Practicing Rightness Instead of Sinfulness:

As we read the first few verses of 1^st John 3 we see how John  stands in amazement of God’s love for us.  He tells us that “he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!”(vs1)  Think about this for just a moment God loves us so much that when we come to accept Christ as being the Son of God, and allow God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts we then become His children.  We are no longer apart of this earth; we have been accepted into the Kingdom Of Heaven.  This means a lot, we may not think so at first but as John continues He tells us, “we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.  And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.(vs 2-3)

John tells that part of  being God’s children means that one day we are going to get new bodies.  Not just any new body but one like Christ’s which does not know sin.  Paul explains to the Philippines like this, “He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere.”(3:21) Until that time comes we are to begin to act like children of God we are to come to know who God is.  This means that we must become pure as Christ was pure.  We must start living a life that reflects the righteousness of Christ.  As John continues he tells us, we must live a life without sin.  “Those who sin are opposed to the law of God, for all sin opposes the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, for there is no sin in him.  So if we continue to live in him, we won’t sin either. But those who keep on sinning have never known him or understood who he is.”(1^st John 3:4-6)

What does one’s life look like then that follows Christ one may ask.  It may in many ways on the outside look like normal everyday life in a lot ways.  One goes to work, watches the news, maybe sports, and movies.  But for those who are around such person should pick up on the differences, one who follows Christ is one who doesn’t partake in the sins of the world, the don’t gossip, they don’t use profane language.  In these bodies of ours we understand that sin cannot fully be defeated, but the one who knows God, is not going around continually sinning.  They are working on loving God more and more each day.  They are not hateful towards people that most others are.  How is all of this possible? How can one live a life of righteousness?  Peter tells us, “As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature.  So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. ⁷ Godliness leads to love for other Christians,^* and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.  The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin.”(2 Peter 1:3-9)  As we grow in Christ the more we are grow into His image the more we are going to begin to think about the Kingdom, about the lives of the people around us. “Those who have been born into God’s family do not sin, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they have been born of God.”(1^st John 3:9)

Let Us Be Careful Of Who We Listen To: 1st John 2:18-29

The thing about reading the letter that John wrote almost two thousand years ago is that if you wanted to you could copy it and post it as an open letter to today’s church, and people would think that you wrote about today’s church.  After two thousand years it is just as relevant to today’s church as it was to the church back then.  As we begin reading chapter two verses 18-19 John is warning the church of false teachers and prophets who want to lead believers and others away from Christ.  These false teachers want to not only lead people away, they want to trick others into believing that they are saved, that they can call themselves Christians.  Here in the United States we can see those who have joined such Churches that no longer teach the true Gospel but instead preach a gospel that takes Christ and serving God completely out of their teaching and tell people that life should be all about them.  How do we spot such a church or teacher you ask?

If we continue  to ready, John tells us what to look for and how to spot a false teacher; “I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and falsehood. And who is the great liar? The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are antichrists, for they have denied the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either.”(1^st Jn 2:21-23)  John tells us that he is wanting to be able to when someone is not a true follower, not a true believer, he makes it clear that anyone that does not believe that Christ is the son of God is not a true follower.  Let us stop and think about this for just a second, if one says that they belong to the church of God, yet does not follow Christ they are not truly someone who believes in God.  How does this look, we must look at the life that Christ lived on earth what did He teach us?  He taught us that we must live our lives for God not for ourselves.  He not only taught us that we must be obedient to God and to His teachings. “So why do you call me ‘Lord,’ when you won’t obey me?  I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then obeys me.  It is like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built.  But anyone who listens and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will crumble into a heap of ruins.”(Luke 6:42-49)

Anyone teaching that all you need is love and that you need to make sure that you are doing what makes you happy, is telling you a lie.  We do need love in our life, but we must give our lives completely over to God we must start obeying  God’s word.  Our lives must become focused on God.  False teachers teach that our lives should be focused on ourselves, they often give great motivational speeches and never really teach about Christ.  We must begin to read the word God and pray to God and allow His Spirt to show us the His Truth.  “So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will continue to live in fellowship with the Son and with the Father.  And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us. I have written these things to you because you need to be aware of those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you all things, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So continue in what he has taught you, and continue to live in Christ And now, dear children, continue to live in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. Since we know that God is always right, we also know that all who do what is right are his children.” (1^st Jn 2:24-29)

Loving Christ Over The World:

When the question comes up, how does one define a successful life? One will receive different answers. For the world has different definitions of success, but the answer the world gives always seems to be missing something. The world may define it as, amassing a great deal of wealth, having a good looking family, being able to do what one wants with no strings attached, or having the best looking spouse over everyone else. These are all things that the world says we should try to achieve. Yet as we study 1st John we read something much different. “Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.”(1st John 2:15-17) We have talked about this before, things do not really change from the time that the bible was written to today, many things are still the same. Many people craved to have the things of this world, money, power, respect, possessions.

John writes to the Christians, don’t be fooled by what the world tells you put your love toward God, not the world. Stop worrying about what you don’t have on this earth because it is all going to fade away. Let’s stop and think about this for just a second, let us get real with the facts all of our stuff is someday going to get old and outdated, all the things the world says we need to be successful is not going to help us with living forever in the Kingdom Of God. For we must stop seeking the world and begin to seek God. James tell us this. “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can’t be a friend of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful? He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites. Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.”(James 4:4-10)

The time has come for us to decide are we going to truly follow God, and please God by loving Him and not the world? Are we ready to give up the dream of being successful in the eyes of men? Let us redefine what being successful is and not allow the world to tell us. Let’s go out and Love God with all of our hearts, and minds, and souls. Let us go and be examples of Christ to our neighbors and family showing them what love really is all about. Let us give up the things of this world so that we may live forever in everlasting Kingdom of God.   

Living In the Light 1st John 1-2:6

As we begin to read 1^st John we see John quickly letting us know about the Holy Trinity, John reminds us that Christ is God in the flesh.  “The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life.”(1^st Jn1:1)  This is important for us to understand, because just as there are false teachers today, there were also some then; John is reminding the reader that  it is through the Holy trinity that we can come and have fellowship in Christ.  “that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”(1^st Jn1:3)  What does it mean to have true fellowship with Christ, how does this work?  It comes when we first see the light and realize that we are sinners, that only through Christ and the inner working of the Holy Sprite can we come into a relationship with God.  You see, in order to have fellowship with Christ we must have a relationship with Him.

“This is the message he has given us to announce to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.  So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth.  But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.(1^st Jn1:5-7)  In order for us to truly follow Christ we must start to live in the light and be as Christ.  Many people are living a lie saying that they are followers of Christ, yet they are still living in darkness, living in sin and do not even realize that in order to follow, one must stop living in sin.  To have fellowship with God means that we are to fellow God; to become like God, hence the phrase Christ follower.  “Somehow many have come to believe that a person can be a “Christian” without being like Christ. A “follower” who doesn’t follow. How does that make sense? Many people in the church have decided to take on the name of Christ and nothing else.”(Francis Chan; Multiply)  You see it is by living in the light that we start the process of living a life without sin.  It is through Christ that we are forgiven, the Holy Trinity works together so that we are able to come closer to God.

John is telling us that we know that we belong to God, he wants us to realize that Salivation is found through obedience to God.  “How can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. If someone says, “I belong to God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. But those who obey God’s word really do love Him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him.  Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.”(1^st Jn2:1-6)  Even back then people were trying to fool people by saying, let me tell you that you can do whatever you want and not do what God tells you and you are going to make to heaven.  We must begin to truly live in the light of God’s salvation to come and have true fellowship with God.  By reading and studying His Word, by confusing our sins to Him so that they may be forgiven and allowing the Holy Sprite to guide and direct us in how we live our lives. 

In Need Of Wisdom? Just Ask In Faith, Sounds So Simple

As I was reading the next part of James for this week’s talk I thought James make this sound so simple, as we read James 1:5-8 it sounds simple yet it is not.  “If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.”(James 1:5-8)  It says ask God for Wisdom and He will give it to you, ask Him what He wants you to do, and He will let you know.  But then comes the second part, have faith that He is going to answer.  That is the hard part, having faith that God is going to let us know.

As adults we have lived and experienced much more then children, I have six nieces and a nephew.  I have spent a lot of time with them and there are times that they are about to do something that is going to harm them or someone else.  When this happens one of the adults around quickly lets them know that is not a good thing to be doing, they almost always ask why?  Why because we know that is going to cause harm, how? Because it is you are just going to have to trust me.  See as followers of Christ we ask God for Wisdom or what direction He wants to go, and we have to realize that God knows more than we do, that His answer is always going to be correct and we are told to have Faith and follow.  I believe the problem also comes with a misunderstanding of what wisdom is or how we receive it.  Most wisdom is received by experiences, being wise and being intelligent are two different things.  When we ask God for wisdom, He is most likely going to give us wisdom through allowing us to go through different experiences. Some of the experiences are not always going to be easy that is where true wisdom comes from; from times of difficulties or times or being disciplined.  The writer of Proverbs says; “To discipline and reprimand a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.”(Pr 29:15)

We must come to the understanding that God is in control of all things, “And we know that God causes everything to work together^* for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”(Romans 8:28)  Knowing that God is control, and that He desires for us to know Him better, and to grow His wisdom is a great thing.  We are able to put our faith and trust in God with knowledge that there is no reason for us to waver in our faith when we remember who God is.  When James says, “but when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.” (Jm 1:7-8)    He is saying, do not be double minded, do not ask God for something yet fall back into the things of the world, expect God to do mighty things for His Kingdom in your life, not to do mighty for us or our kingdom.  We are to live for God obediently and with reverent fear.  “Reverence for the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. The rewards of wisdom come to all who obey him.”(Ps 111:10)  “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding”(Pr 9:10)

Growing in Christ Isn’t Always Easy

As we walk through life, things are not always going to be easy, there are going be problems, temptations, and trails.  The question is how do we handle ourselves during these times? Are we going to complain about what’s going wrong, are we going to put on a strong face in front others yet inside we are falling apart and complaining?   Or maybe we can lift our head toward heaven and thank God for these times and realize how much love He has shown us.  Not to many years ago I was going through a rough spot, it seemed everything that could go wrong went wrong.  I wish I could say that I handled it  with grace and thanked God for it every day, in fact I wish I could say that I lifted my head towards heaven and not praised God but asked Him for Wisdom.  But instead I went around complained about it to Autumn and to anyone in the family who would listen, stuck my foot in my mouth more often than not, and just made those around miserable.  I wish that at some point during this time I had taken a closer look at James tells here in his letter; “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.  For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.  If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.”(James 1:2-7)

If only I knew then what I know now, I would have handled that spot in my life so differently.  I realize that we all go through different trails, maybe your trail is a temptation in your life that keeps creeping back to haunt you, maybe you’re new to the faith and feel that God is telling you, get rid of a sin that you really want to hold on to.  May you are having financial trouble; maybe you don’t like your job but feel trapped in it with no way out.  But this is what I do know, we serve a God who does know and He knows the answers and has the strength to guide and direct us into a new stage of walk with Him.  When these times come to us we need to go to God and seek out His wisdom and His strength.  James tells us as we grow in God we are not to expect  things to be great, but to realize things are going to get tough.  When we realize that change is needed in our lives it is never easy, when times get tough it easy to throw up our hands and say forget it I don’t care anymore.  Yet both James and Peter tell us the same thing that it is during these times of trails our faith will grow in God.  “These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”(1^st Peter 1:7)

I remember one day putting on my pants and thinking these seem a bit tight then looking at the size on them and thinking when did I get this big.  It was that day I decided it was time to lose the weight.  I started to run and do pushups and all the things one does to lose weight.  I found out a couple things, one the first week was easy after that it got harder, I was sore I wanted to eat more ice-cream then I needed to be eating.  People would start to give me a hard time about having a salad every day for lunch and try to get to get food from what fast food place they were going to.  But I also found out that it got easier the soreness went away and the results were worth the hard work.  This is true in life, the things that are worth having are generally coming with a great deal of sacrifice and trails but once we have received it no one can take from us. 

Living For God Part Four:

As I sat down and read 1^st Peter I looked at this verse in chapter four verse 5, “Of course, your former friends are very surprised when you no longer join them in the wicked things they do, and they say evil things about you.”  I wondered for a minute is this true of me, have I been growing in God’s love and have I been changing some of my views on things.  At a wedding I recently attended, I saw an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long, I have kept up with her ministry through Facebook.  I told her how exciting it was to see God working through her.  What she told surprised and amazed me.  She said, “I don’t watch football anymore and have no desire to do so either.”  A little surprised at her answer knowing that she was one of the biggest football fans I have known and wondering what this had to do with her ministry I continued to listen to her as she continued.  “Over a year ago I asked God to remove anything in my life that hindered my ministry and my relationship with Him, since then I no longer had any interest in football.”   Watching football is not a sin nor was she implying that it was but it had become one. She had realized it had become a bigger influence over her life then God.  Talk about a change in someone going from being a die-hard football fan to not even knowing who played in the Super Bowl!

When we come to Christ and we want to have salvation we are to realize that we are to walk away changed forever.   We should be changed to the point, that our friends will no long understand the decisions that we make, that we are to no longer desiring the things of this world but desiring the things of heaven.  Just before chapter 4:4 we read these words “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you are willing to suffer for Christ, you have decided to stop sinning.  And you won’t spend the rest of your life chasing after evil desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.”(1^st Peter 4:1-3)  Paul is telling this group and us that when we give our lives over to Christ we are no longer salves to this world.  We are to no longer be salves to our own sinful desires, we must give them over to God and allow His Spirit take over and be changed forever by His love.  God changes us from the inside we may still look the same on the outside but our mind and soul have been changed forever.  We are to not stop growing in His love and power; we must go and share the very same love that God has shown us with others.

Peter Calls us to change, to come to a point where we are no longer controlled by our old selves, but controlled by the love of God. We must come to the point where we are willing to give everything to God for His Glory; “Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever.”  It is through God that we find salvation, is it really that much to ask Him, with a sincere heart, what must I give up in order to draw closer to you so others may find your salvation?  For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.  When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good.  But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ,H e will certainly save us from God’s judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of His Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by His life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.” (Romans 5:5-11)

Living For Christ and Not The World Part Three:

We live in a world that tells to push against those in charge and those that do evil towards us, that we must be looking out for number one.  We must make sure that we get our fair share plus a little more.   But as we come to end to 1^st Peter we see peter telling us something different, something that is completely different then what the world tells.  Peter says things like show love to those who wrong you, let the world see Christ through you.  Be ready to give your testimony at a drop of the hat and do so with love and respect.  Let us be honest with each other, it is not easy for the person who has just been belittled and made fun of  to walk away and say I truly do like those people.  The world tells the spouse who has been belittled, abused, cheated on go ahead you are justified in leaving them.  It is normal to mock people who mock us.  But Peter is telling a group of people who are losing everything for Christ stand strong do not give in keep on obeying God and loving people. 

“Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do.”(1^st Peter 3:8-9)  Peter is telling the people  that they need to be of one mind, what is this one mind?  It is loving one another, not just saying it but truly loving each other.  When one hurts, they all hurt, they are not to just take prayer requests from one another and go home and promptly forget them.  No they must take them to heart.  This goes for us as well, we need to begin to really listen to one another, hurt when one hurts, have joy when one has a joyful occasion.  We should not just show up on Sunday out of habit but we need to show up because this is where people really care about us and our families.  We need to share love with each other.

Church should be a place where we come and feel comfortable and make others feel comfortable in the love that God has shared with us.  When asked about what the most important commandant was, Christ responded; “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:37-40) We keep coming back to loving God because if we want to live as a Christian we must first love God.  Once we decide to love God then we can make Him the King of or lives.  Then we can allow His love to begin to guide and direct us in how we treat people and our spouses, we then begin to see how much people need God and instead of being mad at people we will begin to feel bad for them and desire that they too will come to know and serve God.  

I’m Ok I Don’t Need Help At Least I Don’t Think I Need Help:

              How many times in life do we start a project thinking I have this under control I don’t need any help?  We think we know what we are doing and then realize,  man how did this get to be such a mess?  A few years back I started a plumbing project one with I thought would take me about half a day to do, after the first full day of working on it by myself, I called my dad to see if he could come over and take a look at it the next morning to see if he could help me out and tell me what might need to be done.   He came over and we fixed it, but I would have never finished it up without his help.  Psalm 127:1-2 tells us this; “unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.”  How many times in life do we decide to do something and never consult with God or even ask for His Help?  Many times in life we begin to go forward with projects and half way through realize that we should have consulted with someone.  It would have made the process much easier.

          The Psalmist is saying to us here that we must begin to live our lives by consulting with God, we want our marriage to grow, we must first go and talk to God and truly give Him our marriage, we want to see our children grow and become strong in God’s word we must truly repent and give our own lives to God.  We want to live for God we must be honest with ourselves and with God, we have to start letting Him have control of our lives.  We do not like that idea, we like to think we can conquer life and escape the consequences’ of our sin on our own but that is not true at all.  For Christ tells this in John 15:5.  “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”  Did you notice the last part where Christ says without Him we can do nothing?   What does that mean, that means we are not able to grow stronger in God’s holiness without Christ.  That we are not saved from our sins just because we believe in Christ.  We have to get real with God and truly repent of our sins and leave that part of our live in the past.  We must begin to live our lives in a way that pleases God.

If we truly want to see God working in our lives then we are to become as Christ, we are to no longer live for ourselves but live for God.  We must allow God to do the building in our lives, we must begin to listen to the Holy Sprite and allow the Holy Sprite to guide and direct us.  We must be watchful of the evil desires that may come our way and not fall back into our old sinful ways.  Paul told the Philippines; “dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.” (Phil 2:12-13)   We must allow the desire of being obedient to God take control of us and live for Him.  That means; when are relaxing, at work, doing house work we are being sure that we are being careful to honor God in it.  Many times we believe that we must fix our lives before we can come to God, the reality is without God we cannot fix it, we are going to make a bigger mess of it.

Living For Christ and Not The World Part One:

We have this desire in us to do what we want to do, we as people do not enjoy being told what to do.  I think that is hard for us to give up, but as we grow up and mature we begin to realize that we have to start doing things we don’t want to do.  In order to have a successful marriage one makes sacrifices for their spouse, in order to get a promotion at work one does things they don’t want to do and takes order from those above them.  Here in 1^st Peter chapter 2 Peter tells us that we must obey God, that we must crave His word, and grow in Him.  “So get rid of all malicious behavior and deceit. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with hypocrisy and jealousy and backstabbing.  You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”(1^st Peter 2:1-3)

Peter is telling us some pretty hard truths, He is saying if you want to be a true follower then you will get rid of the sin in your life, you will desire to follow and obey God.  You are to no longer pretend to be a follower but you will follow.  You are not going to follow to make yourself look good but because you love God.  If we want God to work in our lives we must first come to desire Him, we must allow Him to work in our lives, we must look deep into His word and see what we must change in order to grow.  It’s not enough to just be good, or to try to be good we must give up our lives to God, to allow Him to work in our lives to guide and change us.  We must stop living for us and start living for God.  Many people have trouble with this because they have become accustomed to living a life of sin. They think that God is asking them to stop having fun, to give up money or a job.  We have trouble with this idea of living for God because the world around is saying live for yourself, do what is that makes you happy, when we need to doing what makes God happy.

“It takes a lot for us to comprehend God’s total hatred for sin. We make excuses like, “Yes, I am prideful at times, but everyone struggles with pride.” However, God says in Proverbs 8:13, “I hate pride and arrogance.” You and I are not allowed to tell Him how much He can hate it. He can hate and punish it as severely as His justice demands. God never excuses sin. And He is always consistent with that ethic. Whenever we start to question whether God really hates sin, we have only to think of the cross, where His Son was tortured, mocked, and beaten because of sin. Our sin. No question about it: God hates and must punish sin. And He is totally just and fair in doing so.”

Chan, Francis (2010-01-01). Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (p. 32). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

Living For Christ and Not the World Part Two:

It is a strange thing that happens as we grow older we begin to move away from the things that we did as a child.  We no longer play games such as hide and seek with our friends, we don’t spend our time playing video games, or laser tag.  We have put those things behind and instead have placed other things ahead of them  we consider these to more important.  We have decided that we must do things differently.  In 1^st Peter 2:1-3, Peter explains that as we come to Christ we must also get rid of things in our lives; “So get rid of all malicious behavior and deceit. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with hypocrisy and jealousy and backstabbing.  You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness”  We must get rid of these sins in order to grow in Christ.  We must begin to realign our lives to be focused on God and not on the things that we may want.  We do not give these things up so that we may receive some great earthly award, we do this because as we grow in Christ we desire more and more of His grace.

Peter gives us instruction on how we build  a new  life in Christ in verses 4-5; “Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him.  And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.”  Peter is telling us that we must make Christ  our cornerstone, that means that we begin line up our lives with Christ.  You have to have this understanding of how buildings were built back when Peter wrote this letter, you see the first stone to be set was the cornerstone.  It was the cornerstone that they lined everything up with.  Our lives as Christians are to no longer line up with what we want our what others say but, it is to line up with the word of God, we must begin to look to Christ and study how Christ lived so that we can align our lives with His.

At some point we are going to be doing things so different than the rest of those around us. In fact we should at some point in our relationship with God come to the point where we are no longer truly thinking like the rest of the world.  Peter says it like this, “Dear brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls.  Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world.”(1^st Pt 2:11-12)  We should come to a point in our lives where we have trouble understanding why people do the things they do.  Oswald Chambers said, "We are held responsible by God for the way we deal with the great mass of things that come into our lives. We all have susceptibilities in every direction; everyone is made in the same way as everyone else; consequently it is not true to say we cannot understand why some people like to devote themselves to pleasure, to races and dancing, etc. If we do not understand it, it is because part of our nature has become atrophied. Whatever one human being can do, either in the way of good or bad, any human being can do."(Oswald Chambers)

How Does God’s Salvation, Mercy, And The Blood Of Christ All Work Together?

Have you ever thought about Salvation, I mean have you really thought about it?  It seems simple, we say prayer we walk away and we’re saved.  What if I told you that was too simple, it doesn’t happen like that.  We have come to the point in many churches that we say someone is saved by simply saying the sinners prayer.  What if I were to tell you that the sinner’s prayer is not even found in the bible.  Do not misunderstand what I am saying, I am not saying that we should stop saying the sinner’s prayer,  and I am not putting down the church.  I am however saying that we have to come to the point of understanding how and where our salvation comes from.  Peter lays it out for us in the 1^st Peter 1:2 “God the Father chose you long ago, and the Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Jesus Christ and are cleansed by his blood.”  This is the short version if you read versus 3-4, “All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay”

Let’s take a look at the first step Peter says God the Father chose us (you), this means that we have all been chosen for salvation, it is ours as long as we choose to accept it.  How is this possible why has God chosen to save us from our sinful nature?  Peter says it is “by His boundless mercy that we have the privilege to be born again.”  It is nothing that we have done but it is because God has chosen to have mercy on us.  Due to God’s mercy we can choose to live for God and be forgiven of our sins.  Then we have the Holy Sprite who works in us by making us holy, it is through working of God’s Holy sprite that guides us and directs and helps us to become holy and strong in God.  We become one with God, how is this possible?  It is through the blood of Christ that we are able to come to God to receive the forgiveness and have the Holy Sprite come and live in our bodies guiding directing helping us to obey God.

It is easy for us to think it is all us that we are the reason we are saved, but the truth is that it has nothing to do with us.  It is all God, it is His mercy, the working of His Holy Sprite and the blood of Christ that we are saved.  Paul tells us this as well in Ephesians 2:1-9; “Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much,  that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!)  For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus.  And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.  God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”   

Easter and Faith

It is so simple that it is easy to miss, after all, people are busy Easter weekend with hunting down eggs with the kids, eating chocolate bunnies.  That we almost forget about the empty tomb, that Christ defeated death and sin so that we could have a relationship with Him.  But Easter doesn’t amount to anything unless we put our faith in God.  If we come to God but, we do not really believe that Christ was His Son, or that He raised from the grave then this is really just all about nothing.  Paul wrote this to the Romans; “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.  He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. And because of Abraham’s faith, God declared him to be righteous. Now this wonderful truth—that God declared him to be righteous—wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” (Romans 4:20-5:2)

Let us for just minute think about what Paul is telling the Romans and us in this section of His letter.  He is saying that just believing in God or in a god isn’t really going to do much for you.  He is saying that we must put our faith in God, we must come to an understanding that God is not just real but that He is all powerful, that He is the great and mighty creator.  If He so desires He is able to not only raise the dead but He can raise a nation.  If we decide to only half believe or we believe the majority of what the bible says that does nothing for us.  We have to put all of our faith in God.  What does our faith in God do for us?  Paul tells us this, “because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”  Our faith in Christ brings us to a place of privilege, but with this privilege comes a responsibility we are to share our faith with others we are to let others know about God’s great glory.

Think about the last great movie you saw or book you read, you didn’t keep it yourself did you?  No you told your friends, your coworkers about it.  You wanted them to experience it to.  You don’t keep your favorite dessert to yourself you are so sure that others are going to like you tell them about it.  You see when we put our faith in God we should want to share it with others, Easter is about the defeat of sin, darkness, about the light of the world conquering the darkness of the world.  If we truly believe in the empty tomb then we need to put our faith in God, and watch Him work in mighty ways.  In verses 20-22 in Chapter 4 Romans Paul tells us this; “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. And because of Abraham’s faith, God declared him to be righteous.^”

Seeking Out The Praise Of Man, Is It Worth It?

I wonder how many times have we laughed at a joke, talked bad about someone, did something that just makes us feel like we betrayed ourselves?  We did so others would like us and maybe later on praise us.  There’s just something about most of us that wants to be liked and even praised by others.  Yet if we begin to study the life of Christ we begin to see that He lived His life not to be praised by man but to please God.  In fact we may begin to understand why Christ spent His time pleasing God and not man as we begin to look at the events of  the week leading up to His crucifixion.  Let us take a quick look at Matthew 21:1-11 “As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. “Go into the village over there,” he said, “and you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately send them.” This was done to fulfill the prophecy, “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey— even on a donkey’s colt.’ ” The two disciples did as Jesus said.  They brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting, “Praise God^* for the Son of David! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.  And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Notice how the crowd loved Christ at this point in His life they give Him the welcome of a great  King.  Yet in just a few short days they would turn on Him and have Him crucified on a cross.  It was on the cross that Christ would bring honor to His Father.  Let us take a second and think about what this means, Christ could have taken this opportunity and soaked in the praise and milked it for all that it was worth.  He could have said look at all these fans of mine I will have them follow me and I will take over this empire. But this is not what He does why?  Because He knew that people are fickle, that one day they love you and the next they do not.  Ask anyone who holds a public office and they can tell you that as well.  You see we may find ourselves at some point of saying if I do this people are really going to like me, but if I don’t they won’t but God will be pleased with me.  This is the point where you have to realize that God being pleased with you is more important then what others think of you.  Because people will not always follow you and praise you.  But if we follow God and we put our faith in him He will give us true life and true joy.

Remember, “Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Eph 2:1-10

Are We Ready To Give Up?

I want us to think about your life for just a minute, are you living a life for God?  A life where you feel the presence of God guiding and directing you?  Or are you living a life that you may feel the presence of God once a month but you’re not really sure if that is the presence your feeling? Are you living the life that your friends tell you is great, it’s centered around getting the stuff that you want?  Is your life full of giving to others and sharing love with those around you?  You see the world we live in tells us that if we really want to live a life that is full and meaningful that we must go and find a high paying job, get a big house, a great car, and have lots of so called friends.  Yet if we look to the bible we begin to realize something, that it promotes giving up our lives in order to have true life.  If we want to live a life that is going to bring us true life then we must first give up our life on earth that is leading to death.  But what is great is that we serve a God who brings us true life.

We read about an experience the prophet Ezekiel had that he wrote about you can read about it in Ezekiel 37:1-14.  I am going to give a brief description of what happened.  God had carried Ezekiel to a valley full of bones and told Ezekiel speak these words to these bones.  “‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to breathe into you and make you live again! ⁶ I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”  So I spoke these words, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as they had been before. ⁸ Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Speak to the winds and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so that they may live again.’ ”  So I spoke as he commanded me, and the wind entered the bodies, and they began to breathe. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army of them.”

Everything that God was showing Ezekiel, was to let Him know that there is a rebirth of the spirit, you see what was happening here is not about a physical resurrection but about a spiritual resurrection.  If we want to be living a life for God and have a really meaningful life here on earth we must first realize that we are dead inside.  That without giving or dying to our own wants and even needs then we are not really going to be living for God.  You see at this time in History Israel was no longer living for God they wanted to live for the world, they saw what the world had and it looked good to them, but instead of being good it brought death.  If you want that life where God is molding you using you and you feel His presence each day you must first give up your life and give it to God.

Let Us Stop Judging Others and Start Living!

I know that at some point in your life you have looked at someone and uttered these words, “if I were them I would have…” You can fill in the blank.  We like to walk around and look at people that we have deemed worse than us, and judge them.  It makes us feel good about ourselves, we like to think that our sin is not as bad as their sin.  What does it get us, to go around make others feel like they are not as good as we are.  It truly gets us nowhere.  In fact Christ talks about this in Matthew he said; “Stop judging others, and you will not be judged.  For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged.  And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye^* when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”(Matthew 7:1-5)

Christ is telling us that we are not to go around and look down at them only to make ourselves feel better about whom we are.  We must take a look at ourselves and realize that we too are sinners, we are no better than anyone else.  We are to realize that even if we have been serving God for years at one point in our lives we too were full of sin.  We must learn to respect each person, to love them as Christ loves them.  When we see a fellow Christian struggling we are to help them, we are not to judge them or look at them and think we are better than them.  Christ is not telling us to ignore sin in others, He is telling us to have compassion and love for them.  We read a about an event in John chapter eight about how the leaders of the Jewish church wanted to trap Christ so they found a woman who was committing adultery and brought her Christ and asked what should we do with her? This how He responded, “All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.  When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.  Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”  “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”(John 8:7-11)

Notice how He never condemns or belittles her, He shows her love, then at the end He tells “go and sin no more.’  He shows her much more respect than those who felt they were better than her.  He respected her and wanted her to know that she was loved.  If we want to see lives changed and people coming to know the love of God we must stop feeling that we are better than they are, all sin is equal in the eyes of God.  It all separates us from God’s love, we must learn to be humble to treat people with love.  To understand that they may not accept our love or God’s love but we are to never look down on them and feel that we are better.  If we truly want to live life we must accept the love of God and realize that we are to live sharing the love of God, not trying to point out that we are better.   

What Should We Our Expectations Be?

I have friends who when they were single and dating thought that once they got married that everything would get better.  That they were going to have more money because they have two incomes, that things were just suddenly be better because they are now married.  Now for those of us who are married know that life doesn’t get easier once your married, but it brings on different problems.  Such as  you really do not have more money, but you have more bills.  Yet many people put all kinds of strange expectations on God, they believe that God is going to suddenly make life better.  In fact many people seem to think that if God doesn’t do what they want, then He must not exist.  Some believe that God is going make there bank account grow and do all kinds of neat things in their lives.  I do not know for sure where many of these expectations come from, but we need to stop expecting these things.

Let us take a second and look at the people who walked with Christ and talked with Christ personal.  These men did not go and pray for wealth, they did not pray for good health.  In fact, it is amazing what they did pray for, after being sent to prison and going through a trial for healing a cripple this is what their prayer was. “That is what has happened here in this city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. In fact, everything they did occurred according to your eternal will and plan. And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give your servants great boldness in their preaching.  Send your healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  After this prayer, the building where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they preached God’s message with boldness.”(Acts 4:27-31)  Did you notice that what they are praying not for comfort or why did you let us go to prison?  They asked for courage to go forward in the ministry God had placed before them.

I want you to think about this for a second, what would happen if our focus shifted from what can I get from God.  What if we shifted our thinking and prayers to what can God do through me for the ministry He has placed before me.  What if we stopped expecting God to take care of us in the way the world thinks God should take care us?  What if we  started asking God to show us what He desires us to do for His kingdom, and then ask Him to give us the courage to go do what it is that God wants us to do.  I can tell you this is what we need to be doing, we need to ask God to give us the courage to move forward in our relationship with Him, to not hide behind our fears and to allow us to be example to the world of His love.  We need to be letting people know that we are no longer going to live for us but we are to live for God.  

How Should We Approach Lent?

It is that time of year where we as Christians come together and prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.  Many Christians look at this season as time to give up something to in return grow closer to God. It is a time for fasting and reflecting on the sacrifice of Christ’s body on the cross.  I have come to wonder in the last few years if Lent has become more about bragging about what one gives ups, or a diet  plan for seasoned believers?  I truly have no issue with people who participate in lent and believe that it is a good thing to do.  But I also believe that maybe we forgotten about how to go about it, the reality is lent is not in the bible.  No where do we find instructions on lent or that we are to do lent.   Yet it has found itself on the church calendar.  It is my understanding that it started early in church history but it appears that no one seems to know when or how. 

As I said before I find that Lent can be and should be a helpful part in our walk with Christ, now since it is a season of fasting let us take a look at what Christ tells about fasting.  In Matthew 6:16-18 Christ says this’ “when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I assure you, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will suspect you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in secret. And your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.”  What lessons can we take from what Christ told the people about fasting?  First is that we should not be going around telling everyone that we fasting or what we have given up.  Lent season is not a contest to see who can give up the most.  This was a common practice among the religious types when Christ walked the earth they would walk around and let people know that they were fasting.  There are still some people out there who do the same thing, they want to receive praise and glory from people.  Make sure that you are not bragging to others about what you are doing. 

Make sure that whatever you give up is going to bring you closer to God.  Don’t say I’m giving up sugar since I need to lose a few pounds anyway.  If you decide to give sugar then do because you want to be reminded of the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross.  Each time you want to want to grab a cookie and you don’t eat one, remember the sacrifice and thank God for His love.  When you are having that headache from sugar or caffeine withdrawal and you will have it, remember the cross and the beatings Christ took for your sins and praise God for your salvation.  Maybe you have decided to give up television, then make sure that the time you would have spent watching T.V. is spent studying God’s word and praying.  Remember fasting is about growing closer to God.  It is not about bringing glory to us but it is about bringing glory to God.  If you decide to Fast this Lent make out a plan, let those close to know about it, not to brag but so they may help you do it.  If you decided to give up candy or caffeine, don’t make a big deal about it to everyone.  Let us make this Lenten season about God. 

Loving God and Obeying God Go Hand and Hand:

Recently where I work we were given these ugly shirts and told we had to wear them.   I mean these shirts were ugly no one wanted to obey the rule that we had to wear them.  But isn’t this really how we feel about most rules or being told what we must do, for some reason it doesn’t always set well with us.  I don’t know if it’s because as people we just don’t like being bossed around or what it is about being given rules that we don’t like about it.  Yet we live by rules all the time and don’t even realize it.  Let us take those that are married, within your marriage I can guarantee that you have all kinds of rules and don’t even realize it.  When you were first married you made all kinds of changes and never complained.  Within the first couple of months of being married I got in trouble.   I went golfing after work, knowing that Autumn got off work after I did I didn’t call to tell her that I went.  She got home before I finished my game and she called me frantic and worried, she thought I had been in accident on my way home from work.  Since then if I’m going to do something after work I let her know.  I don’t care about this, it doesn’t bother me that I have to check in with my wife.  Why is that?  Because I love her so it comes easy.

We read in 1^st John 5:1-5 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.  We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.  Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult.  For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory.  And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”  I underlined the part about Loving God, and keeping His commandments, because I hear so many people say I believe you can live however you want as long as you love God.  But here we see it says if you love God you are not only going to follow His commandants but it says it’s not that hard.  Let us just real quickly review the first two commandants because once we see them I think it could change how you think about a lot things in life.  Here is what Christ tells us about the first two commandants; ““The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. ³⁰ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’^* ³¹ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”(Mark  12:27)

Take note that how Christ tells us the most important ones are love God with all you heart mind and soul, and also love you neighbor.  It sounds like God is telling us that the commandants are important also sounds like He telling us that love is really life changing.  Maybe you are not really ready to start tackling the second commandant yet, so lets us take the first step and say I really do want to love God I don’t want a fake relationship with Him but a real one.  Start by praying to Him.  It’s simple, start with this one.  “God I know you are God, you created all things.  The powers of this world must one day answer to You.  I desire to come and have a loving relationship with you.  Help me, teach me, show me how to do that.  Thank you so much for loving me God, I don’t deserve but your grace is great and you love is amazing.  Amen”