Here is the link to today’s message
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pvn8h2ww9cjna3v/New%20Years%20msg.docx
Stay or Go?
Stay or Go?
Mark 6:11-12 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” 12 So they went out and preached that people should repent.
I have been awake with a heavy heart this morning for the lost. Personal examples have abounded recently, those in my circle, some close to me, that just don’t “get it”. People that have known me at my worldliest, known me at my worst, and I have testified of the change in me through Christ. Invitations in more than one way denied, still bound by the grasp that the world and sin has upon them. It truly hurts when you so desire for those whom you have known forever to still be lost in sin or false hope. That is a pain I cannot find the words for.
This chapter in Mark is one that many new converts and all that come to live their lives as disciples struggle with; why don’t those close to me understand? Jesus had grown up a simple carpenter’s son, hiding his deity, and then began to preach and fulfill the calling on his life as God. He was rejected by those close to him, and he simply moved on. Christ sends his disciples out to evangelize and heal the sick in this chapter in Mark. He tells them to go unprepared, only to take the Good News that lies in them. Mark 6:8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff–no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts– 9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics. Those that God had prepared their hearts to receive him through their message would provide for all their needs. They were told to abide in the Spirit and discern those they encountered; to know whether to stay or to keep moving on.
That is hands down one of the hardest things in ministry; the idea of moving on. I have heard of my friends in India speaking of this; you just keep sharing and sharing until someone answers that tug of God on their heart. Then you invest in that person, and urge them to begin to share and seek to make disciples themselves. The only thing that we can continue to do for those that deny, is pray to God for them to humble themselves and repent. It is never our words that save, only our words that delivers the message that can. They must soften their hearts to God’s tug on them and repent. Mark 6:11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!
Card denied
Card denied
Colossians 3:1-3 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. 2 Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. 3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life – even though invisible to spectators – is with Christ in God. He is your life. (The Message)
Why don’t we get it? Why do we let every other thing in this world take precedence? Anything and everything seems to come before living our lives as disciples of Christ. We mumble some prayer of supposed salvation and return to our worldly lives supposedly secure in that 60 seconds of a lifetime. We see everything else in our lives as priorities above asking the Lord what He would have us do for the day. The distractions that Satan puts in our pathways are successful in keeping our priorities askew. We think every work demand, recreation demand, stress and strain demand, is more important than seeking God’s Will for our lives for each day. We are doing life all wrong; we are doing life on our terms, doing life in the reactive tense rather than the proactive tense. We are doing life our way, by our strength, by our pride and priorities. That is not how God designed us to live.
Charles H. Spurgeon once said. “If the convert declares that he knows the Lords Will but doesn’t mean to attend to it, it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved.” Whoa…. Like uttering a prayer and returning to the lifestyle with no evidence of Jesus Christ in our lives? Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus say to utter a prayer; He said to “take up your cross and follow me.” He called us to make him the number one priority in our lives; the top of our every day list; by which all else is measured and accounted to. God knows our hearts, and the levels of love and priority of which He holds there. What lies above him on your priority list today? Have you sought Him today in prayer and His Word?
Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. Surely you must see how our world is so unstable on so many fronts. Surely you must see how our world is so far from God. Our world is in desperate need of a Savior, and one has come, yet is he being cried out for in the wilderness as John the Baptist did? Is He being proclaimed by his disciples that walk the streets and the internet each day? Is He being presented as the Lord of this life, into eternal life, or is he an afterthought as a get out of jail free card? The get out of jail free cards is only in a fantasy game; we will all stand before a Holy righteous judge one day and give an account of our lives to him. What will you say, when He knows the truth, before you speak it?
A Cry for Revival – Day 2
I asked permission to reprint this powerful devotional today by Pastor Dean Burris. It really struck me when I read it earlier today, and I wanted to share it with you. Oh how I yearn for revival in me and you. My message this week is one of questioning where our hearts lie; are we pursuing the faith we claim; are we seeking revival?
A Cry for Revival – Day 2
Yesterday, the last words of the poem we read were, “My children, it is time!” Time for what?? It is time for a fresh, powerful, life-altering visitation from the Holy Spirit in our lives and church! It is time that our passion for Jesus Christ be ignited and that our lives burn brightly for His glory. It is time for revival!
Well, what is revival? To revive means to bring something back to life, to re-animate, or re-invigorate. Revival is a season when the Holy Spirit moves powerfully among lifeless, powerless and sleeping believers awakening them to spiritual vigor. It produces a deep conviction over sin and spiritual slothfulness and ignites the fires of devotion, prayer and evangelism. Believers are dramatically revived and the lost are dramatically and powerfully brought into the Kingdom. Revival is the “sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit, converting the hardened sinner and reclaiming the backslidden and dormant believer . . . Behold, God showers his rain from heaven, and it (the hardened, backslidden heart) is suddenly softened. One sermon may prick to the heart. One drop of a Saviour’s blood, distilled on it by the Spirit, in the preaching of the Word, melts it like wax. The drunkard is made sober, the adulterer chaste, Zaccheus merciful, and raging Paul as tame as a lamb.” That is revival and that is exactly what we need!
In 1802 Rev. Jesse Edson wrote from Halifax, Vermont, about a revival being poured out there: “The Holy Spirit seemed to come down like a rushing, mighty wind, to melt the souls of God’s children, to cause sinners to tremble, stubborn wills to bow, and hard hearts to relent. Numbers flocked to Christ as a cloud, and as doves to their windows.”
One of the great revivals in scripture is found in 1 Samuel 7: 2And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord (they mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them).
3Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. And verse 10 shows God’s response, “But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day.”
We need to hear today the mighty, thunderous voice of God in our lives! We need revival! Begin asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to YOU your need for revival. Ask Him to make you completely dissatisfied with a spiritually mundane life. Plead for more! Do you long for more of Christ at work in you? Do you mourn for more of God? Ask today for revival . . . in you.
Eternal resolution
I went back and read this post from last year; it still applies today.
Eternal resolution
01 Jan
Eternal resolution
1 Thessalonians 4:1 -2 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
This morning is sort of weird. I seemingly have a lot on my mind, yet in the same sentence I feel blank. I have really felt burdened after yesterday with God, and His showing me how much I need Him and how far I must go for Him. Pride creeps in and makes us feel proud, yet at no point in the Christian life should ourselves feel elevated. Pride is at the root of all sin and a great tool of our enemy who uses it to draw our attention away from God. This morning is the day of resolutions; a day of all the things we will say we desire to do or change by our willpower to achieve that goal. Goals are a great thing if we seek God in them. Do we rely on 12 step programs or prayer to achieve them? Programs elevate us, prayer elevates God.
Paul was writing to the the Thessalonians encouraging them in the growing of their faith and spreading of the Gospel. Paul spends the first part of chapter 4 speaking to them about sexual purity, and how to live a Christian life (4:1-12). He encourages them to live peaceably with others; to set a good example in their work ethic; to not become wrapped up in the chaos of the world that surrounded them; to lead by example. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you. Paul knew the struggles they faced and we face many of the same struggles today. We live in a sexual exploited society; we live in a entitlement society; we live in a selfish society; we live in a society that is beginning more and more to persecute the church, even in a nation founded on the freedoms of it.
If today is a day that you set your heart on a goal, why can you not make that goal to seek God and the things of God? Why can’t you make the conscious effort on something that matters eternally, much more than any bad habit that is temporal? Why can’t you make today the start of growing your relationship with your Creator and Savior the greatest resolution ever? Today could be the first day of the rest of your eternal life if you truly seek to change through the Good News of Jesus Christ. Have you been playing Christian but yet never sold your soul out for Christ as a disciple? Is your name on a Most Wanted poster at the gates of hell? Make today’s resolution on of a life consecrated to seeking God and the things of God and you will be eternally rewarded. Matthew 6:33 Seek Ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. True change begins with Christ; true change continues daily in Christ; true change is rewarded eternally, but begins today.
Eternal resolution
I went back and read this…….it still applies a year later.
Eternal resolution
1 Thessalonians 4:1 -2 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
This morning is sort of weird. I seemingly have a lot on my mind, yet in the same sentence I feel blank. I have really felt burdened after yesterday with God, and His showing me how much I need Him and how far I must go for Him. Pride creeps in and makes us feel proud, yet at no point in the Christian life should ourselves feel elevated. Pride is at the root of all sin and a great tool of our enemy who uses it to draw our attention away from God. This morning is…
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Full of supplies
Full of supplies
Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
I have been up since about 3am. I woke up with church on my mind; well, a lot on my mind about yesterday to be honest. I have spent time in the Word reading the book of Philippians this morning, for I am hoping to do a series on it soon. I have also been reading a book I cannot put down called Knowing God, by JI Packer. This morning I read a chapter on the Holy Spirit, and sadly how as Christians we seem to pass Him over. Of how we concentrate our ministries on Christ, but miss Who Christ gave us personally till He returns. “The Spirit testified to the apostles by revealing to them all truth and inspiring them to communicate it with all truthfulness. Hence the gospel, and hence the New Testament. But the world would have neither without the Holy Spirit. Nor is this all. In the second place, without the Holy Spirit there would be no faith and no new birth – in short no Christians.”
In the book of Philippians, Paul is thanking them for the gifts that they have sent him while he was imprisoned in Rome. They have supplied more than his need, and the commentaries state that they have given much more over and above what was needed; made themselves poor per say. Paul is encouraging them greatly, telling them they cannot out-give God; they have a credit on their account.17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. They were giving from a cheerful heart, out of their love for God and Paul. Paul has expressed contentment where he finds himself now; he knows that even if he is in chains, the gospel is being spread. He sees the Holy Spirit working through him to even strengthen and encourage the faith of the Roman guards in his presence. He knows in all things in his life that God is at work.
I could not help but reflect on Phil. 4:19 in the context of the gift of the Holy Spirit this morning. “Supplying all our needs” as the great comforter, teacher, helper. John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. My prayer is that this small ministry has and will encourage you to spend daily time with God; to get into God’s Word and prayer and see how your life is transformed. The Holy Spirit that dwells inside of you as a believer in Christ, is who opens the truths of God’s Word to you. John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. There is One who will supply all your spiritual needs if you will only seek Him every day.
Hope over suffering
Hope over suffering
1Peter 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls.
I hope and pray that you see the Good News in this scripture. I pray that you know the faith that lies in the hope of this passage. If you are sitting under a solid teacher of God’s Word, you will understand it. If you are sitting under one that only teaches prosperity, it brings about a question. It should bring about a question if you do not understand it. Smiling preachers that preach only hope that pads their pocketbooks, will never teach about suffering as a Christian; it would hurt their bottom line. Will the same Gospel that is taught in the nation of excess, teach in the street of the slums of India?
Christ told us that as his followers the world will hate us. John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Christ was telling this to his disciples to encourage them. He knew they would face persecution in their ministries to come; He knew the deaths they would die for their faith. But all that we face today is temporary as Christians. If we all understand that we will stand before Christ on Judgment Day, we all must understand our lives will be on trial. Did you accept the work of Jesus Christ to Atone for your sins; or did you deny him and pursue all the pleasures this temporal time here can bring? Christ taught that if you do, you will receive your reward only for your short time here. What does your eternity hold?
Someone at the bottom of the pile in this life, can truly grasp the Hope that lies in the next. Someone who understands the Bible sees that their life in the afterlife will be glorious when they live this life for God as his disciple no matter what their situation. Matthew 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first. This life is temporal, a chance to live your life for the One who give you the life eternal afterwards. When you truly grasp that, hope grows more each day, for you realize you are closer to Him in eternity each day. Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Complacency needs to stop
Complacency needs to stop
Zephaniah 1:12-13 “And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, Nor will He do evil.’ 13 Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.”
The prophet Zephaniah was warning those in Judah of the coming judgement of God for their sinful lifestyles. They had again fell into lives of great sins under the last two evil rulers, Manasseh and his son Amon. Now under a good ruler Josiah, it looked like Judah was possibly beginning to repent of her sin. Zephaniah and Jeremiah were both ministering in Jerusalem about the same time; both calling for repentance, turning from idols, and turning back to God. This prophecies tell of God’s coming judgement on all the world; God will seek out those who think he will do nothing. God is going to use another nation to punish Judah, and the picture is clear of how they will be sought out above. There is not any escaping the judgement day of the Lord, either in the past, or in the future; all will stand before Him that day.
It worries me that as a world we too have become complacent. We have religions teaching that God blesses those that have great faith; we have religions coming together, blending to the point of no absolute truth; we have lost our spine in Christianity for absolute truth. We are showing evidences of no reverent fear of God; we are watering down and weakening the truths of God to appeal to all, and not offend to any. Are we becoming like the church of Laodecia in the book of Revelation? Are we becoming neither cold or hot in Christianity? The strong words that Christ uses as warning for that church should put us in fear of the Lord. Revelation 3:15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’–and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Would the term complacency not fit into the description of the Laodecian church also? Lukewarm is a term that indicates laziness, bending to conform as not to take action; conforming as not to offend; taking a stand for your faith would indicate your either hot or cold. Lukewarm would mean you don’t care enough to believe it matters, to you, or possibly even to God. That surely would mean that you don’t fear Him, or truly know him. Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.
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