God Dwells

Where do you dwell?  That is -  Where is your dwelling?  Probably in your house or apartment.  Okay, so where does God dwell?  He dwells in His house.  I timothy 3:15 says that God’s household is the church, which is us, the believers as we come together to hear the word of God and worship Him.  Psalms 90 says “Lord you have been our dwelling place.”  So here we find out that God wants you dwell, where He dwells.  So to get this right, He is dwelling where we as believers dwell, and he wants us to dwell where he dwells, which again is exactly where we are when we come together as believers.  Sound confusing?  Well a bit, but the coolest part is saying that God wants to be, and is, with you.  And he desires to have you with Him, which you are.  Even more He has promised to never leave your or forsake you.  Sometimes you might feel like God is not around, but His word is true, and He is right there.  But what you may be craving is to get back into church, which is His house, His dwelling place.  Make your church more than a place you visit, make it your church home.  If you don’t have a church, ask God to help you find the right one, then get your stuff, and move in.

You Are Anointed By God

So in I Saumel 10 the prophet Samuel anoints Saul to be king, and says “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over His inheritance?”  What an awesomeness day.  I mean if you got anointed it was a big deal, chosen by God to become a leader.  It meant God had a specific purpose for you.  Wow, I wish I had that.  Like King David too, when he was anointed.  Or Jesus who said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me.”  I imagine when Saul was anointed he felt on top of the world, like he could win.  I want that.  Imagine someone coming up to you today, knocking on your car window or something, and saying, Hey, “I’m a.. Tim, I’m a prophet.”  Then he pours oil on your head and says your anointed of God and then tells you what God’s plan is for your life.. Well it might be a bit weird, but, exciting to.  I John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One.  So You do have what Saul got that day.  You have been anointed leader over God’s inheritance.  You are chosen by God, God is knocking on your car window right now, the oil has been poured.  You have already won!  Now go get em! 

Equipped

Imagine a football player taking the defensive line without wearing pads.  (foomp… owe) Or a soldier taking the battlefield without a weapon.  (dude where’s your sword)  To be successful we need the right equipment for what we are doing.  I could not play the guitar until I first got a guitar.   In life God has equipment for you, and He is equipping you for success.  You have been built to win and have victory.  In II Timothy 3 God says  ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  Now you became the man or um woman of God, when you received Jesus, and so God’s word will thoroughly equip you.  And God’s equipment is good, it’s the best you can get.  God is not equipping you to fail, His equipment is built for glorious victory.  It’s not like the cheap guitar I used to play, And it is not a TV remote control.  It’s a thorough equipping by God.  This equipment is revealed in the bible.  So get out your sword, and read it.  Are you ready to win today, when you are equipped with God’s word you win!  So go get em!  Now where’s that TV remote, I mean, my bible.

Let's Talk About Church

Eph 1:22  God placed all things under Jesus his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, his body.  So Jesus is in charge of the church.  This tells me that church is incredibly important to God.  Can’t I just have church at home, I mean, I want to just rest on Sundays…And maybe I don’t always like everything about church…Well what does Jesus have to say about it?  After all, he’s head of the church..  John 15:5  “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.  Apart from me you can do nothing.”  How do we remain in Christ except to be connected to his body, which is the church.  Going to church is a charge of inspiration from God’s word for personal growth.  It makes us better.  Pastors can get from God a message that is specifically for the congregation.  What an advantage those who attend church have in life.  When you attend a church you might meet people that aren’t perfect, they may even make mistakes.  I wonder if that’s Jesus way of teaching you how to love unconditionally, how to serve, how to forgive, and how not to be judgmental.  Remember, it’s like a family, and who doesn’t fight a little bit with there brothers and sisters?

Good Medicine

Proverbs 17:22 says that "a cheerful heart is good medicine." When do you need medicine? Well, when you aren't feeling good. Headache? Feeling sick. Stuffy nose? I can't stand a stuffy nose. Or how about when your heart is feeling sick, down, or broken. Medicine is a fix for an ailment. Here the scripture doesn't describe what sickness a cheerful heart is good medicine for, so God is saying that it is good medicine for whatever is going on. I guess the difficult part is how to have a cheerful heart when your not feeling good. I mean the over all idea of not feeling good is very anti cheerful. God is showing us that a cheerful heart is something you choose, not because you feel like it, but because you know it's the right thing to do. In fact, ever notice how medicine usually tastes nasty? So it might be the same. What I mean is, when you are down the last thing you want is to take some cheery heart as medicine. So how you feeling? Do you need some medicine, well, put the pepto away, plug your nose, and drink a hot cup of cheery heart. Goes down rough, but you'll be feeling happy in no time.  Now take your medicine!

Carry This Torch

So Jesus ascends to the heavens after being raised from the dead, and He leaves His disciples with an assignment. So what did they do, I mean, what did they dedicate the rest of their days on earth doing. And then Paul joins in and helps, but helps with what? What was Peter doing, what were the purpose of the letters, who were they for? What did Paul do? What was John doing? James? They were all doing the same thing, each of them were planting churches, growing churches, writing letters to churches, training up leaders of churches, teaching in the churches, and telling people about Jesus, and as these people were saved they would organize them into a church. This is what Jesus left for them, he said to Peter in Matthew 16, upon this rock I will build my church. These were great men of God carrying out their assignment. You also can carry this torch, we can learn from the early Apostles and gain focus of what to do today and tomorrow, let's grow the local church. It's the body of Christ, even the bride of Christ. Think today, what can you do to help grow your church, and if you aren't in one, well pray and ask God to help you find one.

The Lamp The Light The Bible

If you're looking for something at night, what do you need? Well a light. And for searching, the more light the better. According to  John 1, Jesus, is the word of God, and light. The Word of God is the bible, and it is described as a lamp unto my feet. Now listen to this: Proverbs 20:27 says "The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man, it searches out his inmost being." For searching we need a lamp, the lamp of the Lord is the bible. Okay, so what is going on in your inmost being? Well I'm not sure, but it would be good to know, since it's you. Now lots of people try and search for themselves, trying to find out who they really are. But who you really are is only going to be revealed by the one who created you. And the tool He has given you is the bible. It is the lamp you need to reveal yourself. What can you do? What are you capable of? What is it you really want, or what are you here to do? What is your purpose? All good questions, but as you search make sure you grab your light, the bible.

In The Ole Days

Back in the ole days, when I was a kid the only phone we had to use was plugged into a wall at my house. Remember these things? There was no cell phone, texting, or voice mail. You couldn't walk very far when you were on the phone, because of the wire that attached to the wall. The cord would get all tangled up into a ball from people twirling it and it wasn't just one persons phone, when it rang you answered it not knowing who it was or who it was for. "Hello," Ya is your mom or dad home? "um, who is it" If you were waiting on someone to call you and your brother was on the phone, well forget it. New stuff comes out all the time and changes how we think and how we live. But you know who doesn't change? God, He's the same yesterday, today and forever. For 2,000 years the message of Christ in the bible has spoken life to anyone who would listen, regardless of the technology,  culture, or era they lived in. People think that the next new thing will improve our life, save us time, make things easier, but really what we need is still the same no matter when you live. We need Jesus. And you don’t even need a phone.

I'm Coming Home

Jeremiah 2:13 "My people have committed two sins; They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, cisterns that cannot hold water." You know, it isn't a new thing that sometimes even God's people walk away from him. People try and do life on their own, or have a better idea. Or maybe get discouraged, or even decide that the pleasures of the world are more fun. But eventually they find out that without Jesus, the cistern in them runs dry. This may be you. You knew God, but you walked away, for this reason or that. Truth is, your not a bad person, you are in a world that has alot of wrong thinking, and it can be hard to come out of that. But it is not by accident that you are listening to this today. The well within yourself is running dry, but Jesus has a spring of living water for you. God has called you to come home. Sometimes the people of God forsake God, but remember that God will never forsake you. The blood of Jesus has reconciled you to God, right now you can have a brand new beginning with God. Tell God right now, Lord forgive me, I hear you calling, and I'm coming home.

Everywhere

In Genesis 28:16 Jacob has just moved out, He's left home, feeling all grown up, and God gives him a dream His first night away. He  wakes up and says "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was unaware." I've got news for you, even when you leave home, God is still around. Okay, get ready for this, but God is everywhere. You can try and run from Him, or you can seek Him like you should, but know this deep in your heart, just like Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I was unaware." Until now maybe Jacob kind of saw God as someone His mom and dad knew, or even someone they invented. Here Jacob finds out about God first hand, He is faced with believing in God for himself. As you get older you have to determine what you believe. It may be time to crack open that bible, or fall to your knees and find God for yourself. Find out who He is, what He says, what He does, what He doesn't do, why He sent His son, who His son is, what He represents. Lots of people will tell you what they believe about God, OK, but what do you believe?  Seek Him in His sanctuary, pray, open your bible and learn.  It’s time.

You Know Exactly What I Mean

Young people listen up, if you’re gonna get married one day, then you need to know that who you marry is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Let me ask you a question, is the worlds system for marriage working? Well, ok, no it isn't. The worlds ideas for dating and marriage are broken, the system has failed. God's system for marriage works wonderfully. His very first marriage He designed was Adam and Eve, and at that time divorce rate was down to 0%. Marriage lasted. I would guess Adam and Eve were married at least 900 years. That's a long time to make it work. Most Americans can't make it past 15 years. When Jacob was going to go find a wife, His Mom and Dad said "Do not marry a Canaanite woman." OK, so here is who you don't marry. A Canaanite was symbolic of the world, so what he was saying is to NOT marry a worldly girl. That includes the really really pretty fun girls who are worldy. Rats. What do I mean by worldly... ahh, actually you know exactly what I mean by worldly. Pray for your future spouse, and follow God's plan, a woman who fears God, who is strong in moral character, this is a woman who will love you for a lifetime.

To Plant Or Not To Plant

Ecclesiastes 11:2 says "Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land." So it's saying to think about what you can give while you have something to give. When we think of disaster we may think "I better hold on to everything I got in case things get worse." God has a different plan, He says to be a giver when you can. He considers it sowing seed, and the idea is this:  Sowing will always result in more. It goes on to say "Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap." The reaping is the harvest coming after a planting. We want the harvest, but He is showing us here that if we are watching for wind or clouds, we have our eyes in a place of worry, like the finance section of the newspaper, wondering "ahoh, is it going to rain? Is no rain coming?" Listen, worrying about the future will keep you from planting, and if you don't plant, you do not reap. If you don’t reap, you got nothing.  Instead remember that God is your source, it is He who has given you the ability to gain wealth, thereby confirming His covenant with you

Speak That Kind Of Stuff

When Jesus healed he never spoke the problem, He would speak the solution. Eyes open. Lame, get up and walk. Leprosy, be clean. He told the problem what it needed to do, instead of describing the gloom. Remember the storm as it raged on,  Jesus rebuked it and said Peace Be Still. Christ asked us to follow him, so this is an example for us.  When we talk about the problem, it makes us feel worse. Isaiah 8:20 says it like this "If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn, Distressed and hungry they will roam through the land." It goes on to say that all of the stress and hunger will cause them to curse the King and God. Well we don't ever want to be so worked up that we get mad at God. Look at what the word tells us to do, it says to speak according to this word, the word being the bible. Well then what does the bible say. It says you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, you are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, blessed coming in and blessed going out. Ah, speak that kind of stuff, obey God with your mouth and watch stuff change.