Sunday, September 19, 2010
Randy Alcorn addresses 20 somethings
1 Tim 4:6-9 "If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance."
Monday, September 13, 2010
Gospel Community
Cool thoughts from the elders at CornerStone Church! (Francis Chan's old church) Sounds like some brave guys wrestling through the question "What do the Scriptures really teach?". Which according to Acts 17:11 is a noble task.
Generousity Theology
2 Cor 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich."
Friday, September 10, 2010
Psalm 63
So I kick back last night to watch my Bulldogs play Auburn (didn't turn out so good, but thats nothing new for MS State fans). But anyways, right before the game I spent some time after work praying and flipping through some verses then landed on this one. Stabbed me like a knife.
Psalm 63:1 "O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
Quick Thoughts...
1. What an amazing verse! Context - David is "in the wilderness" and yet the FIRST thing he says is "earnestly I seek YOU"... not stuff, not help, not food, not water, or deliverance... nope all that comes later. He says God I want YOU! In fact Lord I'm starving for YOU - not Your stuff but YOU!
2. Pretty familair passage for me. I have noticed that Scripture that I am familair with tends to become cold to me, unless I constantly trust in the Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth.
3. Something in this verse arrested my attention and I felt that the Lord was about to teach me something. So I just started prayerfully reading it over and over and over ... slow then fast... quite then loud... and to my surprise the more I read it instead of the passage getting sweeter and sweeter ... I felt more disconnected and more disconnected. For some reason, as I got more and more honest with myself I just couldn't relate. And then it hit me (Heb 4:12). I remembered that God knows my heart and nothing about me is hidden from Him.
Psalm 63 is an incredible prayer of David, but it was a lie for Dustin. He knows if I'm lying to Him. He knows if I just try to parrot David's prayer back to Him. I knew at that moment that: I could read it over and over again, I could even memorize the verse, quote it to someone, or repeat it back as a prayer to the Lord - but that didn't make it any truer for me.
He knows if I "earnestly" seek Him.
He knows if my "soul thirsts" for Him.
And He knows if my flesh "faints" for Him (like a person stranded in the Sahara desert faints for water!)
Hebrews 4:12-13 "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
So there I was exposed by the Word of God ... don't you love when that happens :) The conviction of a loving Heavenly Father!
How do you stack up to David's prayer? I am having to walk into confession and repentance... you are welcome to join me.
Blessings!
Psalm 63:1 "O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
Quick Thoughts...
1. What an amazing verse! Context - David is "in the wilderness" and yet the FIRST thing he says is "earnestly I seek YOU"... not stuff, not help, not food, not water, or deliverance... nope all that comes later. He says God I want YOU! In fact Lord I'm starving for YOU - not Your stuff but YOU!
2. Pretty familair passage for me. I have noticed that Scripture that I am familair with tends to become cold to me, unless I constantly trust in the Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth.
3. Something in this verse arrested my attention and I felt that the Lord was about to teach me something. So I just started prayerfully reading it over and over and over ... slow then fast... quite then loud... and to my surprise the more I read it instead of the passage getting sweeter and sweeter ... I felt more disconnected and more disconnected. For some reason, as I got more and more honest with myself I just couldn't relate. And then it hit me (Heb 4:12). I remembered that God knows my heart and nothing about me is hidden from Him.
Psalm 63 is an incredible prayer of David, but it was a lie for Dustin. He knows if I'm lying to Him. He knows if I just try to parrot David's prayer back to Him. I knew at that moment that: I could read it over and over again, I could even memorize the verse, quote it to someone, or repeat it back as a prayer to the Lord - but that didn't make it any truer for me.
He knows if I "earnestly" seek Him.
He knows if my "soul thirsts" for Him.
And He knows if my flesh "faints" for Him (like a person stranded in the Sahara desert faints for water!)
Hebrews 4:12-13 "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
So there I was exposed by the Word of God ... don't you love when that happens :) The conviction of a loving Heavenly Father!
How do you stack up to David's prayer? I am having to walk into confession and repentance... you are welcome to join me.
Blessings!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Does Truth really matter?
So what exactly do you believe? Just in your daily life what kinds of things do you think about?
Been thinking alot lately about how important WHAT we believe is. What we believe and think about directly effects how we live. This is spelled out crystal clear in the context of spiritual warfare. There is a battle raging between two kingdoms (Col 1:13). The majority of the battleground takes place in our minds.
2 Cor 10:3-5 "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every THOUGHT captive to obey Christ."
What are strongholds? They are thoughts (more specifically arguments and lofty opinions)and ultimately LIES that allow Satan to have a grip on a person. We should know this very well in our humanistic and even atheistic culture - those ideas or worldviews are strongholds, lofty opinions, and arguements. We should also be very aware of this within the church. Many have left the pure devotion to Christ and His word for Satanic lies and distractions, worldy wisdom and principles, and demonic doctrine. How many people can you name who once seemed to be running well, but have slipped, tripped, or even crashed and burned? The battle is real and it is raging. The only problem is that it is subtle - very subtle. We have a crafty, cunning, and deceitful enemy.
We are cleary warned in Scripture to be on guard againt Satan and to resist him. Also its clearly taught how Satan attacks, he is very interested in controlling our thoughts. Listen Up!
2 Cor 4:4 "In their case the god of this world has blinded the MINDS of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
2 Cor 11:3 "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your THOUGHTS will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
John 8:44 "He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the FATHER OF LIES."
I wonder where the battle for Lies and Truth rages? Can you identify the last demonic lie you heard roll across your mind?
Rom 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your MIND, that by testing you may DISCERN what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
How guarded are you when it comes to your mind? What do you allow to dwell there? The enemy (the world, the flesh, and the devil) can and will neutralize you from pursuing the Lord Jesus by distracting or entrapping your mind.
Mark 4:19 "They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word (the truth - jn 17:17) and it proves unfruitful.(world)
Rom 8:5-6 "For those who live according to the flesh set their MINDS on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their MINDS on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the MIND on the Spirit is life and peace." (flesh)
1 Tim 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and TEACHINGS OF DEMONS" (Devil)
Suit up soldier and ENGAGE THE BATTLE - FIGHT TO THE DEATH - the victory is ours in Christ Jesus! Take every thought that comes your way and make it obedient to Christ. Hit the enemy right the face with a strong confident "It is written!..." Mt 4 - then swing the victory blow with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God - Eph 6... Hallelujah!
Phil 4:6-8 "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will GUARD your hearts and YOUR MINDS in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS."
1 Cor 2:16 "But we have the MIND of Christ.
Be blessed
Been thinking alot lately about how important WHAT we believe is. What we believe and think about directly effects how we live. This is spelled out crystal clear in the context of spiritual warfare. There is a battle raging between two kingdoms (Col 1:13). The majority of the battleground takes place in our minds.
2 Cor 10:3-5 "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every THOUGHT captive to obey Christ."
What are strongholds? They are thoughts (more specifically arguments and lofty opinions)and ultimately LIES that allow Satan to have a grip on a person. We should know this very well in our humanistic and even atheistic culture - those ideas or worldviews are strongholds, lofty opinions, and arguements. We should also be very aware of this within the church. Many have left the pure devotion to Christ and His word for Satanic lies and distractions, worldy wisdom and principles, and demonic doctrine. How many people can you name who once seemed to be running well, but have slipped, tripped, or even crashed and burned? The battle is real and it is raging. The only problem is that it is subtle - very subtle. We have a crafty, cunning, and deceitful enemy.
We are cleary warned in Scripture to be on guard againt Satan and to resist him. Also its clearly taught how Satan attacks, he is very interested in controlling our thoughts. Listen Up!
2 Cor 4:4 "In their case the god of this world has blinded the MINDS of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
2 Cor 11:3 "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your THOUGHTS will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
John 8:44 "He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the FATHER OF LIES."
I wonder where the battle for Lies and Truth rages? Can you identify the last demonic lie you heard roll across your mind?
Rom 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your MIND, that by testing you may DISCERN what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
How guarded are you when it comes to your mind? What do you allow to dwell there? The enemy (the world, the flesh, and the devil) can and will neutralize you from pursuing the Lord Jesus by distracting or entrapping your mind.
Mark 4:19 "They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word (the truth - jn 17:17) and it proves unfruitful.(world)
Rom 8:5-6 "For those who live according to the flesh set their MINDS on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their MINDS on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the MIND on the Spirit is life and peace." (flesh)
1 Tim 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and TEACHINGS OF DEMONS" (Devil)
Suit up soldier and ENGAGE THE BATTLE - FIGHT TO THE DEATH - the victory is ours in Christ Jesus! Take every thought that comes your way and make it obedient to Christ. Hit the enemy right the face with a strong confident "It is written!..." Mt 4 - then swing the victory blow with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God - Eph 6... Hallelujah!
Phil 4:6-8 "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will GUARD your hearts and YOUR MINDS in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS."
1 Cor 2:16 "But we have the MIND of Christ.
Be blessed
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