Monday, October 25, 2010

DOING WHAT’S FIRST FIRST

God wants us to be steadfast through difficulties, setbacks, and attacks from the enemy. And He will strengthen and fortify us through it all when we put first things first.

Jesus said in Matt. 6:33 “He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern”.

What is your “primary concern” in life?
We can make many things our primary concern, other than the Kingdom of God, and no matter how hard we try and work, it seems we can’t get ahead or we are not inwardly satisfied or content, and we live in a state of frustration and pessimism. Why is that? It’s because we’re not trusting God and what He said.

Isa. 26:3 says, You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you.

TO HELP US DO WHAT'S FIRST FIRST
REMEMBER 3 THINGS:

We can’t take from God and profit from it.

God says in Psa. 50:12 “All the world is mine and everything in it”.

If our priorities become confused and we start putting money ahead of God, then God doesn’t lose; we do. If we try to make more time for ourselves and give less to God, we will lose time. If we try to make more money for ourselves and give less to God, we will lose money. If we try to get more energy for ourselves for what we want to do and give less energy to serving God, we will lose energy. Nobody can take from God and profit from it.

Give the first of what we have to the Lord.

Prov. 3:9 Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best.

Honor God and He will bless you. We are to give the first part of our income to Him, the first day of the week to Him, the first part of our day to Him. We should use the first day of the week to the glory of God. A lot of Christians have killed their joy, their witness, and their spiritual power by turning Sunday into an ordinary day and not putting Christ first in their week.

Stay faithful.

When we connect the dots from the following verses we see that we are “managers” of all that God entrusts to us.

Col. 1:16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, - everything got started in him (Christ) and finds its purpose in him.
1 Cor. 4:2 It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Rom. 14:12 Each of us will give an account of himself to God.

The place to begin is our relationship with God. We must be faithful to Him. That’s what matters. If we’re faithful to Him in our personal lives then we’ll be faithful to His church and His work.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

THE CHALLENGE OF HOLY LIVING

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, said to a new group of leaders, “I want you young men always to bear in mind that it is the nature of a fire to go out; you must keep it stirred and fed and the ashes removed.”

Faithfulness to God takes a commitment to holy living.

1 Peter 1:14-16 (NLT) Obey God because you are his children. Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God – who chose you to be his children – is holy. For he himself has said, "You must be holy because I am holy."

We may have a tendency to come to church and want to belong to and live with the family of God without trusting Him or submitting to His will and ways. We want the blessings but not the commitments or obligations. We may still feed our appetite for the things of the world. We may live according to a “secular worldview” rather than a “Christian worldview”. Without God’s strength and guidance, it doesn’t take long for us to begin to compromise and live in disobedience.

WHAT HELPS US TO LIVE HOLY LIVES?

1. Take out the garbage.
 2 Tim. 2:20-21 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

Whatever impurities we may have in our lives, need to be cleansed from us. Get rid of the garbage. Get rid of anything that is displeasing to the Lord and dishonors Him.

2. Choose Christianity’s worldview.
 1 John 4:5-6 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

God’s people and the people of the world can be identified by what they talk about. If a Christian talks or acts from a “non-Christian worldview”, then Christ is not ruling in their lives. They’re living in disobedience to God’s Word.

We must always “check” our worldview. The reason is because it’s easy to begin to “absorb” the “secular worldview” and our spiritual eyes are dimmed and we distort God’s truth. We then “filter” what we read in the Bible through the grid of a secular worldview. And then we may misinterpret what the Bible says and even think the Bible can be “contradicted”.

This is why we must stay close to the Lord and keep our lives “cleansed” from all sin.  We must grow in knowing God more, which leads to trusting Him more, and therefore obeying Him more.

3. Pay attention to warnings.
Col. 1:28 (NLT) So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ.

Warnings are good. We should take to heart the warnings God gives us . Being warned is a part of what God says to us.

4. Be trustworthy with what we get from God’s Word.
Col. 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Live your life worthy of the name of Christ. Live to please Him. See to it that your life produces goodness. And grow to know God more.

Commit to these things and you will see rewarding changes in the way you live as you grow in holy living.