Tag: Bible

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Can God Get A Loan?

hundred-dollar-bills

If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and he will repay you! Proverbs 19:17

I found this verse interesting. People always talk about being ‘the hands and feet of Jesus’ to help those who are in need, but how about the ‘bank of Jesus?’ I think a lot of us look at giving to the poor in terms of what we have financially, we make comments like, “When God blesses me with extra, then I can give to others.” However, I get the impression that God works like this, “You give from whatever I’ve already given you, and then I’ll repay you based on your kindness.”

To me this puts a new perspective on Matthew 25:40 (MSG) where Jesus says, whatever we do to those overlooked and ignored, we do it to Him. Proverbs is saying that we are not giving our money to the poor…we are giving a loan to God, he’s just predesignated that he wants the money to go, and he wants it to go to those who are overlooked and ignored. This promise from Proverbs is not limited to “Christians.” I see tons of secular businesses that are very successful, and many times if you look behind the scenes they are highly involved in charitable giving. I just think the Church should be leading the way…

This is personally something I have to work on. My family is definitely not rich, but that cannot be an excuse! Join the Conversation…What do you think? Is God’s credit good enough at your bank?

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Perseverance, Character, and Hope

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)

I was reading in Romans 5 this morning, and this portion of Chapter 3 stood out to me…”we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” – Over the last three to four years it seems that I have faced more individual sufferings, trials, and tests than I ever have in my life. The question that popped into my head as I read this was, “Have those issues I have dealt with produced perserverance, character, and hope?” – “Four years and now on the other side of some of these things, have I increased in these areas?”

In my eyes I may say no! Because I live with my imperfections everyday, but my hope is that in the eyes of Christ I have and in the eyes of others, they will see that the Lord has grown me, stretched me, and matured me in perserverance, character, and hope!

Join the Conversation: Are you seeing perserverance, character, and hope being formed in your life? Care to share how God is doing that?

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Friday Fun

Here’s a little video to entertain you for the next 60 seconds. Kind of makes me think of a 60 second video Bible drill. One of my former students sent it to me on my MySpace Account:

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1477444&w=425&h=350&fv=m%3D40696338%26type%3Dvideo%26a%3D0]

Click HERE for more videos by Barats and Bareta

Join the Conversation: What’s Your Favorite Story in the Bible? Or, What is Your Favorite Book of the Bible?

My favorite book has always been Daniel and my favorite story is the one about the Warrior Ehud…he was the left handed warrior that stabbed King Eglon in the stomach and his fat swallowed the sword. (Judges 3) – I am left handed and I’ve got to support my left handed brothers! :mrgreen:

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Sunday Recap: Lord Make Us ONE

My church (the church @ greenbrier) jumped on board with the ONE Prayer Campaign as other churches were finishing up, but I am glad that we did. I love hearing our pastor when he shares God’s Word with us, but there was something special with the messages that we were treated to during the last 3 weeks, I truly believe Jesus gave Craig Groeschel a fresh idea of His vision for His church. This week, we watched the message by Craig, “Lord, make us ONE!”

Craig started the basis of his message with Jesus’ prayer from John 17:20-24. Pete Wilson is starting a series on relationship surrounding verses 20 & 21 of chapter 17 in the fall, I can’t wait to check those out on Cross Point’s website. I am sure that series will be just as powerful as this message, and people’s lives are going to be changed because of it. Here are some of the highlights and my thoughts at the end, take a couple of minutes and check it out:

“We always want Jesus to answer our prayer, but what if we (Christians/the Church) decided to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer?” – Craig Groeschel

What will it take to unify the church?

1. If Christians/the Church recognize we have ONE ENEMY! Amen & Amen!!!
**Satan is that ONE enemy, not other churches or other believers.** We all have ONE thing in common, the same enemy! (1 Peter 5:8-9) (John 10:10)

2. ONE HEART! Christians/the Church can have different methods or manners in which they do ministry; there is power in our diversity, but we should be united in our passion of making the name of Jesus famous, because it is through Jesus that those who do not know him can be saved. We are not called to be uniform in style and preference, but to be united in Love. (**My Note: I wholeheartidly believe this, but only when it does not cross the line into doctrine of the Gospel and of God’s Word**) (John 13:34-35 – “Love One Another”)

**Christians/the Church should be united. When “I” get out of place, united become “untied” (which is the state our churches are in), but when “I” is in its proper place we have “united.” – We must stay aware of whether we are in our proper place or whether we are not.

3. ONE PURPOSE! (Matthew 28:19-20) “Go and make disciples” – Church in greek is “ekklesia” which means “called out ones” (**Personal Note: Why do we allow personal style and method preferences stand in the way of this one? No matter which version of the Bible you read or what denomination you are a part of, this teaches and reads the same, so on this point alone, why are we not united here?**)

I encourage you to go watch the video HERE. The illustrations, stories, and videos that were shown with this message are great! I really enjoy messages like these, because growin up I saw and heard so much division due to personal preferences over styles and methods. Through a disagreement on these things people came to conclusions about doctinal beliefs of other denominations or churches that were not true, thankfully I have learned to explore & question on my own and to allow the Lord to free me from the legalism and the bondage these people put me under. I have seen first hand how these things divide the Church Jesus said He was going to build versue building it up and uniting it. I believe the greatest thing is at risk by our churches being divided over petty issues, People’s souls!

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Did It Just Randomly Happen?

“…that I may know Him…”
(Philippians 3:10)

A saint is not to take the initiative towards self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means to obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him.

– Oswald Chambers

How many times has something gone crazy in our lives and we immediately start taking a self-inventory of the things we may have done wrong; the sins we may have committed to bring such pain, torment, and suffering upon ourselves? How much time do we spend sitting around thinking about what it is that ‘we’ can do to overcome the circumstances and the situations our lives are in? Each process is simply a step towards self-realization and a step away from a vigorous life of abandon to the cause of Christ.

So did that situation or that issue just happen at random in your life? Is that how we look at our present state of affairs? If you are like me, you start questioning the steps you took to get to where you currently are: ‘If I only would have ignored that email.’ ‘If I only would have turned right instead of left.’ ‘If I only would have…” Issue by issue we act as if it all happens by random chance. I am not speaking as if God brings every situation in our path. I truly believe that we do lead ourselves in many of the directions that our lives take. My thoughts are focusing on when we face these issues and circumstances whether God delivered or self caused is how do we view our journey while in the midst and what is our viewpoint on the backside when we have come through it.

Oswald Chambers proposes that a spiritually vigorous Christ Follower looks at the issues in his life not as a random occurrence, but as an opportunity to grow in our knowledge of the One we say we follow, Jesus Christ. This is a step away from self-realization and a step towards total reliance on Christ. This is not easy, in fact it is very difficult. However, any situation (whether self caused or God led) can serve as an opportunity to know Christ more.

“Lord, I was just lied to, betrayed, stabbed in the back, and wounded…reveal yourself to me!”
“Lord, my parents are going through a messy divorce…reveal yourself to me!”
“Lord, I lost my job and cannot pay my bills…reveal yourself to me!”
“Lord, my child has has abandoned you for the world…reveal yourself to me!”

Oh, how this is easier said than done. If it were up to us, we would remove every circumstance and issue that required faith on our part, we would settle for everything we could handle on our own and only for the things that we could provide an answer for. Christianity is a faith life and that faith leads us to rely on someone who is greater than we are when life is not the way we like it. This faith life is not for the prideful; surrender requires humility to understand that we are weak when standing on our own, but through the life of Christ that indwells us, we can make it to the other side. In the end, do we strive to make it on the other side to say ‘I beat an illness?’ Or to say ‘my marriage was restored?’ Or is our motive to say ‘Now I know Jesus a little more.’

I have recently experienced some things in my life that are rather confusing and I am asking Jesus, ‘how can I know you more through this?’ But also, with a new baby on the way and uncertainty in my ministry and career path, I want to get to the other side and be able to say, ‘I know my Jesus a little more now!’

Join the Conversation: What are you facing right now, that in the end will lead you to know Jesus even more?