Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, constant never-ending work.

Work never ends, it never stops, and it will never let up. If I've learned one thing in my life from my time in college, the Navy, and Seminary it is that I will never stop working. I've worked hard, I've slacked off, and I've done everything in between. This semester I have been taking a course in Hebrew which has been kicking my behind. The studying does not stop, between the vocab, grammar, and syntax that I have to dive into constantly I have little time for anything else. There have been times this semester where I did not want to study anymore at all.One specific time came to mind, I had been studying 75 Hebrew words for about 5 hours and for some reason could not remember them. I don't know why I was having trouble with them but I still do with a few of those vocab words. After about 5 hours I wanted to give up but I knew that I couldn't. So I prayed for God to help me with them. Instead of giving me the gift of tongues, (which would have been awesome) God reminded me why I was working so hard to learn Hebrew. I'm learning Hebrew so that I can better understand the Word of God, so that I can be a better pastor, and hopefully be a more effective evangelist.

This reminded me about the whole reason that I am here at Asbury Theological Seminary in the first place. I am here so that I can better serve God. When I was a youth pastor back in South Carolina I used to tell my youth that no matter what they were doing, (as long as it isn't sinful) do it for God. The Christian faith is not something that can be claimed and not lived. I would tell my youth that if they were skateboarding, to skateboard with God and tell the people that they were skating with about Jesus and their faith. I would tell them to go to school and do their best at school because they need to make school about God. Youth aren't the only ones that need to be told this either, adults need to be told this constantly. Think about it, when is the last time that you made your work about Jesus? Why do you work, do you do it because you need money or is it to serve Christ? Don't get me wrong we still need money in order to live in this society but we need to have a higher purpose as to why we do what we do. 

Make your life an act of worship.

Alex Gebert

Keeping God Central, and Vocations

One of the classes that I'm taking this semester at Seminary is Vocation of Ministry. Well I've heard some bad things about this class, but the semester is only a week in so who knows, I may like it. But that's beside the point, I want to talk about one of the books that I read for the class. The book is The Call by Os Guinness  is a fantastic book that focuses on the call that every Christian has placed on their life. Os Guinness states that every person has a primary and a secondary Call that has been placed on their life.

The first calling that every person has is a calling to pursue God as the center of all things in life. Guinness also says that our secondary calling is our vocation, which can be anything from full time ministry to construction. A lot of people get these mixed up, they put their vocation or in some cases just regular work beyond their first calling. The secondary calling is to be lived out in response to the first calling. The key to this is that the secondary calling, your vocation, becomes a "why" rather than a "what". For example, a person has recognized their gifts that God has given them and serves God faithfully by using them in his construction.

Believe it or not the very term "Work-a-holic" was coined to describe the way that many clergy members were obsessed with their work to the point that it was ruining their very faith. God needs to be the center at all things in a person's life, especially at the center of our earthly vocation.

What I'm trying to get through to you here is that through the pursuit of God in the center of everything that you do is where you find your vocation. If you follow and walk with God everything else will come in time. And if you already are in you vocation then please remember, your vocation is secondary, but following God must come first.

"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the Love of Jesus"
-Mother Teresa

Thank you for reading, keep God central. (Read The Call, DO IT.)

Alex Gebert

Death

Recently in my ethics course at Asbury Theological Seminary we discussed death. This statement was on one of the slides in the class;

The understanding of death always implies 

something about the understanding of life 

and the understanding of life always 

implies something about the telos of the

functional moral anthropology.

In summarization of the above quote, the way death is viewed affects the way that one views life. 

Without a doubt, death is something that needs to be talked about in a proper setting and in a proper way to be understood through the lenses of the Christian faith. The early Church represented change of the view of death that the world vitally needed. Christians no longer need to fear death, it is something that was once feared by all, but ever since the resurrection of Christ Christians have thought of death as just another event in the life of a person. Death went from the ultimate fear and end, to something that can be crushed under the heel of the believer and laughed at. 

When I was a youth pastor I once had a youth ask me about death.It was a pretty general question that basically was; How do we as Christians deal with death? Imagine when you were in middle school or high school, death was something that was quite foreign, at least it was for me. Death is something that has to be taught to youth in a Christian context. 

You are the leaders of the Church, you are the people that youth look up to for answers. Study the scripture and the Early Church and learn about death in a Christian context so that you can teach the youth. Otherwise they will come up with their own answers, and they will more than likely be misguided. 

Be the leader that God calls you to be.

Alex Gebert

D

Personal Growth: Making Your Desk Your Altar.

So in a couple of hours I start my first class at Asbury Theological Seminary. My first class is New Testament taught by Dr. Keener, and from what I have heard he is a complete genius. He wrote a commentary, and is world renowned for being an expert on the New Testament. Needless to say, I'm excited. Not only to be taught by some of the most knowledgeable people on the planet about Scripture, but also for my own personal growth.

Something that I have lived by since I started my educational career is making my desk my altar.

I make my desk my altar because I recognize that I know enough to know that I don't know enough. By that I mean that the more that I learn about God, Scripture, and how he chooses to work in his creation the more that I can grow closer to God.

I look at learning about God the same way that I look at learning more about my wife or a good friend, I don't know everything about them and the more that I learn about them and who they are the closer I can become to them. Albeit there is  a good bit more to learn about God than my wife or a friend. It still works the same.

The same as you worship at an altar at Church, I tend to worship most passionately when I a at my desk researching, exploring different assets, or trying to understand God. I love it. Most of the time during my studies I have had to stop at some point and simply thank God for giving me the opportunity to learn more about him. And hopefully this inspires you to do the same. 

I want everyone that reads this to really get into studying, I understand that most of the time it is difficult and a lot of people don't even try because they don't enjoy it. But there is something special about studying God and Scripture. I'm not talking about just reading scripture, scripture must be studied in order to be understood. God gave us a brain for a reason, to use it. Every study is a study of God's creation, any sort of science, history, scripture, almost anything you can think of. I really hope that you will try it out and let me know if you have any questions or ideas. 

You're awesome, go study the creation of God.

Alex Gebert

Arminian Vs. Calvinism. The Bare Bones.

So today we're going to talk about the difference between Arminianism and Calvinism, and why I am an Arminian. I'm sure that many people that read this are Calvinists and that is okay. You chose to be that way ;)

First off if you don't know much about either of them that's okay, a lot of people don't and you don't have to in order to read this. Hopefully I explain it well enough or spark enough of an interest to get you to look them up using your amazing googlefu. Here is a JPG. to help you maybe understand it a little better.

One of the main points of argument between the two is the subject of free-will, specifically about salvation. Calvinists say that God chooses us (humans), and that we don't have a choice. If God chooses us to be part of his elect (the saved) then we will be. Arminians say that the option of salvation is there for everyone, all we have to do is reach out and take it because Christ died for the entirety of the human race, not just the elect.

I'm just briefly going to touch on the P part of TULIP before I get into why I'm an Arminian just so that you can better understand it. Basically, Calvinists say that you cannot lose your salvation/walk away from God. Arminians say that you can because God gives you that choice since love cannot be love without the choice to love. 

Okay, so this is why I am an Arminian I could preach an entire sermon series on this and I probably will one day but for now I will settle for a blog post. To put it simply, love can't be love without the choice to love. Let's start with the subject of sin, in Arminian theology God created free-will and sin was a by-product of free will. The opportunity to sin was there the same as the opportunity to close your computer and go make yourself a pot of coffee, but God himself did not make that pot of coffee. Without humans having free will, then God specifically made Adam and Eve sin, causing the Fall. Then even if a person completely devotes their lives to God but they are not part of the elect then they will go to Hell and burn for eternity anyways. That explanation of God sure doesn't sound like the God that I have a relationship with. 

Rather, God lets us choose because he loves us. If we make the choice to accept Christ then we are saved. Arminianism is all about free will, and I love that, it fits in scripturally whenever context is actually looked at. If you want to know more let me know, or look it up. If you look it up you'll probably learn more. 

I promise I won't post super serious posts like this very often but this is one of my favorite things to study. Hopefully you enjoy it too. So if you have questions let me know. I could go on longer about both but this post is already super long and my wife is telling me to hurry up and come to bed. 

Thank you for reading.

Alex Gebert

We're here!!!

I know its been a while and some of you have yelled at me about not posting anything for a while, but I was really busy. I promise I never stopped thinking about this blog. So without further adieu, let me announce that my wife and I have moved to Kentucky so that I can attend Asbury Theological Seminary!

This is a statue of John Wesley on the campus by the way.

Bonus picture of my wife standing in front of the U-haul with all of my stuff piled in it.

So yes I had to leave Easley First Wesleyan Church. That last Sunday, let me tell you what.. Tears GALORE. I never cry, I just don't. I'm not a very emotional person, but that last Sunday after my final sermon when I was saying goodbye to people I cried harder than I have ever cried in my entire adult life. And it was in front of everyone at the church. How embarrassing... I grew up with those people, I'm closer to the people at that church than I am to most members of my extended family. 

I'm going to miss this place so much.

Leaving the church obviously means that I am no longer the youth pastor. But God has blessed me tremendously in my youth ministry at Easley First Wesleyan Church. Let me sum up the youth ministry for you.

I started the youth ministry with literally no youth and I have scraped and clawed for every single inch that has been gained in the ministry. After 2.5 years as the Youth Pastor I ended up with a bunch of misfits that I lost sleep over and constantly worried about. I love these kids. I gave them everything that I could and I have watched them grow in leaps and bounds.

This is a picture of the last Wednesday night service that I am able to attend. 

The new youth pastor is the guy in the hat that is pointing at the camera. His name is Cass. If any of my readers decide to stop by Easley First make sure and give him a hard time for me. 

That's all for now, this has just been a sum up of my life recently. My next blog will be about Arminianism and Calvinism so that one will be fun and some people might be mad. But they are both valid theories. So stay tuned!

Thanks for reading.

Alex Gebert

A Glimpse into Who God Is.

Turn to Genesis 15 in your Bible before you read this blog and read that, because that's what this blog is going to be about. This might be my favorite passage in the Bible simply because it shows just how faithful and trustworthy God is. In verses 9-17 a ritual is described. A key point of this ritual is when the heifer, the goat, and the ram are all cut in half. Lets take a second here, I'm sure you're wondering, "Why are animals being cut in half so special? It just seems like a bunch of other sacrifices that are recorded all throughout the Old Testament." There is a difference, I promise, let me explain.

The three animals that are cut in half represent something fascinating that reveals a bit of the nature of God Himself. You see, this oath or covenant that is being made is the type that has a self-curse on the one that is making the oath if it is not fulfilled. That self curse what that the oath maker was stating that the fate of the animals would happen to them if their promise was not fulfilled. Let that sink in for a second.

God Himself was promising His own destruction if He did not keep His part of the covenant with Abram. I am wowed every single time that I read this, how can you not be? God, the creator of the universe, promised His own destruction if he did not keep a promise. This shows that God is trustworthy, He is honorable, and He would rather be destroyed than not keep up His end of the covenant.

God reveals Himself to us all the time, a lot of time it is through His Word. That's why we have the Bible in the first place. So read your Bible, spend time with God, and sincerely seek Him. God grants wisdom and knowledge to those that seek them. Are you seeking? Do you want to know more about God, or even to learn more about Him? Ask for it, pray and spend time alone reading the Word. The way will be shown to you, and He will reveal Himself to you. That's my promise, and His.