Reflections of a year gone by

As we draw close to the end of this year most of us will reflect over the past, our triumphs and failures, we will reflect on lost loved ones and miss them , we should reflect and be grateful for those days we had with them and rejoice with those we still have with us.

Life has no pause or reset buttons, it always leads onward.

As we reflect over the past don't let the demons of discouragement and despair get into your mind, they will only lie to you and deceive you. They will dishearten you and destroy your hope, joy and focus.

This is a time to refocus on God , look back and see where failure grew and raised it's ugly head is where we pressed on without God, we do things in our flesh and forget to ask and seek God, then ask Him why, when we fail.

This I know unless I surrender daily to Him, I will surrender to my flesh, the world or the enemies lies and deceit, which leads me to defeat.

I need God in order to love another person unconditionally. I need His help to overlook offenses. I need His help to guard myself against all the temptations that lurk around every corner. I need His help to become more like Christ so I can lay down my life for my family. Without Him, my marriage wouldn’t be anything special. Odds are it would end badly, just like so many do.

We all get to choose who we will surrender our will to daily, our weaknesses and our strengths , we must learn out of obedience to surrender to God before our feet hit the floor, our enemies wait in darkness to attack in our thoughts, dreams and mind.

You can have the life God wants you to have. But you can’t have it without God’s help. No matter what’s happened in your past, this is a new day. A new chance. A new beginning. A new year awaits, let's not squander this gift from God.

This is a new day the Lord has given to us, be glad and rejoice in Him. Things can be different, let's go forward in Christ in Him we will find healing, in Him we will be more engaging, in Him we can truly forgive as we've been forgiven, in Him we can have peace, strength and overcome what gets in our way,in Him we can be more intimate with our spouse, in Him we can become closer to others than ever been before.

The past is the past. It's dead and buried don't dig it up and relive it. We can’t change it. But God can change our future. He can take what the enemy meant for evil and use it for good.The enemy wants us to It feel like we have too much to overcome, like the damage is too great to be repaired. We don't and It’s not.

We don't have what it takes to face life alone, we need God .

Life is complicated, we need all the help we can get. Jesus said ““Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

We need to take Him up on this, we don't need to fight back fairly, we need to learn to fight like men and women of God. You don’t fight for victory; you fight from the victory God has given you.

““When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you. When you are about to engage in battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army. He is to say to them: ‘Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.’”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭20:1-4‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4:13-17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

The 5. W's of Worship

The 5's of worship?

Who do you worship?
What do you worship
When do you worship
Where do you worship
Why do you worship
And how do you worship.

Worship is not reserved for Sunday mornings, worship is not exclusive to music, worship is meant to be intimate, personal, private, public, exclusive, and everlasting.

So why do you worship? To honor God, and praise Him for all He has done already?

What do you worship? The idea of God as Creator, Father, Savior and friend? Or the great big genie you come to when problems arise?

When do you worship? On Sundays with everyone else? Or in all things are you worshipping God?

Where do you worship? Only in the sanctuary, or wherever you are?

Why do worship? Because everyone else is, or are you drawing close to God?

How do you worship? By singing only or do you put your mind, body and soul into all of who Jesus really is and has done?

Worship for a child of God should be a lifestyle, the things we say, the things we do, the places we go, the way we work, the way we live, should all be acts of worship to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, we should do this with all our hearts, minds, body and souls, exclusively reserved for Him.

“Jesus told her, “Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ ). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” “I am He,” Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.””
‭‭John‬ ‭4:21-26‬ ‭HCSB‬

“Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said: These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men.” Summoning the crowd, He told them, “Listen and understand: It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭15:7-11‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

“Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

“Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

“He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:37-39‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

The Gospel

The gospel of Jesus Christ is; hope for hopeless, help for the helpless, strength for the weary, peace for the tormented, redemption for the lost one, and reconciliation to God the Father to all who answer His call.

It doesn't need changed, puffed up, or polished we only need to live it and speak it.

Have you heard the gospel? Have you answered God's call?Are you living the gospel? Are you sharing the gospel?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” “For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1:16-17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Who is Jesus? 1

When you think of Jesus who comes to mind?

Who He was or who He is? Was He just a man? Or is He GOD?

Do you know Him, personally, intimately, spiritually?

Do you count on Him, trust in Him, seek Him, talk with Him, walk with Him?

Do you call on His name for everything?

How you answer with your life is how important is He to you?

If Jesus to you is just a man, then he is not of importance, if Jesus to you is just a teacher then he is of no importance in eternity.

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity writes the following: “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [Jesus Christ]: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.”

Jesus undeniably claimed to be God. If He is not God, then He is a liar, and that would disqualify him from being a prophet, a godly man, or a good teacher.

There are many attempts to explain away the words of Jesus, so called “scholars” claim that the “true historical Jesus” did not say what the Bible attributes to Him. As if they were there listening to Him teach. While those who wrote the gospels had firsthand knowledge, or the accounts of Jesus Life were spoken to them by those who did have firsthand knowledge.

Man’s problem is we think we are smarter than God, that we do not need God, and that Jesus is just someone who if He did exist, (and there is more proof that He did, than most historical figures) was nothing more than a good man.

The real question is who are we a created being, to challenge the authority of God’s word, spoken by the prophets long ago, fulfilled by the power of God alone, who are we to be questioning what Jesus did or did not say?

How can a so-called scholar who did not have any experience with Jesus have greater insight into what Jesus said or did as He lived among men, taught them, healed them, died for them and then resurrected from the grave and walked with them again?

The short answer is they can’t.

Jesus is more than we know, but He is all we need to know.

Jesus is:

God John 10:30, John 8:58

My LORD & GOD John 20:28

My Maker, Isaiah 54:5

My God & Savior 2 Peter 1:1

My Hope 1Timothy 1:1

My Brother Mark 3:35

My Portion Jeremiah 10:16

My Helper Hebrews 13:6

My Physician Jeremiah 8:22

My Healer Luke 9:11

My Refiner Malachi 3:3

My Purifier Malachi 3:3

My Lord, Master John 13:13

My Servant Luke 12:37

My Example John 13:15

My Teacher John 3:2

My Shepherd Psalms 23:1

My Keeper John 17:12

My Freedom Ezekiel 34:23

My Leader Isaiah 40:11

My Restorer Psalms 23:3

My Resting-place Jeremiah 50:6

My Passover 1Corinthinas 5:7

My Peace Ephesians 2:14

My Wisdom, My Righteousness

My Sanctification, My Redemption

My All in All 1Corinthians 1:30

God’s word says:

1 Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.  5 For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my Son; today I have become your Father, or again, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?  6 Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, And let all God's angels worship him.  7 And about the angels he says: He makes his angels winds, and his servants a fiery flame, 8 but to the Son: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.  9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions.  10 And: In the beginning, Lord, you established the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like clothing; 12 you will roll them up like a cloak, and they will be changed like clothing. But you are the same, and your years will never end.  13 Now to which of the angels has he ever said: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool?  Hebrews 1:1-13 CSB

1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.  9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.  12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, "There is no resurrection of the dead"? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. 15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ; whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.  20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be abolished is death. 27 For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says "everything" is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. 28 When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.  1Corinthians 15:1-28 CSB