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The Double Life?

8/31/2017

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23But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. 24I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. 25God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. 26This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfectg in their relationship to Christ. 29That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. (Colossians 1:23-29 NLT)
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I take a great deal of inspiration from this scripture. Thank you, Paul. Thank You, Jesus. But this teaching extends beyond those who serve the church and knowingly take on that responsibility for in reality, we are ALL the church and we ALL have taken on the responsibility of sharing the Word and living the life of a follower of Christ. We all, “participate in the sufferings of Christ that continue for this body, the church” – whether we like it, or not – whether we want to, or not. What do I take away from this? I take away a caution from Holy Spirit to NOT live “double lives;” that is, do not proclaim your salvation in the name of The Christ and then go into the world and live like the serpent. Simple, yes – easy, of course not. We are challenged every day, beset on all sides with the pitfalls and lies set before us by the god of this world; yet we are made Holy by the blood of the Host High God and Holy Spirit within us, if we allow Him, will grow us into the people that we are meant to be and in so doing, as I always say, make the world a better place – one decision, one action, one person at a time. Will YOU allow this to happen to you? I pray that you will.
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The Power to Hang On...

8/24/2017

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35Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39 NLT)
 
There is so much power coming through these words and this teaching. You can hear Paul’s inspiration and determination pouring out. He is set on teaching the TRUTH about the Gospel message – that God’s definition of love is so much broader and so much deeper and so much more powerful than ours that is supersedes our feelings, supersedes the limited vision that we have of our lives, and supersedes even the obstacles, the “calamities, trouble, and danger,” as Paul says, that come at us as a result of this corrupted world – or Satan’s intentional efforts. In this life we will know suffering and betrayal and we will experience violence and disease, but praise God He gives us a bigger picture of creation in which we see ourselves living not only in THIS ife but the NEXT. By the grace of God our sin natures have been overcome, we are able to experience fellowship with the Most High God – and death has been defeated. Brothers and sisters, there is nothing more to fear. We win – Satan loses – game over. When our souls are given over to our Lord Jesus Christ, NOTHING, get that? NOTHING can break the bond of love that our creator has for us. He is omnipotent and He will use that attribute to hang on to you even through your most difficult trials and moments of doubt. Life is hard, pain is real – but grace abounds! Amen and Amen! 
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The Bigger Picture of all this Violence...

8/17/2017

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It's Your Job Too...

8/17/2017

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3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.  2 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV)
 
There is a great deal of excellent teaching in this passage about how the follower of Christ is to behave – in other words, what a Christian should look like and sound like as we interact with the world. There are two statements, however, that rest as the cornerstones of all this behavior. The first is, “His divine power.” The divine power of Holy Spirit is THE source of Holiness, wisdom and personal growth; and this is made possible only through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The second cornerstone of this teaching stems from the words, “Make every effort.” These words are intended to help the believer understand that your salvation is not a “magic pill” that will solve all of your, let alone all of the world’s, problems. Your salvation, as is indicated, is the SOURCE that empowers YOU to intentionally, “add to your faith…” In short, you have a role to play in your relationship with The Christ – what healthy relationship is not interactive? It is by the power of Holy Spirit that we grow, that we learn, and yes, that we learn to LOVE! Your feelings are not in control – your Christ-like nature is…IF you are intentional and, “add to your faith…” 
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I Love These Words...

8/11/2017

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4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. 5 But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. 6 That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead—so although they were destined to die like all people,[c] they now live forever with God in the Spirit. 7 The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. (1 Peter 4:4-9 NLT)
 
I love these words. I love them for a variety of reasons, not the least of which because Holy Spirit affirms through Peter that it’s OK that I lost all of those “friends” when He took my old life away and made me – and my life – new. It was very hard transitioning from one life to another, but to say that it was worth it would the understatement of my lifetime. I love these words also because Holy Spirit assures me through them that ALL people will face God. That doesn’t make me feel good because of some selfish delight I would take in all of those who have mocked or forsaken me – it MOTIVATES me because I know that everyone that I see, everyone with whom I talk, or work, or even casually know, will face their creator and wither be welcomed into Paradise or condemned to Hell. These words remind me that the harvest is ripe and that time is short. One last reason that I love these words of Holy Spirit so much is because they also remind me that in the mean-time we are to simply live the primary commandment of our Lord and Savior – to love one another, deeply, so that the heart and the mind and the redemptive power of our Lord and Savior can shine brightly in a dead, dark world. Do you love deeply? Can you? You can if you know Jesus Christ as your savior. 
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What's on Your Menu?

8/3/2017

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24So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Manf can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” 28They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” 29Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” 30They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ (John 6:24-31 NLT) 
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The people experienced Jesus and His Miracles and wanted more. The people were fed by Jesus, quite literally with bread and fish, and wanted more. The people became great fans of this very unique “person” and wanted to experience more of the things that satisfied them. Jesus, however, as we see in all of the Gospel accounts, was (is) never interested in attracting people on their terms, but on HIS terms. BIG DIFFERENCE. The thousands of people of this passage wanted to see the show and fill their stomachs with good food. They wanted Jesus to work for them, to dance for them, and to serve them. Jesus had attracted a great crowd and had a fantastic opportunity to solidify a loyal cult following – and then he threw it all away by telling them the Truth. I encourage you to read further in this chapter of John. You will learn that just when Jesus has the makings of the first mega-church, He set in on a teaching that even His disciples found difficult to “swallow.” (pun intended) After He got their attention by telling them that He knew they were only there for the show – and then He said, paraphrased, “But you can’t have me on YOUR terms, only on MINE; and that means that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, YOU will have no part with ME.” The Truth is the Truth my brothers and sisters and we can’t change that. We can not have Jesus on our terms. When we focus on Him only in the context of what HE can do for US, the old cliché, “What would Jesus do” quickly becomes, “What would I LIKE Jesus to do.” #thenarrowpathistheTRUTH. 
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    Pastor Brian is the senior pastor of Churchtown Church of God and regularly shares his thoughts & insight here - he invites you to join in the discussion of life & faith!

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