his commandments are not burdensome."

There is no worship without love, and if you have somehow fallen into the trap of acting within righteousness simply because you know you "have to", I fear you will find your offerings rejected.

See: Cain and Able

See: Hosea 6:6

See: Amos 5:21-25

Think of the difference between the child whom cleans his room out of frustration and obligation juxtaposed to the child who cleans his room because he knows it will please his mother. While both children's rooms will be cleaned, who's mother will be happier while watching their child?

Do you work for God in order to please man? This is no service whatsoever.

"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10 ESV)

See: John 12:43

There stands a middle ground between legalism and license named love.

The ground upon which we all, myself included should strive to stand is one upon which we examine the grace and love of Christ, and instead of misusing, and abusing the grace and freedom we have been given, we allow it to impulse us to love him more and act out that love through grace driven effort. In this we work, not because we have to, but because the cross births in us a desire to. Do you work out your salvation because you have gone to church, and been told it is what you are to do? Seek him, find him good, and worship him because of it through action.

"Little children, let us not love in word or in talk but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18 ESV)

Where do you stand?

Should you be a skeptic: I plead with you to seek the Christ. I have no gain whatsoever your pursuit of the Lord, but should you be wrong in your standings and belief of the Savior, the repercussions are catastrophic. Jesus is the answer, the cross is the bridge, and the answer is found in the Word. Feel free to ask any questions on anything left vague or insufficiently explained.

Should you be a believer. First and foremost; are you truly a believer? How do you know? Are you counting on your church attendance to fill the void between your depravity and Christ's divinity? Why do you act? Is it out of love, or to be seen by man? Is your "love" really love? Seek his word, ask questions in the comment box or Facebook if need be, be square away the validity of the salvation on which your soul rests. Nothing could be of greater importance.

May the word move in you, and through you.

To Him be the glory,

-Matt Allen

Running.

Here we go.

Before jumping to the Word I want to briefly touch on some quick housekeeping issues of which several of you have brought to my attention: "Matt, you challenge me as a skeptic, yet approaching the scriptures from an infallible perspective does little for me finding them contradictory and invalid." Fair. Extremely fair. As a large advocate for the pursuit of knowledge I would charge you two action steps. Check out "A Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel who came to the truth of Christ after years of atheism. He has an entire chapter devoted to the validity of scripture on a historical level outside of the church and the faith. More than that however, because love surpasses knowledge, I would encourage you simply to approach the gospel with an action based conviction. Meaning that if Christ spoke, and he did: "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.", then test those words. Judge the authoritativeness of the Word simply by testing what it says and assessing the outcome. Meaning that for me, simply, this blog is an outlet to bring forth his Word, and the truths found therein. I may or may not ever write of the validity of the Bible, for I am a passionate believer that Christ reveals HIMSELF through his Word, leaving me with no job except to proclaim it. I hope this comes across clear, for it was not a brief as I had hoped.

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It's inside of grace that I find my home.

"But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13b-14)

We'll start here. Typically I think I would choose to close with this statement, but today I think we will begin with the end and work our way backwards.

Biblically, we are to pursue Christ in holiness.

See: 2nd Corinthians 5:14-15

See: Ephesians 2:1-10

See: 1 Timothy 6:11-12

See: Colossians 3:1-18

See: 1 Peter 1:14-16

Yet, as products of the fall, we will often fail.

See: 1 John 1:8

See: Romans 7:18-20

See: Any Biblical character, excluding Jesus. Or any church staff member. Or... anyone.

The truth of the fall is that Christ came to restore, reconcile and empower. Moreover, we do nothing but prove that we don't understand the gospel, grace, or the cross when we, having fallen, run from the all-knowing God in an attempt to clean ourselves up before pursuing his goodness. The cross stands sufficient.

Currently my favorite biblical example of Christ's full circle restoration is found in the story of the disciple Peter. In John 13:38 Christ looks at Peter, who had just professed his devotion, and says: "Will you lay your life down for me? Truly, truly, I say to you the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times." We see this prophesy brought to life in John 18:15-27, when Peter is approached by three different people in regards to his connection with the imprisoned Christ, and three times he denied the Messiah.

Very quickly, and carefully I would like to state that while I hold a firm belief that any, and all sin will damn us to eternal separation from God, I do believe that on a humanistic level, the blatant denial of the physical manifestation of God incarnate is a greater err than I believe is possible. I say this simply because the point of sin is only the separation between God and man, and I don't find any other sin that produces this direct effect than the statement of: "I don't know the Christ."

You have never fallen or run too far from the grace and love and pursuit of Christ.

See: John 3:16

See: Romans 8:37-39

See: James 4:7-8

John 21:15-17 shows the reconciliation of the risen Christ and Peter as three times, which happens to be the same amount of times that Peter denied his Savior, Christ accepts Peter's love.

"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"

He said to him, "Yes Lord; you know that I love you."

He said to him, "Feed my lambs." (John 21:15b)

Lastly, and much of the book of Acts is an example of this, but after the fall of Peter, after the restoration of Peter, came the empowerment of Peter. In the book of Acts we find Peter say things, do things, and be a part of a movement that is rarely seen in church history. Literally the man, being so full of the Holy Spirit, mimics the signs of Christ healing the lame.

See: Acts 3:6

See: Acts 2:14-47

Here we close. Should you be a skeptic, possibly it is because you simply think that the things you have done define you. With the places you've been, and the things you have seen, a God, should there be one, could never love you. I want to encourage you with the fact that the God of the universe came to abolish that. It is within grace that we find our home, and this world and it's pleasures will never fill you to the extent of the one who made, created, and loves you in your failure.

Should you be a believer, accept your insufficiencies, repent and stand upon the grace which first saved you. We are not to wallow and allow our sins and struggles to define us; for at the cross the great exchange was made in which Christ traded his righteousness for our sin. Run the race and strain towards the goal ahead in holiness and truth.

May the Word move in you, and through you.

To Him be the glory,

Matt Allen