The Mantra of the American Dream

Ht Frank Turk

Christ's day.

HT Pyro

Chrismas song.

This is Love.

HT. Frank Turk.

Police chase.

Ht Paccadillo

BE DISCIPLINED

GOD, HELP ME TO BE DISCIPLINED

·        Learning obedience is a lifelong process.

·        Even if you have walked with the Lord for 40 years, you still need to ask God to show you any area where you are not being obedient.

·        We get into trouble when we think we know what to do and we stop asking God, if we’re doing it.

·        We have NO excuse for not doing what we need to do when God says He will enable us to do it if we will just call upon Him for help. All we have to say is, “Lord, help me be disciplined enough to obey You the way You want me to so I can become the person You created me to be”.

PERSONAL OBEDIENCE

·        In addition to the rules we all have to obey, there are specific things God asks each of us to do as individuals in order to move us into the purpose He has for our lives.

·        “Lord show us what we are suppose to be doing”.

·        Whatever He asks you to do, remember He does this for your greatest blessing.

·        But you must understand that you may not hear Him speaking at all if you are not taking the other steps of obedience.

·        He expects all of us to take that are found in His word. “One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).

DOING THINGS YOU’D RATHER NOT

·        When we do things we don’t like simply because we know we need to do them, it builds character in us.

·        It makes us disciplined.

·        It forms us into a leader God can trust.

·        And there is always a price to pay when we forsake the things we need to do in order to do only the things we FEEL like doing.

·        We must be willing to make sacrifices for the blessings we want.

·        When you find it difficult to do what you know you need to, ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

10 GOOD REASONS TO OBEY GOD

·        There are countless reasons to obey God, but there is one primary reason: HE SAID TO!

1.          We get our prayers heard. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer” (Psalm 66:18-19).

2.          We enjoy a deeper sense of the Lord’s presence. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23).

3.          We gain wisdom. “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly” (Proverbs 2:7).

4.          We have God’s friendship. “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14).

5.          We can live safely. “You shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them, and you will dwell in the land in safety” (Leviticus 25:18).

6.          We are perfected. “Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:5).

7.          We are blessed. “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today” (Deuteronomy 11:26-27).

8.          We find happiness. “Happy is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18).

9.          We have peace. “Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace” (Psalm 37:36).

10.      We have a long life. “My son, do not forget My law, but let your heart keep My commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you” (Proverbs 3:1-2).

A  STEPPING-STONE TO DESTINY

·        God has great plans for you.

·        He has important things He wants you to do.

·        And He is preparing you for your destiny right now.

·        But you have to take steps of obedience in order to

get there.

·        And you have to trust that He knows the way and

won’t hurt you in the process.

·        God’s rules are for our benefit, not to make us

miserable.

·                                                                                When we live by them – life works.

·                                                                                When we don’t – life falls apart.

·                                                                                When we obey – we have clarity.

·                                                                                When we don’t – we have confusion.

·                                                                                And there is a definite connection between

obedience and the love of God.

·                                                                                Even though God loves us, we won’t sense His love if

we are walking in disobedience to His ways.

·                                                                                There is also a direct connection between obedience

and getting your prayers answered (1 John 3:22).

·                                                                                If you have been frustrated because you don’t see

answers to your prayers, ask God if it is because of

disobedience. Say “Lord is there any area of my life where I am not obeying You?”.

·        Don’t keep telling God what you want without asking

Him what He wants?

You never know when you will step into the moment for which God has been preparing you. And it is not just one moment – it’s many successive ones!

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He wants you to be willing to let Him purify you, and grow you up in Him. But you have to play by the rules.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD AND KEEP IT!

Luke 11:28

WHATEVER WE ASK WE RECEIVE FROM HIM, BECAUSE WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS AND DO THOSE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASINIG IN HIS SIGHT.

1 John 3:22

HT My wife.

Did Christ give an easy law.

HT Challies

Mark on Monday

I'm watching you.

Ht Pure Church.

The Church is Christ’s.

Why do so highly esteem the Church?

Because it is Christ’s.

The Church is not the focus of the creation but, it is the ultimate conduit through which the ultimate purpose is accomplished. The universe’s devine purpose is to glorify the Triune God. The Triune God is glorified through the displaying of His attributes, (dare I say it) the universe is God showing off, the universe and all its splendour, all its glitz and glam displays God.

The Church looks small, unimpressive, outdated and boring to the world but, God has chosen it to be the ultimate conduit through which He displays His Grace, Justice and power to the world. (All the His other infinite stuff as well.)

The Church heralds the truths contained in scripture, the Holy Spirit uses that truths and changes lives. God has always used the things the world regards as week as His ultimate tool and the Church is one shinning example of that.

The church is Christ special possession which He bought at the highest price. His affection for her has never lagged. He cares for her, He sustains her, He feeds her and clothes her.

The church is the one thing on this earth He loves the most. We are loved because we are part of the church, the church is loved because we are the church. The tension between the individual’s importance and the importance of the congregation is only in the mind of man. What God wants from and for the church He also wants from and for the individual. There is no tension.

Christ will build His Church, He is the one who builds it, He owns it. We are His body, He will look after it He will build it. The existence of the Church is because of Christ and His work.
Christ prays in John 17 for His Church, not for the world but, for those that the Father has given to Him. No one will rip even one of us out of His hand. He protects His bride, He looks after her. The individual within the whole. Us being part of the body in itself is Him protecting us.

We being part of the body is, us being obedient to Him, honouring Him as our head. We do not exists without the body.

In John 10 we read that Jesus know all His sheep by name so, He cares for the individual within the group as swell. Our names are written in the book of life before time. Revelation 13.

If we want to know the value of anything we simply read the price tag. If you want to know what value the Church has, read the price label. It cost Jesus, the very God, the only Son of God His life. Ephesians 5.

If Christ values the Church so much, how dare we value her any less.

Jesus says he will build His church. So it takes us off the hook sort-of. It give us hope and builds our faith. Christ the almighty saviour who created this very earth we live on, who flung it into space and sustains it will grow His church.

It also must be said here that he is not talking about the local church here but the global church, those who are part of the true church, those He will build. He calls the individual out of the world into His church.

Where there is a local church today there might be an empty building attesting to its existence in the past. Christ can and will take away the lamp of the local church who abandon their first love. So be careful how you live in and love this fleeting world.

We must always remember we are still on this earth and every Christian reborn of Christ is still here, on earth. The Church is made up of half completed building projects. Yes, some has even stopped all work and is waiting for the second coming. The minister in the pulpit has also got a “God at work” sign around his neck.

We are called to be part of the church, because we are already part of it. We are commanded to use our gifts, to be formed by and helped by our fellow members of the body.

It is nothing more than clear fleshly arrogance to think that we can live without being and doing our part in church.

Christ has seen it fit to call some to apply themselves full time to the studying and teaching of His word. He has chosen to make prayer the means by which our faith can grow and by which we will receive His gifts.

We are weaved into the carpet that is the church of God, be the strand God commands you to be in His Church.

  

  

Do you love the Church?

If we declare to others that we love God, if we then say that we love Christ and that He is our first love in everything, must we not love the things He loves?

Christ came and died for His church. The church is His bride. The Church is God the father’s gift to God the son. He has such a deep love for the church, must we not have that same love for the church?

If you love someone, do you not love the things he loves? We are part of the church, you are a member of the body of the church, must you not love yourself? The church is you brother and sisters in Christ, should you not love them? Is a Christian brother not closer to you than your brother in the flesh? Must the church not be your “friend-pool”?
If Christ so passionately loves the church why don’t we? If you love something do you not show it by the time you spend on it?

If Christ is our all then we must spend time with what He deems of uttermost importance.

Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Ephesians 5.

We must not lie to ourselves if we truly love Christ we will love what He loves. Our love for Christ is evident in our love for that which He loves.

Let us just be honest between friends. Loving the church is sometime not easy. Many times in fact it is difficult to show love for the church. Love without works is not love at all. Loving something without spending time with that object is not loving it.

It is hard, many times you simply feel like you don’t have the time or the energy, you think of your family,of your friends and how tired you are. Nobody said it would be easy. The funny old lady with the big hat in front of you sometimes becomes a bit much doesn’t she?

Get a grip people Christ love the church so should we. Nothing is easy or totally natural.

Cultivate your love for the church, tilt the soil, pull out the weeds that hinder the flow of love, put fertilizer in the ground, work it through and it will bring forth fruits, better than you can imagine.

The church is the place we grow, the place that we are fed. The emergency room we go to when need help.

How do we grow in our love for the church and sadly how do we rekindle the love if it burns no more?

We must elevate our love for the Church. (Remember if you are a Christian you are part of the church, in a roundabout way we are talking here about loving yourself, sort of)

So how do we revive our love for Church? Some may never have loved the Church, some might have fallen out of love for the church and some love the church like crazy.

If have love for the church how do we keep it alive?

As always we look to scripture as our authority, our instructor. The first question we could ask “Why did Paul love the Church?”

A second question which could be helpful is to look at why the Christians in the past loved the Church so much so that they were persecuted because of it.

The answer, I believe is to be found in their view of the purpose of the church.

Paul Washer explains it this way: “Purpose fuels passion.”

The foundational question we need answer is “Why is there a Church?”

Is it to run a soup kitchen? No, any welfare organisation can do that.

Is it to keep the youth out of trouble? Many sports and other clubs can also do that.

Is it a place where we meet friends? Many restaurants and clubs and societies can do that.

What makes the Church unique then?

If we are aware of our purpose we will be intensely passionate about it.

Like in all things the over arching purpose is the glorification of the triune God mainly by our witness to the world by our mere existence but, also proclaiming the word, demonstrating the Christian love and evangelizing our world.

Let me go into a side field for just as second.

The focus of scripture has always been the church, the group, the body not the individual as it is done today. Just do a simple exercise, read the Bible, how many times does it talk about a group of people and what they should do?

 If you read with that in the back of your mind you will see most of it is aimed at a group. Look at gospels written to specific groups, the books of acts talks of the churches mostly, yes they talk of individuals but, those individuals are doing everything in the context of the church. Look at the epistles to the churches, written to churches firstly. Look at the books to Timothy, Titus and Philemon, it carries the name of a single person but, in essence it is written to help the church.

We have been infiltrated by the individualistic worldly system, we have been pan-fried into thinking that the individual is the focus, while the Biblical focus is the collective church, the body, the bride of Christ.

The sufficient God who lacks nothing seeks worshippers. John 4

Glorifying God is our most distinctive trait that sets us apart from any other thing on earth. We exist for something else. For something outside ourselves.

Hebrews 10 show us that true worship can only come after salvation. Salvation causes pure worship.

After we have been saved, then can we only start worshipping God. Worshipping God is not just talking or witnessing about who He is and what He has done. We must not just bring offerings but obey Him. The only way we can get to know Him is by studying His word and through His word do we learn what He demands from us.

Now we must guard against worshipping the Bible, the Bible is the pointer, a divine one, but only the pointer, the only pointer, but just the pointer.

We are called to be one body. Being part of a body implies that everyone has a role no other can play but us. We cannot become a community if we only spend 2 hours together on a Sunday.

We must be a Church with a purpose, we must live with the intent of being the Church ourselves or no one will be. Plans must be made and sacrifices must be made in the act of being the church.

(Written after listening to Paul Washer)

    

Mark on Monday

The Bible can be trusted.

Ht Fish with Trish.