Power Of the Best Sermon

 Key Scripture:    "Anyone who sets himself up as "religious"by talking a good game is self-deceived.  This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air... don't let the Word go in one ear and out the other." Adapted from James 1, The Message

Power Point:

     My life is my best sermon.  It's what I do after I close the computer and go about my daily life that determines what I preach to people isn't it?  I can say all sorts of wonderful things when I write devotionals, but let's face it, if you know me, and my life doesn't line up with what I've written, it just won't have any effect.  Nor should it. If I'm constantly irritable, or selfish, or easily offended, then my life won't preach what God intends it to preach.  We've all known preachers who can tell us about  the goodness of God, but they are unkind when they walk out of the pulpit.  I'm sure you've met people who talk about the love of God and then don't ever show it. You can't trust someone who doesn't live what they preach can you?

     You can usually check your own sermon by your responses to others, including your family!

     If you say one thing and do another on a regular basis. Your children, or those closest too you, are the first ones to pick up on it.  They know!  And they won't pay attention to your words if your words aren't carried out in your actions.  They won't be like Jesus if you aren't. I may be as sweet as the next person when I'm sharing the gospel but if I'm a jerk behind closed doors, my life won't preach what it's supposed to.

     Shouldn't my family life be my best sermon?

     If I declare that I am a good friend, yet I indulge in gossip about my friends that just won't preach will it?

     If I preach love and live bitterness, it just doesn't preach.

     If I am wildly ecstatic about God helping me but won't lift a finger to help someone else, it just doesn't preach.

     If I preach on the power of giving but hold on tightly to everything I have, it just doesn't preach.

     People who don't live what they preach, are full of hot air. The Word of God is going in one ear and out the other. That's why we are supposed to ACT on what God tells us and let our lives be a sermon on His goodness to every person we meet. Your life is living proof of what you really believe. It's always preaching whether you know it or not.

His Life Preached
And Still Does.

Power Thought:
"One act of obedience is better than one-hundred sermons."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Power Of A Shining Example

Key Scripture:  "Rise to a new life!  SHINE-be radiant with the glory of The Lord; for your light is come and the glory of The Lord is risen upon you." Isaiah 60:1,2

"Get out of bed, (insert your name here!) Wake up! Put your face in the sunlight.  God’s bright glory has risen for you." The Message

Power Point:

     Were you aware that part of the joyous privilege we have of being children of God is that He shines HIS glory on our path?  Think about that!  In Psalms 37:6 He promises that if we commit our way to Him, if we roll our cares onto His shoulders, and if we trust Him to do the right thing, He will make our righteousness shine like a bright light in this world.

     In case you missed that verse, He says it again in Proverbs 4:18,  "The path of the children of God is like the light of dawn that shines more and more, brighter and clearer-until it reaches its full strength and glory..."

     The word "shine" means to cause something to shine, to illuminate it. Isn't it wonderful to know that God wants to light up your life?  He wants to make your face shine as you walk with Him. He wants the things that you do to reflect His light in your life.  One of my favorite Christmas celebrations is the Christmas Eve service when all the lights in the sanctuary are turned off. Everyone has a small candle in their hands. The pastor lights one candle and then he turns and lights another candle. That person turns to his neighbor and lights one more candle and so on, until every person in the room is a shining light.

     I think that's a perfect illustration of what Jesus meant when He said, "You are the light of the world."  The Light of the World is telling us to shine. He has designated His followers to be the lights in this world.  

      Actually, these words are a part of the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus is identifying the characteristics that He considers to be  "shining examples"of God's people.  

Shining people are:

Humble people who consider others first. 
Grace givers. 
People who live satisfied lives because they are always hungry and thirst for more of Him and He fills them with even more. 
Those who are full of mercy.
Those who are full of peace with Him and then offer that same peace to others. They fight for peace.
Those who suffer for believing Him. 

     Jesus says that those people are the salt of the earth and the light

of the world. He says that what we do every day we are to do with excellence.  When people look at us they are to see things that cause to say, "WOW!! God must be really good!"  We are to be extra-ordinary in how we treat others and how we represent the Loving heart of our Father.

We are to shine with love.  We are to shine with mercy and grace.  We are to shine with hope and trust.  We are to light other people's worlds with the goodness of God.

     My friend, it's your time to rise and shine! Go shed a little light in dark places.  Shine with the presence of God. Shine with kindness.  Shine with compassion and hope and let your life be living proof of a God Who is all of those things. Jesus sent us His Holy Spirit so that we too are anointed to be a shining example of God's nature.

So, SHINE! Go brighten someone's life today.

Power Thought:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Power Of Really Believing

Key Scripture:  "Have faith in God." Mark 11:22

"Embrace the God life.  Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you."  The Message

Power Point:

     Sometimes its just good to reflect on where you are and where you've come from isn't it?

     This weekend I was privileged to be a part of an event that raises money to build wells all over the world. Those wells change the lives of people.  It makes dry desert places come alive with water.  The people can plant gardens and the animals can drink to their hearts content. It takes hours off their days. Everything flourishes because of those wells. The ministry is called "Widow's Mite" and it was breathed into life by one of my very best friends, Janet Baker.  As I was reflecting on all this today, The Lord allowed me to ask myself some questions about what it would be like to have no hope.  What would my life be like without Him? What would I do if I couldn't rely on His word.

     As I pondered on the lives of these people, most of whom are living without God, I had to ask myself some difficult questions. What would my life be like without God?

     The thought occurs to me, that believing His word is what we are supposed to do.   It's the foundation of faith.  If I didn't have His Word to believe, what would I do? What if His promises aren't really true? What if He didn't mean what He said?  What if He only meant SOME things? What if He only meant some things for some people?  What if the important day to day things, like healing and wholeness, and safety weren't really meant to be reality for me?

What if every promise was just words on a page? What if they were never to be applied to my life?  What would I do if I couldn't believe God? Or hope in Him?  Or trust Him?  Or know that He would lead me by His Spirit and keep me from stumbling or falling?

     What if the only future and hope that I had was one of my own making?  What if He only meant SOME things? What if the important day to day things, like healing and prosperity, and safety weren't really there for me?

What if every promise was just words on a page that were never meant to be applied to a life?

   What if my future was only dependent on other people, or the government?

What if every dire situation in my life was going to stay that way? What if I didn't have any help from heaven?

What would I do if I couldn't believe that I was loved, and cherished and that the best was yet to come?

I asked Him,  "What would I do if I didn't have You?"

And He replied, "But you do."

     Thinking those thoughts is a good thing.  It helps me to understand how people feel who live without faith in a loving God.  But the sad thing is, that many "Christians" live that way too don't they?

     Even though we have this extraordinary God that has come to live in us, and fill us with all the riches of heaven, we live like we don't believe it.  I've watched my friend Janet weather a lot of storms in the last ten years.  She didn't make it through those storms with willpower.  She didn't change people's lives by her great personal strength.  She has succeeded because she knew she could trust God.  She knew that what she was doing had been given to her by Him because it was a job He wanted done and she was the one He had chosen to do it. She's had faith in Him and He has rewarded that faith.

     Beloved, we have to examine ourselves to know where we are really standing spiritually? Are you living your life believing God?  Are you living your life filled with hope for the future or are you worried that His Word won't be true for you?  Do you waffle from day to day about how true the Truth really is?  Are you thinking that God won't really be God for you?

Some of us live as though we don't have God, don't we?

But we do.

Power Thought:

"Anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him."  Hebrews 11:6

Do you?

Power OF Extra-Ordinary Courage

KEY SCRIPTURE:  "God's love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic.  His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic.  Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost; not a man, not a mouse slips through the cracks."   Psalm 36:6,7  The Message

Power Point:

     I guess you could say that King David was experiencing a time of settling the truths about this extra-ordinary God that had captured his heart in this verse.  When you think about it, everything in David's life was a constant battle.  There was a lot of good news (you'll be king, you'll live in a palace) but there was usually bad news right around the corner. There were continual battles-some of his own making, and some because he was God's servant who had been called to defeat the enemies of God's children. The important thing is that David always showed up for the battle.  In fact, one of the verses I love about David is 1 Samuel 17:48.  This describes the heart of the warrior in David.  It says, "So it was, when the Philistine (Goliath) drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet him."

     You can see why God loved David so much.  David didn't flinch at the size of his enemy, which when you think about it, was not his enemy he was running toward.  Goliath was GOD's enemy.  He was coming to destroy God's people and steal their land.  David thought to himself, "This giant is not much bigger than the bears I've killed or the lions I've defeated.  I think I can take him!"   I think that his extra-ordinary courage made God smile that day.

     I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to understand that my whole life has been a training ground for the enemy that is facing me right now.  You may think that you're under attack by a very strong enemy. God has trained you to defeat him.  If you think about it,  all those other difficult times in your life when you trusted God and "took courage", are the perfect groundwork that God was laying for this situation. You've been prepared to defeat the Goliath in your life today and every day.  You are more  than a conqueror.  You are a child of God, that God who is the God of the angel armies, who is ready to release heaven in you and through you.  Now.   Today.  Take courage.  Take extra-ordinary courage and hurry and run toward the enemy.  Don't let the devil defeat you in the very place where God has uniquely equipped you to walk in His victory. 

     Like David, there will  always be battles in your life.  The good news is that the God of the angel armies is working for you and with you. Nothing can separate you from His love, and His power, and His promises.  Take courage Beloved.  "Seize and hold fast and retain, (without wavering), the hope that you cherish and confess...For He who promised is reliable, (sure) and faithful to His word."  

      How extraordinary.

Power Thought:

Not a man, nor a mouse, slips through the cracks of the extra-ordinary power of God. That includes you! Today is possible.  Run out to meet it. I think you can take it!