What if?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

Last Sunday, at the start of his message, our Pastor, Steve Huskey, stated that as he was preparing his message, he thought, “What if thousands heard this message and really lived it?” I decided right then and there that I would do whatever I could to make sure the message got out. What if?!

We are in a sermon series we call God at the Box Office. The pastor will take the message from a movie and apply it to Biblical truth and principles. The first movie was The Mandalorian. Apparently, the key character in the movie is asked why he does different things, and he always responds with, “This is the way.” “The way” determines the way he lives his life.

Pastor Steve then beautifully and quite convincingly preached about The Way not being just what we believe, as disciples, but what we do. As he stated, “Believers believe, but disciples do.”

Now, before I go any further, let’s not get this twisted; as a Christian, I believe that you go to Heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior. There is nothing to do but confess our sins, our need for Him, and to accept Him into our hearts. Jesus did all the doing to earn our way there.

Understanding salvation, how do we live? Pastor Steve made several great points:

• “Christianity is a way of living, and a way of loyalty to Jesus Christ as your Lord.”
• “Not just a list of things we believe, it is how we live.”
• “Believers don’t change families, lives, communities, etc., disciples do.”
• “How do you find any of The Way? Nobody can know what you think or believe. They can see how you live.”
• “I don’t care what you believe, I want to see how you live.”

Now there are two scriptures that I want to share with you – one Pastor Steve shared and one he did not.

The one he shared was Acts 9: 1 – 2 (NIV):
9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Then he asked, “How would he know they belonged to the Way?” This is where the statement, “Nobody can know what you think or believe” just by looking at you; “they can see how you live.” A question worth asking: if someone simply watched the way you live your life, would you be convicted? Maybe more piercing to the soul; would you want to be? Just got real!!!

The other scripture that kept bouncing around in my mind during the whole sermon was one that has challenged me for years; James 2:18 – 19 (NIV) says,
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

It should be noted that this scripture comes from a section titled "Faith (belief) and Deeds." The fact that I believe in God does not make me any different than a demon…hits me every time!

Pastor Steve then shared several different codes for living as disciples. He pointed to the Sermon on the Mount, the 10 Commandments, Galatians 5, and The Didache. While I encourage all of us to be mindful of all these ways of living, I want to specifically highlight Galatians 5 and The Didache this morning.

Galatians 5:22-26 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

How are we doing? In viewing our lives, are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control present? If not, we may believe in Jesus; however, we are not following His example.

This is from THE DIDACHE: The Teaching of the Lord Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations, based on the Roberts-Donaldson translation. I am simply going to copy and paste Chapter 3.

Chapter 3.
Other Sins Forbidden.
My child, flee from every evil thing, and from every likeness of it. Be not prone to anger, for anger leads to murder. Be neither jealous, nor quarrelsome, nor of hot temper, for out of all these murders are engendered. My child, be not a lustful one, for lust leads to fornication. Be neither a filthy talker, nor of lofty eye, for out of all these adulteries are engendered. My child, be not superstitious, since it leads to idolatry. Be neither an enchanter, nor an astrologer, nor a purifier, nor be willing to look at these things, for out of all these idolatry is engendered. My child, be not a liar, since a lie leads to theft. Be neither money-loving, nor vainglorious, for out of all these thefts are engendered. My child, be not a murmurer, since it leads the way to blasphemy. Be neither self-willed nor evil-minded, for out of all these blasphemies are engendered.

So Friends, what if we really lived as disciples of Jesus, not just believers? How different would our lives, families, communities, etc. be? Counter-cultural? For sure! As I type that, Joshua 24:15 comes to mind:
15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Two cute/quippy little things have been coming to mind as I have been typing this message.
1. “And they will know we are Christians by our love.” Not by being right, angry, busy, etc.
2. A Christian person was telling another the joy of knowing Jesus, as having him as your Lord and personal Savior. The person asked, “Has your heart ever told your face?” Have you noticed how many Christians look dour all the time? Doesn’t look very appealing and is not representative of Jesus, who came that we may “have life, and have it more abundantly.”

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can contact me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend. Please cherish your precious family, be kind, and please stay well!

Kev

A Bible Study

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

 

This past week, I learned/became aware of a couple of things that I wanted to share with all of you.

 

First, I want to share my notes with you from our sermon at church last week. Pastor Austin Young delivered the message, which he titled "The Four Layers of Sin."

 

The First Layer = Gross Sins. These are the major or obvious sins.

·       The sin you deal with right when you give your life to Jesus.

·       A list of obvious sins is found in Galatians 5:19-21

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

·       These lead to great testimonies.

 

The Second Layer = Conscious Sins

·       Choose to do things we know are wrong.

·       Most of these are celebrated by culture.

·       He then gave the following examples: Pornography, speeding, dishonesty, paying employees less than we could.

·       We are held to a standard of obedience to God.

·       God will ask you to do something individually.

o   Personal convictions

 

With the first two, we are aware of them, they are behavior-based, and we can often correct them with self-discipline/will power.

 

The Third Layer = Unconscious Sins

·       Don’t do the things you know you should do.

·       Sins of Omission

o   James 4:17 says, 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

·       Sins of Motivation

o   Serving to look good or giving to look generous.

·       He noted that this type of sin is not about behavior, it is about our sin nature

·       We cannot correct them on our own – this is a spiritual battle.

 

The Fourth Layer = Attachments

·       What we need to be happy that are not God.

·       Without this thing or person, you can’t be happy.

·       He gave examples of family, reputation, and financial stability.

·       If you need these things more than you need go, you will be unhappy because they will always fail you.

·       Again, we cannot correct these on our own.

 

Pastor Austin then offered three steps to be freed from sin.

1.      Jesus

o   Psalm 51:17 says, 17 My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

2.     Bring it to the light

o   Luke 8:17 says, 17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

3.     Confess

o   James 5:16 says, 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

 

I feel like I have talked about this second one in a previous Happy Friday. I was doing some Bible Study last week, read it, and it struck me as profound again.

 

Many of us know Philippians 4:6:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

 

And we know Philippians 4:8:

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

 

However, when you add verses 7 and 9 and link them all together, it just hits different… at least for me!

 

Philippians 4:6-9

New International Version

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We are told not to be anxious in any situation, to take our requests to God, and then we are given this beautiful promise: when we do the first part, the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds.

 

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

It is so interesting that after we are told not to be anxious in any situation and to take our requests to God, we are told to think about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, anything that is excellent or praiseworthy. Perhaps it is just me; I totally get this! How often I have been anxious about something, I will take it to God in prayer, and then I will go right back to thinking about all the things around why I am anxious. The instruction here is clear: don’t be anxious, pray, and then think about anything that is excellent or praiseworthy.

 

Then the Apostle Paul encourages us to put into practice what we have learned, received, heard, or seen in him. He says if we do these things, the God of peace will be with us. To be honest, what struck me more than anything is what it would look like if people put into practice what they have learned, received, heard, or seen in me. Am I pointing them to God? If they did what I did, would the peace of God guard their hearts and minds, and would the God of peace be with them? Have you noticed how this seems to be what is missing more than anything else in our world today – peace? We have a whole lot of anxious, mad, and angry people. What if we actually lived out Philippians 4:6 –8 and lived our lives in such a way that we could confidently proclaim what Paul did in verse 9? Man, I aspire to that!

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

 

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend. Please cherish your precious family, be kind, and please stay well!

 

Kev

Go To The Beach

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

 

I was going to take my Beautiful Bride's advice and make this Happy Friday very short: “Go to the beach, spend time with your family, and ignore your cell phone.” Do you all know, I got in trouble twice this week for NOT being on my cell phone! How is that possible?! And I should note that I got in trouble with my family, not my boss!

 

I do have a couple of short things I want to share with you all this morning.

1.      I was listening to a Joel Osteen message titled Step Into the Unknown earlier this week. He used a great analogy that crystallized a point for me, and I thought you all might find it valuable as well. From the title, you know the message was about taking steps of faith. He was explaining how we want to know all the what’s, why’s, how’s, etc. He shared Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” He stated that as we pursue the Lord and stay close to Him, the path before us is lit, one step at a time. Then he said this, “When you are driving a car at night, you can see about 100 feet in front of you. You don’t not go on the trip because you can’t see the entire way!” That was an “Ah Ha” moment for me! My Spirit is also reminding me right now of John 15: 5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Let’s abide in Him (read the Bible, pray, sing worship songs, etc.), and take the next step!

2.     I came across this great quote from John Gordon:

“Every day we have a choice. We can choose to be positive or negative. We can choose to be grateful and see the good in all that we have or we can let anger, fear, doubt, and insecurities rob us of our joy and the life we’re meant to live. The choice is yours today.”

 

Having said that, I recommend you go to the beach, spend time with your family, and ignore your cell phone…even if you get in trouble for it!

 

Please feel free to contact me at any time if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

 

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, be kind, and stay well!

 

Kev