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Choice

Why do people resist the gospel of Christ?

And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. ”
John 3:19-21 NLT
http://bible.com/116/jhn.3.19-21.NLT

Many who resist are either:

A) not willing to believe there is a God (Denying the Father)

B) not willing to acknowledge that what they are doing is sinful (Deny the truth)

C) not willing to believe that God came in the flesh as a man to save our sins (Deny Jesus Christ)

D) not willing to believe that God can overcome the sin in their lives and in the world (Deny the power of the Holy Spirit)

Continue reading “Choice” →

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A proud look

These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
Proverbs 6:16-19 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/pro.6.16-19.NKJV

As men of flesh, we are very good at coming up with laws, at coming up with rules and lists of DOs and DONTs. We are even better at trying to measure and compare them to decide which one is worse than the other. We are good at coming up with grand ways of talking about and examining wickedness in detail and elaborating upon it in our words.

Continue reading “A proud look” →

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What is grace, and why do I need it?

What is grace, and why do I need it?

Search your heart and ask yourself if there are selfish, prideful things that you have done that benefitted yourself in the short term, but that have negative consequences – either unconsidered costs that you came to realize later, or costs to others that were not a concern to you at the time, or even the bad example that your life choices served for those little eyes around you watching to later replicate your actions.

Does your heart not cry out to you and press you to examine your life and to see a change? And have you not found that your imperfections, your flaws, your addictions – these unseen enemies within you that drag you along in chains into consequences that you would rather avoid – that they are strong and overcome you when you battle them alone?

You are not meant to make war on your own against these unseen enemies,  man of flesh. You are not meant to accept defeat or to be content participating in war against your fellow brothers and sisters. You can know victory.

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
John 1:12-13 NLT
http://bible.com/116/jhn.1.12-13.NLT

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17 NLT
http://bible.com/116/jhn.3.16-17.NLT

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.  But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
John 4:13-14 NLT
http://bible.com/116/jhn.4.13-14.NLT

The battle is not yours to win alone,  but you can choose to be on the winning side. You can choose to bring positive impact and love and change to the world around you. You can live a life guided by the strength that overcomes. You can be alive to a renewed life in Christ, and freed from the slavery of your old life of sin.

I’m not selling you a religion, friend. I’m not convincing you to buy into a once a week religious practice. I’m not manipulating you to put part of your money into an offering plate,  friend. I’m telling you that religion will send many to hell.

What I am telling you is that Christ can take hold of your whole life. He can live in you and through you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – and even more importantly,  breath by breath,  thought by thought, loving action by loving action. You can realize that everything that you have is a blessing rained down upon your life by the creator. You can realize what you deserve by your life’s works is nothing c short of hell,  but that by His grace, He offers you nothing short of heaven, of being a born again Child of God.

We are not just men and women of flesh and blood,  friends. Know your true self,  know your true value in eternity as a Child of God. Cling to your right to become a Child of God. Seek first the Kingdom of God and those things eternal. See past the veil of this world’s lies and substitutions that have no glow at all beside the light of His grace and glory.

Know victory.
Know His grace.
Celebrate His Glory.

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Looking Back: Oct 6, 2014

HOPE:
Faithful is the saying:
For if we died with him, we shall also live with him:
if we endure, we shall also reign with him:
if we shall deny him, he also will deny us:
if we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself.
– 2 Timothy 2:11-13 ASV

FAITH:
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
– 2 Timothy 2:3-6 ESV

LOVE:
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
– 2 Timothy 2:22-26 ESV

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
————————————

Our HOPE is in the promise that He has made to us that if we accept Him,  He will not forsake us.  So we know that if we believe, and if we hold fast to our beliefs, even our stumbles will be forgiven,  for this is the glory and wonder of His Amazing Grace.

But if we truly believe,  we are not to use His grace as an excuse to continue in our old,  sinful lives – we are to grow in our FAITH, not wavering in our trials and tribulations,  because can a faith that is not tested be trusted? We are to remain faithful and grow each day, not neglecting to spend time in His Word, in prayer,  and in fellowship with each other sharing encouragement,  seeking to draw ever closer to Him and to His will for our lives.

Our LOVE for God and for others is proven in our kindness and patience and gentleness,  even with those that are in opposition to the truth – and we love like this because this is the example that Christ gave us,  to LOVE or enemies,  and to forgive them for they know not what they do. Because it is our HOPE for their lives that God will draw them near to Him, grant them His Grace and mercy,  and that they will repent and escape the clutches of evil

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Ritual or Remembrance

He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”
Luke 22:19 NLT
http://bible.com/116/luk.22.19.NLT

There are things that we do as Christians to remember the Lord,  to learn more about Him, to grow and sharpen and equipment ourselves for His service.

For example, most Christians participate in the Lord’s supper, where we break bread and drink to remind us of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins. And the point is to remember and to share a time together where we remind each other what the Lord has done for us so that we can collectively as a unified body of believers worship the Lord and give thanks.

However, there is a danger that comes in group participation if there is not a genuine belief and a focus on drawing near to the Lord. There is a danger that it becomes an empty ritual. There is a danger that it becomes dead religious practice instead of a living relationship with the Lord.

And this can be true of many things that we do when it comes to our luff in Christ. If we are attending a fellowship with each other on Sundays out of obligation, or to appear to others in the community as a person with honor and integrity, or because we know that our children need to learn the lessons to keep themselves or of trouble – then can we say that we are participating in a relationship with a God who lives in us,  or can we only lay claim to dead religious practice?

If we are doing a daily devotional out of habit and practice, and enjoying the knowledge and wisdom in the advice, but it is not bringing us closer to the Lord,  nor is it impacting our daily lives to share the Love of Christ with others – are, we settling for the false substitute of dead religious practice instead of fanning the flames of the fire inside us that is Christ who lives in us and through us?

It is a fine line between religious practice and remembrance. Maybe that’s why Christ said that it is a narrow path and that few would find it. Because we have to ask ourselves whether we are actually seeking Him, or if we are just seeking something for ourselves? 

Are we seeking God in hopes that He will bless us because of our faithful sacrifices?  Are we looking to trade our faithful ten percent for a guaranteed return of prosperity – treating God like our banker or our stock broker and asking Him for our inheritance paid out now upon this earth, or are we seeking Him as our inheritance and our portion? This is the difference between a false gospel of prosperity and worshipping mammon as opposed to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are trying to use God for our own purposes,  or if we are trying to earn our way to heaven through ritual,  we may have missed the very belief and relationship that is required.

If I’m praying at set times out of habit and practice,  but I’m not truly talking to God, and asking Him for help,  and seeking His answers, and listening – but I’m just checking it of of the list of things to do, aren’t I missing out on the very communion with God that we say we look forward to having one day in heaven,  but proving that we don’t want it because we refuse to participate even today when we have the opportunity.

You see,  we have a choice of what we want. And many will choose no religion at all, because they don’t want Good,  nor do they want to associate with those hypocrites that practice religion but clearly hate one another by the evidence of their actions. And many will choose religion that is empty of any real connection or relationship with God, because they want to associate themselves with the hypocrites, but they don’t truly want to associate themselves with God. But there are also the few who are not interested in empty ritual or religious practice,  but they, are eager to participate in anything that brings glory and honor and remembrance to their Lord and Savior.

It is easy to see the visible difference between the one who sits ritually in religious practice and one who does not. But who can know the hearts of men and tell the difference between one simply practicing ritual and one truly in fellowship with the Lord? I can’t know for you,  my friend. But I can examine myself and answer that question truthfully and humbly before the Lord – just as we each should regularly. Not regularly so that we fall into practice,  but regularly so that we remain deeply in love – with our Lord and Savior who is the only portion worth having. Let them have this world, give us our relationship with God,  let us be reconciled to His grace and glory, let us be lifted up from this temporary dwelling place as we travel as foreigners awaiting our return to our home eternal in His presence.

Don’t just practice ritual and religion,  friends. Celebrate remembering the relationship that you now have with Christ who lives in you. Fan the flame.

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Watch out! Danger Ahead!

image

“Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware,  like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth.  Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:34-36 NLT
http://bible.com/116/luk.21.34-36.NLT

OBSERVATION

He tells us:
1) Don’t let our hearts be dulled
2) Don’t be caught unaware
3) Keep alert
4) Pray for strength

1) Guard your heart
So first and foremost, Jesus is talking about our heart. Scripture tells us many things about our heart. Do we know there are different types of hearts?

Deceitful Hearts

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 15:18-20 ESV
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.

New/Clean Hearts

Psalm 51:10 ESV
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Pure Hearts

Matthew 5:8 ESV
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

And God’s Word tells us that He must be the one to replace our deceitful hearts,  our hearts of stone and replace them with new hearts of flesh. And then He gives us instruction for guarding that heart and for exercising it and “getting the blood flowing”, for getting the living waters active in our lives, for activating His Word in our daily lives.

HOPE: Trust in Him

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

FAITH: Walk Faithful to His Word

Hebrews 4:12 ESV
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Proverbs 4:23 ESV
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

LOVE: Walk in His Spirit

Luke 12:33-34 ESV
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1 Timothy 1:5 ESV
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

2) Don’t be caught unaware
And we should know why our heart is so important.

Examine your own heart

Proverbs 21:2 ESV
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.

Romans 1:21 ESV
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Know the kind of heart Good seeks

Psalm 51:17 ESV
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Find the brokenness through Repentance

Acts 8:22 ESV
Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.

Believe in your Heart

Romans 10:10 ESV
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Pursue God

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

3) Keep Alert
And we are to keep alert, ever vigilant and awaiting His triumphant return. Running this race to the end, and being aware of the distractions of this world which seek to dampen our light,  which seek to darken our testimony, which work in opposition to His will.

Do not let yourself become hardened / complacent

Romans 2:5 ESV
But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Find Assurance in Faithfulness

Hebrews 10:22 ESV
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

4) Pray for Strength
And if we try to accomplish  this under our own strength So that we might claim victory for ourselves in prideful vanity,  we will encounter mountains that we cannot move. But if we have faith,  if we pray to God in that faithful brokenness of humility,  relying upon His strength to deliver us – we will know His strength and His victory.

Precious,  heavenly Father,  who rains down upon us your many blessings and your glorious favor out of the very nature of your being as creator and give of life. We ask you to help us examine our hearts in the light of your Word and to have the discernment to see those things in our own life that need to be cut out and removed by your forgiveness,  healed by your loving touch,  and strengthened by our repentance to follow your will. Let our reliance upon you be a testimony of your strength,  Lord. Let your name be glorified by our lives today. We lift our prayers to you Lord, we receive your Holy Spirit by the blood of Jesus Christ she’d upon the cross, and we ask that your Holy Spirit living in us who knows better than ourselves how we might pray would lift this prayer as a wonderful incense and testimony to your glory, we trust that Jesus Christ who is raised from the tomb and sits triumphantly upon the throne as our advocate has pleaded for our lives and forgiveness of our sins and that c we are yours, Lord. Keep us mindful of your Kingdom work today,  as your will is done on earth through our lives loving and serving others and spreading this Good News of the reconciliation of men to your glory through your grace and by our faith, made possible by the way,  the truth,  and v the life of Jesus Christ. Let us lean not on our own understanding,  skills,  or talents for these are creations – let us instead rely upon the source,  the giver of life, the creator,  the one true God for our strength. We love you,  Lord – teach u, guide us, equip us, use us as you see fit,  Lord. Your will be done. Amen.

PUT IT IN ACTION
Let Christ be our example.

Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. The crowds gathered at the Temple early each morning to hear him.
Luke 21:35-38 NLT
http://bible.com/116/luk.21.35-38.NLT

Teach daily about Christ who lives in you in the testimony of your life – your actions,  your words,  and by taking captive your thoughts and the desires of your heart. Do this relying upon His strength,  not your own, and experience the victory of a blessed life, walking in His will and purpose for you.

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Not just giving, nor just sacrificial giving, but Grateful and Generous Giving

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them.  For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”
Luke 21:1-4 NLT
http://bible.com/116/luk.21.1-4.NLT

How many of us are giving just from our surplus, just from what we’ve budgeted that we can afford to give, which takes no faith in God to do amazing and wonderful things? How many of us have grown comfortable not seeing, God active in our lives because we aren’t willing to extend ourselves to a point that requires trusting the Lord to provide.

And don’t get me wrong,  this isn’t a finger pointed out at you in condemnation – these are arms wide open saying,  “You don’t know what you are missing.”

My wife and I were in bad shape, financially speaking, maritally speaking, spiritually speaking – until we made a decision and we stepped out into waters over our heads, and placed our trust in the Lord. And now,  with every new step that we take – not as a sacrifice,  but in a new level of gratefully trusting and relying on God to provide, we find Him faithfully pouring out, His blessings upon our lives.

So I’m telling you not to guilt you into trusting God – I’m telling you that what the world tells you is foolish is sometimes the very solution to your problems. When we were facing foreclosure on our house and bankruptcy as our only viable solution a few years ago and we were trapped in our worldly thinking, we felt hopeless. But when we decided to be not only faithful tithers, but also generous givers of our time,  money,  and love unto others – we look up just a little while later and we are caught up on our bills and getting ready to hopefully be debt free in the coming year.

When we gave up keeping score in our marriage and decided to each do our best to serve one another, our marriage was healed to a partnership entwined with God,  and with our daughter living and seeking after God, and with family bonds tighter than ever before.

When we made time in our busy schedules and put God first in our mornings with family devotionals,  with service unto others,  with encouraging and loving and counseling others in the Word of God, our lives became blessed with a closer relationship with God, with days more free from the consequences of our old foolish actions, with new friends who are faithful and encouraging and comforting.

You see, we aren’t sacrificial givers of our money,  of our time, of our talents. We’ve seen past the lie that any of it is ours anyways. The veil has been lifted and we now understand that it is all His,  given to us – so we are grateful and blessed with the opportunity to use it ALL for His glory and honor. And that He doesn’t stop purring out the blessings,  as we pour out,  it just makes room for Him to pour more in.

So we aren’t sacrificial givers – even though the worldly minded might place us in that category. We are grateful and generous givers,  because we have learned these traits from our Father who lives us and who is generous to us.

Don’t miss out on the blessings that He has for your life and for those that you can help with your pouring out of your love,  your time,  your talents,  and yes,  even your money. There are many that are in need of help,  of hope, of salvation,  of purpose,  of meaning in their lives. Be a part of the solution – stand up and start walking with Him out across the waters,  trusting Him in greater and deeper ways. You won’t drown.