God chooses us despite our weaknesses

In Jeremiah 1 God calls Jeremiah to the ministry, and explains to him that he is being made into a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. A fortified city is a city that has everything it needs within it to succeed. An Iron pillar can withstand a great deal of weight without even feeling pressured. The bronze wall is the first line of defense against the temptation of the enemy. It is the most impure of the three metals mentioned, symbolizing that we, as humans, by our very nature, are impure. God wants you to know that even our leaders have walls made of bronze. They are still human as they do the work of God. We need to not be surprised nor judgmental when those we follow stumble from time to time. And most importantly, never let it steer you away from God. People will be people. God chooses us despite our weaknesses. We shouldn’t put our faith in people, we put our faith in Jesus Christ who is working in our leaders. Your pastors and your spiritual leaders need your submission, they need your help, and they need you to not hold them up to a spiritual standard that only Jesus could achieve. Remember Bronze wall. After all uhh your wall is bronze too.

We Are God's Workmanship

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do Good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. Okay so first of all, God doesn’t make junk. God’s workmanship. He makes good stuff. Remember as God created the heavens and the earth he would finish each day by looking around and saying, it is good. You are good. You should look at the outside and the inside of you and think to yourself, “hey good job God.” A wise man once pointed out that a poor self esteem is an insult to the creator. Next you need to realize that you were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. So there is some stuff to do for God. Lots of Christians wait around for God to do everything, but God prepared stuff for you to do. Everyday you are presented with good and bad things you can do. Two lists of things you could do. One list that God has, and one list for the devil. Who’s to do list are you going to work on today? One of them comes with rewards of life, the other, well, it’s not pretty. And I’ll give you a hint on which one to follow, it’s God.

Attitude

Seems like sometimes people can be so concerned about attitude. “Get rid of that bad attitude” so what’s the big deal? The best selling leadership author John Maxwell states that our attitudes dictate our performance. If your attitude in life is bad, then you will be bad at life. Hebrews 4 teaches that the Word of God judges the thoughts and attitudes of your heart. Your attitude starts with your thoughts. If your thinking about how terrible everything is, it will come out in your attitude, and then will come out in your life. And surprise, everything will become terrible. You are today where your thoughts were yesterday, and you will be tomorrow where your thoughts are leading you today. Paul tells in Phillipians 4: to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. If you are focusing on your problems, stop, that isn’t on the list. If you are spending time thinking about what someone said about you, stop, once again, not on the list. How about your boss and how annoying work is, or your in-laws, or how you feel lonely. Again, not on the list. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, rejoice. Change your attitude by expecting good things today, and watch them materialize tomorrow.

A Million Rules

Okay, so what’s with all the rules for everything. A million rules from don’t drink to don’t chew gum in class. From don’t murder to don’t hate to don’t walk on the grass or smoke it. No wonder we keep on sinning. Adam and Eve had it pretty simple. Hang out in a perfect garden with God. There was no beer to worry about, it didn’t matter how long their hair got, there wasn’t even a dress code. Just one simple rule. only one rule. Easy enough right. Don’t eat of just one tree. Lots of others trees you can eat of, just not this one. But they blew it. Isn’t just like us to want what’s forbidden. It really doesn’t matter how many rules there are, God shows us in this story that it is impossible for man to live without sinning. Only one man ever pulled it off, and that was Jesus Christ. The son of God who died for our sins, so we can stand righteous before God despite the fact that we keep messing up. Our job is to believe in Jesus, confess our sins, and God is faithful and just to forgive us. Now Jesus gave us 2 new rules to focus on. Love God, and Love others. So look inside, your okay, your doing great. Love God, love others.

The World Tries to Separate Us.

Society separates all of us into little groups. The world tries to separate us by color, income bracket, political beliefs, and even the way we dress. But Paul writes in Galations “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Boys rule and girls drool, sure, but in Christ, Neither rules or drools. And can we stop seeing different colored skin, please? This generation is the closest man has ever been at being color blind, and not seeing one race better than another, but we still have a very long way to go. You might find yourself putting down the poor saying “well go get a job”, or judging the rich saying “you should’ve sold that and given it to the poor.” Or thinking that men are better than women…And that goes for everyone thank you very much. So there is neither black, nor white, nor brown or polka dotted, nor people with tattoos or without tattoos or piercings, or green hair, or homeless but we are all one in Christ. Division will keep us crippled, but unity will bring us strength, and strength influence, and influence will bring change, and this whole world could use a little changing! Remember, God looks at the heart, and that is something we cannot see.

Follow God To Your Destiny

It’s not about you. How many churches split and how many families leave the church because the pastor offended them or the music was too loud? Jesus says in Luke chapter 9 that we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. But what does that mean? First, we deny ourselves. I’ll refer to music again for obvious reasons, but it really doesn’t matter if you like the style of music your church does for praise and worship. Stop and realize that maybe its for someone else. Someone else will be deeply ministered to by music you don’t like. You can accomplish so much more for God when you stop being concerned about how everything affects you. Next, we take up our cross. So what is our cross? The cross was Jesus’ destiny. It was the fulfillment of His earthly commission. Our cross is whatever plan, purpose and ministry God has given us. So, get over yourself and follow God to your destiny.

God can help you steer clear of storms.

Paul is on a ship sailing for Rome, and he warns the others with him “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also”. But the men ignored God’s warning and sure enough a storm blew in and destroyed the ship, and the men escaped with only there lives. When a storm is in your path of life, listen closely for God’s warning. God can help you steer clear of storms. I know sometimes I look back on disaster and say, “Oh ya, I remember when God was trying to steer me around this mess.” When tragedy strikes, we sometimes say that God is teaching us something. But maybe it isn’t God teaching you something, maybe you just didn’t hear the warning. Job’s life got pretty messed up at one point, but when he stopped being angry at God for his mess, and spoke the words “My Redeemer lives” his life was restored, and he ended up with twice what he had lost. Jesus is our Redeemer, and he lives. He will restore you. And if a person runs a red light and hits another car, maybe this wasn’t God’s doing, maybe he just needs to remember to stop next time when he sees the signal.