Your Best Effort

God expects you to do your best in all you do for Him. Now your best is not the best of someone else. Some people may be more effective at preaching the Gospel than you are, and some may be less effective. Some people may be able to memorize more Scripture than you can and others cannot. Some may be more athletic, stronger, faster, or more coordinated than you are. Just because some people might have more talent at a sport than you do does not mean that you cannot give your best effort in competing against them. God has given each of us special gifts and talents that He wants us to accomplish our goals to the best of our abilities. God requires our best effort because He went above and beyond in order to save us from our sins. God died on the cross for sins, He taught many people, despite the fact that there were those who hated Him and wanted Him to be killed. People rejected Him, spit upon Him, and whipped Him until He was unrecognizable. Jesus was rejected, so it is natural that people will reject us. Despite the fact that people you thought you knew reject you, God still expects you to give your best effort in all you do even if your circumstances or experiences with people have not been up to your liking. Being rejected as an athlete can be a good thing even though it may not seem like it. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, but he did not let that get to him. He gave his best effort to the game of basketball and he became the best player ever, and he won 6 NBA Titles.

Never give up and always give your best effort for God,
Mark Cannon

Health

All of us want to be healthy. We want to feel great every morning, noon, and night, and stay away from sickness or problems. In order to stay healthy, we need to do certain things like eat meats, fruits, vegetables, grains, and sweets in manageable portions. We need to exercise on a regular basis. We need to sleep long enough to have energy for the next day. God wants us to have a healthy spiritual life as well. In order to have a spiritually healthy life we need to read our Bible daily, pray daily, spend time with leaders in our spiritual journey and be a spiritual mentor to another follower of Jesus Christ. To pray daily does not always mean prayer for ourselves, it means prayer for others and their spiritual joy, strength, and love. We need to mentor those people new to the Christian faith, and we need to be mentored by those wise sages in the Christian faith.

Becoming healthy physically and spiritually,
Mark Cannon

Servants

Servants are what God calls us to be if we want to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father who gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ who came to us in human flesh just like us in order to fulfill God's purpose of serving Him even unto death upon a cross for our sins. As Christ followers we are to serve one another even if that service kills our physical body, our spiritual body is eternal and if we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, then we will not fear death, sin, or the gates of hell, because, like Jesus did, we have overcome the power of sin and death. We are to do everything, no matter how insignificant you think it is to the best of our abilities because Jesus did His all to have a relationship with us, His beautiful creation. A servant cannot serve both God and money, so He commands us to use our money the best we can to further His Kingdom by bringing more into His gloriously magnificent family of believers who are complete in their Savior Jesus Christ who is the only name that one can call upon to be saved into glorious eternity. God's servant and friend'
Mark Cannon

Who is God?

Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through Him. He is the universes Creator plus Sustainer, and Savior of our sinful filthiness, and He is Lord. God the Father is omniscient, omnipresent, and eternal, and outside of time because He created it. He is, was, and always will be God, He is just, holy, righteous, and perfect. The Holy Spirit works in our lives and Christ Jesus sent Him to be the guide for the Christian in this dark world. He calls us to be His witnesses, disciples, followers, servants, and friends. He wants a deep relationship with each of us, all we have to do is accept Him and follow in His ways. He is above all because He created us all, He is good and there is no wrong in Him because He is the Truth.

Jesus Christ saved this sinful man, and I want to tell the world about His love,
Mark Cannon

Trials and Tribulations

Let's face it, the earth is not Heaven, and it never will be. One reason for this is that this world is filled wilt trials and tribulations, Heaven on the other hand will never have troubles because it is the perfect place where God Almighty, who is without sin dwells in all His radiance and glory. We as human beings are sinful and cause people to have trials and tribulations, that is our nature. We cause people to be angry at us even if we are being ourselves. People twist what we think about other people and things that they do not need to be talking about and they gossip about it. God tells us not to listen to gossip, and to tell those who are gossiping about someone to us that we do not want to hear about what they have to say about that person. We are to set out minds on things above, not earthly things. If we focus on the things of God above, we will be able to handle the trials and tribulations with God's help and my question to you is if there is any one who is better to be on our side and help us through difficult times. The answer is no. God loves us and will never tempt us beyond what we are able.

Trust in God during trials and tribulations,
Mark Cannon

Strength

Everyone in the world wants to be strong and powerful. In order to be strong, powerful, and mighty, you need to work hard. To improve your physical strength you need to lift weights, run, eat right and sleep well. In order to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you must improve your spiritual strength as well. Reading your Bible, praying, and having a spiritual mentor, whether that is your parents, church leaders, teachers or friends, and listening to them and doing what they teach you will all allow you to grow spiritually. God gave us the tools in the world to grow in physical and spiritual strength. It is our job to use the tools that God gave us to grow and apply them to our life.

Growing in strength spiritually and physically every day,
Mark Cannon

Management

God wants us to manage our time, talents, and money, the best way that will bring glory to Him. He has richly blessed each one of us with certain gifts and abilities, that He wants us to use in a way that shows who we are as the special person that God made. Some of us are sports players, some of us are musicians, some of us are chefs, some of us are called to be pastors, elders, mentors, and leaders of the church, schools or whatever God put in front of us. We are the body of Jesus Christ, some of us are called to lead, some of us are called to go into the mission field in Africa, Asia, and Europe, and some of us are called to stay and minister to people in our hometown or even in our own home. God wants us to excel at our job, but He does not want our job to become our god. He wants us to bring glory to Him in all we do, and He wants us to know that He is the Lord of all, who loves us and desires the best for us.

Learning to manage my blessing while always thanking God,
Mark Cannon

God's Acronyms

God has some acronyms that describe Him and so do I as a follower of Him, there are to many to count, but here are a few:

T.U.L.I.P.- Totally Under Lord's Infinite Power

G.O.L.D.- Good Overall Lord Divine

L.O.V.E.- Life of Victorious Eternity

G.R.E.A.T.- Great Righteous Everlasting Absolute Total

S.O.L.I.D.- Savior Omniscient Lord Incomprehensible Delightful

R.O.C.K.- Rock Of Christian Kingdom

P.E.R.F.E.C.T.- Prayerful Elected Respected Friend Empowered Christ-centered Teachable

God cannot be described completely, but we will praise Him forever,
Mark Cannon

Easter

Easter is upon us, and I want to take you back through the importance of this day in the history and future of followers of Jesus Christ all across the world. I would like to start from the beginning of the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born in Bethlehem to a woman named Mary. Mary was called to be the mother of the Savior of the world. She was excited, scared, and she knew that this was the will of God and she was willing to listen to God and fulfill the role of mother to the greatest man to ever live. Jesus lived an incredible, perfect life and it was filled temptations, near death experiences, and miracles performed by both He and His disciples. Jesus was almost killed as an infant by King Herod, but God the Father was with Him and His plan for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus was for them to flee to Egypt. As Jesus grew closer to God the Father, He preached to the elders and teachers at the age of 12!!! A 12 year old who is preaching to the leaders of the church blows my mind, but Jesus is fully God and fully man, so He knows what He did was for the glory of God. He preached to thousands of people, he healed many who were sick, He raised Lazarus from the dead, He turned water into wine, He was tempted for 40 days by Satan who asked Him questions such as " If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus had become hungry after 40 days of fasting, this was the opportunity Satan had to tempt Him. But Jesus answered Satan saying, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Jesus overcame every temptation and fiery dart thrown at Him by Satan { Satan was Lucifer, a high ranking angel in heaven, who was blessed with power, but he allowed his pride to get the better or I say the worse of him, and he tempted Eve first, and then she gave the fruit to Adam and they ate, and because of this there is sin in the world.} Having said that, we as followers of Jesus Christ can rejoice because of Easter, the death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ. Pontius Pilate asked the Jewish people whether they wanted Barabbus free or Jesus free and the crowd went with Barabbus. Barabbus was a murderer and Jesus was Lord of all. We were all apart of that decision because we are all fallen, and in our sinfulness we nailed Jesus Christ to the cross at Calvary. Now saying that the crowd did the wrong thing is not completely true. Without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we would not be able to see eternal life. Now the death of Jesus Christ was not a pretty sight. He was laughed at, spit at, He had to carry His cross all the way to the place He would be crucified, He was whipped 39 times by Roman guards, 40 times would have killed Him. When He was put on the Cross at Calvary, His legs and hands were nailed to the tree{ I think it was His wrists that were nailed to the cross because His hands would not have held Him up there.} There was pain and agony in His face as He was nailed to the cross. He was on the cross for 6 hours and He was bleeding, sweating, and crying out to God the Father, who turned His face away from Jesus on the cross because God cannot have sin in His holy presence. Jesus, the perfect, sinless man paid the ultimate sacrifice for His people so that they would not experience the wrath of God the Father. Now to say that to live is Christ and to die is gain is completely true. He was buried for three days, the tomb was rolled away and He rose form the dead. Jesus came back to earth after His death, and Thomas and the rest of the disciples saw Him and He told Thomas to touch his scars, and He told Thomas that the man who believes by faith and not just by sight is truly blessed. "After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There He was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: 'This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!' Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead" (Mark 9:2-9). This is the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, and now He is at the right hand of God the Father in eternal life. Jesus is alive!!!!!

Remembering the importance of Jesus Christ and His life, death, and resurrection,
Mark Cannon

Mind and Body

God has made our minds and our bodies to be temples for His Holy Spirit to dwell in. He wants us to think on things above and not on earthly things. He wants us to keep our bodies and minds free from the moral filth, and outrageous garbage this sinful world has to offer. We are to stay away from dirty videos, blaspheming speech that defiles the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we are to stay away from those people who gossip about others behind their back. We are to keep our minds on the Scripture, reading it daily, and using out bodies that God has blessed us with to do His will for us which is to make disciples of all nations. Our mind is a powerful thing and it is not to be wasted. We are to meditate upon Scripture, grow from mentors and Christ-centered and heavenly-minded leaders that God has placed in our lives. Jesus Christ our Lord wants us to use our bodies to glorify Him and He does not want us to waste our bodies by smoking, drinking, or anything that would not allow us to perform at our highest capability. I am a Christian first and athlete second, so I need a solid, strong, well balanced mind and body. I need to work as hard as I can to develop muscle coordination, muscle strength, core, leg, and upper body strength, speed, endurance, and I must also develop the spiritual aspect of my life which includes becoming a prayer warrior, Scripture reader, mentor to a new follower of Jesus Christ, and following the commands and teachings of my Heavenly Father God.

I am blessed by God and I pray to be a blessing to others,
Mark Cannon

Jesus Christ and me

Jesus Christ

My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior’s always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Lord of creation
The creator of all things
You're the King above all Kings
You are

You're the strength in the weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You are

Only one name lasts forever
Only one fame stands alone
Only one key has an anthem
That goes on and on and on

Savior, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
Forever, Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave

me

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

And I'm singing to the God who brings redemption to the nations Kings and oceans bow to Him in praise And I'm singing to the God who wrote the book on our salvation To the One who covers me in grace I'm singing

So take me as you find me
All of my fears and failures
And fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender
Shine Your light and let the whole world sing
We're singing for the glory of the risen King Jesus

God is above all,
Mark Cannon

My Rap

Yo, yo, yo, I am so ready to go
I spit Heavenly rhymes with a super def flow,
I say check out the Lord and His eternal glow,
Because the Holy Spirit fills me and I am holy yo.

I am not always trusting and need to ask why,
Why Jesus shed His blood and for all sins He would die,
If I am faithful to listen and hear His reply,
He tells me to mount up with wings like eagles and fly.

My time on earth is short I must say,
This makes me live my life for Christ every day,
This is a pertinent fact that will never go away,
Jesus Christ is the Truth, the Life, and the Way.

God's Child,
Mark Cannon

Worship

What is true worship? Some people believe that worship is singing to the Lord. I am here to say, that is not the case at all. I am a living example of true worship, although I do not do the best job at keeping it up every day. True worship is thanking God, not for a situation necessarily, but in spite of that situation. If you have an old car, or an old house, thank the Lord for blessing you with that car and house. If you have family problems, find ways to thank the Lord despite those issues. Take time out of your day and thank the Lord who gave you everything you have. Out of dust you were made, and to dust you shall return, so thank the Lord for allowing you to live on the earth for as long as you have. People who work hard appreciate a thank you, for example, parents, teachers, restaurant workers, people working for waste management, missionaries, and basically everyone on this planet, enjoys to hear the words thank you said to them. Learn to say thank you and you will be worshiping the Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, Ruler over all His creation, and the One who deserves all praise, honor, glory, and all our thankfulness.

Thankful for God in my life,
Mark Cannon

God's Alphabet

We have our own alphabet of letters, but God has His own alphabet of words. God is:
Alpha, Amazing, Awesome, Above All,
Bigger than our problems, Blessed,
Crowned, Creator, Complete, crucified,
Divine, dear to me,
Everlasting, Eternal,
Fair, Faithful,
God, Good, Glory, Great,
Holy Spirit, Helpful, Heavenly,
Interested in our lives,
Just, Joyful, Jesus,
King, Knows all
Lord, Love, Life,
Magnificent, Mighty,
No beginning, no end, No sin,
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient,
Praise worthy, Problem free,
Question answerer,
Respected, Righteous, Royal,
Superb, Savior,
True,
Understanding, Unbelievable,
Victorious,
Wise, Wonderful,
X's out our sins,
Your Maker, Your Master,
Zero guilt and zero sin is allowed in the presence of our Holy God

Identity

What is our true identity? I have become a huge fan of the Christian rapper Lecrae who really puts all his effort and time into glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ through his songs. One song that has been in my mind the last few days is his song Identity. I'm not the shoes I wear I'm not the clothes I buy I'm not the house I live in I'm not the car I drive, no I'm not the job I work You can't define my word We're livin' on God's reverse Identity is found in Christ, found in Christ. This is one of the lines of the song and it is so true that we as human beings can put stuff ahead of Jesus Christ, whether that be our sports, our clothes, our homes, our jobs, or our money. What will your identity be, will you let your possessions define who you are, or will you shine for Jesus Christ who so richly blesses us every day in every way, and will you allow Him to define how you live. If you are truly living for the Lord, then you will love Him and love your neighbor. Your neighbor is your friends, your enemies, and those who are less fortunate than you or more fortunate than you, basically we are all neighbors, and it is God's command for us to love one another.

Jesus Christ is my true identity, is He yours?
Mark Cannon

Distractions

We can be so distracted by the world and the things it provides. Men can be distracted by their girlfriends, their jobs, their sports, and their food. Women can be distracted by their boyfriends, their clothes, their shoes, their hair, and their jobs. We are fallen creatures who are easily distracted by the world. Another aspect of life that distract us is electronics. Some people in high school and college are distracted by their cell phones, laptops, and ipods. There are many objects in life that can distract us from our ability to spend time with our loved ones, and most importantly distract us from spending time with our Heavenly Father God who desires our love and our time. Our time is the best way to show someone we care about them. God made us to have a relationship with us, and if we do not spend the time to get to know the Lord then we will live as well as people who spends their time in the Word of God, praying for other believers, and encouraging others by showing the love of the Lord to everyone they meet.

Overcoming distractions day by day,
Mark Cannon

Life

Life on earth is a test for our eternal life. If we allow life to overcome us through the things it offers us such as the media, sports, girlfriends, boyfriends, money, and food, then we will not be able to have an eternal life with our gracious Heavenly Father God. Now I am not saying these are bad things, not at all, but they do become bad if that is what we put our focus on and turn our lives away from God. Man cannot serve two masters, it will be God or the world. If you choose the world, then you might enjoy yourself and the parties you attend, the people you meet might bring you pleasure, and you might just have a great time. But this is only for a time, God has appointed for man once to live and once to die, and then comes judgment. Those who choose the world will be judged by God and He will tell them, depart from Me, I never knew you. But if you decide to choose the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not have the happiest life of all, but you will have the most joyful life of all. Jesus Christ was beaten, spit upon, beaten until He was unrecognizable, hated, and betrayed, and died on a cross, but He stayed faithful to His call to God, and He is at the right hand of God Almighty in Heaven. If we are to truly serve the Lord, we will have persecution in this life, but we can take heart because Jesus Christ our Lord overcame the world, overcame evil, and overcame death. God blesses those who accept Him. Even if they do not feel that blessing in this life, they will experience it Heaven with the Lord in eternal glory.

Praying for all the Christ followers in the world to live a life on fire for Jesus,
Mark Cannon

Community

Christianity is a group of followers of Jesus Christ who are a part of a community. We who follow Jesus Christ, have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior and because of this we are accepted in the Heavenly family of God. Even if we do not meet other believers face to face in this life, or if we do not agree with them on certain views they hold to, or if we do not enjoy being around them because they have broken your heat, hurt your feelings, or just annoy you, this does not change the fact that we are in a community. We are called by God to be a community based on the love He shows to us. We are commanded to not only show love to those who are in our community as believers, but we are to show love to those outside our community of believers so that they can have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The people you hang aroud is a factor in determining how your life will turn out in the future. If you hang around friends who degrade you and others, then you will become like that and talk lowly of other people. Bad company corrupts good morals. If you hang around people who care about you and show love to you and are willing to correct you when you are in the wrong in a loving manner, then you will be more likely to do the same.

Growing in the Lord day by day,
Mark Cannon

Teamwork

All right, my favorite sport is basketball!!! It takes a strong team to be successful in any sports such as basketball, baseball, football, soccer, hockey, etc. The same can be said of the church. The church is not the building you meet in, it is the people you meet with. God says that wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in My name, there I am among them. A strong church cares for the spiritual needs of everyone in the body, and has strong leadership to guide the younger Christians who are growing in their faith. A basketball team is as strong as their weakest member, and their weakest member has something to contribute to the success of the team. For example one player might not be able to dribble or have the foot-speed to keep up on defense, but they do know how to shoot. A team always needs shooters as well as rebounders and passers. A church is the same way. Some people have been blessed with the ability to preach. Those who do not have the ability to preach are very important in the body of Jesus Christ because God has blessed them with different abilities. God has given some the ability to be prayer warriors, elders, pastors, money managers, and encouragers of others in their walk with the Lord. God has blessed people with different roles in sports and in the church, and every role is important in making them both become as strong as possible.

God is making my role in basketball and church clearer and I pray He makes your role clear too,
Mark Cannon

Mark's Beat

God's holy love is my true desire,
Reading His Word will keep me inspired,
His Word said that the tongue is a fire,
But this tongue of mine can be in the Lord's choir.

With my tongue I know I can pray,
Speaking God's truth brings Him honor all day,
I will be excited to hear God the Heavenly Father say,
You followed my Son, the Life, the Truth, and the Way.

Many people have a Christian faith that is fake,
Others lie, cheat, sneak around and take,
But I know that my Heavenly Father will make,
Every knee bow for His Son Jesus Christ's sake.

MJC reppin fo Jesus Christ