The Challenge

Dear Friends, Excitement is in the air! It is that time of year again! What time of year you ask, why it is that glorious time of year that I call KANAKUK! I cannot physically wait for another amazing month of sports, pain, new relationships, reconnecting with old friends, k-2 triathlete, and most of all- getting to know Christ better and growing in him, learning valuable life lessons. Since I am leaving tomorrow at 5 am, this will be my last letter unless the classic all-nighter is preformed. Though I will be gone, I challenge each of you to stay strong in Christ, stay in constant prayer as seen in 1st Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for You." Don't be afraid to be bold in your walk with Christ. I can think of many situations when the Lord gave me an opportunity to share the gospel with someone and I completely froze up and failed to take advantage of the chance that the Lord gave me. Its like fumbling the ball in the endzone when your about to score, but you come up short. I still regret fumbling the football in situations like these, but the Lord uses experiences like that to help us grow and become bold so that the next chance he gives us we can be strong. As a young believer, I've really stuck to a couple of verses that have always encouraged me. These verses are John 3:30, "He must become greater, I must become less," and Isaiah 41:10, "Do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." During pressing times these verses have always been faithful to spur me on and help lead me towards the right direction.

Have a blessed summer and stay strong in Christ my friends,

Matt Galvin
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Mg

Dependence

To the Believers,

Sometimes nothing seems to be going right in your life (as I say this none of my pencils seem to be working), but you just got to throw down your pride and put your dependence on Him. Though these frustrations you and I constantly go through never seem to end, the Lord has a unique purpose for them, even though we can't always seem what that is. Its only after going through the fire do we realize what exactly the Lord has planned for us. Suppose we never find out what the trial or frustration did to fulfill the Lord's perfectly crafted plan. But the Lord knows doesn't he. If our allegiance is with Him, then we needn't worry about such a thing, as long as we understand that ultimately it is for His glory. When writing about this subject, there are so many verses that come to mind that all accurately illustrate why we go through trials. But one came to mind, 1st Peter 1:6-7 (NIV) "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." So these frustrations and trials are tests of faith, and faith which Peter describes as being worth more than gold! He also goes on to say that Christ take pleasure in genuine faith, but when Jesus comes back (when Jesus Christ is revealed verse 7), he will honor us with praise and there will be much celebrating. (for an eternity too) Looking at the trials and frustrations that way gives you a little more eternal perspective than our normal whiny selfish way of thinking. The fact is though, life is not going to be a joyride in the park. The Lord never once voiced that to us. What he did say though, is to always be dependent on Hum and He will provide you the strength to pull through. Check out this verse shouting that out loud and clear, "For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:8 (NIV). All we need to do is simply put our dependence on him and he will straighten our ever so crooked paths. Today, (yesterday when I wrote this) I felt like the Lord layed some trials upon me, for I went through the fire, yet came out burned. I thought I could handle things on my own but no; the Lord was there to show me otherwise and it hit me like a couple of sucker punches to the kidneys! However, he isn't all just justice, (otherwise we'd all be screwed) for he is like a father, and he picked me up and put me back straight. Like always, my Father and Lord is ready and there for me.

Press on brothers and sisters in Christ,

Matt Galvin
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Mg John 3:30

Spiritual Fitness

Dear Friends, 

Sometimes one can become distracted with what the world has to offer. Today I must admit I have stumbled and found myself so wrapped in it that I have not spent time with the Lord lately. This is a difficult letter to write, for everything has been out of alignment. Just like running, its like trying to go run without having run in a month or a year. Everything is slow, the joints are tight and nothing feels right. You feel so out of place and would rather be on that couch watching sportscenter with a cup of coffee. However, the Lord, our coach, calls us to continue on with our workout, our life journey or race. To get up to speed just takes time and demands hard work and perseverance. 1st Corinthians 9:25-27 coins what I have just talked about perfectly by saying "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that lasts forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it into a slave so after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." To be strong in our faith even Paul says we must train ruthlessly so that we can become spiritually fit so that we can be eligible to recieve the prize. What does spiritual training consist of for you?? It may be getting truly into the word everyday, praying and mentoring others, preaching the gospel or things of the sort. But the main point I'm getting at is that the Lord as well as Paul demands us to be doing the things that spur our relationship on with Him, instead of the things that drive us away from him, such as my error that I made. If we are going to run the spiritual race, RUN THE RACE WELL!

In Christ Our Father,

Matt Galvin

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Mg

Boldness In Christ

Dear friends, 

My father once commented about the moon to my sister. He gave new perspective to her when he asked, "Isn't amazing that the same moon we are looking at now is the same moon that Jesus looked at many years ago." And I would agree to the same thing that yes, it truly is fascinating that we share the common view of the moon like that with Him, the Creator of the universe. As I was reading through Acts 7 this morning about the story of Stephen, my respect of preachers of the Gospel greatly increased. Here I am writing about the Gospel, but I don't get much heat for it. On the other hand, Stephen stands up in front of the High Priest and boldly calls them "stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, and resistors of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 7:51-53 ESV). If you ever needed an example of boldness friends, here is a prime example. We go on to find that the people are enraged, for they rush and him and then proceed to stone him. Stephen, on the other hand, isn't concerned with death. He is gazing at heaven, seeing the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand. Finally, when Stephen is near to death, he then cries out to the Lord to forgive the people that have just stoned him to death! I'm not sure about you, but this stuff is crazy. How many people do we see that on their deathbed forgive the people that have wronged them? The reason why I talk about this is to give you examples of faith in the Bible so that we can press on towards being bold in our own walk with Christ and take this as encouragement to never give up. I am speaking to both the young and the old when I say these words- You can always always always  be bold and stand for Christ no matter the situation. Kids say they are too young... Did Paul or Timothy think that people were too young to teach or be bold? This is what Paul urges to Timothy (who is a young man) in his letter to him- "Do not let others look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, and in purity" (1st Timothy 4:12 ESV). So apparently not, even if you are younger than an adult, you still can impact them and set a Christ-like example for them. As for the others, Christ calls everyone as a believer to speak the word boldly, and if you feel as if you can't; pray for boldness as in Acts 4:29-31 "And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness....... And when they prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they all were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." I urge your friends and brothers, to be bold in your walk with Christ and stand up even you are young, look at Stephen's story and be filled with the Spirit.

Grace and Peace to you,

Matt Galvin

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Mg

The Joys of Nature and Abiding in Christ

Dear Men, 

I have found myself writing this letter to you all, only to pause and take in the beautiful sight that is by my side. for the natural morning light is streaming through the windows, and the scene is quite calming and peaceful as well as a reminder of God's artistic perfectness. "For his invisible attributes namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have clearly been perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made" (Romans 1:20 Esv). Taking a look at John 15 we can see that Christ calls us to abide in him, for we cannot live without nourishment from him, who helps us bear fruit (5).  He also says earlier in the passage that if we were not to abide in him then we cannot produce fruit on our own (4). Now an interesting element springs up in verse 7, when the Father says that one will be able to obtain anything he desires if he asks Him. But Christ made it clear that not everyone is eligible for this prize, he states at the beginning of the verse that "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you," then one who asks may receive what he desires. However if that case so happens, we probably won't see that person asking for a million dollars. When a person is abiding in Christ, his desires and thoughts are going to be more aligned with Christ's desires and his wishes less materialistic and more Christ centered. As I somewhat repeated myself in that sentence, I find it a necessary to do so because everyone can do a better job with aligning their own motives with Christ's motives. I constantly am catching myself victim to this very subject, I get too caught up in what "Matt wants" to what "Christ wants." So here is my challenge to whoever is reading this- Go slow down and take in Christ's wonderfully designed nature instead of chasing the fast paced world, and Abide in Christ so that you can bear fruit in your life and keep your desires aligned with Christ's own. As I challenge you, so I challenge myself to the same, and I know it will be difficult especially in the summertime, but stick to it brother and fight the fight, finish the race, and keep the faith (2nd Timothy 4:6-8).

In Christ Our Lord, 

Matt Galvin

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Mg

The Mission of Christ

Dear men, 

It is our duty to withhold the mission of Christ here on Earth, for we are not yet home; we have much to endure before we reach our heavenly destination. We must keep in account that we were given grace and others also are given the opportunity, my point in being that we should not elevate ourselves over others even though they havent trusted Christ, because Christ loves and cherishes them as much as he cherishes us. All of us are immature followers of Christ, for there is always more to learn (and thats why I'm writing this myself, to learn more and become more mature in my own relationship or walk with Christ) When material things get too much ahold of us, our strength in Christ lessens, and our desires become placed in front of Him, which at that point the mission that Christ has set out for us is failing. What is the mission of Christ you ask? The mission of Christ is sharing the truth with others that He hath shared with us, that "whoever shall believe in me shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). So I challenge you just as Jesus challenged the rich man (Matthew 19:16-30), to let go of your possessions and follow full-heartedly after Christ. We are lost unless He leads and so we shall humbly follow. Our goal is not to make ourselves and our religion known, but to make our lifestyle and Jesus Christ known. 

In Christ Always, 

Matt Galvin

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Mg