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July 27th, 2016

7/27/2016

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1 Timothy 6:9

“But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.”
It is something to work hard to be rich and do things a way that is pleasing to God. And then there are people that long to be rich and will do anything to get wealth.  Our desire should be to have a rich relationship with Jesus and to continue to learn about Him so we can live as He did. To live like Him takes study and practice because our flesh will desire things that are pleasing and make us feel good, but we see when we read and grow that a relationship with Jesus bring to us a satisfying live.  In verse 10 we are shown that, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” When we are seeking wisdom from the Lord we see that loving anything more than God will always lead us to live our will, when Jesus showed us to say "not my will be done." The love of money puts our heart on pressure mode, working and trying to get things that we think will satisfy us.  When in fact the only thing that will make us feel complete is knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Loving God above all else trickles down to a love for everyone and that kind of loving changes people's lives and perspective. It states that "...some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” When we have things that we think help us and make us complete, there is no reason for us to have faith in Him.  This leads to us being driven by our physical feeling and we miss out on true peace that comes from truly knowing Him. I love what Paul shares to Timothy in verse 17, "Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” What is amazing in this verse is it says, He will give us richly what we need for our enjoyment.  He won't just give us a little, He will fill us with joy. 

Don't think wealth is bad and all Christians should give all their money to the church and not having anything. We should work hard in our relationship with God and work hard in our lives using what we have to make a difference. The idea of 10% as a tithe is small compared to the fulfillment we will get from God when we show our love. When we open up and tithe, not holding on to what we have, He promises us this in His word. In Luke
6:38 it says, "Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back." It's about where our love is directed not about what we can get. I pray that we all continue to seek a relationship with Him that leads us to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ and keeps our focus on true riches that come from heaven. Amen 


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Colossians 1

7/22/2016

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Colossians 1:10 NLT

"Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.”

I wanted to start in verse 10 because it gives us that hope and purpose to be fruitful in all we do. When we are fruitful we grow and when we grow we know God better and better.  We can't think we will just grow with no effort, it takes prayer, devotion and work on our part so we can live that honoring way through all life's trials. 

Verse 9 says, 
“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Paul is praying for people all the time to be changed and to make a difference that comes from the Lord.  We are new creations, born again and when we understand His will of us, loving and being like Christ, we see the benefits of the wisdom we can receive.  Peter gives us these steps to continued growth that will make an impact in our lives and others so Christ shines and people don't just hear us they see the change that is taking place.

In 2 Peter verse 4 it says, "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 divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires." Our human desires will always be there but with understanding and prayer we can grow in these things to make our desires be for Him and we transform.  Verses 5-7 say, “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, 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.” It says make every effort, it does not say it will just happen so let's remember to work hard to show what we believe and to live our lives with purpose shining His light. 

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 should all seek more, when we do we become not only followers of Jesus but fully devoted followers that are more productive and useful with the knowledge we have and our change is evident.  Never stop praying, growing and working because it is all done for the reason of sharing the Good News about Christ.  Amen 



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Philippians 3

7/18/2016

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Philippians 3:12

"I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.” 

I like what Paul is sharing, see he has been at the pinnacle of following the law and he has seen Jesus, yet he desires to know more.  We need to open our hearts and minds daily to fill up with what the word has for us.  The Holy Spirit living in us will open that understanding to His word when we take the time to read it and pray.  Paul said that he wanted to posses that perfection of Christ because He has possessed us.  We can love Him because He first loved us. 

In verses 13-14 it goes on to say, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”  None of us has been so bad that we have to look back.  Look ahead and believe that Jesus not only loves you but wants to use you for reaching the lost that don't know Him.  At the end of this life we all win the prize. The world tries and tells us that we're not good enough but God sent us His one and only Son to say, run with purpose and diligence because there is a price of eternal life through Jesus. 

In Luke chapter 9 verse 62 Jesus says, “But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” The excitement of what God has given us should out shine anything we could've ever been stuck in before.  We can't let family or friends or our past dictate what we have in our future.  Paul lays it out very clear on how we need to direct or focus in verse 20, “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior.” My prayer is that we all have that eagerness in this area and continue to shine bright for the Lord and remember that we all win when we know and belong to Jesus.  Amen 


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Colossians 3

7/5/2016

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Colossians 3:1-3NLT

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Stop and think about this, actually read it again, right now! See we miss things sometimes when we are reading because we have a check list to mark that we read God's word.  We need to read daily but it can't be because we want to check something off, it is to build a relationship, to know Him more and grow in wisdom and knowledge.  See we are raised to new life, we are not stuck where we were, Jesus has made us NEW.  We should celebrate this new life by thanking God and seeing what heaven has for us.  When we set our sight on the realities of heaven we should have a permanent smile and a joy in our heart.  When that happens we shine those qualities on earth and we can make a difference as believers. "...on earth as it is in heaven" comes to mind when I think of Jesus and what He did for us. 

Verse 4 says “And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.” Our relationship with Him keeps us connected and shining so we are His light and when He returns we will be apart of all His glory. This means all His glory not just some of it, so die to this life and be the salt to make a difference.  I like what verse 10 says and it is something we need to think about as we start our day, “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him." See, we need to "put on" we can't expect that it will just happen. Then it says "learn to know" see we can know Him but it will have little benefit if that's where we stop. I want to complete myself and finish what it says, "become like Him." The process is full and God has given us everything we need to "become like Him" so don't wait and hope, have hope because you know and have put on your new life, and see the realities of Heaven everyday.  Amen 
 


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