Thought of the Day !!

I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.
Revelation 3:8 (NLT)

John is relaying Jesus' message to the church in Philadelphia here. These words of encouragement for people back then can be words of advice for us today. First of all John writes that they had little strength. This equates to being weak, but Jesus sees this as a strength. For when we are strong on our own, we can fall into the temptation of leaning on ourselves as opposed to leaning on Jesus. In reality we are all weak when it comes to sin, temptation and salvation. The sooner we learn to find our strength in the Lord, the better.

Secondly, we see that they obeyed Jesus' word. They didn't have the Bible but did have the Apostles' teachings. We do have the Word of God today, known as the Holy Bible. If we're going to obey this Word of God, then we must first know it. That means we should consume ourselves with it daily.

And lastly, the people of the church in Philadelphia did not deny Jesus. They remained faithful due to their obedience to Christ and the strength that they found in Him. They had many more persecutions than we do today. They had as much temptation as we do today, though maybe just fewer avenues such as media, television and Internet for the temptation to come their way. But through all the persecution and temptations they did not deny Jesus.

It's embarrassing to think about how little persecution we have today in America, yet how we deny Jesus so often. As Christians we may never deny him like Peter did and say that we don't know Him. But how often do we deny Jesus by our harsh words, our unChristian actions, or our lifestyle choices? Philip Yancey wrote, and DC Talk later made the introduction to one of their songs with these words. "What an unbelieving world finds unbelievable is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and deny him with their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world finds so unbelievable."

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalms 9:10

Seek God in your life and He will be there in any circumstance. His promise is to never forsake you. So no matter how bad things seem to get, seek His face, His love, His peace, His encouragement, His strength...His grace in all places. He may speak to you in your innermost being or through something outside such as a friend or an occurrence. Just seek Him, for He's there for those who know His name and trust in Him.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV)

People judge others all the time. We judge and are judged based on attributes such as sex, skin color, political beliefs, religious beliefs, and on and on. If a person looks a certain way or acts a certain way or believes a certain way, then there must be something wrong with that person. And judgments are often incorrect. Nathanael judged a man because of where he came from..."Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" This judgment was not a very good one indeed. For Jesus is the one he was talking about.

When we judge others, we take on a privilege that has not been given to us. For Jesus, the only perfect one to ever live, is the true Judge. We may disagree. We may argue about various things. We may try and persuade others against a certain behavior. But the difference in this and judging is when we start believing that we know the totality of God's will on the subject and that the other person (or group) cannot possibly be trying to listen to God. In other words, believing something like "I know what's right and what's wrong, whereas you cannot since you disagree with me".

Issues like homosexuality and abortion and the death penalty, along with environmental, economic or political issues can divide us because we believe so adamantly that we're right and the other side is wrong. This can lead to believing that the person on the other side is a bad person. And so we judge that person based upon his/her belief.

You may be right on an issue. And on the other hand you may be wrong. For when two sides are so far apart from each other, one or the other side has to be wrong. But never let the devil use these issues to convince you to break the second greatest commandment...love of neighbor.

You may sense that God is calling you to stand up to support or go against a certain issue. And if that's the case, by all means, do what God is calling you to do. But even though you may find it your calling to make a stand for what you believe is God's will, never allow yourself to get caught up in judging someone else. For the other person may honestly believe that they're just doing what God wants them to do as well. And only God knows for sure what is truly right. So let someone who's more qualified have the job of judging. Allow Jesus to do this. Anyway, we're supposed to be in the business of loving, not judging.

As for me, I ask for God's forgiveness where I have judged and will judge in the future. And I ask that You, oh Lord, will be more lenient in judgment of me than I have been with others at times.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

Often times we Christians can be too timid. Of course the opposite is true too. We have been know to beat people over the head with our Bibles, go on Crusades (or wage war) in the name of Christ, and to condemn folks for their sins while hiding our own. So we can go too far in either direction.

But in the things that Paul is speaking of here, we can never go too far. God gave us a spirit of power. If we have God's Holy Spirit in us, then we have a power unparalleled by any other. We have the power to serve, to forgive, to love. This kind of power knows no bounds and is greater than any of the negatives that the devil tries to throw at us.

God gave us a spirit of love. This means that we are capable of loving no matter what. Here is one of the places we are too timid at times though. Many feel embarrassed to show love in today's world. It's not the "manly" thing to do. Or even for women, it may not be proper in places. But we have been given the spirit of love of neighbor, and the Bible teaches us to use this gift generously. I've seen this in several ways in the past like after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina or recently with the Haiti Earthquake relief. But don't let it come down to a disaster occurring to give you a reason to show love to others.

God also gave us a spirit of self-discipline. Look deep inside yourself. It's there. For some of us though, we just have to look a little harder.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

The LORD will work out his plans for my life -- for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever. Don't abandon me, for you made me.
Psalm 138:8 (NLT)

The LORD has a plan and a purpose for you. You're not a robot that He controls to do this and that, but instead, you choose to follow His design for your life or not. Which will you choose (His faithful plan or what this world may tempt you with as an alternative way)?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Question of the Day ??

What is the most important part of the worship service to you? And why?

Thought of the Day !!

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

Have you ever heard (or said) something to the extent of "I can worship God in the woods on Sunday mornings" or "God is in nature and can be seen or felt on a golf course (or lake) just like in a church" or "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian". I know I have. I even used to say that last one.

The fact is, there is some truth in these. You CAN worship God anywhere. You CAN see God anywhere. And you DON'T have to ever walk inside a church building to be a Christian. BUT...every time I've heard these or said these, they were used as excuses not to go to church and not explanations of how someone actually planned on being with God.

The Church of today may not be what it was in the book of Acts. But when anything grows tremendously it's going change. So maybe we should look back to the early church that is detailed in Acts to remind us of our roots and where we need to be more like our beginnings. And as for coming together, we have to do this. We need it for accountability, for learning, for lifting up and being lifted up. God wants it, for it shows that we're putting Him first before ourselves. I really do believe that the Church would have never been formed if God didn't want us to gather together. You can debate if this gathering should be on Sunday mornings at 11:AM or Saturday or Wednesday nights. You can debate whether or not you go to a big church, a small church, a home church or whatever. The point is simply that we gather with others for the purpose of placing God first and being guided by His Holy Spirit.

So in the end, I say to you today to be a part of the Church. You'll make God happy, and you'll be blessed for doing it. Remember, the Church is not a building...it's all of us who claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior, putting our faith and trust in Him for our salvation.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
Romans 2:1,4 (NLT)

When we judge others or are intolerant of them, we should remember how kind and tolerant and patient God has been with us. If we are Christians, then our goal should be to be more and more like Christ. And if this is so, we should remember to treat others as He has treated us.

In the love of Christ,
greg