First I want you to know that I have not been writing much on this site over the past few months because I have felt the utmost guilt about certain elements within my lifestyle. I am referring to issues relating to my personal life and the evolution of certain beliefs that I have since questioned and prayed through. You see, I wrote this "Mission Statement" a while back (its posted on my "My Mission" page to this blog-site), in which I describe my eagerness and conviction to serve the Lord. No that is not something I have rethought, but the way I see myself serving God has drastically changed. Originally I took a "me vs. the world" and "me vs. Satan" approach, stoically attempting to vainly impress the readers with my eagerness to serve the Lord and my passion and verve to do it with words and references that made me look and feel good about myself. But somewhere in there I forgot that I should have a "He vs. Satan and the world" mindset, and that I am merely the tool He has constructed to aid in this already won war. I must also say that in a few of my blogs (which I have since removed or re-edited) I also seemed to take this approach. Why was this wrong? Because the focus was not on God, it was on me. Not only that, but I deified certain men in the Bible, instead of giving glory to the God who lovingly decided to use them. So I apologize from the bottom of my heart for that shamble of a mission statement and those naïve and prideful comments made in a few of my blogs.

          SO, I updated my mission statement, and the two paragraphs below will replace it in the very near future. I hope it blesses you in the ways that God has blessed me in teaching me these lessons. We serve an awesome God, that possesses and awesome love for us.

          I am a man. No, not a child unaccountable for my actions, a man- flawed through and through, with nothing within me strong enough to hold myself up- accountable for every thought, every word, and every deed. My sins include, but are not limited to the following… I drink to the point of drunkenness. I curse as though the glorious name of Jesus has never been uttered from my lips. I have had premarital sex, and I fornicate daily in my thoughts. I have looked upon pornography more eagerly at times than my Bible. I have hated my fellow man in the depths of my heart. I have stolen in my youth. I have dishonored and disrespected my parents, and still struggle not doing so when under control of my flesh. I have smoked cigarettes, pipes, and cigars when I knew I shouldn't. I have been a stumbling block to many of my fellow men on a myriad of occasions. I have failed to preach, give, and support those in need, when faced with many opportunities to do so. And I have eaten to the point of gluttony, defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit with every bite of food I took. All these sins I have committed, and all these sins follow me still. But I testify to you this day that I am no worse than any other man of faith! I am no worse than any well known evangelist, or any better than the whore on the street corner selling her God given purity for a dime. I am a man, flawed through and through, but made perfect through the blood of the only perfect man- a man not guilty of any of my sins listed above- a man named Jesus. I am working, by His grace, on the sins listed above that still test me, so that my house may be in order, and I appreciate your prayers in this process.

          We all share a common bond of weakness, for we are but dust, and all of us that struggle and act on the most common of temptations are equals in our undeservingness of hell and of fire, and of separation from the Father. But we have a much greater bond still, one which no man may cut or disassemble with any amount of words or actions, one which extends into eternity. We are all united under the umbrella of love from our Father. He, through His perfect grace, mercy and love has given us a way out! He has loved us constantly and immensely even though not a one of us deserves it. He has taken our burden upon His own back, and has suffered the penalty of sin for us. He has pursued us, blessed us, healed us, comforted us, disciplined us, rescued us, nourished us, and has given His beautiful son Jesus as a sacrifice for us! These truths make God, God, while my sins make me, not God. I recognize this, and that in all of this, He has been faithful and just to forgive me of my sins, and has taught me the most simple yet profound of truths. He has taught me that He will love me no matter where I am, what I am doing, and even if I am not reaching that "perfect Christian life" that we all aspire to, but no man truly reaches. He will meet me in the margins! No this is not an excuse for laziness, but it is an incentive for holiness! I pray I will strive for truth in a world of lies and that I will be a blessing to anyone that needs an answer, or is curious about the truth that is in me.

Oswald Chambers says this in My Utmost For His Highest- December 2nd

           "It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God's purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life's determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call "the evidence of God in your life"…. What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick… Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life… I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself…. Let Him do what He wants."

          Perfection and the "Christian lifestyle" are the how's, but in the modern day churches they are being preached without the why's… Yes Jesus told us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, but I whole heartedly believe that we try to take that passage and shrink it down into a human, finite way, and apply is incompletely. This process is called religion, and yes, while I do believe that we are supposed to strive for excellence in all that we do, it is perfection that I think we need to cease dwelling on. It is God who perfects us by our willingness to let Him have control over our lives, not we, through our own abilities. And the why, in my opinion, is that by striving for perfection or excellence we are seeing God and His love for us in a much more real and passionate way. To live a life of rules, devoid of passion, is to neglect the beauty of having a real relation with our Abba Father!

Michael J. Fox said this, "Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business…."

          (I would hate to think that people would reject this profound truth just because of Fox's political views.)

          On the opposite end we know that God is still a God of judgment and will be a God of judgment for the duration of our existence. Yes, in Malachi 1:2 God does say "'I have loved you,' says the Lord", but in that same passage He speaks to those who sin knowingly and continually separate themselves from God's will, answering their questions with the way to know Him. Those people who sin unabashedly are targets for a God who loves them enough to allow the consequences of sin to ruin them. It is by His grace that the righteous, but imperfect, are spared from significant pain in certain events, and those who turn their faces to Him will be made better for it.

          Here at Uriah Ministries I talk a lot about Uriah, one of my Bible heroes, but I rarely talk about his murderer. King David is a perfect example of this truth, where God's judgment truly demonstrates God's love at the same time!

          Nathan was prompted to rebuke David, in II Samuel 12:7-13 "Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.' "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' " Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the LORD.'"

          God was proving His love by His admonishment and punishment of David's actions. In the end though, David was known as "a man after His own heart" and if you have read Psalm 51 you understand that his repentance was VERY sincere…

          So I ask you this… As we meet members from the "Emergent Church" and those that are part of the "fundy evangelical movement", what side are we to choose? My answer? I am unable to clearly express through words what I need to say, and must only quote from a much better author than I…

          Philippians 2:12-13

          "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

          It is not my job to change peoples' minds, to engage in endless debates or struggles with people I disagree with, or to even entertain the comments made by those who are seemingly only about creating quarrels within the body of Christ. It is, however, my duty to spread the entire message of Christ to those that do not know Him, and to aid them in cultivating an authentic relationship with our beautifully authentic Father- a Father that loves us here and now, and has from before we were formed in our mother's womb all the way into an eternal future. It is a message that includes the just judgment from a jealous God, but also the beautiful pursuits of a God that refers to us as the "bridegroom of Christ", and that I believe wholeheartedly to be a balanced gospel.

          In closing, I would like you all to know that I appreciate you reading from this blog as I learn and grow from day to day, and I pray that the messages that God has for me are thoughts that might aid you somehow in your lives. Uriah Ministries will be a haven for any and all, and I pray you are blessed as you finish this entirely too long blog! Also, the college ministry will be kicking off sometime early next year. I pray all of you will partner with me in harnessing the blessings of God, on a body that should be serving Him with their whole being.

Your Brother in the Fight,
Timothy Kurek

(Blog taken from: http://uriahministries.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/confessions-of-a-ragamuffin/)