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Revelation 4

5/25/2012

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Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power.  For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

I really like this and it was a great reminder to me that we are here to manage not our stuff but God’s.  We must have an open heart and be willing to surrender as we say we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We need to function with the Spirit’s lead and not our own.  This is so hard for us to do because we have been taught our entire lives that we can get what we want and work to get what we deserve.  That mentality has made us self-centered and internally focused and we think we have to get ourselves through everything in our lives and that is false. 

After I was done reading 1 John (I suggest everyone read it) I was thinking how people have it wrong when they think, well we are all sinners saved by grace.  I think that is the easy way out and a way that leads us to okay our sins.  It doesn’t motivate us to be Christ-like, it gives us an excuse to mess up.  When we say we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior we have the grace of God that empowers us to live our lives not sinning and following the Spirit’s lead.  1 John chapter 2 verse 1 says, “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father.  He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.”  Because of Adam we have sin but because of Jesus we have strength and the ability not to sin.

When we mature and know we are not God and can’t control our situations we surrender and we go to God and say not my will be done.  Then we open our hearts to understand that Jesus, fully God and fully human did nothing without asking and hearing from the Father and we are called to do the same.  God’s grace not only shows His forgiveness to us but it should drive our every step.  1 John chapter 2 verses 5-6 say, “But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him.  This is how we know we are living in Him.  Those who say they live in God should live their live as Jesus did.”

True surrender takes letting go and following.  I was thinking of grace and as I looked at Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8-10 it stood out to me how much more it is.  “God saved you by His grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so no one of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.”  His grace is what moves us not to sin it’s not US stopping an addiction or bad habit.  We can get up daily and say, God I come to you with my struggles and I ask you to guide me and help me with my choices.  When we do this and seek His way His grace compels us to not sin and it can be done.  God intends us to be different and change and that is what His grace can do for us.  It is not just Him sending His Son because we were sinners, its sending His Son as an example so we don’t sin. 

We hear the truth and we know we can’t do it on our own so we turn to Him and live victoriously as God’s children.  I want to end in Revelation chapter 3 verse 21 where Jesus says, “Those who are victorious will sit with Me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on His throne.”  Amen


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Revelation

5/23/2012

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Revelation 2:14 This is written to the church in Pergamum where Jesus tells John to write these complaint.  “But I have a few complaints against you.  You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up people of Israel.  He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.”

This stood out to me mainly because we are going through it right now.  There are Christians and teachers of God’s word that have been backing same sex marriages and they are willing to make excuses so they can okay why they are supporting people that claim to be Christians.  We are called to love, teach and forgive not to accept, condone and make allowances for.  We are to open God’s word and believe it 100% and continue to ask for wisdom from God so we can live our lives like Jesus.  We can’t want to follow Jesus until we hear something we think is right we have to follow learning that the Spirit of God is always right.  Loving God means that we will accept His free gift and ask, seek and knock so we can mature to say not my will be done but yours.

We are given everything we need but are we willing to use the tools given to us?  The bible is all God’s word not some of it; we can’t decide because of family or friends what we will believe and use.  Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10 verses 37-39, “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”  There is no confusion here, we love God above all else and we die to self and show love to others by learning and sharing the truth.

We can’t say; well it says it here but not there we are called to a higher standard and we must be willing to repent and change.  I want to share this prayer:  Dear God thank you for your love and your gifts.  We desire to learn and grow to be just like your Son, please fill our hearts with the strength that only comes from you and keep us focused not on ourselves and this world but help us take up our cross and live to glorify you.  Help us not give into worldly authority that wants to make your word fit into our lives instead help us fit our lives into your word.  We ask all this in Jesus name.  Amen 


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Jude 1

5/21/2012

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Jude 1:4 says, “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.”

We must understand that our faith and trust in the Lord is not a feeling, it is a heart change. When we follow our feelings, we will do things that make us feel good or seem right but when we follow Christ, we are led by the Spirit who will show us the right way. As fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, we must learn and mature our faith and seek God’s wisdom only for our source of understanding. We can’t change what we believe because our friends might have different thoughts or because we are seeking acceptance from the world for some political or financial gain. We must humbly come to God, knowing that His word and Jesus’ example are for us to know and live by.

Verse 22 says, “And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.” We must be open to learn and show love by working together to stay focused on God. It’s not about judging, it’s about teaching and loving people. Verse 23 says: “Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment, show mercy to still others but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.” It’s not alright to excuse or okay ways of life that don’t fit into God’s plan. And we can’t think that because we show love, that we cannot teach Biblical truth. We must always be ready to live a life that resembles Jesus Christ and that means teaching each other full truth, even though it hurts or our family and friends don’t agree.

Verses 20 and 21 say, “But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your 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 yourself safe in God’s love.” God gave us a choice and we must choose by His power and wisdom in us, not by our emotions that lead us to our desires. Ephesians 1:19 says, “I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us that believe Him…” We should die to self and let God’s power show us the way. And remember, if we feel we don’t understand something, we have God’s Word to teach us.

James 1:5 says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” Truth is truth. We cannot fill in our own blanks. God has done that for us. So, surrender, and let His power shine. Amen.


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1 John 3:18-19

5/20/2012

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1 John 3:18-19 “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.”

Our actions are so important to our heart change and our heart change is what helps our faith grow and our growing faith helps us believe in Jesus Christ.  And it all starts with our believing that God sent Jesus as Lord and Savior to bridge the gap back to the Father.

In chapter 4 verse 9 it says, “God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.”  All He wants is us to love Him by accepting His Son and learning to live like Him.

Chapter 5 verse 3 says, “Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.”  When we say we love God we are saying we believe in Jesus and when we believe in Jesus our lives will change and we will do what the Spirit tells us not what our own fleshly desires tell us.  The dictionary tells us believing means; “to trust in; to hold a firm conviction about; to accept as true, genuine, or real.”  So when we say we believe it needs to move us and change us from the inside out.  We can say we believe and not change and it is like the demons that believed in Jesus but didn’t want to follow or accept Him. 

We must die to self and follow Jesus fully and as we do that our lives shine bright so people see true children of God.  In chapter 5 verses 11-12 it says, “And this is what God has testified:  He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”  We need to thank God for His Son and then accept Him by learning to be like Him and showing our belief is real.  Amen


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1 John 3

5/17/2012

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1 John 3:6 “Anyone who continues to live in Him will not sin.  But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know Him or understand who He is.”

Think on this for a while; when we live in Him totally surrendered to our own desires we will choose the Spirit and life.  The more we grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ and what right living looks like the less we will get caught up in sin.  I like John’s warning in verse 7, “Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this:  When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.”  We can be righteous and not stuck living for ourselves and this world.  To me this is motivating and I want to continue to grow so I become less of me and more of Him.

Verse 8 says, “But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning.  But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.”  We can and should live our lives not saying:  I’m just a sinner I know I’ll mess up.  But we should say I am a child of God and righteous and the Spirit will lead and I will follow.  We are strong because of Him and we can live right because of Him.  When we die to self and live for Him we don’t excuse our sins because we are sinners we repent and say no I am a child of God.

Verse 9 says, “Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them.  So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.”  When we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives we are different because our hearts have changed and God’s life is in us.  We must stop and think (what would Jesus do) then do it knowing the Spirit will always give us the righteous way to live.

Verse 10 is clear and as I read it I think not of perfection but excited passion for Jesus and living as He did, focused on the Father.  “So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil.  Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.”

Be passionate and willing to grow everyday so our lives show that we are children of God and not helpless and stuck in this world.  Amen

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2 Peter 2

5/13/2012

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2 Peter 2   In this chapter Peter shares the dangers of knowing Christ Jesus and then making our sinful desires fit into living a holy life.  These people have heard the Good News about Jesus and believe it yet they feel it is alright to live anyway they please because they are secure in their belief.  A commentary I read in a Nelson study Bible put it this way.  “The heretical teachers clearly were implying that once the soul is saved, what is done in the body is of no importance.”  This is a dangerous way to think and Peter stresses this throughout his second letter.  In chapter 2 verses 19-21 I believe Peter shines a bright light on this lukewarm way of thinking.  “They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption.  For you are a slave to whatever controls you.  And when people escape from the wickedness of this world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.  It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.”

The commentary stresses that verse 21 (“It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness…”) means knowledge without obedience is dangerous.”  We can’t be satisfied with knowing Christ we must be willing to change our lives to be like Him.  God loves us so much He gave us everything we need to know to choose life and our actions can’t change that love but our actions can change our final destination. 

I am so excited that God put these words into Peter to share.  In 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 17-18 it says, “I am writing you ahead of time, dear friends.  Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.  Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  All glory to Him, both now and forever!”  God is so great and deserves our best efforts to show our love to Him.  I say let’s work hard to show Him how thankful we are by dying to our desires and living to do His will.  Amen


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2 Peter 1

5/10/2012

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2 Peter 1:3-4 “By His Devine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.  We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises.  These are the promises that enable you to share His Devine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desire.”

This is so important to realize as we work on our understanding of what we should do as fully devoted followers of Jesus.  As we come to know Him by reading and prayer we will grow and our lives will change to be more like His.  Just because we know all the promises He has given us it doesn’t mean we can do nothing, we must still come to Him and receive the power from the Holy Spirit so our lives actually change.

Verse 5 says, “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.  Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, (it doesn’t say in view of all this, God will change you because you know His Son) verses 6-7 continues with “and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”

God has given us the tools but He is expecting us to use them and make an effort to be the “Christians” we are called to be.  Verse 8 says, “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We are called to action and we are called to develop our faith.  God has given us the tools, how are we using them?

We have the free will to choose action and constantly develop and mature or we can fall back on knowing Jesus will be enough and I’m a sinner if I can’t change He is ok with that.  We must remember that repentance is not repentance if there is no change in our heart and mind and our lives.  Verse 9 says, “But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”

We can’t be satisfied because we have been baptized, that is not the end of our work we must constantly grow and work to know more so we stand strong when we are attacked by the devil and the worldly desires that we have lurking in us.  I want to end with verses 10-11 which say, “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.  Do these things, and you will never fall away.  Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  Let’s accept His love and show ours by living a new life in Christ.  Amen


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1 Peter 3

5/8/2012

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1 Peter 3:9-12 “Don’t repay evil for evil.  Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you.  Instead, pay them back with a blessing.  That is what God has called you to do, and He will bless you for it.  For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.  Turn away from evil and do good.  Search for peace, and work to maintain it.  The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and His ears are open to their prayers.  But the Lord turns His face against those who do evil.”

We are called to a higher standard and must continue to grow everyday so we can follow the example of right living.  It is so hard for us to not retaliate when we are hurt but that is what we must do.  Jesus didn’t speak on His charges He just let God handle it.  It seems better for us to retaliate and we might feel good for a second but it is short lived and we will soon feel empty.  I struggle with my tongue and getting the last word in or that zinger but by seeing that example of Christ and reading God’s word I am getting better each day.

We have the responsibility to stop living for ourselves and follow the Spirit.  Verse 11 says. “Turn away from evil and do good.  Search for peace, and work to maintain it.”  It doesn’t say sit back you know the Lord He will take care of your struggles.  Verse 15 says, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.  And if someone asks about your Christian hope always be ready to explain it.” When we realize what “Lord” means our entire outlook on being a Christian should change.  We understand that surrendering to His will is essential and where we truly get our peace and joy. 

In chapter 2 verses 11-12 it says, “Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.  Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors.  Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world.”  We need to work on our choices and our actions and make sure our focus is on God and not ourselves.  Then as we learn and grow we will make a difference in the Kingdom.  Amen

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James 1:19

5/6/2012

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James 1:19-20 “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters:  You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.  Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.  So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.”

As I went back over James today these verses just hit me.  I believe they did because I struggle with anger more than anything now.  I love the challenge that James gives us in verse 21, “So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your soul.”  We need to work on surrendering to God and letting the Spirit lead us that is when our hearts are changed and we can grow in maturity.

Chapter 1 verse 22 says, “But don’t just listen to God’s word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”  We can’t think that once we are done reading we are good, God’s word is our manual for life and we must learn it and live it so we change and grow.  We need to remember that Jesus coming freed us from our sinful desires and gave us a way back to the Father.  Our hearts must be transformed and opened to what God has given us so we do not have to do anything on our own. 

His word and the Spirit will lead us to the narrow road.  We can never feel comfortable we must humbly come to God daily in prayer and an open heart knowing that when we do we will feel the peace and joy that only comes from the Lord.  Amen 

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James 4

5/3/2012

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James 4:4 “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”

When we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we must release our desires and surrender to God’s will. This happens when we open our hearts and study God’s word faithfully. The things of this world are not for us, we will desire them because we have lived that way but when we are born again we are new creations. And when we start to desire the world again we listen to the Spirit who is in us and we choose to follow Him instead of ourselves.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “…come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” How do we keep our minds and hearts out of the world? We come to Christ and talk to Him letting the Spirit who will lead us right decide what we do. This is us letting go of the control and giving it to God showing Him our love and faith. We will all fall short of His glory sometimes but as we mature and learn more we will be led by the Spirit and repent when we fall short of His glory.

God gives us the tools to grow and He wants us to use them. Not by our works but by our love. I love what James says in chapter 4 verses 7-9, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

We must remember that when we resist and come close those are things we have to do to make our walk complete. If we don’t resist and come to God we will always struggle and it will be harder for us to repent when we fall short and that is a dangerous place to be. We need to ask, seek and knock so we can be humble and truly be faithful in all situations. Amen


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