Romans 12:1-2, James 1:21-25
Choosing to follow after Christ is not a passive action. But an assertive move towards God's Will and an aggressive stance against your personal will. The tool we use to accomplish this is the Word of God. Read it and live it.
Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable
"In His JOY!"
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Guard Me
Psalms 91
Christians do not have need for Guardian Angels nor do we believe in them. We have the ultimate Guardian, His name is Jesus. He our protector, refuge, deliverer, and provider. All He requires is that we make Him our dwelling place.
Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable
"In His JOY!"
Christians do not have need for Guardian Angels nor do we believe in them. We have the ultimate Guardian, His name is Jesus. He our protector, refuge, deliverer, and provider. All He requires is that we make Him our dwelling place.
Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable
"In His JOY!"
"I will take the steak and make it well done"
Matthew 20:25-28, 1 Peter 4:8-11
It is funny when we talk about church because many churches have two or more services to help better accommodate people. You have probably said this before to another church member "Which service do you attend, the 9:00 or the 10:30?" Haven't you said that before to someone? But what is funny we do not think about what we just said, so let's word it another way. "When do you get served 9:00 am or 10:30 am?" Because that is what is really happening.
A lot of church goers are looking to have someone serve them in some capacity. Some of us are looking for somewhere to drop our kids off for an hour and a half. Others are looking for someone to stroke their ego. Yet others still are looking for someone to read the Bible and pray for them because their hectic work week prevented them from doing it themselves. (Yea that hurt me too). Simply put, Church is not a restaurant where we pay (with our tithes) for someone to give us what we want when we want it.
The church is always looking for volunteers to help but there is never a shortage of people who want to get served. You come to the body of Christ to serve not be served. Much like you join the military to serve your country. Or like you go to work to serve you employer. It is what we as Christians do, we serve. We are here to serve Christ in whatever capacity He chooses.
"But brother, I am a minister of the Gospel", great teach the lesson to the children's church they need more teachers. "But brother, I am so busy doing the week, I cannot usher", awesome all we need you to do is volunteer an hour a half, I mean you work almost 40 hours that doing the week what is an hour and a half going to do? "But brother I don't know how to run sound", great it will be an opportunity for growth. "But brother I am trying to reach the lost", great help them find a seat, smile at them, get their number and disciple them.
Service will take sacrifice, it will mean some long hours from time to time, and it may even mean you miss somethings. But the more Christians we having serving in the Church the more seats we will have open for the lost to hear the Gospel. The more Christians we having praying and reading the Word the more people we will have equipped to bear the burden the Pastor feels. Get up out of your seat and serve. Stop dropping kids off at children's church like it is daycare and stay and help. All do it all without grumbling. If a waiter came up to you in a restaurant and said "I really hate my job but I a m here to serve you", would you leave a tip? So do away with the complaints and serve with JOY! If the same people do the same thing the church will turn stagnant and will not grow. But if we work together and do serve, God will add to our number daily. So instead of asking someone what service they attended ask "When did you serve today 9:00 or 10:30" Stay focused, you can do this!
Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable
"In His JOY!"
It is funny when we talk about church because many churches have two or more services to help better accommodate people. You have probably said this before to another church member "Which service do you attend, the 9:00 or the 10:30?" Haven't you said that before to someone? But what is funny we do not think about what we just said, so let's word it another way. "When do you get served 9:00 am or 10:30 am?" Because that is what is really happening.
A lot of church goers are looking to have someone serve them in some capacity. Some of us are looking for somewhere to drop our kids off for an hour and a half. Others are looking for someone to stroke their ego. Yet others still are looking for someone to read the Bible and pray for them because their hectic work week prevented them from doing it themselves. (Yea that hurt me too). Simply put, Church is not a restaurant where we pay (with our tithes) for someone to give us what we want when we want it.
The church is always looking for volunteers to help but there is never a shortage of people who want to get served. You come to the body of Christ to serve not be served. Much like you join the military to serve your country. Or like you go to work to serve you employer. It is what we as Christians do, we serve. We are here to serve Christ in whatever capacity He chooses.
"But brother, I am a minister of the Gospel", great teach the lesson to the children's church they need more teachers. "But brother, I am so busy doing the week, I cannot usher", awesome all we need you to do is volunteer an hour a half, I mean you work almost 40 hours that doing the week what is an hour and a half going to do? "But brother I don't know how to run sound", great it will be an opportunity for growth. "But brother I am trying to reach the lost", great help them find a seat, smile at them, get their number and disciple them.
Service will take sacrifice, it will mean some long hours from time to time, and it may even mean you miss somethings. But the more Christians we having serving in the Church the more seats we will have open for the lost to hear the Gospel. The more Christians we having praying and reading the Word the more people we will have equipped to bear the burden the Pastor feels. Get up out of your seat and serve. Stop dropping kids off at children's church like it is daycare and stay and help. All do it all without grumbling. If a waiter came up to you in a restaurant and said "I really hate my job but I a m here to serve you", would you leave a tip? So do away with the complaints and serve with JOY! If the same people do the same thing the church will turn stagnant and will not grow. But if we work together and do serve, God will add to our number daily. So instead of asking someone what service they attended ask "When did you serve today 9:00 or 10:30" Stay focused, you can do this!
Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable
"In His JOY!"
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Passion needs Compassion
Having a passion for something but lacking compassion when expressing it to others is nothing more than unchecked anger and shows lack of maturity. When we express our the truth of Jesus to others we must consider not only the message but also the delivery of the message. I am not saying we distort the truth, however I am saying that we speak the truth in love and not in anger. Anger will always bring harm but love will always bring healing.
Ephesians 4:29, Prov 15:1
Stay focused, you can do this!
"In His JOY!"
"Stop hogging the spotlight, I can't see the real star!"
Exodus 3:1-11
God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and told him, he the instrumental to set the people of Israel free. In verse 8 God says that He has come down to deliver them and in verse 10 God tells Moses that he will be His tool for deliverance.
As the chapter goes on Moses begins to focus on his personal weakness and unbelief. Funny how we can easily turns God's purpose in our lives to focus primarily on us. God has placed a calling on all of our lives to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). But we are quick to turn the focus on how we can benefit from God's Will. We think of how to franchise our name, get paid for our gifts, or become well-known. This leads us to seek after the promotion, inspires us to dream big, or makes us extremely self-centered. We should seek to bring God glory and not merely promote ourselves. We should inspire to dream of seeing God's Will being accomplished on Earth and not a "highway mansion in the sky". We should stay extremely Christ centered and negate self centeredness. Because God's Will has nothing to do with what we want for ourselves. It has everything to do with disciplining others and bringing God glory.
God desires for us to make disciples of the nations. He wants everyone to follow His instruction and know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Being careful not to get lost in the dreams of this world. It is tempting to use God to get what we want (as if we could). It is tantalizing to pray for everything I want but neglect to see seek after His desires for my life. We can not get lost in the fantasy of "Big Ego World", Population: You. Our gifts our not to bring us glory and benefit us. Our gifts are to give glory to God and be an aid to the Body of Christ (Romans 12:3-7, 1 Corinthians 12:12-28). We are here for one another and not our personal benefit.
God did not call Moses to stardom, he called him to serve. In the same way God has not called us to uplift our egos and be served, He has called us to uplift and serve each other. We must stop playing "American Church Idol" and allowing the world to judge if we are a success or a failure. We must start to pursue God's Will and work together as the Body Christ. We are on "Gilligan Island of Life" and we are all trying to get off the island and get home to Jesus. But when we are trying to use God to carry out our will we will forever be stuck in the muck of our "Groundhog Day of Selfishness".
It's not about you, I know the tv life coach tells you everyday it's all about you. I know the song on the radio is encouraging you to do what you want. I know that best-selling book gave you the 25 steps to becoming awesome. And I know that inspirational movie motivated you to carry out you every ambition. But I implore you to seek God's Will over your own. Discover how He wants to use you to make disciples of the nations. And I promise you, your life will never be the same.
Stay focused, you can do this!
"In His JOY!'
God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and told him, he the instrumental to set the people of Israel free. In verse 8 God says that He has come down to deliver them and in verse 10 God tells Moses that he will be His tool for deliverance.
As the chapter goes on Moses begins to focus on his personal weakness and unbelief. Funny how we can easily turns God's purpose in our lives to focus primarily on us. God has placed a calling on all of our lives to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). But we are quick to turn the focus on how we can benefit from God's Will. We think of how to franchise our name, get paid for our gifts, or become well-known. This leads us to seek after the promotion, inspires us to dream big, or makes us extremely self-centered. We should seek to bring God glory and not merely promote ourselves. We should inspire to dream of seeing God's Will being accomplished on Earth and not a "highway mansion in the sky". We should stay extremely Christ centered and negate self centeredness. Because God's Will has nothing to do with what we want for ourselves. It has everything to do with disciplining others and bringing God glory.
God desires for us to make disciples of the nations. He wants everyone to follow His instruction and know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Being careful not to get lost in the dreams of this world. It is tempting to use God to get what we want (as if we could). It is tantalizing to pray for everything I want but neglect to see seek after His desires for my life. We can not get lost in the fantasy of "Big Ego World", Population: You. Our gifts our not to bring us glory and benefit us. Our gifts are to give glory to God and be an aid to the Body of Christ (Romans 12:3-7, 1 Corinthians 12:12-28). We are here for one another and not our personal benefit.
God did not call Moses to stardom, he called him to serve. In the same way God has not called us to uplift our egos and be served, He has called us to uplift and serve each other. We must stop playing "American Church Idol" and allowing the world to judge if we are a success or a failure. We must start to pursue God's Will and work together as the Body Christ. We are on "Gilligan Island of Life" and we are all trying to get off the island and get home to Jesus. But when we are trying to use God to carry out our will we will forever be stuck in the muck of our "Groundhog Day of Selfishness".
It's not about you, I know the tv life coach tells you everyday it's all about you. I know the song on the radio is encouraging you to do what you want. I know that best-selling book gave you the 25 steps to becoming awesome. And I know that inspirational movie motivated you to carry out you every ambition. But I implore you to seek God's Will over your own. Discover how He wants to use you to make disciples of the nations. And I promise you, your life will never be the same.
Stay focused, you can do this!
"In His JOY!'
Sunday, June 9, 2013
"Rejected"
As Christians we must choose to be rejected and called intolerant because we stand for Jesus than be accepted and called tolerant because we lack courage to stand for Jesus, let's be on the front lines to fight for what is right.
Isaiah 5:20
Isaiah 5:20
"He did not ask if you were ready are not...He just said GO!"
Exodus 3:1-4:17
To be courageous is to act in the presence of fear but to be a coward is to lack the courage to do or endure a dangerous or unpleasant thing. Which one are you?
God spoke to Moses through a burning bush on top of a mountain. It is common for bushes to catch fire on mountains because they are so high in elevation it just something Moses was use to seeing. But the bush Moses saw caught his eye because although it was burning the bush itself was not burnt. And all of a sudden God spoke (Exodus 3:1-4).
God told Moses that the misery of Israel had reached its peak and it was time for action (Exodus 3:5-7). In verse 8 God says " I have come down to deliver them" and in verse 10 God says "I will send you". God was calling Moses a tool and not the deliver. Moses would be used by God to declare to the Egyptians their hostile acts towards His people had come to an end. But God never asked Moses if he was ready, He never asked Moses for his qualifications, and he never asked Moses if he thought he could do it. He just told Moses to go.
If you read through chapter three and into chapter four in Exodus Moses gives God ever excuse of why he was the wrong choice. Moses said he was a nobody (Exodus 3:11) but God told Moses that Somebody (meaning God) was going with him (Exodus 3:12). Moses told God that the Israelites would not believe him but God told Moses to tell the Israelites that God Himself was sending him (Exodus 3:13-15). Moses told God that he stutters but God told Moses He would give him the words to say and someone to speak for him as well (Exodus 4:10-17).
We often give God a reason why we can't but God will always show us that with Him we can. It is easy to back away in fear and doubt because of our own limitations but that is a cowards death. Remember God said that He was going deliver His people (Exodus 3:8) and Moses was merely the tool (Exodus 3:10). The hammer does not build the house, alone by its self it is a useless tool. But in the hand of a skilled carpenter miraculous things can happen.
Yes you are not qualified, uneducated, not good enough, or you lack the required skill. But God is not looking at your lack there of He is looking at your willingness to serve. He is looking at your heart, He just wants to hear you say, "Hear I am Lord send me!" All He wants is a willing tool. So we have to lay aside every excuse about why we can't and believe that God can. You are coward alone but with the Lord's strength you are courageous.
I love Moses's honesty before the Lord and I am glad the Lord still used Moses to do His Will despite Moses' fear. Because many of us want to run like Moses and say "no one will believe me" because we don't believe in ourselves. But God never asks us if we believe in ourselves He only requires us to believe in Him! Because in our on strength we can do nothing but in Him we can do anything (that is in His Will) if we believe (Mark 9:23).
So what are you waiting for? What excuses are you giving God today? Are you a coward or will you be courageous and do His Will? Stay focused you can do this!
"In His JOY!"
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