What is Christmas All About?

Hey Christian parents who have children with questions about Christmas, also Christians who struggle about the traditions of Christmas. Check out this series of videos that are very informative, fun, and short

Speak It Out Mixtape

Hey Guys check out my new mixtape - Speak It Out Mixtape -

Featuring

Rabbi Curt Landry
Turn This Up – T-Bone
One Sixteen Anthem – Trip Lee
Gimme Dat – Ambassador
Glory To God – Shai Linne ( West Coast Remix by DJ Roam)
To Da River Side –
Gangnam Jesus Style - Trip Lee (Skerrit Bwoy x Electric Gospel)

As always i post these up so that people can give me some constructive reviews so i can become a better DJ. So comment and let me know!

I do not personally own any of the music on this track.

Reset Student Ministries Sermon - Being the Paint Brush

So I wanted to share with everyone about what happened last night in Reset. Decided to do something a little different and we all went outside to have service. We waged through all kinds of night time bugs as we pressed into worship.  Though it was difficult with the distraction our students really started to press in and worship God.

I then went into the sermon. As I begin I had one of my leaders pull out this broken white plastic table and had him put it on the wall behind me.  I started off by explaining the atmosphere of the world we live in. As I shared statistics I wrote them on the table.

I shared things like how 55 million babies have been killed since abortion was legalized. We talked about how the world is trying to redefine what marriage is. I pointed out that it’s not just the fact that the world is trying to say marriage between two people of the same gender is ok. It’s also how they diminish the role of the father. I shared that 71% of teenage girls and 64% of teenage boys believe it’s perfectly fine for women to get pregnant and have children yet there be no father in the life. In fact 40% of babies born have no father in their life!

I talked about the liberalization of the media. Not just how tv is pushing a “liberal agenda” but even in written formats. I mentioned how “50 shades of grey” is a top seller even for teenagers and yet it’s really nothing more than pornography in book form.

I talked about how 2 million of the US population is in prison. I talked about how 91% of teens report being bullied and how that has helped to lead to the fact that the 3^rd most common cause of death in teens is suicide. I also mentioned how 20% of teenagers have reported that they have sent nude or seminude pictures to other people via their cell phones.

I explained how this is the world that we live in. I then went into my own personal testimony. As I did I begin to write on the board the different things that had become part of my life; things like rage, hatred, forgiveness, and hurt. I explained how growing up I was destined to become an alcoholic, a drug addict, a woman abuser. 

However! Christ had other plans for me. I explained to the students how we cannot get people saved. As much as we love people, as much as we hate the evil in the world we cannot personally save the people. The only person who can save people is Jesus Christ! So where does that leave us as believers?

I picked up a paint roller and talked about how that roller could not change the look of that table. Rather it was the instrument used to bring the change! You and I are, if you will, a point roller in the hands of God. Our job is to carry God’s presence to the world and to the people around us that it can be Reset to the way that God had intended.

I pointed out how the only thing that can cover sin is blood. I showed them Hebrews 9:22

Indeed under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and with out the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

I then pointed to Christ, how he was the spotless lamb. He lived perfectly yet He went to the cross for us! I showed them 2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake He[God] made Him[Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God

Christ literally took on every sin, every vial evil, then went to the cross, suffered and died so that we wouldn't have to. He did this because He loves us.

I then had one of my leaders step up to the table and run the roller over the statistics and the notes from my testimony. That red paint covered those things so well that you could not see them! They were gone! I explained how that table represents the world and our personal lives. When we allow the painter [God] to use the roller[Us and other Christians] to bring the paint [His presence and His Son] then things change dramatically!

I asked the students “is there something in your life that you've been fighting, some anger, some pain, some sin; that you’ve been holding on to? Do you feel God calling you to release it so that it can be placed under the blood of His precious Son? If so I invite you to come up, take this marker and write it on this board.” I explained that we are going to worship while they do this and when they were done we were going to go up and paint over it.

 

 

 

 

I was nearly in tears as nearly everyone of them went up to write on the board, symbolically giving up whatever it was they were fighting, over to God.  We they were done one of my volunteers walked up with the roller and he covered that entire board with a thick layer of that beautiful red paint.

Now that sounds like a good stopping point for this sermon… but it wasn't.

I explained how this broken table was probably going to be thrown into the trash. How when people see things that are broken that their first instinct is to trash it. Similarly people believe that if they have all kinds of stuff in their past that they are worthless to God, that they have no purpose. But that’s not true!

You see we are taking that broken table and we are going to re-purpose it. We are going to turn it into  a game for our fall carnival.  A game that can be used for our kids camp. We are turning it into something that will be a blessing to our kids. We are giving it a new purpose. A purpose that could no one would had ever thought about it when they saw it mere broken table. In the same way, after we allow God to paint over us, He re-purposes us. He gives us a mission, He gives us importance.

I then explained to the students that they are called to be the paint brush in the hands of God. I explained how if they allow Him to use them to bring His presence to their friends, to their schools, to the world around them, then all the junk, all the sin, all the guilt can be covered. People and the world can be re-purposed to the glory of God.

Pump You Up Mixtape

In case you haven't seen it check out my Pump You Up Mixtape i made! i made it for while i work out. just something to keep me going

What is Your Weakness?

So the other day I picked up DC Comics’ re-release of “Legends of the Dark Knight.” For those of you not in the know DC Comics reset the entire DC universe reverting every title back to Issue 1. The just started “Legends of the Dark Knight” last week. I personally really enjoy LDK because it exists out of the normal Batman continuity, simply telling great stories about Batman.  One of the stories in issue 1 really caught my eye.

::Spoiler Alert::

In “The Butler Did it,” written by Damon Lindelof and beautifully drawn by Jeff Lemire, Bruce Wayne has a very interesting conversation with Alfred, his butler.  In this conversation he basically informs Alfred that he has not weakness. That he’s better than all the other Superheroes out there because there he is supposedly invulnerable.  Alfred, however, assures his mis-guided master that he in fact vulnerable.

To prove this Alfred arranges for Batman to come across a mugging of a family. This mugging instantly reminds Batman about the mugging and death of his own family and so blindly jumps in to save the family without properly assessing the situation. As he does so he quickly finds out that he was set up and has the stuffing knocked out of him! At the end Alfred picks up his now humbled master and leads him away simply saying “Lets draw you a hot bath shall we?”

In that moment Bruce realized that he was vulnerable. He learned that his weakness is the very thing that he the holds closest to him, the thing that spurred him to become what he was today.

As I read that I thought about myself as a Christian. What is my weakness as I walk with God. I also thought about all of the other great men and women of God who seemed so impervious to anything yet fell so hard.   

We can never allow ourselves to get to a place where we believe that we are invulnerable. Moment we believe that we are in way saying “Jesus I don’t need you anymore. I don’t need your hand of grace, I don’t need your protection. I’m good all on my own.” 

As men and women of God we must cling to the cross, holding firm to the promises that God will protect us, that the Holy Spirit will guide us, that the blood of Christ has redeemed us, and has given us the grace to walk in righteousness and holiness!  

Welcome To the Academy

Watch "Welcome to the Academy Mixtape Vol 1 Competition" on YouTube

Cats Who Have Inspired Me Mix Tape

At The Cross Mix Tape (feat. M. Scott Ethridge)

check out my new mix tape!

At The Cross Mix Tape (feat. M. Scott Ethridge)

Last Night in The Deep

Worship In TheDeep from Dallas Mora on Vimeo.

This is a clip of our Kids in TheDeep Children's Ministry worshiping. We are singing "Faith Like That" by Jonah33.

I filmed it on my Droid 3.

The Best Worst Date Ever!

So tonight Celeste and I celebrated one year of dating, and boy was it a disaster! Start off I was trying to figure out what to wear. I wanted to wear this bow tie but I couldn’t find a shirt to wear with it. Below is a pic of what I originally grabbed… I know it’s bad.

Then my sister came home and was like hey wear this straight black shirt. I was like genius… problem was the sleeves were too short like literally barely came below my elbows. So I had to settle with a striped black shirt. Didn't look all that great with my bow tie but hey what the heck.

Then I got in my car and started heading towards Celeste’s house! I was all excited we were planning on going to see the artist and then go out to eat. It was going to be fun and really, really nice. But sadly none of them happened as planned! Just as I’m about a mile from her home my car overheats! Like smoking! I was like, “NOOOOO.”

So I pulled over and called her tell her I need her to come pick me up. She shows up and she looks absolutely stunning. I mean wow. My jaw drops and on the inside my head is screaming, “WHY THE SNAP DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TONIGHT!” so frustrating. As it turns out either my water pump is shot or I have a hose shot. Either way I couldn’t fix it in the dark.

I was so mad, Celeste and I ended up having to change up our entire plans. We missed the movie. Didn’t go out to eat at the restaurant we planned on going to. I was so aggravated. But by the end of the night I realized something… even though tonight didn’t work out at all as we planned, it was still a good night.

Celeste and I ended up going to Olive Garden and just chilled, talked, and laughed. We were calm peaceful, and relaxed. We honestly enjoyed our time there. At one point we were in target looking for coolant for my car and as we walked we made corny Monty Python jokes. By the end of the night we ended up back at my house eating dessert, chilling and laughing with my mom and sister. That was followed by cups of tea and a Rowan Atkinson special.

At one point as we were driving back home “Here Comes the Sun” came on the radio. I felt as if God was saying to me through that song, “Dallas… it’s going to be alright. The Sun is coming soon, so just relax and enjoy the blessings I’ve already given you.”

So while it was one of the worst one year dating anniversary dates, it was pretty darn nice. Why? Because in the end it’s not about how much time you put into making all these plans, the time line of where you’ll be and how you will be doing it. It’s really about if you make the time you spend with the people you love, true quality time. It would had been easy for me to be mad and aggravated the entire time I was with Celeste and my family tonight; but instead we laughed, we talked, we shared. I made the time we had together worth being together.

Adonai,

Thank you for all that you’ve done and will do.

A Club of Heroes and Humility

So in 1957 the comic book called “World’s Finest Comics” published an issue called “The Club of Heroes.” The basically what happens in the story (don’t worry no spoilers) is that a wealthy man named John Mayhew stared a club called The club of Heroes. It was something he built in honor of all the great heroes of the world. He then in turn decided to give the deed to the building to one of the heroes.

To decide which hero would receive the deed he declared that which ever hear did the greatest work over the next week would be rewarded the deed. However, during this week Superman keeps mysteriously passing out and a mysterious new hero appears. Hmmm interesting….

Now the ending of this story isn’t the reasoning for my blog but rather what happens in the midst of it. You see all the world’s heroes set out to fight crime as they usually did. However, while doing it they purposefully kept low key so not to draw attention to themselves. Batman thought Superman deserved it, Superman thought Batman deserved it, the Musketeer, Knight & Squire, Gaucho, and Legionary all thought Batman & Superman should get it.

As I read this I thought to myself, “wow, isn’t that how the body of Christ is supposed to be?” I know what you’re thinking, “ummm… D…. those are comic book heroes… “ Yes I know that but that’s not what I mean! Goobers.

Check out this scripture

3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
~Philippians 2:3-4

So often we see in the body petty bickering and strife that leads to pain and anguish. But that’s not at all what God expects of us. Rather he wants to be like the Club of Heroes, to have such respect for our brothers and sisters that we long to see what’s best for them be done. Wow what an amazing thought, if we all put the effort to help each other and see them grow to their potential then how much would our Lord be glorified? After all it’s all for His glory.

I want to encourage everyone take to heart this simple scripture illustrated through a comic book, lift your brothers and sisters up so that our Lord may be glorified.