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Ephesians 1

10/29/2015

Ephesians 1:4-6
“Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son.”

This is amazing when we think of it; He chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. We need to remember that "in Christ" we are capable of dying to ourselves and being who He chose us to be. Apart from Him we are selfish and we struggle to live for His purpose for us. It says, it is how He wanted it, so we should be thankful and work on finding our strength in Jesus by learning His word and applying it to our everyday lives.

We are family and because of Jesus and the grace God gave sending Him to us while we were yet sinners, we are able to be in His family and do great things for Him. I love in John chapter 14 verse 12 what Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”

God has made it so we "do" and believe in His Son, so when we think of ourselves we should see that God takes pleasure in who we are. This makes me desire to learn even more and continue to grow so I can show my love for Him. This was a free gift because God wanted it that way. Jesus came in obedience to the Father and suffered, died, and rose again so we can go home. That was not done for His benefit but ours, so as we seek we must desire to live and believe that God's plan is for us to be together for ever as family. Amen

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Revelation 14

10/20/2015

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Revelation 14:13
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”

It is so important that we surrender and understand what Jesus has done for us. We never have to worry because He has bridged the gap to heaven so we can rejoice for eternity. When we die in the Lord we live and when we live to be a light we shine all the time. The world tries and gets us to believe that we need all that it offers but that only leads us to loose focus on what (who) is true, Jesus Christ. Look at verse 11 and see the despair, “The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”

We must renew our minds daily and remember how much God loves us and has given us. The world cannot fill the emptiness in our heart that can only be filled by the Lord. I saw a quote from Erwin McManus and it really made me think, he said, "You need to live before you die - but you need to step back and make sure you die before you live." If we don't remember and be thankful daily it is easy for us to get caught up in this world. In Ephesians chapter 6 verses 13-17 we get some instructions that will benefit us for everyday life and we should put them into practice always. “Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

We must remember that we will have trials and things in life will happen that we don't understand but we must always know that God loves us so much that He gave His Son for us and what ever is going on will not last for long. Look at Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 which says, “This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying His commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.”
I want to end with a verse from 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 which says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." Be bold and die in the Lord daily. Amen

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Revelation 5:9-10

10/16/2015

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Revelation 5:9-10
“And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”

We, because of Jesus Christ, have a purpose and we are called priest for our God. We can never question what God can do with us because He has made us usable by sending Jesus to die for our sins. We are not just here to go to church we are here to help people hear about Jesus. We are called His children and that makes us worthy to "do" and "be" like Jesus as we are in this temporary home helping plant seeds and water them. It is so encouraging to read what Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, “And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago.” We are His own and nothing should make us more excited and have more joy.

Look what verse 14 says, “The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.” When we understand this we can see how important it is for us to live our faith out and be willing to use all the gifts God has given us. When we do, He gets the glory and the praise and people see that our faith is not just words and the kingdom of God feels the benefits. (More people being saved and born again.) God has no favorites so don't believe the lies that you are not worthy, because you are. We all need to keep growing and seeking Wisdom from God so we can apply the knowledge we get and be difference makers. Amen

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2 Peter 1

10/14/2015

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2 Peter 1:3 “By His divine 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.”

Really look at what it says, "...we have receive all of this by coming to know Him..." The more we seek and desire to grow the more we will grow. It is not hard, but we must choose to make it our number one priority. Verse 4 goes on to say, “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.” We can escape our sinful nature because of what God has given us, when we embrace the promises and we believe they are true we can say no to our flesh. This will take us giving Him our time in prayer, worship, and opening His word. As we read on in verses 5-7 we see how our lives can be changed and the steps that will continually help us. “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.”

All these things lead to us living out a life that resembles Jesus Christ and opens the doors to have people see love not hypocrisy. I love how verse 8 tells how it will help us be more useful in our knowledge. “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We can't sit back and hope all will be good, we need to constantly be working and sharing so we can be the best example for others to see Christ in the world. As we keep reading we can see how this all makes a difference in 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.” If we have been made new we should be new and not stuck in our old ways of thinking. I want to end with reading verses 10-11 which should stick in our head and settle in our hearts. “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.” Amen

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October 07th, 2015

10/7/2015

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Joshua 22:5
“But be very careful to obey all the commands and the instructions that Moses gave to you. Love the LORD your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.””

As I was reading this today I was drawn to this specific part; "hold firmly to Him..." This screams relationship and us co-laboring with Him. It is so much more than I go to church, or read my bible, it is desiring to hold on to Him and know Him. The next line says; "and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul..." It talks about this in multiple areas in His word so it must be an important part of growth and maturity. When we do this our love for Him grows and our love for others does also and we enthusiastically want to serve Him.

Romans chapter 12 verse 11 says, “Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.” This is what happens when we say thank you to Him for life and then open up to say, here I am, use me. Pastor Kevin Goff shared this at service and it is a great way to think, "Our life is a gift from God and our service is our gift to God." When we believe and feel it in our hearts that we don't have to do anything, we get to, our attitude changes and so does our focus. When we change our focus we have fellowship with Him, that fellowship moves us to live in the light. 1 John chapter 1 verse 6 says, “So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.” verse 7 goes on to say, “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” Hold firmly to Him, that is so important as we grow each day. Amen

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Ephesians 1

Revelation 14

Revelation 5:9-10

2 Peter 1

October 07th, 2015

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