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Matthew 20

4/27/2014

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Matthew 20
"But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”


Just think about this, as we want more and more from The Lord we should be serving more and more as He did.  We can't get caught up in how good we are as leaders we need to make the people serving with us feel we are with them as we serve.  If we just give direction and expect it to be done we will never have the ability to win people to use their gift for The Lord.  As we grow we will serve more and as we serve more we will be a light that people see and want to serve with.  Jesus didn't want anyone to cater to His needs He wanted them to do as He did and serve people. It says if you want to be first you must become a slave. This is exactly what we should be doing as we become fully devoted to Jesus Christ.

As we read through the books in the New Testament we see that Paul, James, Peter and Jude start some of their letters like this: this letter is from (one of their names) a slave of Christ Jesus.  When we take our life and give it to Him we become His slave and that is a good thing.  The Holy Spirit lives in us and is guiding us and comforting us to be that slave to Jesus.  If we don't embrace that slavehood and surrender our heart to be transformed we will alway struggle when times get tough. Look what 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 16 says, "now may The Lord of peace Himself give you His peace at all times and in every situation.  The Lord be with you all."  His peace is there for us, when we give up control we have that peace in all situations not just when things are going good.  Look what is said in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1-2,
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne." 



That is a leader I want to serve and be like, we need to be growing and praying so that we are transformed by God and die to our old ways.  As slaves serving Jesus our focus will be off ourselves and on Him.  When we want to lead and use our own strength we will get caught up in our sin and keep tripping over the same obstacle.  Surrender and become a slave to Jesus and live a servants life in Christ.  Amen
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Reflection question

4/18/2014

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Blog question :
I have been thinking lately about why people and myself have decided to call ourselves Christian? Is it the fear of (not) calling ourselves that and what might happen, or is it the comfort of having that safety net so we can excuse our choices when we are selfish?  Or is it just because that is what our family has always called themselves?  Hopefully it is because we have decided to believe and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

As I prayed about why I call myself a Christian I found that it's a new way of life that is full of peace and devotion towards Jesus.  I have seen people that truly believe that He came to show us how to live and love.  It has been evident in the way they live and act and how they speak.  I know we don't have to earn anything and we can't buy our way to Him but He does show us that we have a choice and that we must choose.  Jesus shows us what our choices and action will get us in Matthew chapter 7 verses 7-8 Jesus says, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."  I have loved these verses for a long time because they show how loving God is.  He doesn't make it difficult to know Him, He has no agenda accept for us to glorify Him and choose Jesus.  As I have grown and studied Gods word I have seen the desire for people not just to know Him but for them to accept Him as their Lord and Savior. I have also seen people that just go through the motions and are not having any peace in their lives.  If it is a narrow road that a few will find, everyone that calls themselves a Christian probably won't be there.  In Matthew chapter 7 verses 21-23 Jesus says this, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws."  

We can't just use Jesus as a get out of sin free card or an excuse to keep living the way we did, we must do the will of the Father in heaven. What does this look like as we wonder about Jesus?  It is simply surrender control of our lives, and accept Jesus and believe in who He is.  Then we can die to self and realize Gods will is not hard. He says ask and you will receive.  Jesus shares about obeying in Matthew chapter 7 verse 26 "But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand." We can’t be smart enough to hear His teachings and then do nothing with them.  

What do we do with the teachings that God has given us?  To love, to give, to serve, these are all things that Jesus did but sometimes we take it as something He just said.  Well I don't want to be foolish I want to learn and do what He has shown me.  Do we really believe that Gods word is true and flawless because it is Christ?  John chapter 1 shares that the word was with God and the word is God.  So why is it so hard for us to believe it and obey it?  I truly feel it is us not wanting to give up control of what we do in this earth because it might not be as fun.  Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10 verse 39, "if you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it."  Again something not tuff but challenging enough to keep us off the narrow road.  When we give up our life we say not my will but yours.  That is not earning that is choosing.  We must give up something to get something, our words and going to church are not us giving up anything.  So again I ask; why do we call ourselves Christian?  Is there anything attached to our words?  Here is another action that Jesus shows us that will help us surrender, but it will still take us choosing to make it happen.  Matthew chapter 11 verses 28-29 which says; Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

As I study more and more I continue to see why Jesus said the narrow road is difficult, it is not because of God it is because of us.  When we surrender the driver’s seat and ask, seek and knock we do the things that Jesus did; we love everyone not just our friends.  We serve before we say we are too busy and we give before we look at our bills and say we don't have enough.  Our joy builds and our excitement for Him grows.  We pray and we learn and as we learn we do and the Spirit in us drives us not the other way.  I ask again why do we call ourselves Christians?  I say Pray about it and work on the self that is keeping us from doing all that God wants.  It is not about perfection it is about loving God like He loves us. Amen


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1 Thessalonians 1

4/11/2014

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1 Thessalonians 1:6-9 "So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia. And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God."

This really stuck out to me and then I went to a memorial service and I discovered why. Paul was excited not only that the church heard the message about Jesus but that they were sharing the message as well.  They weren't only sharing the message but it was changing their lives.  The person that passed and went home (Lariate) lived just like this.  Her life was filled with speaking about Jesus, learning about Jesus and living like Jesus.  I knew her for a couple of years and this was all I saw.  In our lives as fully devoted followers of Jesus are we living like the Holy Spirit is in us leading us or are we living with our own desires trying to show that the Holy Spirit lives in us?  We should be asking, seeking and knocking so much that we can't contain the excitement of knowing Him and sharing that with people should give us goose bumps. 

People saw how the Thessalonians shared who share the good news and how their lives changed from their idols to loving God.  I was at a service that Trent Renner was preaching at and he ask this question, "are we ready to hold nothing back from Christ and learn to do all we hear from Christ?"

This is how we should receive and deliver the good news no matter what troubles we are facing.  Look what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 12-13 "We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe."  I pray that my heart continues to grow and I never stop feeling the excitement that I have had since accepting Jesus in 2005 and I also pray for all believers to live as though nothing is better than knowing and belonging to Jesus Christ because there is nothing better.  Amen

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Jude 1

4/1/2014

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Jude 1:4
"I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."


God wants us to know Jesus and choose Him and what He has done for us.  Gods grace is so amazing and as we understand that His grace was shown while we were yet sinners when He sent His Son for us so we can have eternal life, our lives will start to change.    The fact that He did not care who we were but just loved us and gave us a free gift shows true grace.  


We are given the tools to know Jesus and believe in Him, God is wanting us to open our hearts and allow the grace He gives to dwell in us so we join Him by loving His Son.  Our lives must change and we must continue to grow and have a relationship with Him so we let Him transform us into new creations and we understand that His grace doesn't ok everything we do but the Spirit shows us a way to surrender our will because of His grace.  Look at what it says in Jude 1 verses 20-21, "But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love."  God wants us to choose Jesus and learn to be different and learn to surrender to the flesh and follow the Spirit.  We can't get caught up in ( I will try but I am just a sinner) we need to be ( by the grace of God I can know Him and be like Him as I let God change me). 


 1 John 3 verse 16 says, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters." As we grow and understand grace we will give up the things of this world that keep us focused on our pleasure and we won't keep sinning and saying (His grace will keep me safe it is ok if I don't change.)    We must see that it is not by works or by words but by our love that we see His grace for what Jesus did for on the cross in obedience to the Father.  That is the love we need to show the Father; that we are so grateful for His grace and we love Him so much that we never stop growing to know and be like Him.  Amen
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