Sunday, November 25, 2012

Immanuel

God with us!


Video: MercyMe - God With Us

Who are we
That You would be mindful of us
What do You see
That's worth looking our way
We are free
In ways that we never should be
Sweet release
From the grip of these chains

Like hinges straining from the weight
My heart no longer can keep from singing
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified
Emmanuel
God with us

My heart sings a brand new song
The debt is paid these chains are gone
Emmanuel
God with us

Lord You know
Our hearts don't deserve Your glory
Still You show
A love we cannot afford

If you realize your spiritual condition then it will be mind boggling to you that God would want to be Immanuel (God with us). We walk away from him and go our own way just like God's children in the Old Testament did. Yet he still wants to have a relationship and spend time with us. (Isaiah 53:6, Psalm 16:11)

Thank you Lord for wanting to have a relationship with me and going so far over the top to make it available to me. Without you my life would have no meaning.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Thank God For A New Life

My God is eternal and so am I.


1 Peter 1:23-25 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

24 As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass;their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. 25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

John 3:16  "For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

The miracle of life is worth celebrating, everybody likes to see a new born baby, all of the friends and relatives of the family have to go see the baby. It is time to have a party! Life is fragile and so very temporary, that is the reality of our sinful condition, it doesn't take long for the party to end.

The good news is that there is new life that will never end. Our time on earth passes so quickly, the Bible often compares our existence to plants in the field, human life is compared to the plants in the field, they look pretty for a season and then they fade away.

Have you had a spiritual birthday?

John 3:5-6,16 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life."
When we are born into God's family we gain this life that never ends, Jesus said, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish" (John 10:28) God loves us so much that he wants to spend eternity with us! If people that are fading away celebrate new life which will also fade away then how much more should we celebrate new life that will last for eternity?

God promises that eternity for me includes:


✔ Eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9)
✔ Eternal prize (1 Corinthians 9:25)
✔ Eternal glory (1 Peter 5:10)
✔ Eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15)
✔ Eternal home (John 14:2-3)

Best of all you can have all of this for free! Thank God, I didn't have to pay for this gift with money, or by being good enough, it is mine through having a relationship with Jesus. (Romans 6:23)

Thank you Lord for giving me a new life that will never fade away. Thanksgiving time is a great time to remember your blessings.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

God's Children Should Love

Who you please is proof of who you love.


1 Peter 1:22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

John 13:35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

There have been a lot of books written about love, from romance novels to books on how to improve your love life, there probably isn't another topic that has been written about. Of all of those books there is one that stands above the rest as the greatest love story.

We have all heard that phrase "God is love" but have you thought about what that means? God is so full of love that he is called love, he is the source of love and everything that he does is done out of love. (1 John 4:8)

From the book of Genesis all of the way to Revelations the Bible is the story of God's love for his creation. Each day of creation he paused and checked it out and said that it was good, he loved the work that he did that day, he especially loved the work that he did when he created man and woman. God spent time with Adam and Eve because he loved them and he desired for them to know him and to know his love.
Exodus 15:13 “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home."
Moses and the nation of Israel sang those words to God after he delivered them from Egypt, he proved to them that he loves them and that he has a plan for them, just as he does for all of his people. god's people don't always have the easy life but that doesn't mean that God has failed to love them as he promised.

Have you experienced God's love?

Ephesians 3:17-19 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
If we love ourselves then we will live for ourselves, if we love our spouse then we will strive to please them. If we love God then it will show in how we live, Jesus told us that the proof that we have experienced God's love is that we will live to please him, it will be very obvious if you love him or if you do not. (John 14:21-24)

God is love, he loves everyone of us, the question is: Have you experienced God's love? There could be no sadder existence than the one that doesn't know that they are loved by their creator. God's children are on a mission to make sure that everybody knows about this love. We should show love the way that God has showed love to us.
Lamentations 3:22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.
Thank you for your love that never ends Lord! Help me to love big so that people will know that I am your child.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Running On Empty

Are you attempting to fill your life with anything other than God?


1 Peter 1:17-20 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”

18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

The symptoms of the empty life: depression, anxiety, loneliness, unforgiven, hurt and a lack of purpose, that's what the pleasures of this world have to offer you.
“In all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.”
That's a sad way to deal with the emptiness that we all feel, even a follower of Christ can feel empty, the world doesn't have much to offer you. When Jesus came to earth he found a world full of empty people, the government of Israel had been overthrown, the Roman government and the religious leaders were oppressing the people, they all seemed to be like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

Some of the people that Jesus met that needed to be "filled up" include:

✔  The Samaritan woman that needed more than just her jar filled (John1:1-54)
✔  Matthew the despised tax collector (Matthew 9:9-13)
✔  The woman that was healed from touching the hem of his garment, (Mark 5:25-29)
✔  The rich man that wouldn't give so that he could get (Luke 18:18-25)

The reason that life seems empty is because of sin. For those that are still seeking for a way to deal with guilt, those that don't know about grace and forgiveness, it can be very difficult to find meaning and purpose in life.

Jesus saved me from the empty life of sin

Romans 8:31-32  What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  32  Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else?
The good news is that you can get beyond the guilt if you have the right lawyer. God is a fair and impartial judge and there is only one lawyer that can possibly get your past erased, if you don't have him then you are in trouble. (1 John 2:1)

Christ paid a high price to redeem us from our hopeless, empty existence that we had before we came to know him. The sin nature that we inherited from our ancestors is powerless against what Christ has done. The lamb that was put on the altar for our sins was the first and only sinless sacrifice that the world will ever know. It is amazing that God has always planned to send his son for our benefit, there wasn't any last minute change of plans, this is still Plan A. Our imperfections didn't catch God off guard and force him to create Plan B.

We have a lot of potential in Jesus, he has a fulfilling life in mind for every one of us, but we can all experience emptiness when we allow worldly pressures and pleasures to get a foothold. Our life will feel incomplete when we fail to make time for intimate fellowship with Christ or when we put him in a box.

I need to make the time to draw near to God so that I will remember how well he has treated me. (Psalm 103:10-11)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Get Out Of The Milk

Selfish living dominates our life when God isn't allowed to be in control.


1 Peter 1:13-16 So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

1 Peter 2:1-3 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

If you received the good news and became a Christ follower like Peter has talking about in the previous verses of this chapter then there are some things that will naturally change in your life as a result. As followers of Christ we should be having an exciting time looking forward to the day when our salvation will be revealed to the world. Our salvation should be a great source of joy in the midst of this world full of tragedy and injustice.

Here is a word of warning for those that are trying to live to please God, you should beware because the old ways will try and take you back, Peter said that "living to satisfy your own desires" will creep back in the door if you are not careful. It's all about making choices, all day long we are constantly making choices, it is difficult to control ourselves and make the choices that please God, it requires us to take on the mind of Christ. The desire to please ourselves is a battle that we will fight until Jesus takes us out of this world. (Romans 7:15, 1 Corinthians 2:16)

Have you outgrown the milk diet?

Hebrews 5:12-14  You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.  13  For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right.  14  Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
You start out as a baby in God's family, just like you did in your human family, but you shouldn't stay at that stage of your spiritual life forever. You should have a good appetite, one that is anxious for more milk and then progressing to eating cereal and then moving on to solid food.

God wants us to be like him, his number one character trait is his holiness the moral excellence of God, sounds like a tall order that we can't possibly attain. It is an attribute that we are to strive for, God tells us to be holy just like he is, we need to look like a part of God's family. We will not fully achieve our goal but if you are a follower of Christ then you will start to look like him, it can't be any other way, following Christ will always have an outward expression, actions that can't be covered up. 

God has revealed himself, his character and his desires for his children through his word. We need to be students of his book and let him "teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives" so that we will know how to become more like him. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Prophecy Confirms Who Jesus Is

Look to the prophets for proof about Jesus.


1 Peter 1:9-12  The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls.  10  This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.   

11  They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when He told them in advance about Christ's suffering and His great glory afterward.   

12  They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

Salvation by grace is here! Peter told this good news everywhere that he went and to everybody that would listen. This good news had been anticipated for hundreds of years has finally come to pass. People were having their doubts but the events that had just recently happened in Jerusalem were the fulfillment of prophecy.

God had revealed a lot of the details about the coming Messiah long before it happened. The events surrounding Jesus birth, lifetime and his death authenticate his identity. If you just look at the prophecies concerning Jesus birth in Matthew chapter one and two you will see significant details that prove that the Messiah had arrived. Starting with the proof of Jesus lineage as a descendant of King David, Matthew continues to tell us that Jesus was born of a virgin, he would be born in Bethlehem, called out of Egypt and he grew up in Nazareth. (Matthew 1:1-2:23)

Peter told the Jews

Acts 3:17-18, 24  "Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. 18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah--that He must suffer these things. 24 Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today."
After Peter and John healed a man at the temple gate Peter jumped at the opportunity to tell everybody that was there about the source of the healing. The power of the Holy Spirit gave Peter the ability to fearlessly explain the events that had just happened a few days ago. The people that killed Jesus were right there when he accused them of killing God. (Acts 3:15)

Peter told the Gentiles

Acts 10:42-43 "And He ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the One appointed by God to be the Judge of all--the living and the dead. 43 He is the One all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in Him will have their sins forgiven through His name."

Peter didn't want to go to Cornelius' house but God didn't give him much of a choice. Peter needed to learn a lesson about the Gentiles being included in the good news of the gospel, he would tell them about the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. (Acts 10:34-35)

There should not be any doubt about who Jesus is or why he came to earth and died, the prophets make it crystal clear, Jesus claims to be God should be indisputable.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Believing Without Seeing

Trusting in God even though you cannot see him.


1 Peter 1:8-9 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

It may sound like nonsense to believe in a being that you haven't seen in person or that you have not had an opportunity to touch, but you can come to faith in God without turning off your brains, believing in God is actually very logical.

Jesus was seen by thousands of people yet it was only a fraction of the world population at that time, there wasn't a way for him to be seen by the masses like there is today, the story of his life and his mission was passed along by the thousands that did see him.

Peter wrote this letter to Christ followers that were scattered all around Asia Minor that loved Jesus even though they never met him. They had heard of his character, his teaching, his message of love and forgiveness, his sacrifice for sin, and his resurrection and ascension, and they had learned to love him and believe in him.

You don't have to abandon all logic to come to God or to believe in Jesus, there are so many testimonies about him that we don't have an excuse for not knowing him, it doesn't take a great leap of faith. We can rely on the testimony of:
✔  Creation (Psalm 8:1-4)
✔  Scripture (John 5:39-47)
✔  The prophets (Luke 24:44)
✔  The disciples  (Acts 2:14 - 4:37)
✔  Jesus (John 10:25, Hebrews 1:3)
✔  Holy Spirit (John 14:26)
✔  Stephen the Martyr (Acts 7:1-60)
✔  Paul (Acts 17:22-34, Acts 26:1-32)
The evidence for our Creator and for our Savior and the Holy Spirit is very clear. They are all infinitely loving, they have given us more than any other, provided for our forgiveness. They have a place for us to go to spend eternity with them without any sorrow or pain a place where we were made to dwell.

“If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid. But someone else
is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true."

No other religion has so much testimony to validate it's teachings. The Jehovah's Witnesses have the testimony of one man; Charles Taze Russell. The Mormons have the testimony of one man; Joseph Smith. Islam has the testimony of one man; Muhammad. Even Jesus told us that the testimony of one man isn't valid even if the testimony is from Jesus himself.
Hebrews 2:3-4 How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 12:1 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.
Christianity is the only accurate revelation of God to man, there is overwhelming testimony to authenticate it, no religious system that man has devised can measure up. God has desired to be known ever since the Garden of Eden when he spent time daily with Adam and Eve and he still wants to be know by you and I.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Build Your Kingdom Here

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else.



Rend Collective Experiment - Build Your Kingdom Here

In our hearts again
Increase in us we pray
Unveil why we're made
Come set our hearts ablaze with hope
Like wildfire in our very souls
Holy Spirit come invade us now
We are Your Church
We need Your power
In us

We seek Your kingdom first
We hunger and we thirst
Refuse to waste our lives
For You're our joy and prize
To see the captive hearts released
The hurt; the sick; the poor at peace
We lay down our lives for Heaven's cause
We are Your church
We pray revive
This Earth

Unleash Your kingdom's power
Reaching the near and far
No force of hell can stop
Your beauty changing hearts
You made us for much more than this
Awake the kingdom seed in us
Fill us with the strength and love of Christ
We are Your church
We are the hope
On Earth

1 Chronicles 29:11-13 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is Yours, O LORD, and this is Your kingdom. We adore You as the One who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from You alone, for You rule over everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and at Your discretion people are made great and given strength. 13 "O our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name!

What takes up your time and energy? Are you so concerned about your family, job, house, clothes that you don't have time and energy for the kingdom work that God wants you to do? God cares for the smallest parts of his creation so we can know that he will certainly take care of the beings that were created in his image.

As a child of God we should long for his kingdom, a place where the church and the government are blended together in complete harmony, a place where their aren't any orphanages, a place where life is respected from the womb to the tomb and where there isn't any need for a welfare program.
Can you imagine a world where justice always prevails, where righteousness and goodness is the rule and dominates, where there is total and lasting peace, where joy reigns?
-Pastor John MacArthur
The Bible teaches us that the kingdom of God comes into being wherever the authority of God is acknowledged. If God's people will live with God's concerns in mind and acknowledge his authority in their lives then this city and this nation will be a place where peace, justice and righteousness will reign.

I pray Lord that your people will be drawn back to you and that we will be concerned with the things that are important to you.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

There Is Wonderful Joy Ahead

Don't worry so much about the trials.


1 Peter 1:6-7 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 Peter 5:6-7  So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Good news! True gladness and wonderful joy is possible for those that belong to God, notice that the gladness and joy are spoken of as happening now, you don't have to wait for them. Our circumstances don't have to change to have this joy and we don't have to go through life toughing it out until we get to heaven to experience it.

Everything that happens has a purpose, God uses everything for our good, when we forget this fact then we are tempted to fall into despair. We want to have the easy life but too much of easy living will not be good for our character and our faith will never grow unless it has an opportunity to be used. Don't be upset  by the trials that God is using to prove that your faith is for real.

Jesus didn't have the easy life

Luke 6:22-23 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward  awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.
The man that is our example on how to live to please God didn't have the easy life and he taught his followers that they shouldn't expect to have it any better. Jesus said that we will not be thought of when it's party time and we will be made fun of if we don't participate in the lifestyle of the unbelievers.

Look at the example of the apostles, they also said that they rejoiced that they were able to suffer for the name of Jesus, there are so many verses that teaches us that the apostles had a very different view of suffering than we have. (Acts 5:41, 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, 1 Peter 4:13, James 1:2)

Nobody is thrilled about suffering but we can be glad and have joy because we know that God is working everything to his glory and we know that we will also receive "much praise and glory and honor" when Jesus returns.