This week is going to be so much fun. Our 14 month long study through the book of Revelation is near its conclusion. Sunday morning I will get to preach from Revelation 20:11-15. This will be a nice break from our 'Sermon on the Mount' series. This text from John's Revelation deals with judgement as well as with the 'Reality of Hell'. Hell isn't spoken of much anymore...in the church or otherwise. I believe it is important that we have a better understanding of Hell so we can be properly motivated to evangelize as God's Great Commission charges us!
Then on Sunday Night we will start Revelation 21 and the tables will turn from the 'Realities of Hell' to the 'Realities of Heaven'. Now, this gets truly exciting. There is much to learn about our eternal home in the presence of our Eternal God! Yes, I know it is Super Bowl Sunday. No, I am not a prude. Hit the DVR button, come to church at 5pm and get excited about the place you will spend eternity in...then go home and enjoy the 'most watched TV event of the year' while being able to skip some of those raunchy commercials!
Ecclesiastes 3:11 teaches us that 'we have eternity in our hearts'. I know that to be true and believe Sunday will be a great day to investigate both alternatives of eternity! Join me this week in studying and praying on the topic!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Our Word is our bond...
Maybe your parents told you that 'your word should be your bond' when you were little...my grandpa told me that and I have always tried to live in such a way. In Matthew 5:37 Jesus teaches similarly when he says 'Let what you say be simply yes or no, anything more than this is evil'.
How many times have we broken the bonds of truth and brought reproach on the name of Jesus? That is a difficult thought but one that we need to consider as followers of Jesus. When we break a promise or fail to do what we say, it is not just us that is frowned upon but also our Lord.
Some would say that they just refrain from making any commitments therefore they do not have to worry about letting any one down. However, I will tell you that a person that makes no commitments lets everyone down! Jesus' teaching here was to value our words and actions to the point that we live a life of integrity and character...committing to things that we want to do and need to do and then following through.
Just for an added thought - once we have made a commitment to something - as followers of Jesus Christ, we should not just do it but 'do it as if we were doing to for Him personally'. That means giving it our best and striving to achieve excellence. As one wise man said, 'do your best and forget the rest'.
Let's be a people of Godly Integrity!
How many times have we broken the bonds of truth and brought reproach on the name of Jesus? That is a difficult thought but one that we need to consider as followers of Jesus. When we break a promise or fail to do what we say, it is not just us that is frowned upon but also our Lord.
Some would say that they just refrain from making any commitments therefore they do not have to worry about letting any one down. However, I will tell you that a person that makes no commitments lets everyone down! Jesus' teaching here was to value our words and actions to the point that we live a life of integrity and character...committing to things that we want to do and need to do and then following through.
Just for an added thought - once we have made a commitment to something - as followers of Jesus Christ, we should not just do it but 'do it as if we were doing to for Him personally'. That means giving it our best and striving to achieve excellence. As one wise man said, 'do your best and forget the rest'.
Let's be a people of Godly Integrity!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Be Angry and Sin Not
What a thought the Apostle Paul had in Ephesians 4! That we could mature as Christians to the point we could have anger at sin against God yet not focus that anger at the one who has committed it. Can we really get to that point?
If we are to excuse our anger by utilizing this scripture there are a few things we must remember:
1. It must still be a temporary anger - part of Paul's word to us is that we should not simply suppress our anger - we should deal with it. Anger that is held in and nursed will grow and become unmanageable. It will spill into relationships and make us vulnerable for other tricks of the devil.
2. It must be an anger at sin against God, not against us - how easy it would be to use this text to 'get angry' at every little thing (whether justifiable or petty) that got under our skin. We cannot deny that we will have times that we will get angry but justifiable anger is always and only directed at anger toward sin against Holy God. Remember God's words to Moses 'to realize that their sin was not against him but against God Himself'. It is always hard to take ourselves less seriously but that is basically what God was telling Moses.
3. To keep our anger from spilling onto a person, where must it be 'let out'? - If we spill it out to others then we are liable to gossip or even slander, if we hold it in then we can become toxic, so we have only one perfect choice - prayer! Read the Psalms and hear the cries of the heart, desperately trying to let out anger. The power of prayer to heal the one praying is amazing.
My prayer this week is that we can get a grip on this critical issue.
If we are to excuse our anger by utilizing this scripture there are a few things we must remember:
1. It must still be a temporary anger - part of Paul's word to us is that we should not simply suppress our anger - we should deal with it. Anger that is held in and nursed will grow and become unmanageable. It will spill into relationships and make us vulnerable for other tricks of the devil.
2. It must be an anger at sin against God, not against us - how easy it would be to use this text to 'get angry' at every little thing (whether justifiable or petty) that got under our skin. We cannot deny that we will have times that we will get angry but justifiable anger is always and only directed at anger toward sin against Holy God. Remember God's words to Moses 'to realize that their sin was not against him but against God Himself'. It is always hard to take ourselves less seriously but that is basically what God was telling Moses.
3. To keep our anger from spilling onto a person, where must it be 'let out'? - If we spill it out to others then we are liable to gossip or even slander, if we hold it in then we can become toxic, so we have only one perfect choice - prayer! Read the Psalms and hear the cries of the heart, desperately trying to let out anger. The power of prayer to heal the one praying is amazing.
My prayer this week is that we can get a grip on this critical issue.
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