Fellowshipping & Praise the Lord with Doc329 (23)

[doc329]

Most followers of Christ live a "non-toxic" brand of Christianity. That is, their "Christian" lifestyle tends to be easy, upbeat, convenient, and compatible. Their lives exhibit little, if any, self-sacrifice, discipline, humility, an otherworldly outlook, a zeal for souls, or a fear, as well as, love for God. There is little guilt and no punishment, and the payoff in heaven is virtually certain.

Let me say this;

We have come to believe that religious authority lies in us rather than in the Bible or in church leadership. we have become our own final court of appeal as to what is right or wrong:
Most of us have only a scant acquaintance with Biblical truth, because our exposure to, and understanding of the Scriptures lacks discipline, focus and scholarship.
If the Word of God is not spoon-fed to us in "touchy-feelie" bite-size portions, we soon loose interest.

"The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear… "
Exercising our 'divine right' as religious consumers, we buy as much Christianity as we seem to want.
The cost is low and customer satisfaction seems guaranteed. If our present religious "provider" fails to cater to our whimsical fancy, we flutter across town to one that will.

Our values, norms and modes of interpreting reality have been entirely emancipated from any dependence upon God. Overwhelmed as we are by the pervading culture, we have accommodated our beliefs to fit in with its norms and values to the point that our Christian witness has lost its authenticity.

While we slave away at obtaining the "finer" things in life, we openly profess a strong distaste for materialism. Yet we have become amazingly adept at learning how to deliberate an uneasy union between the spiritual and material.

 

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My friends if we are Christians we have escaped from the dungeon of Satan in which we all once were and of course he is furious with us and he will do anything to drag us back again if he can do anything he can do to make our lives a misery.
By annoyance, by frustration, by throwing the fiery darts into your soul he'll gladly do.

And he's afraid of the Lord's people because his kingdom is one of darkness and he knows that you are full of light and your light endangers his whole grasp upon the world of darkness. He never knows the moment in which God may bless your testimony to a saving of a soul from his dark kingdom. Oh the kindling of gospel fire in a whole community.
Well therefore might we expect our lives to be a fiery experience when the Devil will do anything in his power to make our life a misery.

 

[doc329]

Often we need to have a terrible trial in order to remember what it means to be truly thankful.
Our praise is from the heart when we have been in danger or discomfort.
Bad situations help us to appreciate how good our lives can be. Even in trial,
God reaches through to help us to a deeper understanding of ourselves.
Praise the Lord for all the good things He has given, and know that He will rescue you from all perils

 

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It is the beautiful work of Christianity everywhere to adjust the burden of life to those who bear it, and them to it.
It has a perfectly miraculous gift of healing. Without doing any violence to human nature it sets it right with life, harmonizing it with all surrounding things, and restoring those who are jaded with the fatigue and dust of the world to a new grace of living.

 

[doc329]

1. It would be based on stewardship. People would understand that all things are held in trust from God who is the owner.

2. It would be based on individual accountability before God, who we know will hold each person responsible for how he or she uses the “very good” gifts of His creation.

3. It would be based on wise and careful use of God’s creation, not foolish and wasteful consumption.

4. It would use our God-given human creativity to truly enhance our corporate experience upon the earth, not to increase selfish personal gain.

5. It would be based on personal humility and honesty before our living, loving, gracious—but also just and righteous God.

6. It would incorporate worship and celebration of God and His marvelous creation into its economic activity.

7. It would incorporate beauty (good music, art, literature, and so forth) into its economic activity.

8. It would make the sacrifice of service and money to the needy, poor, and disenfranchised a major motivation.

9. It would be content with enough.

10. It would see personal hoarding as sinful.

That’s all easy to say, isn’t it?
What’s hard is to put saying into doing. Yet because people are stewards of what belongs to God, we are required to use it responsibly. In an irresponsible world whose leaders are mostly irresponsible to God and His creation gifts, a controlling “Christian economy” is not possible.
We cannot look to political leaders to provide it or even agree with its principles. That means, then, that we followers of Christ must begin to make principles of this nature guidelines for our personal economic decisions. We have to stop “going with the flow” in our economic behavior.

Maybe it is time for us to bring back the “victory garden” that helped us overcome the war machine that wasted life and land in WWII—only this time making it a key aspect of victory over the economic machine that is also wasting life and land—life and land that belong to God.

 

[doc329]

Our Pattern In Service – Jesus tells us to look at His example. He is gentle and humble, completely yielded to the Father’s will. Jesus was sent to this world to serve, While we are not saved by works, we are clearly saved to work,
Jesus is looking for people who will lay everything on the line as He did and serve Him with no reservations

When we trust Jesus by faith, we are given rest,
When we serve Him faithfully, we find rest. There is a rest that gives us peace with God and peace of soul.
There is a rest that comes from serving Him.
There is a joy, a fulfillment, a happiness that can be found no where else in life.
There is something special about being in the center of His will for your life. If you want true commitment, come to Jesus for salvation, yield to His will for your life and serve Him faithfully. To be accepted and used of the Lord is a blessing beyond words!

He will design a yoke that will fit us perfectly. His burden is “light”.
As we put our shoulder to the path He has chosen for us, there will be burdens along the way. But, we will find that His yoke brings peace, joy, satisfaction and fulfillment and that every difficulty in life is turned to our good by His grace,
As we walk with Him, we are aware that our trials here will work for our glory there.

 

[doc329]

Growth or increase in anything implies a beginning. Growth in the favor of God implies that we have already found favor in His sight, that we are already indebted for grace received, and that we are already in grace, in the sense of having a place among His favored ones.

Consequently, growth in grace implies that we have already repented of our sin, have actually and practically abandoned all known sin. It cannot be that we are in favor with God if we are still indulging in known sin against Him.

Being in favor with God implies, of course, that we are pardoned and favored by Him, for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Pardon is favor, and implies the renunciation of rebellion against God.
The conditions of the Divine favor, as revealed in the Bible, are repentance and abandonment of all known sin, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I said, as a condition of growth in grace we must have the commencement of grace; in other words, we must be already Christians, must be in a state of acceptance with God, must have accepted Christ, so far as He is understood, must be in a state of obedience to all the recognized will of God. Without this, we cannot be in a state of grace, or in the favor of God.

As we know more of God, we shall be capable of loving Him more, of having a more universal and implicit confidence in Him. And there can be no end to this while we have any being, either in this or any other world.
Our love and confidence in Him may be complete, so far as we know Him.
This love and confidence will secure His favor; but there will be no end to our growth in knowledge of Him, and, consequently, there is room for eternal growth in grace.

The more we love God, the more we believe, the more we know of Him, if we conform to this knowledge, the more God must be pleased with us, the higher shall we stand in His favor, and more and greater gifts He will continue to bestow upon us.

 

[doc329]

Have you ever just looked around you at all the wonders of creation with all the variety and the intricacy, and thought about how really complex everything is?
Have you realized how unique we are, one from another?
Consider that with more than 5,000,000,000 people in the world, none of us has the same fingerprints.

This isn't an accident.
There's no way it could be.
It has to have been planned, and it's proof that God exists.
And when you consider the very fact that we are unique, one from another, and that we each have a free will, it is no wonder that many people have chosen to do evil rather than good.
In fact, the evil in this world exceeds the good.

One might say that there is a great evil in the world.

But on the other hand, the God of all Glory, the God who created all this, is still in control, even though He allows evil to continue to exist.
And it is this understanding, coupled with the Lord's promises of redemption and everlasting life, that gives us hope in the face of this evil.

 

[doc329]

Jesus Sermon on the Mount has attracted the imagination of people all over the world and across the centuries. Many interpretations of his words have been offered as Jesus teaching has been repeated around the world. Each interpretation would call us to a higher ethic of living than we might otherwise choose for ourselves.

We live with concern for what others will think of us, rather than living for an audience of One. We live for material prosperity, friendship, advancement, and all the other priorities of our society. Jesus words do not find much connection among such priorities. He taught us to live according to the principles of heaven alone.

While the disciples attempted to distract Jesus from the purpose of the gospel, he held steadfast to the course that God had charted for our redemption. Jesus preached mercy, then displayed mercy at every opportunity. Jesus exalted the poor and needy in word, then attended to their needs in his actions.

Jesus spoke blessing for the hungry, then he fed crowds gathered to hear his words. Jesus spoke of comfort, then intervened in lives devoid of comfort. Jesus called for rejoicing over persecution because of righteousness, then accepted persecution as a matter of course in following God’s will. He spoke of loving one’s enemies, then demonstrated love by giving his life that we might fellowship with God forever.

We live with the option of creating our own realities. We live with the supposed possibilities of transforming the world through technology, ambition, education, and progress. Among the opportunities to create new realities in our present and future, will we accept serving Christ Jesus as the ultimate reality of our lives?
Will we serve the real Jesus, or Jesus as we wish him to be?

If we settle for some artificial version of Christ, what do we do with the One who died and rose again?
Will an artificial Jesus fulfill our need for an eternal redemption?

 

[doc329]

Father we thank You , as the path to maturity. And Lord we realize that in and of ourselves in the flesh, even though we may know these things we cannot accomplish them, and so our prayer must ever be Lord, You energize in us these realities.

We cannot obey the Lordship of Christ apart from Your power, we cannot confess our sins apart from Your conviction, we cannot trust You unless You give us the gift of faith, we cannot be fruitful unless You produce the fruit in us, we cannot even praise You unless You fill our hearts with praise, and we cannot pray unless we're prompted by Your Spirit.

Father we cannot proclaim Your Word unless the Spirit of God teaches it to us, we cannot bring others to You unless You beget them with Your power, we cannot be pure unless You clean us, we cannot be one unless You make us one.
And so Father we totally depend on You to fulfill all these good things in us that we might be like Christ and know the joy that comes to those who grow. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

 

[doc329]

we are to love each other as part of the same family.

Think about the implications of this reality.
First, this means that our love should be resilient. When we are dealing with others, we love as long as another person seems worthy of love.
Family love is different (at least usually). When you are part of a family, you love someone.

Even though they make mistakes. Even if your child was guilty of a horrible crime you still will be at their side pleading for mercy
Even though they are annoying (though sometimes you don’t see how annoying they are). We defend our family with words such as, “But, that is just the way they are.”
Even though change is slow. With family members we remain ever hopeful and are quick to see any glimmer of growth or progress.
Even though others feel there is nothing good in that person.
When a person is a part of your family you work hard to see redeeming qualities even when no one else sees such qualities.

How many times have you seen people in a church get mad about something someone did and immediately decide to have nothing more to do with that person, or, sometimes, the church?
That’s not family love.
Family love recognizes and accepts the weaknesses of others. We don’t gloss over evil but we also aren’t surprised by it.

When Christians understand this family love there will be this realization that we are fellow pilgrims walking down the road of life.
At times one or the other of us will stumble, fall, or get lost. At that point we will need the other person not to kick us, abandon us, slander us, or ignore us, we will need them to help us get back up.
That’s what it means to be a Christian family and that’s what I hope we are developing as a body of Christ.

 

[doc329]

What is "living hope?"
The New Testament idea of hope is very different from our normal thinking about hope.
Hope, as we think about it, is a desire for some future thing which we are uncertain of attaining.
That is not the way Peter or the rest of the New Testament thinks about hope. When Peter says in 1:13, "hope fully in the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ," he does not mean we should desire it and be uncertain of it.

The coming of Christ is a matter of complete confidence for all the writers in the New Testament. So the command, "Hope fully," means be intensely desirous and fully confident that Jesus Christ is coming again with grace for his people. Another example outside 1 Peter would be Hebrews 6:11 where it says, "We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope to the end."

So we can define hope, in the New Testament sense, as full assurance, or strong confidence that God is going to do good to us in the future.
But there is something even more peculiar about Christian hope:
Peter calls it "living hope."

What does that mean?
The opposite of a "living hope" would be a "dead hope," and that calls to mind a similar phrase in James chapter 2, namely "dead faith." "Faith without works is dead" (2:26), James says. That is, faith is barren, fruitless, unproductive.

So "living faith" and, by analogy, "living hope" would be fertile, fruitful, productive hope. Living hope is hope that has power and produces changes in life.
This is what "living' means in Hebrews 4:12 where it says, "The word of God is living and effective…" So Christian hope is a strong confidence in God which has power to produce changes in how we live.

 

[doc329]

"I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders." Psalm 9:1

How the Lord has blessed you and me! There is so much for which we can praise Him. Let us reflect on all the goodness that He has placed in our lives; how He has been faithful to us in our darkest hour and how He has lifted us up from the miry clay and put us on the rock, Christ Jesus.
Has He performed miracles in your life?

Has He brought about the impossible?
Praise him with all your heart, thanking Him for his love and faithfulness to you! Let us never lose sight of all that He has done for us from day one until this very moment and always be ready to share with others the wonders He has performed for you.

There is no greater way for us to praise God and bring Him glory than to share how He has worked in our lives with others, especially those who may not know Him as we do. Praise Him today with your whole heart and share the wonders that He has performed in your life. Bring Him glory and honor today!

 

[doc329]

If passion were cold and calculating, it would make sense to consider ourselves unwanted if we can’t think of anything God could gain from loving us.
Many of us choose to love adults only because of what they can do for us – kill loneliness, boost our status or egos or some such thing.
We are so used to fake love that we are suspicious if ever we stumble upon the real thing. If real love were selfish; loving not for gain, but simply for the sake of loving, would be insane.
Because even humans know a little about the “insanity” of love, we have such expressions as “madly in love.” But beyond that, genuine love does not hold back until there are obvious benefits, because real love is unselfish.
And God is brimming with it.

 

[doc329]

1 Pet 1:19 "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot"

Peter tells us that the Blood of Jesus is a precious substance. He means that it is something that is of great price and is to be held in honor and great esteem.

What is it about the blood of Jesus that makes it so special?

It is the price of redemption - 1 Pet. 1:19

It is the proof of God's love for us - Rom.. 5:8

It is the only substance known to God or man that can cleanse away our sins Rev. 1:5; 1 John 1:7.

It is pure blood that was shed by an innocent man. His blood and His death were accepted in place of our own by the Father in Heaven. His blood is precious blood!

Since the blood of Jesus is precious, it deserves to be cherished by the believer. We make much of the cross in our Christian churches.
However, the cross doesn't save anyone! It was what happened at the cross that makes the difference.
It was when the Lamb of God poured out His life in His blood that sin was forever atoned for, and redemption completed!

There are some that would take the Blood out of the hymnals. There are those who like to preach a dry cleaned plan of salvation that contains no references to the blood of Jesus.

My friends, those of us who still cherish the blood need to take our stand on the side of right and guard the precious blood of Jesus.
We must see to it that there will always be a group somewhere that is preaching and teaching that the blood, and the blood alone, makes me right with God.
His blood is precious blood and we need to cherish, protect and proclaim the blood of Jesus.

 

[doc329]

There is a story of a young man who proposed marriage to a young woman. He gave her an expensive, beautiful diamond ring enclosed in an attractive blue velvet box. The following day after their engagement the young woman said, “How can I ever thank you enough for the beautiful blue velvet box?
I love it and will always cherish it!” How do you think that young man felt?

A crazy story?

Yes, except that it describes the care and attention that we give in this life to our body and physical well beings which is like the blue velvet box. We spend about 99% of our resources and time on something that will return to dust and we neglect the gift of the diamond, which is our living, eternal soul.

We are not our own, We belong to God
We have been purchased by the blood of Christ.
Because we belong to God we should be devoted to God. 1 Cor 7:23 “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”
We are either God’s or the Devil’s.
There is nothing man can do to earn salvation.
If Jesus had not died to purchase our salvation we could not be servants of God.
But Jesus did pay the price.
We must be devoted to him, keep his commands.
We must glorify him.

When we are tempted to sin let us think of the cross, where Jesus shed his blood for us.
Remember His sufferings, remember his pain.
I wonder how sin would look to us if we could stand beneath the cross and feel the warm blood of Jesus run out upon us!
Would we sin there? Could we do anything but devote body and soul to God as we stood beneath the cross of Jesus?

 

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Have you noticed that people whose hearts are full of praise have a serene peace and beauty in all they do.
I am not thinking of people who keep saying "Praise the Lord" at inappropriate moments.
People who cannot praise become sour, grumpy, anxious. And it is written all over their face and body language.

The secret is to spend a few minutes praising God every day, and you can then enter into the worship (worthship) of God.
The poison in your system begins to dissolve as praise sweetens your heart.
If you view yourself as an unattractive, unlovable person, try a praise diet for a few weeks and see what happens.
Everybody will notice the change in you. God does not need our praise, but he knows that we need it, and that's why he rejoices in it.

 

[doc329]

One of Satan's most devastating weapons is causing us to wonder about the questions of tomorrow.

What if this happens?
What if that doesn't happen?
Trying to walk across tomorrow's bridges while you are still on today's streets will stretch you too far, and you will fall to your destruction.
Praise can help you stop and live today.

All of us have problems and uncertainties. If I let my mind dwell on all the things that might go wrong, I would have ulcers on top of ulcers!
But instead of dwelling on the uncertain problems of tomorrow, you and I can rest today in the arms of the One who holds tomorrow.

Stop and live this moment to it's fullest through praise to God. Rejoice in how He has brought you to where you are today. Rejoice in His love for you.
Live this moment in the fullness of the presence of God, and He will give you the courage and faith to face tomorrow.
Through praise, you can defy the doubts of the enemy and be victorious.

 

[doc329]

In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus had said to Peter "Watch and Pray" (Matthew 26:41). Perhaps we should turn that around and say "Pray and watch for Jesus coming by." When Jesus comes to us it could be in one of many forms. On the first resurrection morning Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was the gardener.

For those disciples on the road to Emmaus he came in the form of a stranger walking on the road with them (Luke 24:15), but they did not recognize him. He can also comes to us in a vision of the night.
Many have seen the Lord standing right by their bedside.
But he could also come as a bright light on the road (Acts 9:3) or in the form of one of his servants, like Ananias of Damascus (Acts 9:10-18).

 

[doc329]

Let me put it to you like this; when we are all happy in the world the hypocrite can be just as good a Christian as the believer.
The thing which tries the Christian and proves him to be real over against the world is the way we react to our trials. Our Savior puts it like this in one of His parables.
Do you remember how the sower was sowing seed and some fell on stony ground and immediately it sprang up but it had no root? When persecution or tribulation arises that they have on account of the Word, immediately they are offended - they can't take it.

When religion is at ease and popular with people, then a lot will join it but when religion is under the cloud and under the cross then only the Lord's true people will follow Him.