Grace for your spirit 4-20-16

Grace for your spirit

And the master said to the slave, "Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled  Luke 14:23

Evangelism Explosion

One little Christian can’t do much ‘tis true, 

Brought his friend to Bible study, then there were two.

Two little Christians, each brought one more,

That doubled the number, then there were four.

Four enthused Christians worked early and late,

Each brought one, then there were eight.

Eight excited Christians, if they doubled as before,

In just seven weeks, we’d have 1,024.  

We will never know what we can  accomplish until we start.   It starts with one.  Will you be the one?

Grace for your spirit 4-19-16

Grace for your spirit

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  Romans 12:2

Do we wish to know the will of God?  Why?  So we can keep it, or see what we can get away with.  Knowing the rules to keep the rules, or knowing the rules to break the rules, is an entirely different thing.  He certainly wants us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, transformed with a renewed mind.  If we clearly understand that, we will want to know what is right to keep right.  That is God's will.

Grace for your spirit 4-18-16

Grace for your spirit

And if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them felt his righteous soul tortured day after day by their lawless deeds)  II Peter 2:7-8 

 Apparently the Lord saw something we don't.  When we read the story of Lot's life in Genesis, it leads many to think badly of him.  He made many wrong choices that landed him in Sodom and Gomorrah.  Among all the sin of Sodom, Lot found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  Thankfully, God is our judge too.  Oftentimes, we find ourselves in bad situations, and may be severely judged by those around us.  Let's keep our eyes on the Lord, follow His commands, He will see in us what others miss, and He will rescue us too.

Grace for your spirit 4-15-16

Grace for your spirit

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?  And how will they hear without a preacher?How will they preach unless they are sent?   Romans 10:14-15

There is an old proverb that applies.  "For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost.  For want of a horse the rider was lost.  For want of a rider the message was lost.  For want of the message the battle was lost.  For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.  "

Watch this:  No one sent--no one preaches--no one hears--no one believes--no one calls--no one is saved.   Unless someone is willing to send, and someone is willing to go, and someone is will to teach, nothing can happen. May we choose to say yes for the kingdom.

Grace for your spirit 4-14-16

Grace for your spirit 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.  Matthew 23:25

Jesus desires to fill our cup with grace to bless us all richly.  One main sin of the Pharisees was their resistance to letting Jesus in.  They preferred to keep the appearance of righteousness on the outside, but because their inside was so full of sin, there was no room for Jesus.  Do we mind of Jesus examines in the inside of our cup and cleans it up?  It is our first step to enjoying the cleansing power of His grace.  O Lord, clean my cup, and fill my cup to overflowing.

Grace for your spirit 4-13-16

Grace for your spirit

They read from the book, the book of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.  Nehemiah 8:8

These people just back from captivity, were hardly students of God's Law.  You could have left God's law with them, but it probably wouldn't have accomplished what needed to be done.  Ezra "spoon fed" them with the truth they needed.  Even today, people who are not spiritually appraised cannot flourish when we just throw a Bible at them and tell them to read and believe.  We need to read it together, translate, explain, and help them understand.  When will we understand?

Grace for your spirit 4-12-16

Grace for your spirit

And Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord what about this man?  Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?  You follow Me?"  John 21:21-22

Jesus said that no one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.  Many expressed to Jesus before accepting Him the desire to look back.  Jesus had just asked Peter to reaffirm his commitment to loving and serving Him.  The call of Jesus was to look forward and walk with him.  Peter, instead of looking at Jesus was looking back and wondering about someone else.  Are we like that?  Let's be fit for the kingdom with our eyes on our Master at all times.