Motivated

Last night I watched a little bit of the SBC Pastor's Conference. I so would have loved to have been there, but it was not possible this year. What I heard was inspiring. Listening to these leaders talk about what God can do and desires to do and is doing in the world and how we can join Him as His people gives me hope and makes me excited to serve Him all the more.

I especially enjoyed Louie Giglio's comments about the church being the Lord's and that He has promised to build it. It is so refreshing to remember that I am simply an under-shepherd to the Great Shepherd and only need remain faithful and loyal to Him by following His Word and living on mission for Him to have peace and fulfill my destiny.

Thinking about the work reminds me that the work is war. What God has done has saved a people for Himself to fight against the darkness that is destroying the lives of people. He has armed us with grace and truth and given us His Spirit to fight with Him. He has called us into regiments called churches where we are trained, comforted, healed, and made holy through the work of the Word and Spirit in the accountability of the church.

All wars end. This morning I was reminded of how the war for this world will one day end. One day Jesus will be given the deed to this planet and make all things new.

What should our response be to that?

Here is how it is described in the Bible...

Revelation 5:6–9 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

The response to those that saw Jesus take the scroll was worship. That is the right response for us now who look forward to the end of this war and the beginning of the new heaven and new earth. We worship now to be strengthened in the fight against sin and death and in preparation for the way we will worship one day.

One Day This Will Be Said of You

I just read this from a blog I follow to pray for a young man that has been sick for some time. I am removing the name, but would ask you to imagine this is being said of you. In the blank put your name.

"_____________ is going home with an oxygen tank, and hospice has already been suggested. So pray for us as we transition. We still hope beyond reasonableness for a miracle, but sometimes that hope is hard to find. Considering how far downhill he/she has gone just in the past few weeks, I would not delay in sending your words of love and encouragement to _____________ as soon as possible."

What kind of confidence will you have on that day? Will you be ready to face your Maker and be judged? Will you enter heaven or hell? What kind of confidence will your love ones have for you?

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."
Psalm 90:12

Kill It!

Colossians 3:5–10 "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."

In the Old Testament God told the children of Israel... Deuteronomy 7:1–5 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, 2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire."

A lot of people wrongly believe that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. There is one God who is revealed in three persons: Father, Son and Spirit. This holy God hates sin. It is contrary to His nature and Kingdom purpose. God is vanquishing sin from the lives of His people and will soon remove it from the planet when He makes all things new (Revelation 21).

God invites us to join Him in killing sin. In the OT it was a flesh and blood battle. Now it is an internal battle within us that the Spirit of God is fighting in us and with us to gain complete control and set us free.

Pray for God to set you free from the sins that so easily entangles and put it to death so that it does not control you.