"What Does a Christian Look Like?"
Based on what he has told us about being a living sacrifice, Paul tells us how to behave. He describes a loving, kind, helpful person; the kind of people we choose to be around.
This is where our theology meets real life. The question is will we choose to live up to the faith we profess.
My prayer is that your life will be a sacrifice to God every day..
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
SOAK Romans 11:11-16
"Paul's Longing"
Just like Paul longs to see all of the Jews embracing Jesus as Messiah, I wonder what impact the church would have if ALL churches and ALL Christians would fulfill God's purposes in their lives. The impact would be beyond belief.
Imagine what Jakarta would be like if every church lived and served God with all their hearts. Jakarta would be shaken!
Imagine what IES would be like if every person who attended the church served God with all their hearts.
Jakarta would be shaken!
Imagine what your LIFE Group or ministry team would be like if every person who was a part of the team served God with all of their hearts.
Jakarta would be shaken!
Imagine what YOUR life would be like if you lived for God every day with all your heart.
Jakarta would be shaken.
...and what keeps each of us from living our lives fully for Him....
My prayer is that you will live for Him today.
Just like Paul longs to see all of the Jews embracing Jesus as Messiah, I wonder what impact the church would have if ALL churches and ALL Christians would fulfill God's purposes in their lives. The impact would be beyond belief.
Imagine what Jakarta would be like if every church lived and served God with all their hearts. Jakarta would be shaken!
Imagine what IES would be like if every person who attended the church served God with all their hearts.
Jakarta would be shaken!
Imagine what your LIFE Group or ministry team would be like if every person who was a part of the team served God with all of their hearts.
Jakarta would be shaken!
Imagine what YOUR life would be like if you lived for God every day with all your heart.
Jakarta would be shaken.
...and what keeps each of us from living our lives fully for Him....
My prayer is that you will live for Him today.
SOAK Romans 11:1-6
"Grace that is Greater Than all My Sin"
The words of that old hymn are a fitting title for this section of reading.
Paul talks about God's grace being strong enough to bring some Israelites to Him regardless of their general apathy and rebellion towards Him.
In our lives, what is His grace greater than? Our longing to say YES to temptation. Our smug self-righteousness. Our indifference. Our frequent forgetting of His purpose for our lives...
All that comes from our self and our pride and our sin...His grace is greater.
My prayer is that we always live in His grace.
The words of that old hymn are a fitting title for this section of reading.
Paul talks about God's grace being strong enough to bring some Israelites to Him regardless of their general apathy and rebellion towards Him.
In our lives, what is His grace greater than? Our longing to say YES to temptation. Our smug self-righteousness. Our indifference. Our frequent forgetting of His purpose for our lives...
All that comes from our self and our pride and our sin...His grace is greater.
My prayer is that we always live in His grace.
Sorry about these being out of sequence...
When I do my reading, I usually am reading from my Bible on my Treo in the car while stuck in traffic . After I finish my reading, I compose my thoughts and send them by sms to my reading partners. Then I prepare an email to myself from my Treo to my mailbox. The plan isfor me to get the email and copy it and paste it into the blog. Sometimes I forget to do that, or do several at one time because I have not been able to send email from my Treo due to poor GPRS service in South Jakarta.
Sorry, I'll try and do better.....
Sorry, I'll try and do better.....
SOAK Romans 11:25-27
"God Won't Give Up on You"
Just like God is going to bring revival to the Jews in spite of centuries of their rejecting Him, you can be confident that He won't give up on you, no matter what spiritual struggles and times of questioning and doubt you go through.
Once we understand that He will never give up on us, the key is for us not to give up on His delivery, and for us not to give up on yourself.
I pray that no matter how tough things might be in your life, you will not give up your faith.
Just like God is going to bring revival to the Jews in spite of centuries of their rejecting Him, you can be confident that He won't give up on you, no matter what spiritual struggles and times of questioning and doubt you go through.
Once we understand that He will never give up on us, the key is for us not to give up on His delivery, and for us not to give up on yourself.
I pray that no matter how tough things might be in your life, you will not give up your faith.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
SOAK Romans 10:14-15
"Beautiful"
I enjoyed preaching on this text last year. Paul makes the point that if
you share the gospel with anyone, you are like a great hero (Cyrus was the
one with beautiful feet) that God used to deliver Israel.
Share the gospel with someone. You'll not only save their life, but you'll please God too.
I pray that you would be "beautiful" to God every day.
I enjoyed preaching on this text last year. Paul makes the point that if
you share the gospel with anyone, you are like a great hero (Cyrus was the
one with beautiful feet) that God used to deliver Israel.
Share the gospel with someone. You'll not only save their life, but you'll please God too.
I pray that you would be "beautiful" to God every day.
SOAK Romans 10:16-21
"Being Chosen not Enough"
Paul reminds the Romans that although as a people the Israelites were chosen of God (because of Abraham), as individuals and groups they could and did refuse to follow God and refuse to fulfill His purpose.
What a warning to us! The church in our age are also "chosen" by God to fulfill His purposes in the world in which we live. Sometimes we think that being "Born Again" is the full extent of what God wants in our lives. This is far from the truth. Having our sins forgiven and coming into relationship with God through Christ is just the beginning of what God has for us.
By the choices we make, we leave ourselves unable or unwilling to do God's work. We waste our
salvation.
I pray for you that you would live beyond just being safely saved.
Paul reminds the Romans that although as a people the Israelites were chosen of God (because of Abraham), as individuals and groups they could and did refuse to follow God and refuse to fulfill His purpose.
What a warning to us! The church in our age are also "chosen" by God to fulfill His purposes in the world in which we live. Sometimes we think that being "Born Again" is the full extent of what God wants in our lives. This is far from the truth. Having our sins forgiven and coming into relationship with God through Christ is just the beginning of what God has for us.
By the choices we make, we leave ourselves unable or unwilling to do God's work. We waste our
salvation.
I pray for you that you would live beyond just being safely saved.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
SOAK Romans 10:1-4
"Zealous for God"
After reading this passage I am stirred up that we need to seek those who are really zealous about their own faith and search and find ways to bring them to Jesus. Often when we look for people to try and bring to Jesus , we tend to shy away from people that are zealous in their faith, thinking they will be harder to persuade.
Harder perhaps, but if true seekers can find Christ, I suspect they will be MORE zealous for the truth than they were for their former faith.
Find someone to bring to Jesus.
After reading this passage I am stirred up that we need to seek those who are really zealous about their own faith and search and find ways to bring them to Jesus. Often when we look for people to try and bring to Jesus , we tend to shy away from people that are zealous in their faith, thinking they will be harder to persuade.
Harder perhaps, but if true seekers can find Christ, I suspect they will be MORE zealous for the truth than they were for their former faith.
Find someone to bring to Jesus.
SOAK Romans 9:30-33
"Not by Faith but by Works"
This important passage explains why the OT sacrificial system failed most of the time. The Israelites were supposed to put faith in God and obey God by offering sacrifices. Offering their sacrifices were a sign of their faith.
Instead, they saw their sacrifices as "earning" forgiveness and lived in disobedience to God. They came to believe that if they fulfilled their sacrificial obligations then it covered up their disobedience. They forgot that toe Lord wanted obedience more than sacrifice.
We need to be careful that we never see our Christian "practices", whether ritual or good works, as earning our salvation. If we do, we distort our relationship with God and put ourselves at risk.
Follow God with all your heart.
This important passage explains why the OT sacrificial system failed most of the time. The Israelites were supposed to put faith in God and obey God by offering sacrifices. Offering their sacrifices were a sign of their faith.
Instead, they saw their sacrifices as "earning" forgiveness and lived in disobedience to God. They came to believe that if they fulfilled their sacrificial obligations then it covered up their disobedience. They forgot that toe Lord wanted obedience more than sacrifice.
We need to be careful that we never see our Christian "practices", whether ritual or good works, as earning our salvation. If we do, we distort our relationship with God and put ourselves at risk.
Follow God with all your heart.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
SOAK Romans 8:37-39
"More Conquered than Conqueror"
With all of the wonderful promises contained in the preceding verses, why
do Christians sometimes seem so defeated?
It isn't because of circumstances, since the most vibrant and victorious Christians I have ever
met are those facing persecution and hardship.
Isn't it really the way we approach life and success? If we define success God's way and live for eternity, the victory was already won 2,000 years ago.
If we define success the way the people in the world do, then regardless of the promises of God about eternity and our hope there, we will feel defeated because a life lived for this world and this world system will always disappoint, since this is a failing, disappointing world.
Redefine your personal goals to mirror God's goals for you and rejoice.
I pray that you would live your life for Him.
With all of the wonderful promises contained in the preceding verses, why
do Christians sometimes seem so defeated?
It isn't because of circumstances, since the most vibrant and victorious Christians I have ever
met are those facing persecution and hardship.
Isn't it really the way we approach life and success? If we define success God's way and live for eternity, the victory was already won 2,000 years ago.
If we define success the way the people in the world do, then regardless of the promises of God about eternity and our hope there, we will feel defeated because a life lived for this world and this world system will always disappoint, since this is a failing, disappointing world.
Redefine your personal goals to mirror God's goals for you and rejoice.
I pray that you would live your life for Him.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
SOAK Romans 8:31-36
"Safe Risk Taking"
Paul talks about how as believers we can safely risk everything, because we
cannot lose when God is on our side.
The biggest threat the world can give us is to take our lives..."Your money or your life" and we will all quickly give up our money to save our life. When we as followers of Jesus risk our lives for Christ we simply give ourselves a chance to get to heaven quicker. "To die is gain!"
When we risk our treasure for For Christ, we are assured we are storing treasure in heaven,
the safest place!
I pray that you would confidently rest in God's love and provision today
Paul talks about how as believers we can safely risk everything, because we
cannot lose when God is on our side.
The biggest threat the world can give us is to take our lives..."Your money or your life" and we will all quickly give up our money to save our life. When we as followers of Jesus risk our lives for Christ we simply give ourselves a chance to get to heaven quicker. "To die is gain!"
When we risk our treasure for For Christ, we are assured we are storing treasure in heaven,
the safest place!
I pray that you would confidently rest in God's love and provision today
Monday, October 6, 2008
SOAk Romans 8:28-30
"Jesus at Work in Everything."
A couple of years ago I preached a little series on the 10 most abused scriptures in the Bible.
This is certainly one of them, and many people find all kinds of strange things in it. Too bad they cannot see the beauty in it.
How different we will see life if we understand that Jesus is working in
every circumstance of our life. We don't want to fail, but even our failures are
made less painful when we realize that God brings some good out of the
worst event.
Look at your life, your ups and downs, and see if you can trace what God is doing in your life through both the good and bad times.
A couple of years ago I preached a little series on the 10 most abused scriptures in the Bible.
This is certainly one of them, and many people find all kinds of strange things in it. Too bad they cannot see the beauty in it.
How different we will see life if we understand that Jesus is working in
every circumstance of our life. We don't want to fail, but even our failures are
made less painful when we realize that God brings some good out of the
worst event.
Look at your life, your ups and downs, and see if you can trace what God is doing in your life through both the good and bad times.
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