This Man Jesus....

Coming soon- don't miss it!

Treasure in your trial!

Presents or presence? There is a treasure in your trial! 
Joyce Myer, July 19/12 

It's been said that we should seek the giver of the gifts, not the gifts! God does supply our needs and He will give us the wisdom and talents we need for our lives and to do His will. So why not seek Him instead of trying to do things by our own strength? 




Trials come and they seem to just be a nuisance. But they do have a purpose as Joyce says. They develop character in us so we can enjoy our lives and be prepared to do God's work. As we learn and do those things we are inspired to do, we will reap rewards.The answer to whatever situation we find ourselves in may be just around the corner. But are we ready? Make the time to listen. Let God prepare you and inspire you!

Watch your tongue!

Notes on Joyce Myer's program, Enjoying Everyday Life,  July 10/12.
If you use your mouth as you are supposed to, you will see more answers to prayer and they will come quicker. Isaiah 58:9.
Ephesians 5: 18 says we are to be ever filled with the Spirit. Let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. He will fill your hearts with praise and thanksgiving to God.
The way you talk to yourself about yourself is the most important thing for you to pay attention to! <If life and death are in the tongue, which one are you ministering to yourself everyday?> You need to say about yourself what God is saying. You cannot rise above your own confession. We must be saying the same things that the Word of God is saying. Do not speak out of your feelings or understanding. Don't confess the problem over and over, confess the answer. Call those things which are not as though they were. Say to yourself, the joy of the Lord is my strength! Fight for your life by your confessions. Do warfare with darkness by the words of your mouth.
Proverbs 18: 20-21. Words are life or death. You feed yourself with your words. You can encourage yourself or depress yourself with your words. What you say to yourself about yourself can open or close a door to the devil. refuse to complain, criticize or judge wrongly.
Isaiah 5:8 says there is healing in your words! Whatever is in your heart will come out in your words, so be sure to feed yourself only on good positive things!
Six things to say on purpose:
1) You have the power to bless or curse, so bless and don't curse. Why keep saying things that subtract from your life? Stop saying things that opens doors for the devil to steal everything that Jesus died for you to have! Complaining does not agree with God. If you agree with God, you will have all that He wants to give you! 
Numbers 6:23-27, Deuteronomy 28: 2-13, James 3:10.
2)Psalm 100:4. Be thankful and say so. Tell people you appreciate them, and thank God always for all that He has done. 1 Thessalonians 5:18,19. Don't quench the Holy Spirit by complaining. While you are waiting for God to answer prayer, thank Him for it!
3) Encourage others. Don't be weary in well doing, keep it up till you see results. Proverbs 15:4.
4)Ephesians 4:15. Always tell the truth. It's the truth that makes you free. The Holy Spirit leads into all truth.
John 4:23-24. God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and truth.
5) Speak the Word of God. Keep hitting your problems with the "hammer of God's Word" again and again 'till it splits open! Jeremiah 23: 29. Speak to those dry bones and they will rise up and live! Ezekiel 37:1-14. Take authority over the problems in your life. The Word is power and life. Come into agreement with it and God will answer your prayers. When you speak the Word over your problems, they will change.
6) Don't talk too much. Manage your speaking. Don't say things mindlessly. Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to get angry! Proverbs 10:19, Proverbs 17:27-28.

Hold Your Peace!

Notes on Joyce Myer's program, Enjoying Everyday Life, July 9/12.

James 1: 2-5. There is a treasure in your trial. When you go through a trial, let this be the first thing that comes out of your mouth. Watch what you say, use wisdom with your words. Your words have power! They can carry your faith to the Kingdom of Heaven and release angels to help you. Or, they can carry your fear to the kingdom of darkness and release more trouble in your life.

We have faith, but it must be released. It's released through words and action. If you are waiting for prayers to be answered, then confess the answer in faith, call those things which are not yet as though they are now. Let's not bow to our feelings and confess that we believe God is working for good and will bring the answers.

Isaiah 53:7. He was like a lamb being led to the slaughter, but He didn't open His mouth. When Jesus was arrested, beaten and led to the cross, He did not open His mouth to say anything negative. He would not give the devil anything to work with. He was not going to let His feelings or the temptation of the devil make Him say something that would give the devil any power. This was a time when Jesus was in great anguish. It was an eternal battle and an emotional one so He kept His mouth shut and trusted God.

When times are tough and emotions are running high, don't speak out of your feelings. Get away somewhere alone and calm yourself. Ask God for the grace, His strength to say and do the right things.Don't shoot your mouth off. Don't let your ego try to defend itself. Trust God and speak wisely.

James 3 and 4. When you give testimony, don't brag. Don't say things that are between you and God. Speak those things God has given you permission. Don't complain, don't criticize, don't speak negatively, not even jokingly. Remember that your words have power. God created with His words and we are created in His image, so through Christ we have that opportunity too.

Numbers 13: 27. Ten of the spies judged by what they saw and said there was no way they could fight the enemy. Two spies wanted to go fight right away because they believed God gave them the victory, and in the end they won the battle. Don't look at the circumstances, do what God says to do and trust Him that He does know the answer. Things aren't always as they appear.

God's Provision

RCL  July 29/12

2Kings 4:39-41
God can make a toxic environment safe for His people!
Psalm 145: 10-18
The Lord is faithful in all He does. 
He comes to all those who call on Him sincerely.
Ephesians 3: 14-21
God gives mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit.
Genesis 18: 1-14
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Exodus 24: 1-11
They were able to commune with God and have fellowship in His presence because they were sprinkled with blood. That blood confirmed the covenant they had with God, which at that time was the law. Since Jesus came, His blood covering us confirms 
the new covenant with God. 
That is righteousness by faith in Christ.
Isaiah 25: 6-10
God will remove forever all the insults and mockery
against His land and people.
Psalm 111
How amazing are God's deeds!
All should ponder them!
He has paid a full ransom for His people.
He has guaranteed His covenant with them forever.

God does satisfy the needs of every living thing. Our first need because of sin was to be united again with God. So Jesus' perfect sacrifice makes it possible for us to be in God's presence once more. He does care for us, meeting our needs in this physical world. He provides food and shelter, but we must ask for it. God is communicating to us, but are we willing to listen? God wants to provide everything for us, but He wants us to come to Him and fellowship with Him.

Suggested songs
Lord You Have My Heart, Speak To Me, Here I Am To Worship, Jesus Name Above All Names, Amazed, Arms Of Love, 
(message and communion)
You Are Everything ( Brian Doerkson ), How Great Is Our God
 

The Greatest King Ever!!

Nut Shell

God made King David great for the sake of the people. He did it so that they would have a safe and prosperous place to live. He also did it to secure the lineage of Jesus so that he could come to Earth and die for us thus securing our place in Heaven. Because of Jesus' obedience and pure sacrifice, God raised him from the dead to become the greatest king forever!

Introduction

What I see in these Old Testament passages is the proof that God loves all of us and provides for us, taking good care of all our needs. I believe He may allow us to reap consequences if we become selfish and stop doing the things He has told us to do, but that is for our own good to keep us from our own demise. His deep love for us never changes and during those times He still protects us and waits for us to return so He can help us.

Psalm23

This psalm speaks of how God lovingly cares for us throughout our lives.

2 Samuel 5: 1-12, 7: 1-14

God made David's kingdom great for the sake of the people. God loved His people and when they cried out to Him for help, He answered mightily! It was His plan to build them into a mighty nation so they would be safe from attack and He also wanted to prosper them, giving them abundance so they could enjoy life and take care of the poor among them. If they did not keep their faith in God, and did not obey Him, then He allowed hard times to come upon them so they would not become selfish in their thinking and attitude and destroy themselves. Everything God did for them was for their own good. 

It's the same today. If we keep following what God is showing us to do with our lives, we will have joy and peace and abundance so we can give to others.

Psalm 89: 20-37

God promised David that his dynasty would last forever. That promise is fulfilled through the reign of Jesus, who was of David's lineage. God secured David's lineage to Jesus. All the promises and blessings prophesied over David are over Jesus too. God's unfailing love, power and authority rests on Jesus always. Jesus is God's first born son and the mightiest king above all. God's covenant with Jesus will never be broken. His throne will last forever. (Also in Hebrews 1:8 )

And all that belongs to Jesus we inherit too. We will even sit with him on his throne.( Ephesians 2 ) All the while, we have God's favour, protection and provision during our lives here on Earth. All this has been accomplished because Jesus died  for us on the cross.

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Jesus is all that God, his father is and he demonstrated that in the love and compassion he showed those in need while he lived on Earth. He gave us the perfect example of how we are to live. He did it all by the power of God's Spirit, which is given to us so we can do the same works.

Suggested songs:

Today, Hope of the Nations, Above All, How Great Is Our God 
Message, communion,  We Bow Down
Meditation
Here I Am To Worship, Jesus Name Above All Names
Benediction, prayer
Your Love Oh Lord
Arms Of Love


Taken from RCL July 22/12

Heirs of God

Psalm 85: 8-13

Salvation, honour, abundance, all spiritual blessings are poured out on those who listen to God and follow what He says. God is good and does what He says and blesses those who turn to Him.

This must be practised in every situation if we want God's help, or things could go wrong at that time, and then we tend to blame God, but really- did we give Him the chance to help us?

Ephesians 1: 3-14

Because Christ died for our sins, we who accept that belong to Him and we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realm. If that is true, then we surely have everything we need here on Earth to do God's will. Verse 8 says that God showered His kindness on us with all wisdom and understanding, so we can claim that we have His smarts too! Verses 13-14 tell us that God identified us as His own by giving us the Holy Spirit. That guarantees us that He will give us everything that He promised and proves we are His people. The Holy Spirit gives us that feeling of God's presence and His love.

Chapter 2, verse 6-10 shows us that we are raised from the dead with Christ and we are seated with Him in the Heavenly realm. We are created new in Christ so we can do the things that God planned for us to do.

Revised Common Lectionary, July 15/12

Through The Crusade Analytical Study Bible chain reference:
John 1:12  All who believe in Jesus have the right to become a child of God.
Romans 8: 15-17, 29-30  We are adopted into God's family through Christ and therefore share in all that belongs to Him. God chose us to become brothers and sisters to His Son Jesus. Then He caused us to come to Him, gave us right standing and promised us His glory. 
2Corinthians 6: 16-18  We are God's temple for He lives in us and we are His children.
Galatians 4: 3-7  Christ died for us to free us from the judgement of the law. Through His sacrifice we are children of God and therefore everything He has belongs to us too.
1John 3: 1-3  How much God loves us that He would allow us to become His own children!
          4: 13-17  God has given us His Spirit as proof that He lives in us and we in Him.

What is it that we have?
Power to love, forgive and live as Jesus did on Earth. Everything we need to do whatever God has called us to do in this life, including the wisdom, the finances, courage and help of others as we need it. He always provides.

Why don't we always experience it?
In our daily lives, maybe we don't always take the time we need to hear the what, how when and where from God. Sometimes we get excited, too passionate about things and get working hard on our own ideas.
Things  on Earth deteriorate in time if they are misused or not properly maintained. It's the same with everything including relationships, ministry, our bodies.
The contaminators are- strife, judging unfairly, hatred, fear based on misunderstanding or lack of information, hurting others, selfishness.
The rust inhibitors are- forgiveness, kindness, encouraging words, honesty, love.

I believe if we don't know what to do- then just being the good neighbour, living in love and doing good to others with a cheerful heart is all we need to keep on our journey.
And in that sometimes we need the Holy Spirit ! 
Remember, we are children of God and the Holy Spirit will always guide us in the ways of love! That is where the real power lies!
We are love, we are power.

Songs (Suggested flow)


My Redeemer

We can come into God's House boldly because we belong to Christ.
The blood of Christ has cleansed us and the Holy Spirit bears witness in our hearts that we belong to God.

All The Heavens / Arms of Love / I Adore You ( Jesus Culture) / Amazed ( Jared Anderson)
Only You
communion,meditation- Holy Spirit Come
Abba Father ( Jim Glaab & Jon Neilson)

God's Responsibility

Nutshell: Answer the call of God and do whatever He says. He will give you the strength and wisdom you need and the results are His responsibility.

2 Corinthians 12: 2-10, 11: 16-33

God's power is shown best when we are weak! it's God who makes us strong and does those things that we cannot.

God still triumphs when we are weak and fail. Even if we go through hardships, God can still accomplish His will. Even when it appears that evil is winning, God will bring His plan to fruition.

Psalm 48

God is our defender. He will keep us safe forever. His hand brings victory. He is just. He is our God forever. He is our guide for life!

Ezekiel 2: 1-5
The Holy Spirit set Ezekiel on His feet. We will find that the Holy Spirit is the one who causes us to stand in our daily lives. Whatever the situation, it's the Holy Spirit that helps us, gives us the strength and wisdom we need to face our problems. In the first two chapters I find great encouragement to do God's will.
In summary; Ezekiel was to give a message to the people no matter whether they listened or not. God wanted to give the people a chance to choose life. He is just and has given everyone the freedom to choose. He withholds that choice from no one, so everyone has equal chance to listen and be saved. If we are given a message from God to give to others, we should give it. Whatever God inspires us to do, we should do. God takes the responsibility for the results. If we are obedient, He rewards us no matter what the results are. It is, after all His works, not ours.
Scriptures taken from RCL July 8/12

God will match our needs - and more!

Jesus became poor for us so we could become rich! 
He didn't give of money, but He gave His life for us.

Give whatever God gives you to give.

Give only what you can- don't put yourself in need.

When the manna fell, those who gathered a lot had none left over 
and those who gathered little had enough!

God always meets our needs!
When He gives you more, then you can give more as God shows you.
Just keep a good attitude about it!

2Corinthians 8:11-15
RCL July 1/12

Wait on the Lord, He will bring the harvest!

It is good to wait on the Lord quietly and patiently. He is wonderfully good to those who wait for Him and seek Him. Remember- He is a fruitful God and wants all of us to have blessed, fruitful, abundant lives! His Word never returns to Him void, it always brings a harvest!

Lamentations 3: 23-33, Isaiah 55:10,11

Even in times when I feel I am in a bad situation, I know I can "complain" or cry out and ask the Lord for help and He will help me. I can always cry to the Lord. He is my source of joy and the source of my health.

Forever I will praise Him because He has given me the privilege and the strength to do so!

He turns my bad feelings into joy and praise!

Psalm88, Psalm 30
RCL July 1/12

Talk To Me!

Ask and you shall receive!

You must engage with God- talk with and let God talk to you, 
teach you, show you what you need.

Be willing to learn, listen, hear what God has in mind.

In Luke chapter 24, Jesus was walking with disciples and at the end of their journey, He acted as if He was going on, but they begged Him to stay. So Jesus stayed and ate with them, and then He revealed it was He!

In Mark chapter 6, Jesus was walking on the water and was going to pass the boat where the disciples were. They thought He was a ghost and screamed, so He got in the boat and calmed them down and calmed the sea too!

In every situation, we should not panic, don't worry and don't complain. If you can't help yourself- "complain" to God- call to Him and He will help you! Don't be afraid to talk about everything to God first. He is all understanding and wants you to talk freely to Him like you would to a good parent or even your closest friend. Thank God for the answer and - very important- instead of complaining, repeating the problem - confess God's Word. 

In fact- don't confess the problem, confess and pray the answer. Then the answer will come so much quicker, 

and in the meantime, you will be communing with Jesus instead of worrying!

Luke 24:28-31, Mark 6: 45-52
RCL June 24/12

The Lord Is Good

There is nothing but goodness in the Lord.

He will continue forever.

He refreshes everyone and restores their youth and vigour.

He inspires us to sing with joy!

Psalm 92

RCL June 17/12

Strength Out Of Weakness!

God takes delight in taking those things which are weak and small 

and making them great!

There are no big or small jobs with God-

they are all great works!

It's God who brings about greatness!

Ezekiel 17: 22-24, Mark 4: 30-34

Revised Common Lectionary, June 17, 2012


Our troubles will soon be over and more and more people will come to Christ. There will be more thanksgiving and God will be glorified more and more. That's why we never give up. We don't look at the troubles we can see now, rather we look forward to what we don't see yet. Our troubles will soon be over, but our joy will last forever.
RCL June10/12 -  2Corinthians 4: 13-15:1 What inspired me most was v.14-16a, 18b, above.

Your promises are backed by all the honour of your name. When I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me the strength I need. Though the Lord is great, He cares for the humble. You will preserve me. The Lord will work out His plans for my life.

Taken from Psalm 138.
 

Real Issues

God's plan is to bring all of us together in unity in Christ. If all mankind keeps fighting each other, we will certainly destroy the whole human race. I believe it's those who have been working for peace that have kept us from doing that.

Because Jesus died for us, we can receive God's Holy Spirit to help us become like Him. Jesus' perfect sacrifice has destroyed the hostility between us.

It's only by the works of the Holy Spirit in us that we can truly understand the word of God, love, forgive and get along with each other. We are created new in Christ so we can do the things God planned for us to do. God's Holy Spirit will guide you to what is best for you. We need to stop fighting over what the Bible says. Our righteousness is through faith in Christ alone. The things on the surface, how things appear to us, don't make us righteous.

The state of your heart is what brings judgement. If you are selfish, then God has issue with you. If you are loving, honest, forgiving, then God has no issues with you. It's not the surface things, it's what's in your heart that counts!

If you wish to judge people and the Bible by the standards of  North American society of the mid 20th Century, or other societies, you won't really get this. You must know the heart of Christ and judge by that. If you know Christ, you know God, for all that God is, Christ is. If you want to understand the Bible- read Jesus' heart- He is the Word made flesh!

Ephesians chapter 1 & 2.