Paul writing to the Romans simply opens his letter like this…
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God”
Paul considered himself a servant first…which is interesting. Humility is the where it has to start for all of us. We humble ourselves and acknowledge we are all sinners in need of grace. From this position you further humble yourself to become a servant. On of the biggest problems facing our churches today is a lack of humility. The church today has catered to the consumer mentality and as a result we have “consumer church goers’. These are the people who show up at your church service wanting to know what you can offer them. From the point the conversation starts, it’s all about them. There is not an ounce of ‘Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus’ in their hearts.
The other thing is Paul considered himself called. I believe we are all called by Christ. It’s a call to ‘follow me’. He calls for different task, but he does call. Not everyone’s call is the same job, but we are all called to one body…the church. Each one of us has a unique mission that we where created to fulfill. God has a plan for each and every person on earth. It’s important to remember we didn’t call God…but that Jesus called us. We answer the call, but we don’t place the call. God places the call on our lives early; your response to him is something he inspired inside your heart….from the beginning. Why…
To be “set apart for the gospel”. The gospel is—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the good news for all people. We were once lost in our sin with now way out…but through Christ…we die to the old way of life, we bury it forever more…and we rise to walk in the new life. He changes us from the inside out. Christ is awesome! I cannot help but get excited. He changes lives forever…he drives out the darkness in our lives and gives us a new light to guide our steps.
All of this starts with becoming a servant. So does your life story open the same ways as Paul’s…
Does it say, “Steve, a servant of Christ Jesus…”
(insert name), a servant of Christ Jesus, called by him and set apart for the Gospel of God….Does your life speak this verse to the world around you? Let is start today and watch what happens around you!
-ps
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Struggles…
Life seems to have many struggles…we live through life and some suffer more than others. But we have all seem to struggle with something. Lately I have encountered my own struggles. I have struggled to trust God. I know for many readying this, the idea of a pastor struggling to trust God seems strange. It’s strange for me also…I find myself in a position where I have never been in before. It’s nothing special, I just find myself in a position where I have to trust others and especially God Himself. As a pastor I think God takes delight when his children are in total dependence on Him.
So here you are facing the impossible…it looks like there is no way out…it feels like God has abandoned you…King Jehoshaphat was in s similar situation (2 Chronicles 20). The Moabites, Ammonites and some of the Meunites banded together to make war on Jehoshaphat. Upon hearing the news Jehoshaphat called for the nation to pray and fast.
After praying the prophet Zechariah tells Jehoshaphat ‘do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’ (2 Chronicles 20:15) The next day the armies where destroyed by others factions. The battle was already won and Jehoshaphat’s people gathered the plunder.
I love this story because you see how Jehoshaphat’s heart worked…when faced with the situation he prayed. When given the answer from the prophet, he worshiped. Before facing the battle he gave thanks…he never wavered in his faith. So I hope your like me and draw strength from such stories. I have to put my faith in God and trust he has already fought the battle…the battle has been won. We can sing praises to the King “give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever.”
So give thank to the Lord…
-ps
So here you are facing the impossible…it looks like there is no way out…it feels like God has abandoned you…King Jehoshaphat was in s similar situation (2 Chronicles 20). The Moabites, Ammonites and some of the Meunites banded together to make war on Jehoshaphat. Upon hearing the news Jehoshaphat called for the nation to pray and fast.
After praying the prophet Zechariah tells Jehoshaphat ‘do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’ (2 Chronicles 20:15) The next day the armies where destroyed by others factions. The battle was already won and Jehoshaphat’s people gathered the plunder.
I love this story because you see how Jehoshaphat’s heart worked…when faced with the situation he prayed. When given the answer from the prophet, he worshiped. Before facing the battle he gave thanks…he never wavered in his faith. So I hope your like me and draw strength from such stories. I have to put my faith in God and trust he has already fought the battle…the battle has been won. We can sing praises to the King “give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever.”
So give thank to the Lord…
-ps
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Great Expectations
Go get your Bible I’ll wait….
Open it to Acts chapter 12. King Herod has just arrested some of the early Christians including James, the Apostle John’s brother. King Herod has James killed and arrest Peter with the same intent. Now it get very interesting…Peter is put into prison guarded by four squads of guards…four soldiers for each watch. So Peter is guard by four soldiers at all times. Herod is going to use Peter as the after Passover ‘entertainment’, by putting him on public trial.
Key verse….verse 5: “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”
I would think praying for him would involve praying for Peters release, that nothing would happen to him.
Here is the thought I have about all this…many times we pray in church without ‘expectations’…we pray for something and don’t expect it to happen…we lack faith. No don’t take that line of thought out to the fringe…the idea being through faith we can wield some kind of holy ‘force’ aka Star Wars. But I think many times we don’t expect God to hear us or answer us. Some with argue with me, but from my experience we don’t have ‘great expectations’ when it come to answered prayer.
So back to Peter….
v.6 he is sound to sleep the night before his trial and execution. He is sleeping so well the angel has to ‘strike’ him to wake him up. In that just woke fog, Peter stumbles out of the prison thinking he was dreaming…
v.11 Peter finally wakes up and realizes God had rescued him and he runs to place the church is praying. Here is where it is gets good…
v.13 Peter knocks on the door and the young lady named Rhoda comes to the door. She recognizes Peters voice and is so overwhelmed she forgets to open the door….and runs yelling “Peter is at the door”.
The group tells her, “You’re out of your mind”…
They didn’t believe Rhoda because they never expected Peter to be released. It wasn’t possible, James died and we prayed for him…Peter is going to die also. So they prayed with no expectations…
How many of us have a set back, God doesn’t answer our prayer about something and we lose all expectations.
Peters release by the angel would greatly encourage peter and the early church; it spurred them on to greater faith.
So the next time you have a set back in prayer…remember all the times God has answered your prayers and them pray with “Great Expectations”…God is Good!
-ps
Open it to Acts chapter 12. King Herod has just arrested some of the early Christians including James, the Apostle John’s brother. King Herod has James killed and arrest Peter with the same intent. Now it get very interesting…Peter is put into prison guarded by four squads of guards…four soldiers for each watch. So Peter is guard by four soldiers at all times. Herod is going to use Peter as the after Passover ‘entertainment’, by putting him on public trial.
Key verse….verse 5: “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”
I would think praying for him would involve praying for Peters release, that nothing would happen to him.
Here is the thought I have about all this…many times we pray in church without ‘expectations’…we pray for something and don’t expect it to happen…we lack faith. No don’t take that line of thought out to the fringe…the idea being through faith we can wield some kind of holy ‘force’ aka Star Wars. But I think many times we don’t expect God to hear us or answer us. Some with argue with me, but from my experience we don’t have ‘great expectations’ when it come to answered prayer.
So back to Peter….
v.6 he is sound to sleep the night before his trial and execution. He is sleeping so well the angel has to ‘strike’ him to wake him up. In that just woke fog, Peter stumbles out of the prison thinking he was dreaming…
v.11 Peter finally wakes up and realizes God had rescued him and he runs to place the church is praying. Here is where it is gets good…
v.13 Peter knocks on the door and the young lady named Rhoda comes to the door. She recognizes Peters voice and is so overwhelmed she forgets to open the door….and runs yelling “Peter is at the door”.
The group tells her, “You’re out of your mind”…
They didn’t believe Rhoda because they never expected Peter to be released. It wasn’t possible, James died and we prayed for him…Peter is going to die also. So they prayed with no expectations…
How many of us have a set back, God doesn’t answer our prayer about something and we lose all expectations.
Peters release by the angel would greatly encourage peter and the early church; it spurred them on to greater faith.
So the next time you have a set back in prayer…remember all the times God has answered your prayers and them pray with “Great Expectations”…God is Good!
-ps
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Sermon: The Supremacy of Christ
We are in Colossians again continuing our conversation…this time we are looking at the Supremacy of Christ….
We are in Chapter 1:15-23
In these verses you will see four things about Christ….
1. His relationship with God (v.15)
2. His relationship with creation (v.16,17)
3. His relationship with the church (v.18)
4. His relationship with us (v.19-23)
His Relationship with God
“He is the image of the invisible God” (v.15)
Image carries two ideas, the first being reflection…
-Jesus allows us to see what God is like….
-God is spirit and therefore invisible—but in the person of Jesus—God became visible.
“Thus He is the image of the invisible God”
Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the father” (John 14:9)
But the word can also mean “representative”
-God put Adam on the earth to represent Him but Adam failed…So God would send his Only Son into the world to show his love to all of mankind.
-So the image is both a reflection of God to us and a representation of God’s love towards us—both are embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.
“He is the ‘firstborn’ over all of creation” (v.15)
-What does this mean?
-Through the years false teachers have used this verse to suggest Jesus was created, that he was the first person created by God. J.W. used this on me once….
-But nothing could be further from the truth!
-Firstborn has three different meanings in the Bible…
1. The literal sense—in that Jesus was born to Mary, her firstborn…
2. Exodus 4:22 says, “Then say to Pharaoh, this is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn Son….
-God isn’t talking about a literal birth, but he is describing Israel’s place in God’s plans…
3. Psalm 89:27 says, “I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth”…
-This is a place of ‘superiority’ of supremacy—the idea being there isn’t a higher position…
-God was talking about King David, he would raise David higher than any other king…God decided to give David a “unique position’
-Isn’t this the very thought in this verse…’the firstborn over all creation’
Jesus the unique Son—He existed before all of creation and supremacy over everything!
-So this verse has nothing to do with actual birth—but shows Jesus eternal relationship with the God the Father—It’s a title of position.
His Relationship to Creation
v.16 “For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him”
We see Paul further stating “Jesus as the creator”
-We learn in this verse “all things” the whole universe—were created—by Him—through Him and for Him.
-He was the architect—creation took place because of him and everything was created for him…He is the one goal of creation….creation was for the glory of Christ.
-We also we Paul closing all the loopholes…he closes out all other possibilities…Jesus wasn’t the created—He was the creator.
v.17 “He is before all things and in him all things hold together”.
Jesus is before all things but also is the ‘sustainer’ of the universe…He controls the stars, the sun and moon…everything that exist is sustained by Christ…
His Relationship with the Church
Jesus dominion covers the natural universe—but also extends to the spiritual realm…
v.18 “He is the head of the body: the church”
-All believers in Jesus make up the body of Christ—the church.
-It is the way God has chosen to express himself in the world—Jesus is the head, the director…He controls the church!
“He is the beginning”
-Everything spiritual starts with him…he is the source of all spiritual life.
He is “The first born from among the dead”
-Some will say Jesus wasn’t the first in the Bible to be resurrected, which is true…but Jesus is the first to rise and never die again!
-He rose with a glorified body, He is the head of the ‘new creation’—and everyone who puts their trust in Him will also rise!
Jesus is first in everything…nothing is second to Christ…
So the question we have to ask ourselves—is Jesus first in my life?
His Relationship with Us
v.19,20 We see God is pleased to see all his fullness dwell in Christ.
Through the blood shed on the cross we see Jesus reconciling ‘all things’…
-to reconcile means to restore to a right relationship or standard—or to make peace with an enemy.
- when sin entered the world…we became separated from God…man became hostile towards God…and this needed to be reconciled
-everything has been affected by sin…
-the spiritual realms…
-creation itself…animals suffer sickness and pain…
-the ground is cursed…
-we can only be ‘reconciled’ by putting our trust in Christ—by believing in Jesus Christ and entering into a relationship with Him
v.22 “But now he has reconciled you by Christ physical body through death—to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation”
How…
v.23 “If you continue in the faith, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel”…
The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ…if you put your faith in him you can have a central relationship with him…
Maybe your sitting here this morning and a thought has ran across your mind…Jesus isn’t first in my life….
Jesus is the firstborn of all creation…nothing is ahead of Jesus, no position is higher than Jesus…but for some reason Jesus has dropped form your top five…
This morning take the opportunity to make Jesus first…
-ps
NOTE: This is written in the form I use it to preach from...it's an extended outline. If you see the ... in the sermon...are places I can add my own words...explain it in detail based off of the reaction of the congregation.
We are in Chapter 1:15-23
In these verses you will see four things about Christ….
1. His relationship with God (v.15)
2. His relationship with creation (v.16,17)
3. His relationship with the church (v.18)
4. His relationship with us (v.19-23)
His Relationship with God
“He is the image of the invisible God” (v.15)
Image carries two ideas, the first being reflection…
-Jesus allows us to see what God is like….
-God is spirit and therefore invisible—but in the person of Jesus—God became visible.
“Thus He is the image of the invisible God”
Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the father” (John 14:9)
But the word can also mean “representative”
-God put Adam on the earth to represent Him but Adam failed…So God would send his Only Son into the world to show his love to all of mankind.
-So the image is both a reflection of God to us and a representation of God’s love towards us—both are embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.
“He is the ‘firstborn’ over all of creation” (v.15)
-What does this mean?
-Through the years false teachers have used this verse to suggest Jesus was created, that he was the first person created by God. J.W. used this on me once….
-But nothing could be further from the truth!
-Firstborn has three different meanings in the Bible…
1. The literal sense—in that Jesus was born to Mary, her firstborn…
2. Exodus 4:22 says, “Then say to Pharaoh, this is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn Son….
-God isn’t talking about a literal birth, but he is describing Israel’s place in God’s plans…
3. Psalm 89:27 says, “I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth”…
-This is a place of ‘superiority’ of supremacy—the idea being there isn’t a higher position…
-God was talking about King David, he would raise David higher than any other king…God decided to give David a “unique position’
-Isn’t this the very thought in this verse…’the firstborn over all creation’
Jesus the unique Son—He existed before all of creation and supremacy over everything!
-So this verse has nothing to do with actual birth—but shows Jesus eternal relationship with the God the Father—It’s a title of position.
His Relationship to Creation
v.16 “For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him”
We see Paul further stating “Jesus as the creator”
-We learn in this verse “all things” the whole universe—were created—by Him—through Him and for Him.
-He was the architect—creation took place because of him and everything was created for him…He is the one goal of creation….creation was for the glory of Christ.
-We also we Paul closing all the loopholes…he closes out all other possibilities…Jesus wasn’t the created—He was the creator.
v.17 “He is before all things and in him all things hold together”.
Jesus is before all things but also is the ‘sustainer’ of the universe…He controls the stars, the sun and moon…everything that exist is sustained by Christ…
His Relationship with the Church
Jesus dominion covers the natural universe—but also extends to the spiritual realm…
v.18 “He is the head of the body: the church”
-All believers in Jesus make up the body of Christ—the church.
-It is the way God has chosen to express himself in the world—Jesus is the head, the director…He controls the church!
“He is the beginning”
-Everything spiritual starts with him…he is the source of all spiritual life.
He is “The first born from among the dead”
-Some will say Jesus wasn’t the first in the Bible to be resurrected, which is true…but Jesus is the first to rise and never die again!
-He rose with a glorified body, He is the head of the ‘new creation’—and everyone who puts their trust in Him will also rise!
Jesus is first in everything…nothing is second to Christ…
So the question we have to ask ourselves—is Jesus first in my life?
His Relationship with Us
v.19,20 We see God is pleased to see all his fullness dwell in Christ.
Through the blood shed on the cross we see Jesus reconciling ‘all things’…
-to reconcile means to restore to a right relationship or standard—or to make peace with an enemy.
- when sin entered the world…we became separated from God…man became hostile towards God…and this needed to be reconciled
-everything has been affected by sin…
-the spiritual realms…
-creation itself…animals suffer sickness and pain…
-the ground is cursed…
-we can only be ‘reconciled’ by putting our trust in Christ—by believing in Jesus Christ and entering into a relationship with Him
v.22 “But now he has reconciled you by Christ physical body through death—to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation”
How…
v.23 “If you continue in the faith, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel”…
The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ…if you put your faith in him you can have a central relationship with him…
Maybe your sitting here this morning and a thought has ran across your mind…Jesus isn’t first in my life….
Jesus is the firstborn of all creation…nothing is ahead of Jesus, no position is higher than Jesus…but for some reason Jesus has dropped form your top five…
This morning take the opportunity to make Jesus first…
-ps
NOTE: This is written in the form I use it to preach from...it's an extended outline. If you see the ... in the sermon...are places I can add my own words...explain it in detail based off of the reaction of the congregation.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Where O Where…
Have you ever lost track of time…its amazing thing to lose a week? One day it is Saturday and like that its Saturday again and you ask yourself, “What happened”. This is what happened to me this week, I didn’t have class because of Memorial Day and my routine changed. Because of the routine changing I lost track of ‘every day normal stuff’…like watering my flowers, reading, studying, praying and blogging. I’m still baffled by the idea I haven’t posted in over a week and in the blog world that is an eternity. This has put a great thought in my head…what if we go through life so busy doing little things…good things…not important things…and then we die. What if we just do enough busy things to keep you busy so you forget about making a difference? Which puts another thought into my head…are we to make a difference?
So two questions are posed “are we to busy to make a difference” and “are we meant to make a difference”? To answer the first question we need to tackle the second question. Are we here to make a difference? As a Christian I am to make a difference. I think there can be little doubt from the teachings of Jesus, we are meant to make a difference…”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nation….he goes further…but you get the idea. Make someone a disciple of Christ is a ‘life changing’ event, it make a huge difference in somebody’s life. So if we are in the world making disciples for Christ…would the world we a different place…of course it would.
So the last question left to be answered is “are we too busy to make a difference”? From my point of view I have to say yes. I am amazed at how busy we have become. We run around doing stuff, but have very little to show for it. Most of us can name a list of stuff we did and it looks ‘good’…but did it further the kingdom of Christ. Did we help some grow, did we build into someone else’s life. I worry about this, because I look around and see division, division that is growing on a huge scale. Everywhere I turn I see the ‘you are either with me or against me attitude’. The lines are being draw everywhere around us and I fear we are losing our opportunity to make a difference.
I am challenging you to make a difference in someone else’s life…take the time to share Christ love with someone you know. Don’t think about being rewarded, just do it because Christ is in you. Work to be a ‘uniter’ and a not a ‘divider’…But most of all slow down…remove the ‘busy’ from your life and make a difference.
-ps
So two questions are posed “are we to busy to make a difference” and “are we meant to make a difference”? To answer the first question we need to tackle the second question. Are we here to make a difference? As a Christian I am to make a difference. I think there can be little doubt from the teachings of Jesus, we are meant to make a difference…”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nation….he goes further…but you get the idea. Make someone a disciple of Christ is a ‘life changing’ event, it make a huge difference in somebody’s life. So if we are in the world making disciples for Christ…would the world we a different place…of course it would.
So the last question left to be answered is “are we too busy to make a difference”? From my point of view I have to say yes. I am amazed at how busy we have become. We run around doing stuff, but have very little to show for it. Most of us can name a list of stuff we did and it looks ‘good’…but did it further the kingdom of Christ. Did we help some grow, did we build into someone else’s life. I worry about this, because I look around and see division, division that is growing on a huge scale. Everywhere I turn I see the ‘you are either with me or against me attitude’. The lines are being draw everywhere around us and I fear we are losing our opportunity to make a difference.
I am challenging you to make a difference in someone else’s life…take the time to share Christ love with someone you know. Don’t think about being rewarded, just do it because Christ is in you. Work to be a ‘uniter’ and a not a ‘divider’…But most of all slow down…remove the ‘busy’ from your life and make a difference.
-ps
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
First of Three: Solitude
This is the first pillar in the building your ‘secret walk’. The idea for this is taken from”Nine Keys to Effective Small Group Leadership, by Carl F. George”. Solitude is something many of us fear…we need time alone away from everyone to truly understand ourselves…to understand what we really want out of life. We see over and over again in the Bible where the central character of the story goes off to be alone. Nehemiah did, Elijah went and got to see God speak to him in a gentle whisper…Jesus made it something he did regularly…going off alone. I think you need to spend time away from all the business, from the T.V., computer…away from music. Time spent getting to know who you are. From this position you can have a meaningful conversation with God, because you know what you need to truly talk about.
Many people go off alone and talk to God, but never take the time to figure out what they need to talk about. We have so many things going on to kept us busy, it takes time to quiet down our souls to be in the position to listen to God. The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God.” Until we get quiet enough, we cant hear what God is trying to say.
Bill Hybels several years ago came out with a book titled “Too Busy not to Pray”. He said most of us go through life so fast that we’re revving our engines at 10,000 rpm’s when they are designed for only 5000 rpm’s. He said he had to create a journaling ritual that would help him slow down to the point where he could hear God. For him, he needed to cut back to the spiritual equivalent of 500 rpm’s.
It takes time to get quiet! Can you get earlier? Can you skip on meal a day or week? Can you give up some television? Most people could find 30 extra minutes a day to make space for quiet and solitude. Do you have power in your spiritual life? Check your solitude….Do you know what to ask God? Have you asked God to make a blessing or to bless the people in your life? If this isn’t true how can you expect divine intervention in your life? Your secret walk drive your life…solitude helps develop your secret walk.
Solitude helps us understand who we are…it helps us get away from the clutter and concentrate on what God would have us do in our lives. It when we get to this very point we can enter into a truly meaningful conversation with God and start to understand his will and purpose for our lives. So this long weekend take some time and spend it in solitude…don’t say anything…just be quiet before the Lord.
Two more pillars let….community and simplicity.
-ps
Many people go off alone and talk to God, but never take the time to figure out what they need to talk about. We have so many things going on to kept us busy, it takes time to quiet down our souls to be in the position to listen to God. The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God.” Until we get quiet enough, we cant hear what God is trying to say.
Bill Hybels several years ago came out with a book titled “Too Busy not to Pray”. He said most of us go through life so fast that we’re revving our engines at 10,000 rpm’s when they are designed for only 5000 rpm’s. He said he had to create a journaling ritual that would help him slow down to the point where he could hear God. For him, he needed to cut back to the spiritual equivalent of 500 rpm’s.
It takes time to get quiet! Can you get earlier? Can you skip on meal a day or week? Can you give up some television? Most people could find 30 extra minutes a day to make space for quiet and solitude. Do you have power in your spiritual life? Check your solitude….Do you know what to ask God? Have you asked God to make a blessing or to bless the people in your life? If this isn’t true how can you expect divine intervention in your life? Your secret walk drive your life…solitude helps develop your secret walk.
Solitude helps us understand who we are…it helps us get away from the clutter and concentrate on what God would have us do in our lives. It when we get to this very point we can enter into a truly meaningful conversation with God and start to understand his will and purpose for our lives. So this long weekend take some time and spend it in solitude…don’t say anything…just be quiet before the Lord.
Two more pillars let….community and simplicity.
-ps
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Secret Walks...
Carl F. Georges book “Nine Keys to Effective Small Group Leadership” talks about the leaders ‘secret walk’. But when you think about it this is important for all Christians. Here is what he says…
“No matter how little you say publicly about your secret walk, the consequences cannot be hidden over time. It etches itself in your face and shows up in the blessings God brings to your life.”
Here is another quote from Georges…
“In our walk with God, there’s a direct relation between what we do in those ‘secret’ moments and who we become in public.”
Did you ever think how you spent time with God “your secret walk” would affect how you live your life? See we all have a secret walk with God. It might not be where you want it, in fact it might be hard to find at times…but every Christian has one. This walk changes the way we live our lives either for the good or for the bad.
If you’re not walking correctly with God, if you are living in disobedience with God…your life will reflect it. You might think you’re getting away with it, you might fool people for awhile…but sooner or later your true colors will appear. Your ‘secret walk’ will be exposed for what it is. I’ve been in this boat before; I’m not walking with God. I living my life the way I want to live it and when I pull into the church parking lot…I put on the mask…plastic people…in the plastic steeple. Nothing is real and I couldn’t wait to get back home…but no one was the wiser…right.
But as soon as I don’t get my way…something doesn’t go right…boom, I would be cursing and swearing…and saying things aimed at hurting the target.
But when I am walking the way I should…when I take the time to live in obedience with God, things are different. When I take the time to develop my ‘secret walk’ things are really different. Church is no longer ‘hard to get there’; I actually don’t want it to end. I love being around God’s people…even the plastic ones…I don’t get mad as often, I don’t curse or swear. I don’t aim to destroy anyone who opposes me…the list goes on and on.
Here is something else…your secret walk starts to etch itself on your face…it does. I have seen Christians who walk around with the longest faces…their face gets locked into a permanent scowl…they can scare you to death when approached. At the same time I have seen people who have so much joy…they have a permanent smile. You love to just stand next to these people…because you know the ‘joy’ of Christ has captured their hearts.
So go and think about your secret walk…tomorrow we will go over three things you can do to enhance your ‘secret walk’.
-ps
“No matter how little you say publicly about your secret walk, the consequences cannot be hidden over time. It etches itself in your face and shows up in the blessings God brings to your life.”
Here is another quote from Georges…
“In our walk with God, there’s a direct relation between what we do in those ‘secret’ moments and who we become in public.”
Did you ever think how you spent time with God “your secret walk” would affect how you live your life? See we all have a secret walk with God. It might not be where you want it, in fact it might be hard to find at times…but every Christian has one. This walk changes the way we live our lives either for the good or for the bad.
If you’re not walking correctly with God, if you are living in disobedience with God…your life will reflect it. You might think you’re getting away with it, you might fool people for awhile…but sooner or later your true colors will appear. Your ‘secret walk’ will be exposed for what it is. I’ve been in this boat before; I’m not walking with God. I living my life the way I want to live it and when I pull into the church parking lot…I put on the mask…plastic people…in the plastic steeple. Nothing is real and I couldn’t wait to get back home…but no one was the wiser…right.
But as soon as I don’t get my way…something doesn’t go right…boom, I would be cursing and swearing…and saying things aimed at hurting the target.
But when I am walking the way I should…when I take the time to live in obedience with God, things are different. When I take the time to develop my ‘secret walk’ things are really different. Church is no longer ‘hard to get there’; I actually don’t want it to end. I love being around God’s people…even the plastic ones…I don’t get mad as often, I don’t curse or swear. I don’t aim to destroy anyone who opposes me…the list goes on and on.
Here is something else…your secret walk starts to etch itself on your face…it does. I have seen Christians who walk around with the longest faces…their face gets locked into a permanent scowl…they can scare you to death when approached. At the same time I have seen people who have so much joy…they have a permanent smile. You love to just stand next to these people…because you know the ‘joy’ of Christ has captured their hearts.
So go and think about your secret walk…tomorrow we will go over three things you can do to enhance your ‘secret walk’.
-ps
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Some of the one another’s of the New Testament
Be a peace with one another (Mark 9:50)
Love one another (John 13:34)
Be devoted to one another (Rom 12:10)
Honor one another (Rom 12:10)
Live in harmony with one another (Rom 12:16)
Stop passing judgment on one another (Rom 14:13)
Accept one another (Rom 15:7)
Instruct one another (Rom 15:14)
Greet one another (Rom 16:16)
Serve one another (Gal 5:13)
Carry one another’s burden (Gal 6:2)
Be patient, bearing with one another in love (Eph 4:2)
Be kind and compassionate to one another (Eph 4:32)
Forgive one another (Eph 4:32)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19)
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21)
In humility consider others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3)
Teach one another (Col 3:16)
Admonish one another (Col 3:16)
Encourage one another (1 Thess 4:18)
Build one another up (1 Thess 5:11)
Spur one another on towards love and good deeds (Heb 10:24)
Do not slander one another (James 4:11)
Don’t grumble against one another (James 5:9)
Confess your sins to one another (James 5:16)
Pray for one another (James 5:16)
Cloth yourself with humility towards one another (1 Peter 5:5)
I wonder if you are to live your Christian faith with other believers? I wonder if I should attend church? I wounder if I can grow in Christ on my own?
only if you consider ME, MYSELF, and I.....One another.....We are made for relationships, we where made to live out our faith in the community of believers.
-ps
Love one another (John 13:34)
Be devoted to one another (Rom 12:10)
Honor one another (Rom 12:10)
Live in harmony with one another (Rom 12:16)
Stop passing judgment on one another (Rom 14:13)
Accept one another (Rom 15:7)
Instruct one another (Rom 15:14)
Greet one another (Rom 16:16)
Serve one another (Gal 5:13)
Carry one another’s burden (Gal 6:2)
Be patient, bearing with one another in love (Eph 4:2)
Be kind and compassionate to one another (Eph 4:32)
Forgive one another (Eph 4:32)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19)
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21)
In humility consider others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3)
Teach one another (Col 3:16)
Admonish one another (Col 3:16)
Encourage one another (1 Thess 4:18)
Build one another up (1 Thess 5:11)
Spur one another on towards love and good deeds (Heb 10:24)
Do not slander one another (James 4:11)
Don’t grumble against one another (James 5:9)
Confess your sins to one another (James 5:16)
Pray for one another (James 5:16)
Cloth yourself with humility towards one another (1 Peter 5:5)
I wonder if you are to live your Christian faith with other believers? I wonder if I should attend church? I wounder if I can grow in Christ on my own?
only if you consider ME, MYSELF, and I.....One another.....We are made for relationships, we where made to live out our faith in the community of believers.
-ps
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Post...
It's interesting to note I tried for a half hour to get the Sean Michel video to post the other day and finally had to post a link to the video. So a few days later I come out here and it has posted six or seven times on the blog. God's timing couldn't be better becuase it really makes my point about passion. You might not like the song or the style of music...but watch this guys passion. He is singing with everything he has to Christ, it is a prayer about being "forgiven much".
I wish I could see the same level of passion in myself...I want the same passion...and I want people to see it...not for me, not for me...but for Christ and all of his glory.
-ps
I wish I could see the same level of passion in myself...I want the same passion...and I want people to see it...not for me, not for me...but for Christ and all of his glory.
-ps
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