Keep The Faith

Have you ever wanted to give up on a person you have been praying for, witnessing to, or inviting to join you at church?  The temptation after a while is to say, “They will never come to Jesus!”

        But the story of Nicodemus encourages us to never give up.  Nicodemus did not give his life to Jesus right away even though Jesus personally invited Nicodemus to trust in Him.  It was not until the end of Jesus’ life that Nicodemus finally took a public stand declaring his total commitment to Jesus as John 19:39—40 tells us:

Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.  So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

        Nicodemus was not alone in this “later conversion” pattern for we note in Scripture that even Jesus’ half brothers committed their lives to Him after Jesus’ crucifixion.  So, here are a few steps that can assist us to keep the faith:

1. In our prayers let us spend time focusing on the greatness of the God who can change lives, not on the greatness of the change in lives that needs to occur.
2. Be patient. As a fruit of the Holy Spirit patience reveals that we are depending on God to do the work, in His time.
3. Play our part. Keep praying and inviting these individuals to trust in Jesus or to attend church for we never know when a person may choose to take a stand for Jesus. 

Jesus Called Us To Be “Fishers Of Men.”

Do you know that many religious groups and some Christians don’t invite others to be a part of their religion?  They say that if you choose to be part of our religion that is up to you.  That is pretty appealing isn’t it?  Why risk your reputation, relationships, etc. by inviting others to seriously examine the claims of Jesus? 

        These thoughts can be pretty appealing if it were not for one major point—Jesus called us to be “fishers of men.”  Now I am not a person who knows a lot about fishing, but there is one thing that I do know—Fish have to be sought.  Fish don’t wait off shore for a good living person, or a nice acting person to come along to throw themselves at.  So, our living a good life (“letting my little light shine”) is a good thing, but there must be more.  We have to invite the fish out of the water.  In other words, we have to give them the good news that what Jesus did in our lives He will also love to do in their lives.  Each of us must be ready to communicate what Jesus has done in our lives, and we should also take advantage of every opportunity we get to learn how to communicate the gospel to another person.

  Take a moment and personalize these three important aspects of a clear testimony:

1. What I was like before I became a Jesus follower (Try to truthfully recognize with the person. Be honest and open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. You never know, an event may have happened for this very moment).

2. How I became a follower of Jesus (Give the gospel that we are all sinners, cannot save ourselves no matter how hard we tried, and Jesus came to take our place to allow us to have a relationship with God so you must surrender).

3. How my life changed since I became a follower of Jesus (Honestly share how you are different now. Remember that this does not mean that you are now perfect for every Christian is in process).

And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Matthew 4:19

The Purpose Of Our Existence

Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person—Colossians 4:6

  One of the greatest weapons Satan uses against the people of God is to have them lose sight of the purpose to which God has called them to accomplish. As we gear up for what will be an exciting Fall where we’ll see the Lord work in our body, I believe that this is an important time for us to refocus on the purpose of our existence as a church. Our vision is that we will be a Church Family where the Triangle will see, hear, & touch the diversity of God’s grace. An important aspect of accomplishing that goal is our being a Church Family committed to glorifying God through Worship.

“If you do not know the presence of God in your office, your factory, your home, then God is not in the church when you attend. I have come to believe that when we are worshipping-if the love of God is in us and the Spirit of God is breathing praise within us, all the musical instruments in heaven are suddenly playing in full support. . . . It is my experience that our total lives, our entire attitude as persons, must be toward the worship of God.”  - A. W. Tozer (1879-1963)

  So, how’s your worship going today? Remember, Sunday is only the culmination, the end result, of a week spent worshipping God in everything we do. See you at the big worship finale on Sunday.

Father, deepen our hunger for you so that we will always seek to worship you in our daily lives and with our daily language. Take joy in our worship.

Surrendered Hearts

There is someone looking for you. He is the God who has been looking for a special kind of heart so that He might sit and have sweet fellowship with. This heart is described as one that ‘completely,’ ‘wholly’ longs for Him.

If this does not fit your picture of God I encourage you to change that picture. This is the picture we see of God in the Garden of Eden where He comes looking for Adam & Eve. This is the heart that is highlighted in 2 Chronicles 16:9 that God scours the earth longing to find and then support. This is the heart presented in Hebrews 11:6 that meets God’s standard of diligence in seeking Him. So, are you the one God is looking, searching, scouring for? What does your heart say?

Take a moment from the business of life and allow yourself to be found by the God who longs to meet with you.

Father, forgive us for being too busy to ‘waste time’ with you in silence. Forgive our self-sufficiency that blinds us to our great need for you. This day we give you priority in our schedules, passions, and dreams.

God Has a Unique Purpose for You

If you are like me you found the words that God used to call Jeremiah to serve Him quite fascinating. Imagine the intimacy and personal care the God of all the universe had towards the prophet He is now calling—“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.“ Jeremiah 1:5

Wouldn’t you like to hear God personally say the same to you? Wouldn’t you like to know that God has a design and purpose in giving you life and in making you just the way you are?

Please realize that God has said the same to each of us who are Christ followers. Note the words of Paul in Romans 8:29-30: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Our heavenly Father did all this before time began. You are special because of who you are.

Allow this great truth to grab a hold of your mind today so that it guides your walk through an impersonal world that often diminishes your value. Don’t allow anyone or any situation to keep you from focusing on the fact that God has a unique purpose for you to accomplish today. My prayer is that the Lord will bless you as you discover this purpose.

The Key Aspects of Investment

Do you remember the key aspects of investment that were highlighted in yesterday’s sermon? We were told that the 2 most important aspects of investing are to know the risk (that you may possibly lose something that you value highly) and that you are confident that what you are investing in is worth your taking such risk.

Have you applied the counsel of Jesus today and counted the cost, evaluated the risk, of letting Him lead your life through this day?  There are only two responses you can make to Jesus’ counsel—refuse to let Him lead because the risk is too great, or put aside your desires this day to get in line with His guidance. I pray that you will heed the Spirit’s prompting and get in line with our Savior’s guidance.

“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—Matthew 6:21 (Augusts’ memory verse)

Choose Whom You Will Serve

Monday
“Religion today in the USA is a salad bar where people heap on upbeat beliefs they like and often leave the veggies — like strict doctrines — behind.”
This is how USA Today began its article on the new Religious Landscape Survey findings from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life which found most Americans (even Bible believing, church going Americans) have a ‘stunning’ disconnect between their beliefs and practices with the faiths they say they hold to.

As we noted Sunday the God of the Bible challenges us in Deuteronomy 30:19—20 to choose life by choosing Him. But this challenge is based on our truly knowing who ‘Him’ is. It is not good enough to believe in “God” if that God turns out to be a personal invention of our desires. The Pew survey noted that although 92% said they believe in God, only 51% said they were both absolutely certain there was a God and that this God was a person, rather than an impersonal force, with whom they could have a relationship.

What does this mean for us? Here are two key responses

1. Get intimate with your God. Commit to reading Scripture and connecting with the God who is clearly presented in the Bible. There aren’t many roads to God for Jesus made it clear—“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”(John 14:6). This means selecting to read through the whole Bible. You can accomplish this by reading 5 chapters each day for a year. You can also learn about this personal God by joining Jesus University classes where He is studied each week.

2. Don’t think that those who ‘talk god’ truly know God. The Bible is clear that even the demons believe that there is one God and that they even tremble at this knowledge (James 2:19). Remember, we have the words that give life, let us not keep them to ourselves. I encourage you to be bold in sharing your faith.