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Monday, June 29, 2015

Monday's Message: New Life




New Life: 
Our redemption has been purchased by the blood of Christ!  All who place their faith in Christ alone for salvation will by His grace receive the absolutely free gift of eternal life.  What we as believers must realize is, when we choose Christ’s salvation and claim the home in Heaven that He provides for us, we are also choosing to invite the Holy Spirit of God into our bodies.  We literally become the temple of the living God.  This is not as spooky as it may sound, but rather another part of the incredible gift that God has provided.  We now have God’s presence, protection, and provision eternally.  Because we have made this choice, to accept His Spirit and His salvation, we have also made the choice to accept the Scriptures.  We cannot believe the parts of the Bible that are convenient for us, and then ignore the portions that require us to make changes.  I am not implying that we could ever lose the eternal gift of salvation, but I am telling you that the sweet, rewarding relationship that you could have with your Saviour will not be available to you if you will not submit to Him and His Word.  As redeemed children of God we must all make a choice: will we serve sin, self, and Satan, or will we serve our Saviour and His Scripture?  Yes!  The choice is that definite.  Believer, whom will you serve?

I Corinthians 7:18-24:
18  Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.
19  Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
20  Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
21  Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. 
22  For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
23  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
24  Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
 

Friday, June 26, 2015

Family Friday: Father/Daughter Relationships



Written by: Dr. Robert Hooker


Having six daughters I thought it might be worthwhile to talk a little about Father/Daughter relationships.
To begin I would like to simply make some statements that from my experience are vital to understand in having a right relationship with a daughter.

1. You are your daughters first love and how she sees you is how she sees God.
2. Wives are the bridge-builders between dad and daughter- they hold the power to connect or separate the relationship.
3. In her developmental stage of life, you are the most important man in her life.
4. You have greater influence in your daughter's life than you think.
5. It is never too late to strengthen her relationship with you.
6    6. You, more than anyone else, set the course for a daughters life.
7. You must work to make, create and keep a close  relationship- it cannot be forced but earned through wisdom, love and consistency.
8. Your daughter needs a hero in her life- dad you should be that hero from the time she is old enough to understand to the day she walks down the aisle.
--A hero protects, a hero perseveres, a hero stands by his beliefs, a hero keeps his word, a hero is a man of integrity and honesty, a hero loves sacrificially, a hero believes there is an absolute of right and wrong and that right and wrong are defined in the Word of God.
9. A father must by his life and walk with God, lead and direct his daughter to a personal relationship with God.

In Malachi 4:5-6 the Bible says “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,and the heart of the children to their fathers,lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” 
This same thought is repeated in Luke 1:15-17 speaking of John the Baptist. "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
John the Baptist would be separated unto God for a great purpose and through the fulfillment of that purpose many of the children of Israel were turned to the Lord their God, but also he through his life, preaching, teaching and stand he would turn the heart of the fathers to the children.  
Fathers, God must have our hearts and our children must have our hearts if we are to see them turned from disobedience to the wisdom of the just. We as fathers must be prepared to meet the Lord if we are to lead our children to meet the Lord. 
As I began, daughters first see God through their daddy but then again so do little boys.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Thoughtful Thursday: Forgiveness




Luke 17:3-4Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”

Forgiveness…that is one of those “easier said than done” things.   It really is so very difficult to forgive someone that has wronged us.  It is not something that we are able to fully do in and of ourselves.  But because it is a Bible command as we read in Luke 17:3-4, we know that we most definitely have the ability to do it.  God would never command us to do something we are not capable of doing.

If you notice, Jesus doesn’t say to excuse their behavior, he says “rebuke him” and then he says “forgive him”.   We must do both.  Confronting one that has wronged us, without it being followed by forgiveness, only leads to bitterness.  Preventing bitterness by always granting forgiveness is how we prevent their behavior from hurting us any further. 

When you are standing in a difficult moment, when forgiveness is needing to be given, remember how easily your Heavenly Father forgave you. 



Wednesday, June 24, 2015

We Pray Wednesday: Praying for your Children



8 things that parents should pray for their children
               
 Psalms 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 
                With Father's Day just passed this Sunday, I thought about all the things that I love about being a father.  It is such a blessing to be the father of the three beautiful children that God has given to me and my wife.When my children were just babies, my wife and I took turns praying with them every night before they went to bed.  We began to pray for some specific things that God would do in their lives.

1.  SALVATION
                It is my hope that every Godly parent would pray this for their child until God answers the prayer.  This is the most important thing that can happen in a person's life.  It's a matter of eternal life and death.  After they have been saved, you can begin to thank God for answering the prayer.

2.  SPOUSE
                The second most important decision that a child makes in their life is whothey marry.  This means that we should pray that God brings the right person into their life at the right time for them to marry.  We should also pray that their spouse is saved and trusting God to bring along the right person for them to marry.

3.  WILL OF GOD FOR THEM
                We as parents should pray daily that our children would do God's will no matter what God wants them to do.  We should be careful not to direct them toward something that we think they would enjoy, or that would make them secure financially.  We should show them that God always has the best for them if they will believe and follow His leading.

4.  WISDOM
                The best way for a child to be wise is not by school or book knowledge, but by reading and receiving knowledge from THE BOOK every day.  The wisdom of God is far better than any piece of paper that they receive from a school.  This does not mean education is unimportant, but the wisdom of God is the most important.

5.  PURITY
                We should pray daily for the purity ofour children.  Purity is not just being pure of body, but also of mind and spirit.  This will not happen by accident.  We must be vigilant of what they are seeing, doing and listening to on a daily basis.

6.  PROTECTION
                We should daily pray that God will protect our children physically, spiritually, and emotionally.  In this world that we live in, we cannot know everything that may happen to them on a daily basis.  God, however, does know what is coming, and our daily prayers for them could mean the difference between a tragedy and a miracle.

7.  LOVE FOR GOD AND HIS WORD
                If we as parents will love God and His Word, our children will have a taste also.  We must also ask God to give them a desire for it so that they will love it, follow it, and obey it their entire life.

8.  HATE SIN AND BE CAUGHT WHEN THEY DO SIN
                This is hard to pray for because your child may get in more trouble than others.  This will, however, keep them from having a lot of the guilt and baggage later on in life.  If they also hate sin, they will see it as sin, stay away from it, and go in the right direction.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Teen Tuesday: Modesty




Modesty

 The word modesty doesn’t just mean covering what is supposed to be covered. It has more to do with an attitude toward how we dress, and what God thinks of what we wear. The Bible has a lot to say about covering our bodies.

Genesis 3:7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
The Lord was not happy with the clothes Adam and Eve made for themselves; leaves just didn’t cover enough, so He killed an animal to make clothes that covered more.

Genesis 3:21
TheLord God made coats of skins, and clothed them.
Wearing the right kind of clothes, doesn’t just speak of our modesty, but it reveals our dignity. What you wear says a lot about you. What are your clothes telling others?