I am trying to figure out Facebook so I can get a fanpage going for The Oasis. I may be away for a few weeks, but check us out at "The Oasis Christian Church" on Facebook.
Love, Michael
Friday, November 13, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
1 Peter 4 and Romand 5
I read 1 Peter 4 and Romans 5 this morning.
1 Peter 4:2 - ... anxious to do the will of God. - I run into so many people who are anxious about so many things. They are anxious about money or the next promotion or what someone said or whether they are being marginalized or if they are getting their way or if they will win or...... and yet here is Peter saying the only thing it is right to be anxious about is doing the will of God. What does that look like? When I see people around me being anxious I notice that they are consumed with it. They think about it always. It changes everything and affects everything. It affects how they rest and how they eat and how they sleep and how they talk. When you tell them to stop they say they can't. Can you imagine if we were anxious to do the will of God? If we were consumed with it? If everything else in life was affected by it? If it affected our eating and our sleeping and our attitude? Lord, I want to be anxious to do your will.
Romans 5:17 - ... for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. - Can you honestly say that you have victory over sin in your life right now? If yes, than you can know you are walking where God has called you. If not, than you are not walking with Christ the way He has called you. We can call it struggling or whatever else we might come up with, but the truth of being in Christ Jesus is triumph over sin in this life. We have let the world water down the truth of the Bible so much we actually expect sin to be a natural part of the Christian experience when God has said otherwise. God has said that if you are in Christ you will have victory over that which tempts you and has won in the past. That means if you sin with pornography being in Christ means you should be free of that now. If you are not there is a problem with your relationship with God. It isn't just a weakness or a struggle it is a major problem with your faith because Jesus said you would be free indeed. I think so many of us have just settled into the idea that sin should be there. Sin should not. We don't need to become legalistic or remove grace, but we have to realize the proof of Jesus being in our life is less and less sin not. It is more and more freedom and not just little by little. Jesus healed instantly. We have to be careful of the lie that says Jesus heals us slowly over time. It causes us to let our sin endure longer than it should.
I am reading a book and the author makes a statement that really stuck with me. He says, "In the same way, you have to stop loving and pursuing Christ in order to sin." Did you catch that? You and I have to QUIT loving and pursuing Jesus to sin. I believe that is true. You can not love God and sin. You can sin and then return to God, but we need to sin for what it is - a denial of God and a love for something more than we love Him. When you sin you are picking that over God. Think about that. When you look at pornography you are picking what you see and feel over God. When you gossip you are picking importance over God. When you lie you are picking safety over God. When you are selfish you are picking yourself over God. You cannot love and pursue god and sin. Man, that changes a lot for me. The next time I want to sin I will he confronted with the gravity of the choice I am really making.
Love, Michael
1 Peter 4:2 - ... anxious to do the will of God. - I run into so many people who are anxious about so many things. They are anxious about money or the next promotion or what someone said or whether they are being marginalized or if they are getting their way or if they will win or...... and yet here is Peter saying the only thing it is right to be anxious about is doing the will of God. What does that look like? When I see people around me being anxious I notice that they are consumed with it. They think about it always. It changes everything and affects everything. It affects how they rest and how they eat and how they sleep and how they talk. When you tell them to stop they say they can't. Can you imagine if we were anxious to do the will of God? If we were consumed with it? If everything else in life was affected by it? If it affected our eating and our sleeping and our attitude? Lord, I want to be anxious to do your will.
Romans 5:17 - ... for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. - Can you honestly say that you have victory over sin in your life right now? If yes, than you can know you are walking where God has called you. If not, than you are not walking with Christ the way He has called you. We can call it struggling or whatever else we might come up with, but the truth of being in Christ Jesus is triumph over sin in this life. We have let the world water down the truth of the Bible so much we actually expect sin to be a natural part of the Christian experience when God has said otherwise. God has said that if you are in Christ you will have victory over that which tempts you and has won in the past. That means if you sin with pornography being in Christ means you should be free of that now. If you are not there is a problem with your relationship with God. It isn't just a weakness or a struggle it is a major problem with your faith because Jesus said you would be free indeed. I think so many of us have just settled into the idea that sin should be there. Sin should not. We don't need to become legalistic or remove grace, but we have to realize the proof of Jesus being in our life is less and less sin not. It is more and more freedom and not just little by little. Jesus healed instantly. We have to be careful of the lie that says Jesus heals us slowly over time. It causes us to let our sin endure longer than it should.
I am reading a book and the author makes a statement that really stuck with me. He says, "In the same way, you have to stop loving and pursuing Christ in order to sin." Did you catch that? You and I have to QUIT loving and pursuing Jesus to sin. I believe that is true. You can not love God and sin. You can sin and then return to God, but we need to sin for what it is - a denial of God and a love for something more than we love Him. When you sin you are picking that over God. Think about that. When you look at pornography you are picking what you see and feel over God. When you gossip you are picking importance over God. When you lie you are picking safety over God. When you are selfish you are picking yourself over God. You cannot love and pursue god and sin. Man, that changes a lot for me. The next time I want to sin I will he confronted with the gravity of the choice I am really making.
Love, Michael
Thursday, November 5, 2009
1 Peter 3 and Romans 4
I read 1 Peter 3 and Romans 4 this morning. Here are a couple of ideas that stood out to me.
In 1 Peter 3:2 it says by observing your pure and reverent lives. when it is talking about how a godly woman can help her unbelieving husband come to know God through Jesus. The question that popped into my head right away was, Do we live such pure and reverent lives that others are caused to believe?
Most of us would quickly admit we are not pure. We live soiled lives. We complain that it is because we live in a dirty world. And yet Jesus our Savior and Lord promised things would be even better for us when the Holy Spirit came. And Jesus, while He was on earth, lived a life in a dirty world without getting soiled. He showed us the way and then He empowered us to do it.
But, I think the bigger question on my heart is are we a reverent people? When someone looks at my life do they see reverence or something else. Going through the church planter thing I can tell you that most of my reverence was drained. Unfortunately a loud segment of the church planting population is so focused on being free from the rules and traditions that we fail to be reverent about God or our faith. We become very worldly leaders in an effort to reach the world for Christ. The problem is people need to see our reverence for God and His word and truth and peace and His Church or they will never care that we entered their world to share Christ with them. As my buddy Justin would say, We sold our birthright for pea soup!!! We have traded reverence for relevance only we are not all that relevant and when did God ever say relevance was more important than fruitful reverence anyway?
I wonder what would happen if all of us decided to beg God for develop in us a reverence for Him and His word that would cause us to react like Isaiah in the throne room of God in Isaiah 6. What would happen in our lives and our faith and what would happen to our witness if we had such a deep respect and awe towards God that it came out? According to 1 Peter, we would become better witnesses and help a great many people come to Jesus.
I love Romans 4:18. It says, Even while there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping - . WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is what the Bible means when it talks about faith. Even when there is no logical reason to believe we believe and if you keep going you see the reason Abraham believed even though there was no reason for it. God spoke. God had made a promise and since Abraham thought more of God's promise than he did the circumstances around him he held out hope. Where in your life have you quit believing or quit hoping because there is no reason to hang on and yet God has made a promise? Let God be proved true and every man a liar. I love what Paul goes on to say: He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. (Romans 4:21) God, may you help us become the kind of people who are fully convinced because we know you!!!
Love, Michael
In 1 Peter 3:2 it says by observing your pure and reverent lives. when it is talking about how a godly woman can help her unbelieving husband come to know God through Jesus. The question that popped into my head right away was, Do we live such pure and reverent lives that others are caused to believe?
Most of us would quickly admit we are not pure. We live soiled lives. We complain that it is because we live in a dirty world. And yet Jesus our Savior and Lord promised things would be even better for us when the Holy Spirit came. And Jesus, while He was on earth, lived a life in a dirty world without getting soiled. He showed us the way and then He empowered us to do it.
But, I think the bigger question on my heart is are we a reverent people? When someone looks at my life do they see reverence or something else. Going through the church planter thing I can tell you that most of my reverence was drained. Unfortunately a loud segment of the church planting population is so focused on being free from the rules and traditions that we fail to be reverent about God or our faith. We become very worldly leaders in an effort to reach the world for Christ. The problem is people need to see our reverence for God and His word and truth and peace and His Church or they will never care that we entered their world to share Christ with them. As my buddy Justin would say, We sold our birthright for pea soup!!! We have traded reverence for relevance only we are not all that relevant and when did God ever say relevance was more important than fruitful reverence anyway?
I wonder what would happen if all of us decided to beg God for develop in us a reverence for Him and His word that would cause us to react like Isaiah in the throne room of God in Isaiah 6. What would happen in our lives and our faith and what would happen to our witness if we had such a deep respect and awe towards God that it came out? According to 1 Peter, we would become better witnesses and help a great many people come to Jesus.
I love Romans 4:18. It says, Even while there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping - . WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is what the Bible means when it talks about faith. Even when there is no logical reason to believe we believe and if you keep going you see the reason Abraham believed even though there was no reason for it. God spoke. God had made a promise and since Abraham thought more of God's promise than he did the circumstances around him he held out hope. Where in your life have you quit believing or quit hoping because there is no reason to hang on and yet God has made a promise? Let God be proved true and every man a liar. I love what Paul goes on to say: He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. (Romans 4:21) God, may you help us become the kind of people who are fully convinced because we know you!!!
Love, Michael
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
A Test
I have a great test for anyone reading this to take. Grab your Bible and read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Now, go back and re-read it and everywhere you see the word love insert your own name instead. If you can read it that way with a straight face and an honest heart than good job. But, if you can't read every single phrase of it that way know that God is revealing to you where you need to surrender to Him, because you aren't living a Christian life in that part of your life.
Love, Michael
Love, Michael
1 Peter 2 and Romans 3
I am reading 1 Peter 2 and Romans 3 this morning. There are a lot of really deep, good, theological truths in there.
1 Peter 2:2 - Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk SO THAT you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,. This verse makes it very clear. You will not grow in your experience of salvation of you do not develop a craving for God's truth. Your salvation will at the most amount to very little and at the least not amount to anything at all. We need to develop a hunger and a passion and a desire for God through His truth. So many people miss the God part and just go after the truth part. All of faith is about a relationship with the Father and when we don't desire that above all else we miss out. Some will complain that they can't make themselves want something, but the truth is when we choose to pursue something with all of our energies we begin to love that thing. We did not love our spouses before we found them. It was the pursuit of them that helped spur the love we now have for them.
Peter mentions God's will which brings me back to something I read recently. The author was focusing on the idea that so many of us say we want to know God's will when what we really want is God's specific will for our lives from now until death. God very rarely gives us that because He knows we would have the tendency to walk away from Him. He conceals some of His will so we will stay beside Him, which is what is best for us anyway. Also, if you really want to know God's will, just read every passage in the Bible that says God's will or pleases God. You will find several things. The problem for us is we don't want to focus on those specific things. God has told us what His will is, we just didn't like that it didn't focus on us.
1 Peter 2:24 - Why did Jesus bear responsibility for our sin on the Cross? ... so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. He did not die just so we can go to heaven. He died SO THAT we could die to sin and SO THAT we could live for what is right.
Romans 3:22 - We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. - It is by faith that we are made right. Not faith like we think where we say we believe there is a God, but faith that puts an active trust in God and that relies on God. The faith that makes us right is a relational faith and not just a mental one. It is a faith that hungers for God and anything less than that isn't faith.
Romans 3:31 - Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. - Obedience does not necessarily lead to faith. Faith without obedience is a lie and not true faith. True faith always leads to willing obedience.
Love, Michael
1 Peter 2:2 - Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk SO THAT you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,. This verse makes it very clear. You will not grow in your experience of salvation of you do not develop a craving for God's truth. Your salvation will at the most amount to very little and at the least not amount to anything at all. We need to develop a hunger and a passion and a desire for God through His truth. So many people miss the God part and just go after the truth part. All of faith is about a relationship with the Father and when we don't desire that above all else we miss out. Some will complain that they can't make themselves want something, but the truth is when we choose to pursue something with all of our energies we begin to love that thing. We did not love our spouses before we found them. It was the pursuit of them that helped spur the love we now have for them.
Peter mentions God's will which brings me back to something I read recently. The author was focusing on the idea that so many of us say we want to know God's will when what we really want is God's specific will for our lives from now until death. God very rarely gives us that because He knows we would have the tendency to walk away from Him. He conceals some of His will so we will stay beside Him, which is what is best for us anyway. Also, if you really want to know God's will, just read every passage in the Bible that says God's will or pleases God. You will find several things. The problem for us is we don't want to focus on those specific things. God has told us what His will is, we just didn't like that it didn't focus on us.
1 Peter 2:24 - Why did Jesus bear responsibility for our sin on the Cross? ... so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. He did not die just so we can go to heaven. He died SO THAT we could die to sin and SO THAT we could live for what is right.
Romans 3:22 - We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. - It is by faith that we are made right. Not faith like we think where we say we believe there is a God, but faith that puts an active trust in God and that relies on God. The faith that makes us right is a relational faith and not just a mental one. It is a faith that hungers for God and anything less than that isn't faith.
Romans 3:31 - Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. - Obedience does not necessarily lead to faith. Faith without obedience is a lie and not true faith. True faith always leads to willing obedience.
Love, Michael
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
I'm reading a great book by Francis Chan called Crazy Love. Good book. I would recommend it for anyone close to accepting Christ or who is looking for a refreshing of their own faith. I read his other book Forgotten God a few weeks back and enjoyed it as well. It deals with welcoming the Holy Spirit back into your life.
I am also reading one by Lee Strobel and Mark Mittleberg called The Unexpected Adventure that has been really good for motivating different approaches to evangelism. Instead of teaching how to evangelize they simply share personal stories about when they shared Christ. It has been great for helping me look and prepare for more opportunities to share the Good News about Jesus. It even led me to pick up a homeless guy and spend some time with him.
God has been doing some really neat things in my heart and soul lately. I have always had a problem with watered-down faith in America and in myself and God has been showing me how to bring my love for Him and His church alongside of that dissatisfaction in a healthy way. I just want so badly for those who say they follow Jesus to experience the true moving of God's Spirit and a faith that is represented by a great love that motivates a powerful life instead of getting it backwards and having people do what they are supposed to do without really understanding that a love of God should be the stimulant. Love of God and not just behaving.
Love, Michael
I am also reading one by Lee Strobel and Mark Mittleberg called The Unexpected Adventure that has been really good for motivating different approaches to evangelism. Instead of teaching how to evangelize they simply share personal stories about when they shared Christ. It has been great for helping me look and prepare for more opportunities to share the Good News about Jesus. It even led me to pick up a homeless guy and spend some time with him.
God has been doing some really neat things in my heart and soul lately. I have always had a problem with watered-down faith in America and in myself and God has been showing me how to bring my love for Him and His church alongside of that dissatisfaction in a healthy way. I just want so badly for those who say they follow Jesus to experience the true moving of God's Spirit and a faith that is represented by a great love that motivates a powerful life instead of getting it backwards and having people do what they are supposed to do without really understanding that a love of God should be the stimulant. Love of God and not just behaving.
Love, Michael
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