Less of Me,More of you,Lord!!
Illustration:A celebration of Life from Death of Sin being accomplished through faith in our Lord,Jesus Christ.We are called to witness and spread the Gospel to the world!!!
Be Impressed by The Father
We are called to witness, testify. God does the "drawing and saving." In the words of Jesus, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me." No witnessing, testifying or preaching is wasted. The Word tells us to "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." What do you find after "many days?" Soggy bread? No! You find (catch) healthy and well-fed FISH! Maybe some among us do not understand this concept. For years we have heard of ministry going into the Nursing Homes and other Institutions preaching the Word. Do they get a lot of converts and tithe payers from those efforts. No. However, they DO see a constant stream of visitors to there services that are just "driving by" and are DRAWN by an invisible and irresistible force. We cast Bread upon many Waters and are reaping Well-Fed and Healthy FISH at home! Preach the Word whenever and wherever!
2 Corinthians 3:1-6
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
1 John 4:1-2
1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
The Father,God gives Abundantly.... "Life , Love , Eternal Joy"
Paul tells us in Corinthians{12:1} Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would
not have you ignorant.
So,Lets look at this verse in relation to the being informed of how to not to be ignorant of the glory of God.
First,Genesis{1:1} In the beginning God..After that,{1:3} And God said...Then he starts laying out the world as we know it.Then look at what happens in verse 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image,after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle.
"Who" was he talking to and "who" was he referring to when he says "IN OUR IMAGE"and "AFTER OUR LIKENESS"?It had to be God,the Son,and the Holy Spirit and maybe the angels in heaven because,It was the ut-most importants of creation to God,that he would make it in His and there image and likeness.It was so important to Him,that he give it "DOMINION" over everything!Well,we come to find that "we" are this very thing, that God made,that he had to show,in heaven,how great this creation was, that they would have dominion over all!
This is the very first "GIFT" that the Father gave us as his children,LIFE!! and we were so important to God that he made us in the likeness of the angels and Himself!Because he said "AND IT WAS GOOD",along with everything else.This is one of the things we need to keep in mind when we ever get to a point in life that makes us question our own existence.The Father didn't just make us along side of everything else,but he seen such an importance and loved what he had made, that he put us in charge of his creation!For the first time, there was given to another being,other than heavenly bodies,"AUTHORITY" and with that,came an understanding of Free-Will.Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen.God showed this to his Heavenly audience, that leaves me in awe to comprehend in my own little fleshy mind! So,with that said,I have to believe that the purpose of our life is far greater than our own personal fulfillment,our peace of mind,or even our happiness.It's far greater than our family,our career,or even our wildest dreams and ambitions.If we want to know why we were placed on this planet,we must begin with God.We were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
As we read on down through the word of God,We can see His mighty hand working,shaping us,forming us, through His will that we might be made in and one day found in the likeness of what he had in-mind from the beginning, but just as toddlers we have to crawl before we walk and God is patient.The Father demonstrates his love for us through correction that we,sometimes,don't even see in our lives cause we as humans are not perfect, and are prone to stumble again and again,and are in fact under constant construction.We all tend to stray from His will, from time to time, but as His children,and by faith,we can always know that we can always call on Him, in our time of need,because, He is faithful.But he doesn't stop there,He's quick to show us where we messed-up and blesses us with the knowledge of what to do next time it happens!AMEN?...That's why we call him The Father,cause he takes care of greatest creation..."US"!
In the old testament,we see that no matter what we,as Jews or Gentiles,do,we just can't seem to get it right.From Adam and Eve all the way up to when Noah had to take on the task of destroying the world,and then some....But, The Father Loves us so much that he says,"well,It's time to show them that I will not tolerate sin"I will not put them through that kind of destruction again".Sin is the one thing that made our Father, place his very essence, into the flesh of his son Jesus, to make us see and feel love in it's true form and that sin is,and will have no part of this love,He demonstrated this wonderful gift of "Love" for us through the message of the cross of our Lord and Savior..JESUS!
As Jesus,He gave himself as an example in the book of 1 John 4:7-14, to show us how it's done! Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love. Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kappa-rah for our sins. Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another.No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains united with us, and our love for him has been brought to its goal in us.Here is how we know that we remain united with him and he with us: he has given to us from his own Spirit.Moreover, we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as Deliverer of the world.
This is "LIFE UNLEASHED"!!When we as sinners understand what Gods been telling us from the time of creation until now,we can,(through Christ),enjoy life at it's best and surely be Impressed by the sheer will of our Glorious Father who loves us dearly and so dearly that he gave up the life in Jesus,so we could have life!,All we have to do is acknowledge sin for what it is.It's the "ONLY" thing that can separate us from our Father. After that it's as simple as calling on the name of Lord Jesus to ask for forgiveness of sin!
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,and thou shalt be saved...."(Acts 16:31)
Be very careful of what this verse is saying,because there is a teaching going around that,this is all you have to do.The problem is,It doesn't demand any change! Paul tells us.....
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2
We have to put off the old man and put on the new man and except what Jesus did on the Cross for that old man to become new!There's the Gospel!!
On the sixth day of Creation, God turned to the Angels and said: “Today I am going to create a land called Israel. It will be a land of mountains full of snow, sparkling lakes, forests full of all kind of trees, high cliffs overlooking sandy beaches with an abundance of sea life.”
God continued, “I shall make the land rich, so as to make the inhabitants prosper, and I shall call these inhabitants Israeli, and they will be known to most of the people on earth.”
“But Lord, asked the Angels, don’t you think you are being too generous to these Israeli’s?” To give them all that wonderful land, and those blessings?
“Not really, God replied, just wait until you see the neighbors I am going to give them.”
One day, A professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at there desks for the exam to begin.The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down,as usual.Once he handed them all out,he asked the students to turn over the papers.To everyone's surprise,there were no questions,just a black dot in the center of the sheet of paper.The professor,seeing the expression on everyone's faces,told them the following:"I want you to write about what you see there"The students,confused,got started on the inexplicable task.A the end of the class,the professor took all the exams,and started reading each one of them out loud,in front of all the students.All of them,with exception,defined the black dot,trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet.After all had been read, the classroom silent,the professor started to explain:"I'm not going to grade you on this,I wanted to give you something to think about.No one wrote about the white part of the paper.Everyone focused on the black dot and the same happens in our lives.We have a white piece of paper to observe and enjoy,but we always focus on the dark spots.Our life is a gift given to us by God,with love and care,and we always have reasons to celebrate,nature renewing it self everyday, our friends around us, the job that provide our livelihood,the miracles we see everyday.However,we insist on focusing only on the dark spots,the health issues that bother us, the lack of money,the complicated relationship with a family member,the disappointment with a friend.The dark spots are very small when compared to everything else we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds.Take you eyes away from the black dots in your life.Enjoy each one of your blessings each moment that life gives you.Be happy and live a life filled with love.
Life is not easy, nor simple. It is what we, individually, make of it. It is a participatory and social. But it is up to us, individually and by the seeing and the fulfilling of a need for a savior in our lives and then and only then, can it be rewarding and wonderful, if only we will pay attention to our own hearts and listen to what the Holy Spirit says to that heart.Then,Your Own Spirit will come forth and be seen by the rest of the world as a "Shinning Beacon" of Gods light in you!
Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with Your holy gifts.
Let our weakness be penetrated with Your strength this very day that we may fulfill all the duties of our state conscientiously, that we may do what is right and just.
Let our charity be such as to offend no one, and hurt no one's feelings; so generous as to pardon sincerely any wrong done to us.
Assist us, O Holy Spirit, in all our trials of life, enlighten us in our ignorance, advise us in our doubts, strengthen us in our weakness, help us in all our needs, protect us in temptations and console us in afflictions.
Graciously hear us, O Holy Spirit, and pour Your light into our hearts, our souls, and my minds. Assist us to live a holy life and to grow in goodness and grace.
Amen.
