Living in Christ

Christians are commanded to lose their lives. This does not mean that we seek death, or that we turn away from life itself. Rather, it means that we ought to deliberately release our lives to God and His kingdom. One of the greatest hindrances to us being on mission with God will be our view of what constitutes our "legitimate rights." That is, those things that we feel we have a right to experience and enjoy. It's not difficult to turn over to Christ those things that are not a sacrifice or that we would prefer to do without anyway. But, it is the things that are good and that are dear to us that may stand between us and God's will. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 16:25. Let's look at some examples: It's good to be near our grown children and grandchildren, but God may want us to go to another city or even another continent on mission with Him. It's good t...

The world will tell us that the dominating influence in our life is our past. If we came from a difficult home life, that will determine the direction of our life. If our culture has treated us unfairly, that will dictate the condition of our life today. If we were hurt or abused or if our youth was spent in rebellion, the remainder of our life will be spent in struggling with our past. I believe the world is preoccupied with the past because it faces an uncertain future. Christians, on the other hand, are supposed to live in freedom because Christ has overcome our past. The "old things" have been done away with and "new things" have come. See 2 Cor 5:17. God has so totally forgiven the Christian's sin that He chooses not to remember it. Christians do not forget the past; but we should not be controlled or motivated by it. Christians should be looking to the future with hope! "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I d...

I have felt it, and I know you have too. The temptation to give up on God's people! They are so imperfect and can be so sinful, still, they are His people too. Who am I talking about? All of us! Believers and non-believers alike. We are all created by the Creator. We are all God's people. However, there are some of us that would disagree with that statement. Still, the Bible teaches that all humanity is the design of Almighty God. You know, Samuel found himself in the same situation in dealing with God's people. Samuel had thoroughly warned the Israelites of the dangers in appointing a king over Israel. Yet they wanted to be like the nations around them, insisting that they were willing to pay any price. Almost as soon as the people were granted their desire, they recognized their sin. But it was too late. What was Samuel to do? They had ignored all his warnings. Now they wanted him to continue to minister to them. I think that it would seem appropriate fo...

There will be times in our walk with God that we will feel so worn out and stressed, we will not want to take another step. We may feel that we spend all our time running from crisis to crisis and constantly giving our time and energy to others. Our Lord wants to renew our strength and enable us to enjoy the abundant life He intends for us. The key, is to wait upon Him to do so! "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31. One thing about our generation today, we do not like to wait for anything. We want everything we desire right now! We are harried by all the commitments we have made and the many responsibilities we hold. We rush through our lives without stopping to evaluate our activities. Sometimes in our rush to get on with our work, we race ahead of God. We need to realize that part of God's restorative process is to ...

Do you know that it is by faith that God's mighty power is released into our life? I believe that when we doubt, that is an indication that we do not know God as we should. If our prayer life is infiltrated with doubts, we have denied ourselves the greatest, single avenue of power that God has made available to us. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. And I believe that God never comforts us in our doubt. Jesus consistently rebuked those who would not believe Him. He had revealed enough of Himself for His disciples to have believed in their time of need. "Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm." Matthew 8:25-26. God wants to build our understanding of Him until our faith is sufficient to trust and obey Him in each and every ...

There are many motivations in our lives as Christians. I believe that one that should motivate us all to action is the awareness that one day we will give an account of our life to Christ. Many of us believe that Christians will be ushered into heaven with no questions asked about our faithfulness during our life on earth, but that is not what Scripture says will happen. Consider: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10. Paul cautioned us that in the final day of judgment every Christian will give an account for his or her actions upon earth. This expectation terrified Paul and motivated him to strive to please God in everything he did. Paul knew that although he might ignore the Spirit's quiet voice during his life on earth, a time of accounting would come when he would have to explain why he had rejected God's inst...

Confession is God's provision to clear obstacles that hinder our relationships with God and with others. Confession is not just for those who don't mind admitting their faults. Confession is a command, and it is given to every Christian! When we sin, it is important for us to confess not only to God, but also to our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith. There is a tremendous freedom that comes as we openly acknowledge the sinfulness of our actions to others. "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16. If confession does not come out of repentance, it is merely an admission, and not a true confession. It is important to confess our sins specifically and not hide behind generalities. It is one thing to pray, "O Lord, forgive my sin." It is another thing to identify specifically our sin in painful honesty. Whenever possible, ...

Do you know that our heart's condition will be expressed through our life? It will be evident by our attitudes, our words, and our behavior. Jesus said that you can clearly see others only when our own eyes are unobstructed. If our vision is hindered by sin, we will not look at others. "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled." Titus 1:15. If our heart is pure, we will approach life without malice. We will not question the motives or everyone around us. We will not doubt the truth of everything others tell us. We will not look for faults in others. Instead, we will look for the good in others, finding what is praiseworthy. We won't be naive or gullible, but we will seek what is good rather than what is evil. If our heart is pure, we will see others the way God sees them. However, if our hearts are defiled, everything in which we are involved with will seem ...

The beauty in the way God designed the four seasons is that, though each one is distinct, they all work together to bring life and growth. Spring is a period of freshness and new life. Summer sees growth and productivity. Autumn is a time for harvesting the rewards of past labors. Winter is the season of dormancy and closure. Each season has its own unique beauty and makes a significant contribution to life. "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1. Just as God planned seasons in nature, He planned seasons in life as well. Life has its springtime, when we begin new things and look excitedly toward the future. Summer comes and we work diligently in the heat of the day at all that God has assigned to us. With autumn comes the fruition of things begun at an earlier time in our lives. Winter brings an end to a particular periods in our lives. Sometimes winter brings hardship, but we remain hopeful, for another spring is...

I would like to say that it is possible for us to spend our whole life knowing about the truths of God, but never experiencing any of them.  Simply knowing about the truths of God does not mean that they have become a part of our life.  Here is an important question for us all: What are you doing with the Word of God? "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper." Psalm 1:1-3.   Some of us allow ourselves to come under such influence of ungodly thinking that God's Word no longer makes any difference to us.  If we seek our counsel from ungodly persons, we will soon find ourselves moving away from the direction God's ...

Do you know that God allows us to suffer difficulties and hardships for a purpose? Think about it, God led the nation of Israel through the wilderness for forty years in order to humble them and test them. When they refused to obey Him and enter the Promised Land, they revealed that they did not really know Him. If they had, they would have had more faith. God spent the next forty years testing the hearts of His people to see if they were prepared for His next assignment. "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronomy 8:2-3. Testing reveals wha...

Problems into Possibilities. Part 3 of 3. Scripture: Nehemiah 1-2 Intro: We are now finishing up our short study today in Nehemiah. If you can remember the previous 2 messages, we have learned that in order to turn our problems in possibilities we need to, number one learn to visualize our problems. Then, last time we met, we learned that we needed to agonize over our problems. That is to seek God, to be in confession and repentance. Not to feel sorry for your problems, but to be in prayer and fasting, to seek God and His will over our problems. Today we are going learn our third step in turning problems into possibilities and that is the need to organize. Sometimes people get so spiritual that they fail to do anything practical. The thing I like about Nehemiah is that he was deeply spiritual and intensely practical at the same time. For him prayer was not a substitute for action. And he didn’t go off helter-skelter when it came to accomplishing God’s will. 1. Making A Plan. When Nehem...

Obedience to the commands of God comes from our heart. When we begin struggling to obey God, this is a clear indication that our heart has shifted away from Him. Some of us claim: " I love God, but I'm having difficulty obeying Him in certain areas of my life." I would like to say that this is a spiritual impossibility. If I were to ask you, "Do you love God?" You might easily respond, "Yes, I love Him." But, what if I were to ask you, "Are you obeying God?" Would you just as easily and quickly answer, "Yes?" Do you know that in both questions, I have asked you the same question? You see, genuine love for God leads to wholehearted obedience. If we told our spouse that we loved them at certain times but that we struggled to love them at others, our relationship would most likely be in jeopardy. But many of us do this same thing to our Lord. We assume that God is satisfied with occasional love or partial obedience. He i...

Most of us know that we cannot prevent God from accomplishing His work in the world around us, but did you know that we can quench His Spirit in our lives? God has given us the freedom to withstand the Holy Spirit's activity in our lives. When we reject, ignore, or disobey what the Spirit is telling us, we quench His activity in us. "Do not quench the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:19. The prophet Isaiah described the result of quenching God's Spirit in our lives: "Hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them." Isaiah 6:9. When we sin, the Holy Spirit will convict us of our need for repentance. If we habitually ignore Him and do not repent, our heart will grow harde...

I believe that our generation of people, Christians and non-Christians alike, lacks a sense of reverence and wonder toward God. We want to bring God down to our level, to the commonplace. He is God! Although we have direct access to Him as His children, we should never forget that this access was purchased with the precious blood of His only Son. No one who truly understands this ever enters God's presence without a sense of holy awe. No one who comprehends the incredible price paid at Calvary ever takes their relationship with God for granted. But so many of us do. Look around in your churches today, see very many dressed in their Sunday best? Not many. Even the reverence for God's building, the church, has diminished to the point that shorts, tank tops , short cut dresses, revealing blouses etc., etc., are now the norm. Would we really be so bold as to stand in the presence of our Holy Father that way? "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holies...

Many of us, such as myself, have found at one time or another that kingdom work can be challenging. We can give everything we have to God's service and come away exhausted. That is what happened to Elijah. God used Elijah to call down fire from heaven in a spectacular display of divine power. But Elijah's exhilaration was soon replaced by strenuous work followed by death threats, causing him to flee for his life. Elijah found himself alone, exhausted, and discouraged. "And he said, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life." 1 Kings 19:14. God then comes to Elijah again. This time, He came not in a fire or in a loud, spectacular way, but in a still, small voice. God's servant was tired, and God brought him comfort. Elijah's focus had shifted from God to God's e...

Problems into Possibilities. Part 2 of 3. Scripture: Nehemiah 1-2 Intro: Last time, we talked about problems. Problems not only in our lives, but problems facing all of us as believers and as a nation. Today we are going to look at the second step we need to take to maximize God’s plan in our lives. If you remember, we talked about the need to visualize. That is being able to see, or visualize our problems before we can consider turning them into possibilities. You see, in the life of Nehemiah, his friends came to him and told him of the condition of Jerusalem and it’s people, or his people. He had to visualize the problems being faced in order to realize God’s plan, and then make the plan a reality. Friends, that is what we need to do today. 1. The Need to Agonize. Not only must we visualize the problem, but then we must agonize over the problem. Consider Nehemiah 1:4 “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the Go...

As I was studying through the Book of Isaiah this morning, I found myself intently reading the story in the 5th chapter. Isaiah told the story of a man with a vineyard on a fertile hill. The man cultivated the ground and removed the stones so that nothing would hinder the vines' growth. He planted only the best quality vines. He built a tower in the middle of the vineyard so he could watch for wild animals and intruders. He constructed a wine vat so that he would be ready for the ripe grapes. Then he waited. Rather than producing good grapes, however, the vineyard only produced worthless ones. "What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?" Isaiah 5:4 I found myself thinking as I read these words, what more could have been done for us? I believe that this story is a good illustration of the relationship between God and us in today's society...

We are called to be intentional about our Christianity! We must be determined to experience the fullness of God in every area of our Christian life and never to settle for a shallow, lackluster relationship with Almighty God! God will bless us according to how we respond to His invitations. If He finds us in a generous heart that willingly and freely gives what it has to others, then God responds to us in like manner. "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." 2 Corinthians 9:6. When Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth to help the Christians in Jerusalem, he promised them that if they would sow generously, they would reap a generous return from God. This truth hold life-changing potential for us also. If we invest everything we have in our relationship with God, we will experience the full dimensions of being children of God. If our desire is to know God more intimately, and if we sp...

One of our greatest deterrents form sin is the life of another Christian. Some of us Christians maintain that it is none of our business if another one of us chooses to sin. We are convinced that we are being judgmental if we respond to someone in sin. The world persuades us not to get involved, but this inaction prevents us from being an effective intercessor. "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." James 5:19-20. As Christians we are aware that sin brings death! Sin kills relationships, breaks up marriages, stifles joy, and destroys peace. When we see someone wander from the truth into error, how should we respond? When Jesus saw sin, it broke His heart. He wept over entire cities as He saw them rejecting the truth. He prayed fervently for His disciples to be strong when they were tempted. He warned those wh...