Monthly Archives: February 2015

The 7-Ups of Encouraging Yourself In The LORD 3

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Today we will look at the third of The 7-Ups of Encouraging Yourself In The LORD.

Today we look at the truth of Shut Up!

We live in a world filled with noise and talking.  Everywhere you go someone has a cellphone stuck to the side of their head.  They are texting or even talking.  The other day we went to the chiropractor’s office.  Some not very tech saavy woman sat in the crowded waiting room with her cell phone making all kinds of noises.  I wanted to remove it from her possession and stomp it into small pieces on the floor.  I restrained myself for many reasons.

The Psalmist exhorts us in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Nobody really wants to be still anymore.  We have all kinds of gadgets to keep us informed and entertained to death.  We need to get alone with God daily and let Him encourage us.  We would be less discouraged if we would take the time to do this.

We need to turn off the comfort of noise and get alone with God.  This will help ward off discouragement for sure.

So, how are you doing?

The 7-Ups of Encouraging Yourself In The LORD 2

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Today we continue The 7-Ups of Encouraging Yourself In The LORD.  So many Christians are discouraged today.  We need some encouragement.  Let’s take a look at the second encouragement.

The 7-Ups of Encouraging Yourself In The LORD – 2 Dress Up.  Look at what the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

I don’t know of anyone who would leave home in a set of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.  We all try to get out of the house at least wearing something suitable.  I have seen some people that it is amazing that someone did not stop them before they left home and tell them to change clothes.  Maybe they live alone.

As a Christian, each one of us has a bullseye on our head so to speak.  The devil wants nothing for than to destroy us to render us ineffective for the cause of Christ.  He will do anything.  This is why it is important that we put on the armor of God to help combat the schemes of the devil.

Notice we are covered from head to toe.  We are covered in the front; but, not the back.  I think this is interesting.  I believe it is because we are to be on the offensive and moving forward for the cause of Christ.  Look at Isaiah 52:12, “For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.”  In other words God has our back side.  So, we just keep moving forward for Jesus and He will protect our back side.

So, how are you doing?

The 7-Ups of Encouraging Yourself In The LORD 1

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My wife shared with me some articles cut out of a bulletin that had been given to her by a family member.  I am going to share one of those articles with you over the next few days.  These were originally printed in the bulletin of the First Christian Church of Elizabethton, TN on March 6, 2001.

The first step to Encouraging Yourself In The LORD is to Wake Up!  Far too many Christians are asleep at the wheel so to speak.  We are just drifting along.  If nobody ruffles our feathers then we will continue to tip toe through the tulips to a quiet death.  This is not how God intended it to be.

Look at Psalm 118:24, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  The day we have is a gift from God.  As I was thinking about this it dawned on me.  God has given us this day not to waste it.  He has given us this day to use for His glory.

What have you done today to bring honor and glory to God?  When we are going around looking like we were baptized in dill pickle juice and lost our best friend we are not honoring God.  It is just the opposite, really.

We need to receive encouragement just from the very act of waking up each day.  Every day is a gift from God.  It is up to you and I how we use this great gift.

So, how are you doing?

Mary Had A Little Boy

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The other evening my wife was going through some things that she had been given by a family member.  It was a lot of great treasure that had been passed down to her.  In this treasure chest she found the following:

Mary Had A Little Boy

Mary had a little boy,
His soul seemed white as snow.
He never went to Sunday School
‘Cause Mary wouldn’t go.

He missed the Bible stories
That thrill the childish mind;
While other children went to class
This boy was left behind.

And as he grew from babe to youth,
Mary — to her dismay —
Saw the soul that once seemed white
Was turning dingy gray.
Knowing now that he was lost,
She tried to win him back.
Alas! the soul of the boy she loved
Had turned an ugly black.

Now Mary goes to Sunday School
And stays for preaching too;
She begs the preacher, “Isn’t there
A thing that you can do?”
He tries and fails and then he says,
“We’re just too far behind.”
“You warned me years ago,” she cries,
“But I would pay no mind.”

And so another soul is lost
That once seemed white as snow.
He would have gone to Sunday School
But Mary wouldn’t go.

 

I pray that this is not my testimony. Look at Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ”

How about you my dear reader?  Are you one who does not go to Church?  Maybe you don’t feel like it is right for you.  Maybe you have a long list of objections to Church.  If we are not careful one day we will stand before God with a heart that was once white that has gone black as night.

So, how are you doing?

Everyone Needs 3 Homes

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I wish someone could tell me what it is about home.  I mean really.  The other day I was gone all day doing important ministry tasks.  When I got home the first thing I did was eat.  The second thing I did was sit down in my chair and put my feet up.  I thought to myself, “Home”.

According to Dr. Adrian Rogers there are three homes that a person should be concerned with.  Let’s take a look at them.

I. A Family Home – Genesis 2:23-24, “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

How is your family?  You say it is fine; but, what would God say about your family.  We need fathers who will lead their homes as a servant leader and not a tyrant.  We need mothers who will be submissive to God and their husbands.  I know this is a word that is unpopular; but, it is the truth.  We need children that are trained in the ways of our Holy God to love Him.

II. A Church Home – Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

The Church is our support group so to speak.  It is a hospital for the spiritually wounded.  It is a birthing center for new Christians.  It is a spiritual buffet for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

III.  A Heavenly Home – John 14:2-3, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

There is only one way to be heir to a Heavenly home.  You and I must know Jesus Christ as our Saviour.  We must realize that we have sinned against God and we must confess our sin to Him calling upon Him in prayer.  If we are sorry for our sin and not just sorry we got caught we can be saved.  We just turn from our sin to trust Jesus Christ as our Saviour.  The Bible tells us in Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  It is simple; but, you must do it for yourself.

So, how are you doing?

 

I Just Want To Die!

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Life can sometimes creep in on a person.  Somethings life can come in like a flood.  No matter where you find yourself in life there has been someone else that has walked this path before you walked it.  Sometimes we feel alone and isolated then the devil comes and tries to whisper lies into our ears.  Why would he do this?  He hates you and I.  Most of all he hates our God and His Son Jesus.

Suicide is unfortunately too common.  It has; unfortunately, touched my extended family.  God has used it powerfully in their lives.  These precious saints of God are flourishing with the Lord’s help for sure.

I have heard similar statements as our title today coming from more than one Christian.  It is usually been spoken from their bed of sickness.  There usually has been some diagnosis that seems to the person to be incurable.  The problem is that this discounts the healing power of God.  He is a God of healing.

I have heard some solid Christians make this statement too.  They make this statement in the context of I Corinthians 15:31, “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.”  Mature Christians know the truth and importance of the last three words of this verse, “I die daily”.

As we are exposed to sin and temptation we must realize that we are dead to sin.  We must not resurrect the flesh and yield to sin.  I know this is easy to sit and type it into a blog such as this; but, it is the truth.  If the Apostle Paul said that he needed to die daily, then what makes you think that you do not need to also?

So, how are you doing?

I Know A Man Who Can 4

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As I began to think about this series on “I Know A Man Who Can” my mind raced in so many directions.  I came to the conclusion that we do not have the space nor time to exhaust all that this topic has to offer.  So, I am just going to share this one last truth and let you take it from here and do some Bible study on your own.

“I Know A Man Who Can” – handle the beaten enemy.

We all know I Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”  Someone shard withe me this is an old lion that hides in the bush and when prey comes by this lion roars loudly and scares it.  As the prey runs off there are younger lions waiting to catch this prey and bring it down and kill it.

We have a lively enemy.  He is not to be underestimated.  He is seeking to devour each and every one of us who are a child of God.  He hates God and thus he hates you and I who are God’s children.

Here is the good part.  The enemy of our soul is a defeated enemy.  Look at Matthew 4:10-11, “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”  You see, the devil left Jesus because he was defeated.  He was beaten.  He is the losing side.  We are on the winning side.  Jesus has defeated our enemy and one day he will be cast forever into hell for all eternity.  Praise the LORD!

Until this day you and I have an enemy.  The good thing is that Jesus has defeated this enemy over and over.  We need to quit trying to fight him in our own power and our own flesh.  It is a spiritual battle and we must enlist and fight on a spiritual level.  You can only do this by enlisting in Jesus’ army and using His tactics and weapons.

So, how are you doing?

I Know A Man Who Can 3

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As we continue our thoughts on “I Know A Man Who Can” I thought about another group of people.  Look at our third installment of this series.

“I Know A Man Who Can” – help the broken.

The other day I heard someone preaching on the parable of the Good Samaritan.  This person said that he believed that the man beaten and left for dead was a picture of you and I.  Well, I can relate to this.  I am not going to say this man was right or wrong.  I understand where he is coming from.  He went on to say that he believes that the Samaritan is a picture of our Heavenly Father.  Again, I will not say that he is right or wrong.  I do see why he would think this.

I am sure that in your life you feel like this man on the road.  You have been beaten, bruised and even broken by a cold, cruel, calloused world that hates Jesus Christ and anyone who stand for Him.  As the days get spiritually darker we can associate with this man.  I am sure that we have been on the side of the road so to speak and watched as those who should stop to help pass on by.  How hurtful and discouraging this is.

If we find ourselves in this position we must cry out to God Almighty.  He will “help the broken”.  Now, if you find yourself in the position of seeing some beaten, bruised and broken soul on the side of the road be the hands of Jesus and do what you can to help.  You will not be sorry.

So, how are you doing?

I Know A Man Who Can 2

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I shared yesterday how I really enjoy the song “I Know A Man Who Can” by Greater Vision.  Chris Alman does a slam dunk job singing the song.  You can see a video of the song here.  Let’s continue on with our thought.

“I Know A Man Who Can” – hide the battered.

I have really enjoyed reading through my Bible this year.  Moses really jumped off the page to me.  As I was thinking about our thought for today I again thought of Moses.  Look at how many times the children of Israel were a thorn in his flesh.  They wanted to stone him.  They wanted to go back to Egyptian bondage.  They were a leader’s great nightmare, truthfully.

Moses had a heart for God and His people.  In Exodus 32:32 Moses tells God if He will not forgive these people then to blot his name (Moses’) out of His (God’s book).  Wow!

Moses had one thing that he deeply desired.  He wanted to see God.  Because no man can see God face to face and live, Moses was allowed to be placed by God into the “clift of the rock” and God passed by him.  This would allow Moses to see God’s backside.  Look at Exodus 33:22, “And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:”

Friend, God has a place that He can put you when life caves in on you.  He has placed you in His hand and the Father’s hand (John 10:28-29).  So, when you are battered by life just run to the LORD and let Him hid you in the clift of the Rock.  This Rock is Jesus.

So, how are you doing?

I Know A Man Who Can 1

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Yesterday I was listening to music.  When I woke up it was time to make lunch.  The song on at the time was by Greater Vision and is titled “I Know A Man Who Can”.  We are needing a miracle in my family right now.  We are watching as one of our dear members slowly transitions down in health and upward toward Heaven.  This is a painful process.  I have not been able to make it to the hospital for several days due to schedules and shift changes.

With this in mind I was listening to this song; which is a favorite of mine, and some thoughts came to my mind.  Let me share some of these thoughts.

I. I Know A Man Who Can – heal the broken heart.
Look at John 20:15, “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.”  For the most part those who followed Jesus believed He was who He said He was.  Then they watched Him be crucified and then buried.  How would you feel?  You and I would be crushed.  We would be disillusioned.  There is an entire gamut of feelings associated with what these people had and were going through.

Then Mary in this state goes to the tomb of Jesus.  She sees a man that she thinks is the gardener.  When she speaks to this Person she finds out it is Jesus.  Then all the feelings fade away in sight.  The disillusionment drops off like rain off a duck’s back.  All the wrong feelings disappear at the revelation of who Jesus really is to Mary.

Now, let’s make this personal.  I don’t know what is happening or not happening in your life.  I can tell you this for sure.  If you will come to faith in Jesus Christ the trials of life will probably not get better.  What changes is your perspective on the problems and your response should change also.  This will make all the difference in the world.  You see, “I Know A Man Who Can.”  Take your needs and cares to Him and let Him work in your life.

So, how are you doing?