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Hebrews 11

6/20/2015

Hebrews 11:25-26
"He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward."

Moses had it all when he was taken in by royalty, yet he didn't let that wealth and power corrupt his faith in God. When we sincerely seek God we let go of our flesh and we move toward Him. Moses focused on eternal reward and not the earthly reward because he knew that all that power and money couldn't give him peace and joy in his heart. That would only come from obeying God. I love what John 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." Jesus is sharing that whatever we think will make us happy will fail apart from Him. The greatest things I get from this faith chapter in Hebrews is no one cared if they experienced anything while they were alive in this world because they knew they would have eternal life. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 13 says, "All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth."

I can pray and believe, but I can't put my timing on it. God is God and the joy I have is not because of what I get here, it is what I have forever because of Jesus bridging the gap to heaven. Philippians chapter 1 verse 21 is my favorite verse because it shows the surrender to Christ and the gain we get from that. "For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better." It does not say, for to me, living means living for me, and dying really stinks. Jesus makes life worth living so we don't care about what the world says. I always am reminded of this story in Daniel chapter 3 verses 17-18 where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego talk to the King and say, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up." Nothing in this world will matter to us when we let go and have faith in the promise that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and we will be home someday. Amen

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Romans 1

6/15/2015

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Paul's letter to the Romans if you think about it sounds like it could have been written about America today. Look what it says in Romans chapter 1 verses 20 and 21, "For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused."

We are so clouded with things that we see that we look right past what God has done. The pleasures that our freedom in America brings overshadows at times what we know is true. God created everything and wants us to know His Son, and see what He did in the flesh, then be like Him. He is the word and the way and nothing this world can bring can do anything for us eternally. It is all about Jesus.

The next part talks about the different idols people used and we struggle with man made things as well. Verse 23 "And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles." We struggle with Cars, sports, and things we can buy. As I watch the news I am amazed at what people will do for their sports teams; the sacrifice they will make is crazy. They use money they don't have, neglect their families and then riot and fight if their teams lose. What should be important to us gets put on the back burner and we sometimes fit it in, but it's the first thing we give up doing. (Knowing God)

It says in the beginning of verse 23, "...yes they knew God..." So we can't say we don't know Him, but do we work at belonging to Him? All He wants is a relationship and for us to believe in Jesus, and then know Him so much that we do God's will instead of our own. We were all born sinners because of Adam, but Jesus makes us new and when we are new, the old is washed away. The saying "we were born that way" is a lie that the enemy wants us to believe so we struggle with what we think and feel. God wants us to grow and learn, seek and ask, and keep on living through Christ. When we work hard to know Him, God transforms us into His image.

God is love and when we choose to do our own thing He lets us. Verse 24 says, "So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies." When we live by our feelings we do what our flesh desires, but when we open our hearts and seek we will find the truth and He will set us free.

As you continue to read in Romans chapter 1 we see things that are happening right now, as the world is trying to make us believe our feelings or desires deserve to be fulfilled. Verses 25-27 go on to say, "They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved." We must remember in Gods love for us He never wants to make us love Him. He so loved the world that He gave His Son. We need to love Him the same way and give up our thoughts and feelings and surrender our will. That is exactly what Jesus did, we can do the same when we are in Him and are working to know Him.

We can't get caught up on the sex part of what Romans says because it goes on to add these in verses 28-29, "Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip." We can't get caught up in what America is trying to tell us, open His word and follow the perfect example (Jesus) and then work hard to live it out. We are traveling through this place, let's not get stuck on what it's selling and believe we are born again, and new. Amen

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1 Corinthians 15

6/8/2015

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1 Corinthians 15:10 "But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by His grace."

I love this about Paul; he desired not to be like the others he wanted to work harder than everyone for Christ. In verse 9 right before he says, "For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church." He doesn't let what he did in the past stop him from doing what God had for him. As we saw he said God poured out His favor on him and he worked harder than anyone else.

What I love about this is He (God) doesn't care where we were, He wants us to work hard to be who He made us to be. At The Rock Church we say every service; The Rock, a church that cares where you going...and not where you've been. Paul didn't get hung up on who he was, he, said I have changed because of God's working through me by His grace. If God doesn't have favorites, and He doesn't, then we can all work hard and grow so we are moved by the Holy Spirit to bear fruit. It goes on to say in verse 22, "Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life." We need to believe this and belong to Christ letting go of what use to drive us and let the Holy Spirit drive us.

When we work hard it's not to earn something, it's so we can live that something out. I want to end with the end of chapter 15 and I want you to really look at what it says and believe it, verses 57-58 "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." Nothing we do for the Lord is useless, go, be a light and work hard to bear fruit. Amen

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Judges 6

6/3/2015

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Judges 6:14-16

As I was reading today I came to the story of Gideon in the book of Judges and it made me forget what I thought I couldn't do and reminded me that the Lord is my strength. We need to pray and talk to God all the time or without ceasing because His power in us is what gets us through. He loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son in the flesh and as the word. And He gave us the Holy Spirit in us to guide and lead us into all truth.

Look at this conversation that Gideon has with the Lord. Judges chapter 6 verse 14, "Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” The key statement here is "I am sending you." If God is sending us we will succeed for His glory, so as we pray and stay connected we know what He is sending us to do. We can't get caught up not having a relationship with the Lord and hoping we are going to hear the Spirit leading us. That will take listening and time with Him.

The next part of this story goes on to says in Judges 6 verse 15, “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” God doesn't use just the people we think He should use, He uses the humble and the people who will bring Him glory. Remember God has no favorites, He wants us all to shine and be like Christ. We put our own restriction on our ability, we need to believe it when God is saying "I am sending you." How many times do we not listen because we don't think we are good enough?

The last verse of Judges chapter 6 is verse 16 is powerful, "The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.” That is awesome and makes me want to know Him more and seek His strength. We must remember that we are never alone, and our relationship with Him grows as we desire to learn and let Him transform us into His image. Let's be people that believe it and show it by our actions, living our lives through Him and being a light for people to see. Amen

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Hebrews 11

Romans 1

1 Corinthians 15

Judges 6

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