June 3, 2012

    Obey.....Or Not Obey      

Luke 6: 45 - 49

Luke

So why do you call me 'Lord', when you won't obey me?  I will show you what it's like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then obeys me.  It is like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock.  When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built.  But anyone who listens and doesn't obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation.  When the floods sweep down against that house, it will crumble into a heap of ruins." 

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Thoughts.....

Good morning!

There has long been a battle among 'believers' as to whether once saved always saved.  Here is the quantifier.... qualifier.  You can say you know Jesus.  But do you really know him....AND....big and.....are you OBEYING him?  You can say you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  What does that mean.....to you?  To him, it means he expects you to obey him, God and Holy Spirit.  You can say you've been baptised.  So what?  Then what?  Then what did you do?  Go off on your own merry way?  Did you give any thought to study to learn more about who are God, Jesus and Holy Spirit?  Did you just take stock faith that what someone told you was the truth and flim flammed your way into Christianity?  It doesn't work like that.

Just because you've said you've accepted Jesus as your Savior is meaningless. Have you made him LORD of your life?  Making him LORD of your life means you obey him. 

Just because you've been baptised is meaningless unless it is followed up with action.....like learning who he is, that he is, and how wonderful he is.  Do you really know the full scope of what he did for you and for the world?  Do you fully grasp what he can do for you and others?  Most importantly for you now is what you can do for HIM.  That's the obeying part. 

You can say and do anything.  Obeying....well....that's something else entirely.  There are many people that frivolously romp through life believing they can just go to church on Sunday and they have taken care of the obeying.  Ehhhh.... wrong answer.  There are as many lost in church as there are outside the church walls. 

What does it mean for you if you obey him?  He will pray for you.  Yes, he will pray for you.  Jump over to JOHN 17.  Jesus prays for you.  He prays for you....IF.....big if....you obey him.  In verse 6 it says 'kept word'.  How can you keep God's word, if you don't know what it is?  To keep someone's word ('kept') means to obey....the translation from the Greek in which this was written means to 'obey'.  In the KJV and the NLT it says 'kept word'.  In the NIV it says 'obey'.  Strongest Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is my reference for the definition. 

So how have you kept your word....obeyed God, Jesus, Holy Spirit....since you accepted Jesus as your LORD and Savior?  How have you obeyed since you were baptised?  Have you EVER opened the New Testament to learn about Jesus?  This IS a guilt trip.  I'm trying to help you save your soul.  Get to heaven.  Have eternal life.  Get mad all you want.  This is not about me.  It's about you.  And your relationship, if you have one, with the man you say you know, but don't seem to care about, if you don't listen to him, don't learn who he really is, don't learn why he cares....certainly about you at this point.

On the other hand, you may be fully justified in receiving his love and prayers because you are obeying him and you have read about him and learned, continue to learn about who he is, that he is, and how wonderful he is, while you listen for his voice, his heart, in an attempt to obey him, as you love him fully.  And he is pleased with you, good and faithful servant. 

Are any of us perfect.  NO...resounding no.  Does that absolve you from guilt?  NO.  Do you realize how special, how wondrous, how magnanimous, what a gift it is to be prayed for by Jesus?  Wasn't it enough that he died for you?  That he would pray for you....just for obeying him!  Just.  YOU are a GIFT to JESUS from God!  Are you acting as if you are a gift?  Uh...huh.....think about that one.  

What would it take to obey him?  To listen to what he says to you, in the Word...the New Testament.  To listen to his voice in your heart and in your mind?  To know his direction and follow it?  To trust him?   You can do it, will you do it?  You must OBEY him...if you want eternal life.   

Do you want to be guarded, be kept safe?  Given eternal life?  You must obey God's word.  Let's look at what Jesus says to God on your behalf in John 17:

"Father, the time has come to Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.  For you have given him authority over everyone in all the earth.  He gives eternal life to each one you have given him.  And this is the way to have eternal life - to know [KNOW] you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.  I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do.  And now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. 

"I have told these men about you.  They were in the world, but then you gave them to me.  Actually, they were always yours, and you gave them to me; and they have kept [OBEYED] your word [HAVE YOU?!].  Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the words you gave me; and they accepted them [ONLY IF YOU LISTEN CAN YOU ACCEPT THEM FROM HAVING HEARD THEM] and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me [BE SURE...go to the Word...the New Testament...and listen to him].

"MY prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you [DO YOU?]. And all [ALL] of them, since they are mine, belong to you; and you have given them back to me, so they are my glory!  [ARE YOU REALLY HIS GLORY????]  Now I am departing the world; I am leaving them behind and coming to you.  Holy Father, keep them and care for them - all those you have given me - so that [option to God...'so that'] they will be united just as we are.  During my time here, I have kept them safe.  I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.  [BUT YOU CAN STILL BE LOST, TOO]

"And now I am coming to you.  I have told them many things while I was with them so they would be filled with my joy [ARE YOU FILLED WITH HIS JOY....IF NOT....WHY NOT?].  I have given them your world [WHOSE WORLD ARE YOU IN???].  And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not.  I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.  They are not part of this world any more than I am [ARE YOU SURE?].  Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth.  [HOW WILL YOU LEARN UNLESS YOU SEEK?]  As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world [TO GO FORTH SHARING HIM....HAVE YOU DONE THAT LATELY....EVER?].  And I give myself entirely to you so they also might be entirely yours [DO YOU GET THAT JESUS OBEYED GOD CHOOSING TO DIE FOR YOU TO BE SAVED?1]. 

"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all [ALL] who will ever [EVER] believe in me because of their [THEIR] testimony [THEIR TESTIMONY......SO.....WHAT IS YOUR TESTIMONY FOR GOD?  Hmmmmm????].  My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father - that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me [DO YOU BELIEVE?].

"I have given them the glory you gave me [PRETTY SPECIAL....WILL YOU RECEIVE IT?], so that they may be one, as we are - I in them and you in me, all being perfected [PERFECTED] into one [ALLELUIA!!!].  Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.  Father, I want these whom you've given me to be with me, so they can see my glory. You gave me the glory because you loved me even before the world began!

"O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you [UNFORTUNATELY, SO WHAT WILL YOU DO TO LEARN MORE, OBEY, AND HELP THE WORLD KNOW JESUS?], but I do; and these disciples know you sent me.  And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you [HE KEEPS TRYING.....PLEASE LISTEN].  I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them." ]ARE YOU LISTENING.....DO YOU GET THE ENORMITY OF HIS LOVE?] //

So, I think you get what I am trying to share with you today....at least I hope and pray you do.  And that you will take some action to perfect your relationship with the Trinity.....God, Jesus, Holy Spirit....and OBEY...so to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God" (Phil 3:14) which is eternal life.  Please know it is shared with love.  It is not of a critical mind or mean heart I share this, but with the love of God and a complete embrace.  I fully believe that you can, and I can, that the world can know God and obey him to insure our ability to receive eternal life.  IF we are really trying and we fall or have MOMENTS of failure, we are blessed to be forgiven, if we but ask.  But we must not use it as an excuse to not try, and do, and succeed.  Do not ever presume that because you said, 'ya, I accept/ed him' or you were baptised that you have a free ticket.  Nope.  Gotta obey.....'trust and obey there's no other way'. 

So consider your choices today for your future.....one that will last for all eternity.  Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your LORD and Savior?  Will you obey? 

I hope I'll see you in heaven someday!               

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Let Us Pray

Good gravy, Lord.  I had no idea why my life has been so complicated.  Now I get it...fully.  I am sorry I've not been more attentive, more interested, desiring to learn about you more, spending more time with you, listening, doing.... obeying.  I would have gotten a long time ago that I needed to obey you ALL the time.  I am so sorry.  Please forgive me.  And please help me get on the right...more right...path, as I journey now WITH you, OBEYING YOU steadfastly.....errrrrr.....trying to obey you steadfastly.  Thanks for knowing I am not perfect, but let me not use that as an excuse, tho' knowing me, I probably will from time to time.  Not that I want to rebel, I just know there will be times early on when I will be walking in my 'normal way', rather than your 'perfect way'.  I pray now....please help me to do your perfect will for my life.  Does that mean I have to give up my homemade cookies?  After all, I'm only a little bitty thing.  No?  Oh, thanks!  Love my cookies from time to time.  In all seriousness, and this is pretty serious...my eternal life in fact, thank you for keeping me safe as long as you have, and help me not stray from all that you are....goodness and light, truth and life.  Embrace me in the fullness of your love and wash me anew from any sins known or unknown, please.  Fill me with all that you have to give me, mind, body, spirit and soul.  Especially the mind part.  It could stand to be a little sharper and a little more technologically advanced.  Thank you.  Most of all thank you for giving me this opportunity to thank you.....because you've kept me under your wing working with me and helping me all this time that I've been trying.  I love you.  I'm grateful for you and to you.  I embrace you....with all the love I possess that is in me because you are in me.....thank you.  May I radiate all of you bringing you honor and glory....as I obey you.  Amen.                

Lord,LordJesJeJeJJjEJJJ     JJThe LORD is king!  Let the nations tremble!  T***

More love.... 

  Benediction....Blessing

Let us hear from Paul as he prays:  

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.  Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT         

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Scroll down to read Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving...'The Unforced Rhythms of Grace'.

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Definition of a Christian:  Anyone who believes in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Regardless of church name or religious affiliation. 

It is not how we worship, but that we worship....the Trinity!   

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If you feel that the Church of the Holy Spirit has inspired or helped you, we'd like you to prayerfully consider tithing regularly to us or gifting us, so that we can further the work and carry out the will of the Father as proclaimed in Matthew 28:19-20 NLT

 to

 "Go and make disciples out of all the nations

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this:

I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

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  Our Current Cause

It is time to reach into the community and the world around you to see wherein lies the greatest need.  As you choose to focus on these areas, do so with a servant's heart.  Whether the need is for children, adults, or animals, or any cause in between that will help those in need, ask God how you can best serve his needs, what path you must take, and how long you should persevere.  Sometimes we are to be in the lives of others merely as stepping stones.  Sometimes we are to touch those lives forever.  Whatever journey you are called to take, whatever team you will be a member, know this:  God is with you always...even til the end of time.  He loves you, is grateful for you, and will help you along life's way, especially if you are helping others along theirs, persevering with a servant's heart. 

Please accept my sincerest thanks....and God's....and may God richly bless you!   

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    One last thing....

 Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving

'The Unforced Rhythms of Grace'

"Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer:  "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.  You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people.  Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.  "The Father has given me all these things to do and say.  This is a unique Father - Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge.  No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.  But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen."

"Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly.

   Matthew 11:  25-30

  The Message

And the people said,

"Amen."

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I now write most prayers in the position of ' I ' (first person) because most people are sitting at their computer alone, not in groups, and it allows those reading and praying to personalize the prayer as coming from them going to God.  Variations may appear on holidays when families may wish to use the prayer provided. 

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  Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

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