Monthly Archives: May 2015

Slipping….away from…..

Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Quiet Sunday morning with God
Letting his Word stir my soul.
Reflecting on my life
Wishing I wasn’t in this hole.

So much around me
So much within,
So much bothers me
So much sin.

I hear and I feel
How the cares of this place,
Take our attentions
Away from His face.

Lusts of every kind
Pursuing every desire,
Whatever we want
Becomes a raging fire.

We pursue endless things
Never happy when we attain,
We cannot fulfill
With any material gain.

I am no different
I have been pulled away,
Too many trials and pursuits
Too little time each day.

Responsibilities abound me
Weary from all the tasks,
Thankful for grace and mercy
What more could I ask.

My heart is not in it
My heart seeks the divine,
My heart seeks to point you
Even in this rhyme.

Nothing else here matters
Problems or stuff you attain,
Only your time in heaven
Will you ever truly gain.

Is there really any sin
Is there really any thing,
That can surpass heaven
Or weaken hell’s sting?

We will spend eternity
In paradise or in pain,
Do earthly pleasures outweigh
The price due for the gain?

I am guilty too
My eyes and lusts for stuff,
I thank God for conviction
Letting me know “enough.”

My promise is to you
What will change your ways,
Daily time in God’s Word
Will change your days.

My plea is very simple
Open you Bible and read,
In your heart will be placed
His eternal seed.

Paradise will be found
Hell will be lost,
One truly died for you
Jesus paid the cost.

It ain’t a sprint

Romans 5:3-4 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

You might say, “I am gonna get off this couch and go run a marathon.” You might say, “I am gonna live my life for Jesus and not let anything in this world bother me.” Both require training, both require sacrifices, both require pain through endurance, both require that your heart be truly in it to press through it. If you are to attempt to run a marathon, you are taking your body places it has never been; if you are seeking to live as Jesus’ disciple, your life has never went upstream against the world. You are telling the world that the pleasures and pains of it no longer matter to you, for you see the goal at the end of the race of life; you are working towards eternal paradise in heaven with Jesus. You will have angered the limited ruler of this world, Satan, and he will come at you with vigor and trials of seemingly endless sorts. You will have days and weeks that everything that can go wrong does, and you will have weeks that pleasures of the worldly sorts abound. Both of these are spiritual warfare tactics to make you focus on this world and not the eternal one where you reap your decisions made here. Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things of this earth.

I promise you that sanctification is a lifelong process that God takes transforming you into the image of his Son. You are not going to run that marathon just off the couch, and it is going to take your lifetime for you to be closer to Jesus than the day you gave your life to and for him. God will use every tactic that Satan deploys against him. Everything that Satan seeks for you to lash out at, or curse God for, God can use to draw you closer to himself. Every time Satan seemingly blesses your life or your business to get you to invest in earthly pleasures, God reminds you that all good gifts come from above (James 1:17). Every time that Satan gives you those days, even weeks at a time, where all that can go wrong does, God shows you that pain is temporary, and does the situation really have eternal consequences. Likely Satan is just trying to weaken your faith, and God is using Satan’s fire to refine your faith. Where you once lashed out, you may find yourself just moving on and realizing there is not much you can do about it, and it really doesn’t matter at all. The thing Satan meant for evil, God meant it for good. (Romans 8:28).

Make up your mind through your heart that you are going to live your life for Jesus. Don’t just say a prayer and go on with your life as it was; draw a line in the sand to divide your life before and after Him. Let God have control of your life through your heart and testify to the change he has worked in you. Become a person that is truly a disciple by living through every day life’s situations as a disciple. Don’t let the little things become big things; don’t let the problems of the day take away from the hope Paul writes about here in Romans. This eternal hope outweighs any little thing that Satan is allowed to send your way.

Only two know your heart

Acts 8:18-23 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

The early church was suffering great persecution and had scattered for safety; God used their persecution and scattering to begin to spread the gospel. Christ was being preached in places and to people that might never had heard because of prejudices and backgrounds without the persecution. God used a leader of that persecution, Saul who became Paul, to write much of the New Testament, and God used his testimony in ways even today we can’t begin to understand. God is always at work either allowing or designing everything to fit his purpose. Our little minds cannot comprehend even a glimpse of the sovereignty of God.

Simon was a magician who had on the surface seemingly come to faith after hearing the gospel. Somewhere in him Satan still had a great stronghold on his heart, and Simon still thought he could buy the power of the Holy Spirit from God. Simon was playing to be a Christian, but in his heart their was still much sin. Had he professed with his mouth and not his heart? How many today go through the motions for the wrong reasons just as him? How many today sign cards, say prayers, or just attend church on Sunday but their heart has never changed? How many live a life of hypocrisy and will pay for their mistake eternally? God knows the heart, and sadly most false believers may even in their heart know they are not right with God; but the pleasure of sin they will not let go of. You can see where Peter points to Simon that his heart is not right with God in verse twenty-two.

You cannot call yourself a Christian and not live a different life that before you came to repent and believe in the gospel. The gospel is not your fire insurance; it is not your get out of jail card; it is not a pass to live under grace and continue to sin. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? There are two groups of people, those who are saved and those who are not. Sadly many may think they are, but will hear the scariest words in the Bible from Jesus one day; Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ If you have truly had a change in your heart, and a desire to live the rest of your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you live your life with eternal security and the cares and fears of this world no longer bind you. This security is only found between you and God, for only you and God know your heart.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4a679aqjzxxb8o3/The%20Enduring%20Word%20Sermon.docx?dl=0

PFM

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

The world races in
The demands press deep
My mind on prayer
Not a thought I can keep.

Relationships work and life
They all take their toll
Command all our thoughts
Prayer brings peace to our soul.

Thoughts take many paths
Words seem jumbled about
Scattered prayer thrown everywhere
Clear words just won’t come out.

Weary from the pressures
Tired from life’s demands
But resting in the assurance
I am still in His hands.

His Spirit lives within us
Nothing in this life we do alone
His Spirt is praying for us
With heavenly holy groans.

He intercedes for me
He says what I cannot
He assures God of my heart
He assures God what it is not.

He prays for my mind
He prays for the trials
He prays for the strength
To endure these miles.

He prays for healing
He prays for what I can’t see
He prays for God’s will
To be done to and through me.
God knows my heart
Even when I can’t seem to say
God lives in my heart
He is with me every day.