To Our Trinity Students (and everyone else)

TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!
Some names have been changed to protect the guilty:

Religious Randy: (aka. The Jews in Acts 17:6) “But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

Soured Sue: “The problem you have is you are too focused on the Bible”

Devilish Doug: “You guys are just fanatics”

Loose Lipped Lynn: “He knows his Bible and uses it like a sword to defend every decision he makes”

Wow, these are real quotes, made by real people, about real believers and to be honest, I had a few more but couldn’t come up with anymore clever names. :) This is the first blog that I have explicitly called out to our students, but I want you to understand what I am writing to you. As you begin school this year, it is crucial that you understand that as a believer you are called to be different. If in fact there is no difference in you, if the world does not understand why you stand the way you stand, why you dress the way you dress, why you talk differently than they talk, then there is something wrong with you. Look at the above quotes - are these really negatives? I mean, is it a bad thing to turn a lost world upside down? Is it a bad thing to be focused on the Bible? I have often heard that a fanatic is someone who loves Jesus more than you do. Is it wrong to use your Bible like a sword? Isn’t this what It calls Itself? Rather than getting defensive or minimizing your stand for the cause of Christ this year, take joy that the world sees you as different - take joy that you have to endure even a little persecution for your stand. Wasn’t it Christ who said in Luke 6:22-23:
Blessed are you when men hate you,
And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
For the Son of Man’s sake.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

He closes this thought out in Luke 6:26 “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.” It is not a bad thing to lose the applause of men for taking a stand - in love for Christ. The world will seldom see it as love - they will see your stand as judgmental, as being “better than us” or trying to be harsh, but God knows your heart, and you must do all for His glory. He calls us to live a holy, separated life and we must live it out to the best of our ability and to His glory! This year don’t get caught up in the fear of man - stand strong and be courageous! A couple of weeks ago you, as students, blessed us as you led our worship on a Sunday night… you have worshipped God even when the music may not have been your style in previous weeks, and did so with the same passion as you sang and worshipped the Sunday that you led. Thank you for your love, thank you for your passion – We should thank God for our parents, leaders and workers who serve you along side of Bro. Jeff and Bro. Bubba! In the coming days Bro. Brad Walker (whom I will write about next week) will be coming in to meet you. He will take the reigns from Bro. Jeff Phillips and continue to equip you, your parents and your workers to glorify God. But in the mean time, I want you to know I love you, and I value you as part of Trinity Baptist Church, a part of our Church family, and this year I challenge you to TURN YOUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN FOR THE GLORY OF GOD!

NOTES FROM THE EVERSON FAMILY REFRIGERATOR:

In the coming days I am sure I will have several blog entries on The Peace Maker. The main reason for this is that it is so needed today not only in our society, but in our churches and homes. The way most “Christians” deal with conflict in home, church or the workplace is no different than an atheist will deal with it, in fact sometimes “church people” deal with it worse! (Notice I said “church people” not believers). However, true believers should have a passion for peace; they should have a desire to want the best, hope the best, and believe the best. As we have seen in Jude, we should not have peace at all costs - we should not have peace at the expense of compromise with sin and doctrine! But even when dealing with those issues we should handle them differently than the world deals with conflict or opposing viewpoints. As I passed by our refrigerator the other day (or as we tend to call it in the south: “fridge”) I once again stopped to take notice of something I had printed and put up for all to see (especially our family). It is something that is found in Ken Sande’s The Peace Maker, and I wanted to highlight it for you today. Write these down, cut and past them from this blog, but do something with this to enable your family to remember these truths when apologizing - and just so you know, if you have other people in your house, you are going to need to apologize quite often, and it can only help us when done properly. Below you will see what is printed out for our family:

The Seven A’s Of Confession:1. Address Everyone Involved
2. Avoid If, But and Maybe—Is this how we would confess to Christ?
3. Admit Specifically--- “ “ “ “
4. Accept the Consequences
5. Alter Your Behavior—Ephesians 4:31-32
6. Ask Forgiveness
7. Allow Time

I have found when this is practiced correctly, forgiveness is available from those who love Christ. This is so crucial in a world today – a world that refuses to accept responsibility for anything and will not only blame others for their wickedness, rebellion or hard heart, but bring God into the equation to justify what they do or how they feel. We serve a God who has not called us to be hateful, vengeful, or to return evil for evil - this is the life of a lost man. We should always be ready to overlook an offense and when we wrong someone else, we should be ready to live out these “Seven A’s”! If we would just take this seriously and apply these principles, they will enable us to glorify God even during conflict.