Encouraging others Spiritually and Physically

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

November 5, 2013 - Part II - Recap of Nov. 3, 2013 Sermon - In depth study of Matt. 7:21

5:00 am Prayer/Devotion

AM - Gym (Cardio 30 min/ Weights - Lower Body)

Studying - Matthew 7:21 A little more in depth - A statement was made that if you don't do Jesus work, you won't enter in heaven. For a babe in Christ or someone who doesn't study, you could take that statement and then add a condition into entering heaven.

Romans 10:9-10 - Gives the condition to enter into heaven.

Romans 10:9-10

New Living Translation (NLT)

9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Saved from what ?? Saved from going to Hell.

ADR - my thoughts:

I understand what the preacher was saying. By reading Matthew 7:15-23; Jesus was talking about false prophets. Jesus was teaching others in that day how to identify false prophets. If these false prophets are not doing the work of Christ, they will not enter heaven. Jesus was saying, just because you see these prophets come in my name, prophesying, performing exorcism and showing you miracles, doesn't mean they are my disciples.

I could bring this up to modern day, just because you profess you are a Christian doesn't mean you are a true disciple. Are you doing the works of Christ? What are the works of Christ?

To me, its funny when people call themselves a Christian but don't study God's word. How can you do the works of Christ if you don't know what it is? How can do what God commands if you never study his Word to even know His expectations?

I believe when someone has ABC (Accept, Believe and Confess) Romans 10:9-10; then they are saved. They have invited Jesus to come into their life. I believe immediately, that the Holy Spirit comes and indwell in them and seal them to the day of redemption.

Now, its time to work. Which means, its time to grow. That's great that you are saved from hell, so I would imagine you would be feeling pretty grateful. God said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Its time to learn what those are and Grow in Christ.

Another note: regarding what the preacher said. His statement went along with making his point of having the proper motivation to do Christ work. If I was told that I won't enter heaven in less I do Christ work, that's a pretty good motivation.

Perhaps, my summary on this would be, you say you are a follower of Christ but you are not doing the work of Christ, then the real question is..Have you really accepted what Jesus did on the Cross? Do you love Christ? If so, why aren't you keeping his commandments?

A disciple is a follower of Christ. Those above statements should challenge any Christian and make you do a self-examination of your life (your actions).

NKJ: Matthew 21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is heaven.

Note: Commentary

Matthew 7:21-23 By referring to Himself as Lord and depicting Himself as the ultimate Judge of humanity, Jesus asserted His deity. True disciples affirm Jesus' lordship, submit to His authority, and obey His commands. Jesus insisted that a person is confirmed as a true disciple not by prophecy, exorcism, or working miracles but by living a transformed life made possible by God. The disobedient lifestyles of evildoers are inconsistent with genuine discipleship. Jesus' words, I never knew you, show that these were never truly disciples.

When Reading this scriptures in Context of surrounding scriptures, you must start with Matthew 7:15-23
I went back and read the entire Ch 7 of Matthew.

Do Not Judge Others

7 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others.[a] The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.[b]

3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye[c] when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend,[d] ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy.[e] Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

Effective Prayer

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

The Golden Rule

12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

The Narrow Gate

13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell[f] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

The Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

True Disciples

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

Building on a Solid Foundation

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

MATTHEW 25:11-12; HOS. 8:2; LUKE 6:46; 13:25; ACTS 19:13; ROM. 2:13; JAMES 1:22

Matthew 25:11-12

New Living Translation (NLT)

11 Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’
12 “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’

New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission ofTyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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Hosea 8:2

New Living Translation (NLT)

2 Now Israel pleads with me,
‘Help us, for you are our God!’

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Luke 6:46

New Living Translation (NLT)

Building on a Solid Foundation

46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?

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Luke 13:25

New Living Translation (NLT)

25 When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

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Acts 19:13

New Living Translation (NLT)

13 A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!”

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Romans 2:13

New Living Translation (NLT)

13 For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

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James 1:22

New Living Translation (NLT)

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Don't Try to Quit Cold Turkey.. LOL

I just had a conversation with a friend regarding "Quitting Cold Turkey"

I have tried to "Quit" (specific sins..XXX) .. X - you can name yours

What I have learned over the years.. when you quit specific sins, you must replace it with something productive, something Godly.

Quitting Cold Turkey = You stop all the things you believe is displeasing God.. BUT you don't replace it with something productive.

It reminds me of the parable that Jesus told about the man cleaning out his house. He had a demon in the house, he cleaned it out. Now, he's happy (for the moment). But he leaves his house clean. Then the demon finds the house clean and goes and get 7 other demons that's worse than him and they all come back and occupy the house.
Note: House in this scripture is the man's body

Read: Matthew 12:43-45

What you do and How you do it does matter..

What I BELIEVE IS.. If you replace that time with building a solid relationship with Christ on a CONSISTENT basis.. then everything else will fall into place. Those things you enjoy currently that doesn't please God, you won't enjoy them as much and eventually, not at all.

Been there and done that.. All the stuff "I stop doing" Cold Turkey, EVENTUALLY, I went back to it.
I've been on this Christian race for over 30 years.. and Cold Turkey doesn't work for me.

Here is the conversation..

Still full from yesterday's sermon:

ME:
Right Right!!! I was on it! The conviction was there and now the follow through.

I love when He said.. raise your hand if you want to loose 35 lbs..and before anyone could get there hand in the air real good..he said.. so why don't you?

or What's stopping you.. ? I knew that was a setup.. I didn't even bothering raising my hand.

I realize.. anything we want to do ..99.9% of the time..its us that's stopping US from accomplishing it...

I do recognize that there are other factors that come into place, (resources, devil, kids, spouses, )etc.. but at the end of the day..ITS US..THAT STOPS US FROM DOING WHATEVER..

So anywho..I'm pumped! and I agree..You can not STOP COLD Turkey.. Not successfully ..(on a long term basis).. been there done that

I am taking baby steps.. I'm recommitting reading my bible daily.. (that's big for me..but VERY necessarily).. That's the only way to rebuild a solid relationship with God.. You have to put TIME IN It!

Then Bible Class, Sunday School, Revival.. those all are the extra things that assist with having a solid relationship with God.. You NEED those as well

Its like wanting to live a healthy lifestyle. Exercise alone is not enough, You must get the proper rest and eat right. Even with Exercise... cardio alone is not enough. You must put some resistance in there.. some stretching..

Its a formula. I can relate this Christian Race with preparing for a 5k Race.. I understand what you need to succeed.. its very similar to the Christian race.

I feel once your relationship is solid and consistent with Christ..and its steadily growing ..everything else will fall into place.. (i.e. convictions about what you do, where you do it, etc) ..Things that doesn't please God will fall off naturally ..

In the past..I tried to quit cold turkey.. but without building that relationship with God (consistently)..my efforts didn't last.. And most importantly..we can't do anything in our own power anyways.. You need the help of the HOLY Spirit ..in all of this..

Monday, November 4, 2013 - Recap Sunday's Sermon - Anthony Stallings - Another day of life is not guaranteed but DEATH is.

5:00 am - Devotion/Prayer

AM - 20 min weights 20 min cardio
PM - Ride the bike .. Around the world challenge - Destination is Florida

Good morning Lord.. Here is your child again.. I'm back.. Please forgive me for putting things (idols) before you. Forgive me for not giving you my first fruit. Forgive me for not giving you the time that (WE) deserve with each other. Please help me to be a better steward over my time, my talents and my treasure, in Jesus Name I pray.

I've been challenge and I have to make myself usable for Christ. I am saved, there is no doubt about that..but Anthony reminded me - Another day of life is not guaranteed but DEATH is.

What shall I do with this time? All I really have is "today". What does God want me to do with "today"?
Lord Lead Me

Pastor Stallings reminded us.. that What we do with this time and How we do it does matter.

Grace- Put you on God's Team

But your Life - Is a living card of how "Thankful" you are to be on God's team

What does your card say?

Scriptures (I will list them for now) ..and we will try to put them together in a way that corresponds with the sermon.

Ephesians 6:6-12;
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Once we are on Jesus team. Christians means following Christ.
If you are a Christian, you must discover what Jesus did. We must do the work that Jesus did.

John 14:12-15.

Make Yourself Usable ... Grace saved you, so you can DO
Once you Repent and turn away,.. now, we must be properly motivated to do the works of Christ.

There was one point..I didn't totally agree with (..so I will put a pen here to do some research)..
Matthew 7:13-14; 21-22
Something to the fact that if you don't do Christ work, you won't enter heaven.
Note to self: Last I checked, once you are saved, you are sealed by God's Holy Spirit.
You have Accepted, Believe and Confess (Romans 10:9-10), then you will have eternal life..there is no other condition to entering heaven;

So I will study those scriptures, in light of other scripture. CWGIBS

There are Good ideals and God Ideals .. ITS CHALLENGING TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

Rev 3:15-17
John 15:14
Philipians 4:13 - (He said stop using this scripture out of context.. )..so read the whole chapter so you know exactly what you are quoting.

We must THINK ETERNALLY
Jeremiah 33:3
Psalms 139:16
Matthew 24:38-42;
Romans 12:1-2.

James 1:5

*** END OF SERMON NOTES ***
SCRIPTURES LISTED:

Ephesians 6:6-12

New Living Translation (NLT)

6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

The Whole Armor of God

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

New Living Translation (NLT)

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

************************** PASTOR TWYMON SERMON ********************
I love this one: Isiah 49:16 .. oopss..this is from Pastor's Twymon sermon in the afternoon.. LOL
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. - KJV

MSG VERSIONS:

Isaiah 49:16

The Message (MSG)

15-18 “Can a mother forget the infant at her breast,
    walk away from the baby she bore?
But even if mothers forget,
    I’d never forget you—never.
Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.
    The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight.
Your builders are faster than your wreckers.
    The demolition crews are gone for good.
Look up, look around, look well!
    See them all gathering, coming to you?
As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree—
    “you’re going to put them on like so much jewelry,
    you’re going to use them to dress up like a bride.



**********************************

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - Accepting Forgiveness

October 30, 2013

Accepting Forgiveness
Wendy Pope

"Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit." Psalm 32:2 (NIV 1984)

Many years were spent regretting sins from my past. These sins had hurt others and me. Day after day I would replay my decisions. Two decades later, the sting of past sin still had a hold on me.

God had forgiven me; I'd told Him about my sin and asked Him to pardon me. So why couldn't I accept the freedom of His forgiveness?

I wanted so badly to believe I was the person David mentions in Psalm 32:2,"Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit." Yet I struggled with accepting that God's grace could erase my sin, wiping it away as if it never happened.

This can be a hard thing to accept for many of us. It sounds all well and good, but in reality, the weight of sin makes it difficult to believe a perfect God can forgive us.

Yet, His Word assures us that God does not count our sin against us. So how can we live in this truth?

The first step is to acknowledge our sin: to ourselves and to God. This opens up the door for honest conversations with the Lord and helps us stop hiding from the fear of being found out.

The next step is to fill our hearts and minds with truth. Throughout the Bible, God teaches how an unaccepting heart can be changed and softened to accept His forgiveness. The following verses are truth from a loving God who longs to transform our lives through the grace of His forgiveness.

My God doesn't condemn. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1 (NIV)

My master is grace, not sin. "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." Romans 6:14 (NIV 1984)

My Savior Jesus has set me free, therefore I am free. "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36 (NIV)

My old is gone; because of Jesus Christ I am new. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians5:17 (NIV 1984)

Are you lugging a load of sin that God has already forgiven? Are you ready to stop living in shame, shackled by regret? Life is too short to exchange the freedom of grace for the bondage of unbelief.

Today, allow God to wash the hurt and regret from past sins away with the transforming power of His truth. And let's pray for an accepting heart that lives in the freedom of God's grace and forgiveness.

Dear Lord, by faith I accept Your forgiveness and refuse to be a slave to sin You've already forgiven. Today, I confess and move on! I commit to believe Your transforming truths to live fully and freely in Your grace. In Jesus' Name, Amen

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - Part III - Divorced, What did Jesus say?

Matthew 19

The Message (MSG)

Divorce

19 1-2 When Jesus had completed these teachings, he left Galilee and crossed the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Great crowds followed him there, and he healed them.

3 One day the Pharisees were badgering him: “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
4-6 He answered, “Haven’t you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female? And because of this, a man leaves father and mother and is firmly bonded to his wife, becoming one flesh—no longer two bodies but one. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”
7 They shot back in rebuttal, “If that’s so, why did Moses give instructions for divorce papers and divorce procedures?”
8-9 Jesus said, “Moses provided for divorce as a concession to your hard heartedness, but it is not part of God’s original plan. I’m holding you to the original plan, and holding you liable for adultery if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else. I make an exception in cases where the spouse has committed adultery.”
10 Jesus’ disciples objected, “If those are the terms of marriage, we’re stuck. Why get married?”
11-12 But Jesus said, “Not everyone is mature enough to live a married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn’t for everyone. Some, from birth seemingly, never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked—or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons. But if you’re capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.”

Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - Part II 1 Corinthians 7 - To be Married, to be Single..

God is revealing so many things to me. I've been praying for God's direction and clarity and for Him to reveal my purpose. When you are sincere in asking God to reveal his will, don't be blown away by the answer; You may just not like it, but will you obey?

Msg Translation

To Be Married, to Be Single . . .

7 Now, getting down to the questions you asked in your letter to me. First, Is it a good thing to have sexual relations?

2-6 Certainly—but only within a certain context. It’s good for a man to have a wife, and for a woman to have a husband. Sexual drives are strong, but marriage is strong enough to contain them and provide for a balanced and fulfilling sexual life in a world of sexual disorder. The marriage bed must be a place of mutuality—the husband seeking to satisfy his wife, the wife seeking to satisfy her husband. Marriage is not a place to “stand up for your rights.” Marriage is a decision to serve the other, whether in bed or out. Abstaining from sex is permissible for a period of time if you both agree to it, and if it’s for the purposes of prayer and fasting—but only for such times. Then come back together again. Satan has an ingenious way of tempting us when we least expect it. I’m not, understand, commanding these periods of abstinence—only providing my best counsel if you should choose them.

7 Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me—a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.

8-9 I do, though, tell the unmarried and widows that singleness might well be the best thing for them, as it has been for me. But if they can’t manage their desires and emotions, they should by all means go ahead and get married. The difficulties of marriage are preferable by far to a sexually tortured life as a single.

10-11 And if you are married, stay married. This is the Master’s command, not mine. If a wife should leave her husband, she must either remain single or else come back and make things right with him. And a husband has no right to get rid of his wife.

12-14 For the rest of you who are in mixed marriages—Christian married to non-Christian—we have no explicit command from the Master. So this is what you must do. If you are a man with a wife who is not a believer but who still wants to live with you, hold on to her. If you are a woman with a husband who is not a believer but he wants to live with you, hold on to him. The unbelieving husband shares to an extent in the holiness of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is likewise touched by the holiness of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be left out; as it is, they also are included in the spiritual purposes of God.

15-16 On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you’ve got to let him or her go. You don’t have to hold on desperately. God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can. You never know, wife: The way you handle this might bring your husband not only back to you but to God. You never know, husband: The way you handle this might bring your wife not only back to you but to God.

17 And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life. Don’t think I’m being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches.

18-19 Were you Jewish at the time God called you? Don’t try to remove the evidence. Were you non-Jewish at the time of your call? Don’t become a Jew. Being Jewish isn’t the point. The really important thing is obeying God’s call, following his commands.

20-22 Stay where you were when God called your name. Were you a slave? Slavery is no roadblock to obeying and believing. I don’t mean you’re stuck and can’t leave. If you have a chance at freedom, go ahead and take it. I’m simply trying to point out that under your new Master you’re going to experience a marvelous freedom you would never have dreamed of. On the other hand, if you were free when Christ called you, you’ll experience a delightful “enslavement to God” you would never have dreamed of.

23-24 All of you, slave and free both, were once held hostage in a sinful society. Then a huge sum was paid out for your ransom. So please don’t, out of old habit, slip back into being or doing what everyone else tells you. Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side.

25-28 The Master did not give explicit direction regarding virgins, but as one much experienced in the mercy of the Master and loyal to him all the way, you can trust my counsel. Because of the current pressures on us from all sides, I think it would probably be best to stay just as you are. Are you married? Stay married. Are you unmarried? Don’t get married. But there’s certainly no sin in getting married, whether you’re a virgin or not. All I am saying is that when you marry, you take on additional stress in an already stressful time, and I want to spare you if possible.

29-31 I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don’t complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple—in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.

32-35 I want you to live as free of complications as possible. When you’re unmarried, you’re free to concentrate on simply pleasing the Master. Marriage involves you in all the nuts and bolts of domestic life and in wanting to please your spouse, leading to so many more demands on your attention. The time and energy that married people spend on caring for and nurturing each other, the unmarried can spend in becoming whole and holy instruments of God. I’m trying to be helpful and make it as easy as possible for you, not make things harder. All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.

36-38 If a man has a woman friend to whom he is loyal but never intended to marry, having decided to serve God as a “single,” and then changes his mind, deciding he should marry her, he should go ahead and marry. It’s no sin; it’s not even a “step down” from celibacy, as some say. On the other hand, if a man is comfortable in his decision for a single life in service to God and it’s entirely his own conviction and not imposed on him by others, he ought to stick with it. Marriage is spiritually and morally right and not inferior to singleness in any way, although as I indicated earlier, because of the times we live in, I do have pastoral reasons for encouraging singleness.

39-40 A wife must stay with her husband as long as he lives. If he dies, she is free to marry anyone she chooses. She will, of course, want to marry a believer and have the blessing of the Master. By now you know that I think she’ll be better off staying single. The Master, in my opinion, thinks so, too.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - Part I Romans 7 and 8 - Torn Between One Way and Another

AM - Devotion

Prayer

Exercise: Lunch time, weights

Msg translation

Torn Between One Way and Another

7 1-3 You shouldn’t have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know all the ins and outs of the law—how it works and how its power touches only the living. For instance, a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she’s free. If she lives with another man while her husband is living, she’s obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good conscience, with no one’s disapproval.

4-6 So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to “marry” a resurrection life and bear “offspring” of faith for God. For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we’re no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we’re free to live a new life in the freedom of God.

7 But I can hear you say, “If the law code was as bad as all that, it’s no better than sin itself.” That’s certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, “You shall not covet,” I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.

8-12 Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code itself is God’s good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.

13 I can already hear your next question: “Does that mean I can’t even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?” No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God’s good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

14-16 I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’tdo it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

***

Romans 8

The Message (MSG)

The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms

8 1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

3-4 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.
9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
12-14 So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Favorite Links

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

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Monday, November 4, 2013

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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Matthew 19

Divorce

To Be Married, to Be Single . . .

AM - Devotion

Msg translation

Torn Between One Way and Another

Romans 8

The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms