How do I know?

I know so many people who "know" that Jesus was just a man who lived around the first century. I know so many people who "know" that Jesus did not even exist. I know so many people who “know” that there is no God. Yet I know that Jesus Christ was and is God. Although how do I know?

Honestly I know Jesus is real through many reasons. First and foremost he is my best friend and I have a relationship with him. Yes, I did just say that. Let there be no mistake, I believe in Jesus and he is my best friend and I talk to him through prayer.

Let me ask the questions for you… “Does he talk back?”

If you are asking if I ever heard the audible voice of God, then no I have not. Although I felt his presence, his Holy Spirit consume and fill me and if you ever experience that, there is no denying God.

“But Zaq, that is just what you believe and if he is your “best friend” why doesn’t he talk back? I mean the bible is filled with examples of God talking directly to his people.”

He does not need too for most people. You see God has given most of the advice we could ever need in his word, the bible. I know it sounds like a stock Christian answer but it is true.

“Zaq…God cannot possible give you all of the worlds wisdom in one book. Let’s say you are faced with a tough decision, like you are given a job offer. How do you know what God wants you to do?”

Well I would pray about. I would ask God to guide me in what to do, give me sign or just help me this one. Typically if God does not want me to do something, I will have a bad feeling about it or there will be a series of bad events leading to whatever. When God does want me to pursue something I usually get filled with the Holy Spirit. For example when I made the decision to become a minister I just flat out asked God, “Do you want me to work for you, to be a minister?” I was completely and totally consumed by the Holy Spirit. I cannot remember a time where I was more filled other than when I said yes to Jesus.

“Well that is all well and good but what about science?”

What about science? When you can scientifically prove the existence of someone 2000 years ago let me know! You cannot, this is not a matter of science. It is history and in history we have to rely on the records of that current time.

“Exactly! We can’t rely on the so called Gospels because they were written by the hand of man!”

In that case nothing is real. All of history is a fabrication because it was written by the hand of man. In fact most of what we know of ancient history was written by men who did not even live in the same time period of said events. For example, nearly everything we know about Alexander the Great was written by Plutarch some 400 years after the death of Alexander the Great. Although the New Testament was written by people who either knew Jesus or by people who knew people who knew Jesus.

“That is true but the writers of the New Testament were friends of Jesus, like you said and could have had an objective.”

Well first off, Paul who wrote almost half of the New Testament was someone who original hated what Christ stood for. He was one of the most feared persecutors of early Christians because he was so ruthless. Paul (then Saul) killed many Christians for their beliefs. As a non-believer I can see where you could say the disciples would have had an objective but have looked at how they died? All of the disciples, excluding John who was exiled from Rome, were murdered at the hands of Roman Officials because they would not renounce their faith. If someone was going to kill me and I knew that what they were going to kill me over was not true, I would have told them the truth. Yet what makes this even more amazing is the fact that they were all murdered separately, miles away from each other. One of them could have easily said, “Yo, it is all fake…” and their life would have been spared. The other disciples would not have found out and the one who came “true” could have been long gone. When the other disciples would have found out that one could have had a new life, in a new country. Although this did not happen, they all died because they believed Jesus was God!

“Hmmmmm, that is pretty impressive but ______________”

You fill in the blank. This blog was not made to answer all your questions but to inspire more. If you have any questions about Jesus or God, ask me. If you do not want to leave a comment because you do not want other people to see what you are saying, e-mail me. My e-mail is phillipsz@my.wccc.edu. I will do my best to answer your questions and if I cannot I will find someone who can. If your question is how do I become a Christian?

All you have to do is say…

Lord Jesus, I know that you are God and you died for my sins on the cross. I may be a sinner but today I invite you into my life to make me new.

If you said that with true and honest heart give me a shout because I would like to welcome you to my family.

Who am I?

Who am I? It has been a question that has plagued my mind for awhile now. In fact for almost two entire years my mind has been trying to figure out this simple question. Who am I?

I feel called by God to become a minister but who am I to be called by God to do anything?

If you would ask me who I am, I would say...

a sinner...

a slacker...

a nightmare of attitude...

but if you where to ask God, he would say...

Zaq? The deuce? Well he is my beloved!

It is amazing to just hear that God views his children as his beloved. I am mean God has a lot of things to be proud of. In my short life I have gotten to see some of his most amazing works, such as Yellowstone, Philmont and the Garden of the Gods but what gets me after seeing these great creations is the fact the God is more proud of me. He is more proud of you than the Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and the Pacific Ocean and the list goes on.

So who I am?

I am Zaq Phillips, the deuce, created wonderfully and fearfully by my father, God. When God created me he made me to be an underdog in this world so his glory can be seen through me! He also created me with the heart of Paul or should I say Saul? Before being blown away by the Holy spirit for the first time I persecuted Christians for believing in such "idiotic nonsense!" Now I see that I was the Idiot and that I was created to minister to anyone and everyone who needs God's love. I am God's Beloved!

...I just felt defeated...

Today I sat in the audio booth of my church where I just felt defeated...

"You are not going to succeed."

"You are going to work at Denny's forever."

"They do not care about you...your friends, family and God...they do not care."

"What does God care about you?"

"You...

worthless

piece

of

shit."

If there is ever an example of spiritual warfare, this is it. The constant barrage of insults that our enemy the devil throws at us. Sometimes we realize what is happening and we are able to stand behind Christ and he will shield us from the enemy. Although, like today, we can believe it. I did.

I felt worthless, like I had no purpose and for one fleeting moment I gave up. I said...

"You win."

I closed my eyes and my heart dropped and as I pictured Christ on the cross for me. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." His friend. I am his friend and he cares for me.

I do not know how many times I forget this but I plead to you, as my friends, do not forget that Christ loves you. He died for you so you can spend eternity with him and for right now. Right this second, do not forget he still wants to be with you. As you are walking this earth you will undoubtedly get lonely but do not forget you got me and Jesus.

The Key To Life?!?

Recently, someone who was worried about me said that the key to life is balance. "You need to prioritize, first comes school, then work and in between all that, God."

Now to an extent, this is good advise. It is not good to spend so much time doing one thing that you neglect the others. Although, I am not afraid to say, when it comes to Jesus there is no balance.

When it comes to Jesus in my life, I do not want balance but rather I want him to be weaved into the very fabric of my day. I am tired of having Jesus on my agenda, something to check off my list. Prayer is not a chore and it is something I want to do. I want to be so captivated on my relationship with him that we spend the day doing every thing together.

When I brush teeth in the morning, I want Jesus there!

When I pick out my clothes, I want Jesus there!

When I search for my keys in the midst of my morning routine, I want Jesus there!

When I drive off to school, I want Jesus there!

When I am at freaking Denny's, I want Jesus there!

In class, while I am eating, sleeping, doing my homework, I want Jesus there!

And when I do put some time aside for me and my best friend to reflect on day. When I pray I just want Jesus to come in such a huge way that it blows me away. I want to be so overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit that all I can do is lay there and thank my saviour, my redeemer, my best friend for dying on the cross for me!

Amen!

What is Grace?

In a church setting we use a few words over and over again. Words like covenant, sovereign and grace yet we rarely ever define them. It is kind of like we expect you to know what these words mean. For the most part you can guess what they mean by their context in the bible.

You probably figured out that a covenant was an agreement of some sort but you probably do not know it is a commitment made to God.

You probably figured that sovereign means good but you probably do not know that it is something that is superior, independent and self governing.

So what is grace?

To me grace is everything. Without it I have no hope of being saved. I could work and work as hard as I could to be sinless and I would still falter. I could try to replace my sin with good deeds yet, I would still fall short.

Grace is...

beautiful...

undeserved...

love...

In my life grace is...

a 15 year old being comforted because his mother died...

a 16 year olds depression being healed...

a 18 year olds drug and alcohol abuse being destroyed...

a 19 year old hearing the call to ministry...

a 20 year old choosing to see himself as God sees him...

grace is everything to me!

Healing!

For awhile now I have been feeling a little nudge, a little push from the Holy Spirit to blog about healing. I guess Jesus got tired of waiting for me to do so because I just received a text message from a student that attends the church I go to and it said...

"2weeks 2days with out cutting."

Praise God...

Hold on let me say that again...

PRAISE GOD!!!

Some miraculous things have been happening at my church lately, let me fill you in...

Students breaking addiction!

-One who was cutting

-One who was smoking

Students giving their lives to Christ!

-I defiantly know of one student who made that decision for the first time two Sundays ago and there has been a couple more who rededicated their lives to him.

The reason why Jesus healed these students is very simple...

They asked!

Jesus came "to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed..."

Guys if you are hurting, down or just tired, find rest in Jesus tonight.

if you are ready to give up, find hope in Jesus tonight.

if you are pissed off, find peace in Jesus tonight.

It is easy all you have to do is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savour, and through him I can get through ___________"

Fill in the blank...

"Jesus I need you take __________ away from my life."

"Jesus I need you to heal my ____________."

I love you guys so please let Jesus love you.

Does Torrance have Vacancy?

A couple days ago I was having a conversation with my friends about God. It was the usual stuff. Who is God, what does God do and does God exist? Then one of my friends turned to me and asked, "Has God ever spoke to you?"

I replied, "I never heard the audible voice of God, but I have felt his presence, his Holy Spirit!"

With a smirk he stated, "Then you belong in Torrance."

Torrance is a state mental hospital, so he was implying that I am...

...CRAZY...

What makes me laugh is not even a day later, my churches senior high youth program was derailed by the Holy Spirit. We had the night ready to go, Mark was ready to preach, Mr. Brown was ready to run sound, Jessie was running video, I was ready to run worship and then pow. We started to worship and Mark just felt a tug to keep going. The band played a few improve songs and then Mark had us join the rest of the students in Worship. For the rest of the night, we worshiped.

If you where there you would have seen the tears, the joy, the conviction, the screams, the prayers, the Holy Spirit working in the lives of so many young people.

You would of seen...

...a student broken hugging the cross asking for forgiveness...

...another student comforting her...

...a student throwing a way their smokes...

...a student give their life to Christ.

You would have seen...

...the purest and...

...most powerful image of God...

...a human could withstand.

I spent my time that day praying with other students, laying my hand on them. I prayed with one student about their academic struggle and with another student about a burden that has been on their heart. I held student close as they felt the true presence of God and I told them a bout the promises God has made to them. I felt the Holy Spirit that night with so many other people.

I just hope Torrance has open rooms!

Grace and Peace to...

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39"Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."

40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Above is the story of Lazarus, a good friend of Christ. As many of you know Lazarus died early in the story and Jesus went to see him. All of Lazarus’ family thought Jesus came to morn and comfort them but as you have read he did much more. The story of Lazarus can be applied in many parts of our life and walk with God but I want to focus in one spot in particular.

"Take off the grave clothes …"

In our lives, or at least mine, I do a lot of stupid things. I am not perfect in any way, other than in Christ. You see when you accept Christ you are made perfect in him because he wipes the bored clean. Anything you ever have done he forgets and he just sees you, not your actions. Unfortunately so many of us get caught up in our own sin and feel unworthy to be in the presence of Christ.

And here is Lazarus; the dude has been dead for four days. We do not know what he was thinking or what was going on in his head but imagine what it must have felt like. I am sure he thought of all his sins when he died and what he could have done for Jesus. I am also sure after Jesus raised him from the dead he felt unworthy to be in his presence.

Have you ever felt like that? You know Jesus just helped you get through a time or you just messed up so bad but you feel his forgiveness or you just been dead inside for awhile but he just raised you up? And even though you should feel great, you do not. Your thoughts are just plagued with what you have done or should have done.

"Take off the grave clothes…"

Jesus was not telling Lazarus to get the grave clothes off because they were a fashion disaster but because he wanted him to have nothing to remember about his death. When Christ redeems us he does not want us to feel guilty about he just wants us to take off the grave clothes, the things that are going to make us feel guilty and push us away from God, and come to him.
I just want to be able to run to my Abba Father freely without these darn grave clothes holding me down so you know what…

Grace and Peace to…

My Past-

Doubt

Blasphemy

Drugs

Alcohol

Hate

Depression

Cutting

Suicide

The death of my Mother

The death of Koty

Numbness

Betrayal

My Present-

My relationship with my Dad

My loneliness

Pornography

Swearing

Anger

Lust

Coveting

Doubts about myself

To that stupid part on my truck I need to replace

Denny’s

To the people who I have held grudges against until this second

My future-

In the future I pray that I will not let things bottle up inside me that I will just take off my Grave clothes and through them on the floor and say, "Grace and Peace to you."

Grace and Peace to you!