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John 15

1/27/2016

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John 15:2
“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”

I love this because we are supposed to grow and learn to be like Jesus and He is sharing how God was even working on Him as He was on earth.  Are we too good to let some pruning take place in our lives?  We all need work and we all need to let God transform us in the image of Jesus, so why do we try and hold on to our old selves? Jesus says, God cuts of every branch of His that doesn't produce fruit.  I know we have a lot of branches God would love to cut off so we can be more fruitful.  When we say we believe, why do we struggle letting go of the worldly things that have no fruit in our lives? 

As followers of Jesus or (Christians) look what Jesus tells us in John chapter 15 verses 3-4, “You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” We have the branches we need if we surrender our will and truly be fully devoted followers of Jesus.  And the more we open up our hearts to learning, growing and living it out the more fruit we can produce.  Look what Jesus goes on to say in verse 5, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
This is a true relationship, we are in Him and He is in us, that is how we can make a difference in this world.  We cannot over look what He says; apart from Him we can do nothing!  He is our source of strength and how we handle this world which is ruled by the devil.  We need to understand that so when the world looks so inviting we can say no.

What all this takes is us believing and accepting Jesus as our Lord and savior and then obeying what He shows us.  Look at verses 10, “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in His love.”  He is not trying to make us do something He has not done, He shows us how to do it by His example. Verse 11 is amazing and what we all want while we are living in this world.  “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”

Nothing we do can give us true joy but connecting to Jesus can so lets surrender and keep our branches connected to what is true.  Amen  
 
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Proverbs 4

1/26/2016

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 Proverbs 4:25-27 “Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.”

This is the stuff I really like when I read His word.  It is sharing with us how our walk is a joint effort and a relationship.  God so loved the world that He gave His Son... With true love there needs to be relationship and that takes joint effort.  Verse 25 says, “Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you." This is something we need to do, look at Jesus not to the surrounding world that's trying to get our attention. I love what it says in Joshua the first chapter and the 7th verse, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.” See he was told to look right at what Moses gave him, we are told the same. When we look right at Jesus He perfects our faith. 

Verse 26 says, “Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.”
We need to work on what we do and the choices we make.  Just because we are a Christian doesn't mean our path is going to be smooth, we must work daily to renew our mind and seek wisdom from the Lord.  It not only says "mark out" it says "stay on" those are statements that take our effort and a decision on our part. Matthew chapter 7 verse 14 says, "But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it."  The Road is tough, look at what Paul shares this in Romans chapter 6 verse 16 and it is so important for us to see.  “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."  See we "Mark out" and "stay on" the path God has given us. 

Finally in verse 27 we are told, “Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.” I know how easily I can get side tract with life and the excitement the world shows me, how about you?  What is it that always makes you go hmmm! Or keeps your foot in the door so it doesn't close all the way?  I pray that the obstacles that keep me off task or not focus be replaced by what Christ has shown me and created for me to do.  Really look at what John chapter 10 verse 10 says, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” All the distractions of the world are to keep us from truly seeing and living a rich and satisfying life through Christ.  Amen

I actually preached on this blog this past weekend and you can watch it on our website www.therockaz.com

God Bless


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1 Peter 1

1/22/2016

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1 Peter 1:13 “So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”

I love the fact that throughout the bible we are told to partake in what God has done for us, we are never shown to sit back and do nothing.  That never does any good for growth and maturity in our lives and as long as we are living here we all need to be learning and growing.  It says "prepare your mind for action" and "exercise self control" that is important because when we lose control we start trying to fix our lives on our own.  We get more panicked and we miss out on the strength He gives us to do all things.  Verse 14 goes on to say, “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.” Obedience is important for our growth and it shows that we have surrendered our way for what He has done for us.

When we prepare our minds daily we see how incredible His will is for us and we desire living for Him not ourselves.  Before accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior I didn't know any better.  I figure if I was good to people everything thing would be good for me.  Well, as I kept living this way I kept seeing that being good didn't do anything for me and my life. (Don't get me wrong, we need to be good) what I am saying is, even though I was good I was still stressed, angry, hurt, alone, and confused.  When we surrender and prepare our mind for action we see the incredible things that God is doing in us and we have peace because of Him.  I love what it says in John chapter 14 verse 27, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Now that we know better we live according to Jesus' example and we shine His light and are holy.  Verse 15 goes on to say, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.” We are holy because of Him and we live as He did because we know Him and have a relationship with Him.  See, none of this happens on our own, we constantly learn and seek wisdom and He perfects our faith and fills us with strength.  When we continue reading in 1 Peter we see that God has no favorites and this is important for us to see because He can and will use us all no matter what we think of ourselves. 

I want you to really read these next verses and be prepared to believe it and understand it each day as you seek Him.  In 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18-19 it says, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” Because of Jesus we have eternal life and we don't have to wonder what will happen when we stop living in this temporary home, we know we will be home with Him forever.  Let's all read and remember what verse 23 says, “For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.” Amen 

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John 3

1/5/2016

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John 3:14-15
“And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.”


As I read this today I felt in my heart to share because it is important for us to see how our belief needs to be more than words we say. We know Jesus had to go to the cross and die for our sins, so when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior and bring Him in our hearts we can change.  We always remember John 3:16 but I love what it says in verse 17, “God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him." Christ is the reason we are saved and our acceptance should be followed by our willingness to surrender our will.

As we read further in John chapter 3 we see in verse 18 that, “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.” Really look at what "believing in Him" looks like, it will come with wanting to live in the light and knowing that the world is not where we get our peace.  Verse 19 goes on to say, “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.” Don't let the darkness control your heart, the Spirit in us is greater than the world and as we believe and surrender the Spirit leads us to the light.

Verses 20 and 21 are important to see and understand, “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." What sin keeps you from going to the light? Bring it to God because He loves you and doesn't want you stuck in the dark. 

Our belief when lived out is what shines in us and then as we shine people are attracted to the light because they see we are living to please God not man. We need to let what God has given us in love (His Son) be what we seek daily so that our lives are glowing and that glow is because of our belief in who Jesus is. I want to finish with John chapter 3 verse 36 which says, “And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” Amen

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