Faith and Marriage.

Trust in God as you love one another. (Psalm 23, Proverbs 3, (Matthew 22:37) (Romans 14:7-8) (Isaiah 40:29-31)

Your choices now don’t just effect you but effect your mate as well.

Always think pure, lovely, admirable thoughts of your spouse. (Philippians 4) (Romans12:9-11)

Acknowledge and think of reasons why your spouse is worthy of your praise. (Philippians 4) (Proverbs 16:24) (Proverbs 18:4) (Proverbs 18:20)

Tell your spouse what you need from him/ her and thank them for the things they have done. (Philippians 4) (Galatians 6:2)

Remember you are not just committed to your spouse but accountable to God. (Matthew 12:35-37) (Romans 15:2-7) (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) (Colossians 3:5-10)

Remember you were never designed to carry worries and fears… so give them to God who will give you both peace. (Matthew 11:28-30) (John 14:27) (Colossians 3:2)

Forget the past and look forward to what the future holds. (Romans 12:12) (Ephesians 2:10) (Philippians 3:13-14) (Jeremiah 29:11-12)

Realize that sometimes only God understands your joys and your sorrows. (Proverbs 14:10) (Matthew 5:4) (Ephesians 1:8)

Realize as one you are stronger then if you stand alone.

Realize it’s sometimes best to compromise on some things then have all things one person’s way. (Proverbs 18:15) (Proverbs 17:19)

Realize allowances must be given for each other’s faults and failures. I haven’t met a perfect person yet. Forgive and be blessed. (Luke 6:37-38) (Romans 12:17-18) (James 5:9)

Love is what will bind you in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:14-15) (1 John 4:18)

Don’t think only about your own affairs but be interested in your mates too and what they are doing. (Galatians 6:3) (Philippians 2:4)

Don’t let pride, selfishness and making a good impression with others get in the way of your unity with your spouse. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. (Philippians 4) (Proverbs 16:18) (Matthew 5:16)

Marriage is only great with great sacrifice by both a husband and a wife. (Romans 12:1-2) (1 Corinthians 7:3-5)

A man must love his wife as he loves himself and Christ loves the church and the wife must respect her husband as the church must live in obedience to Christ. (Matthew 7:12) (John 15:12-17) (Romans 9:38-39) (1 Corinthians 11:3) (Ephesians 6:21-32) (1 Peter 3:1-7)

May you always have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and yes- even self-control. (Proverbs 16:32) (Galatians 5:22-23)

In times of disagreement you are still to act in love knowing that true love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance and trial. (1 Corinthians 13:7)

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable and it keeps no record or when it has been wronged. (Matthew 5:22-24) (Romans 13:10) (1 Corinthians 13:4-5)

Your marriage will endure through faith, hope and love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) (Ephesians 3:17-19)

The Moving of the Spirit

Most Christians would agree in this statement, "God does not fit into a box or a specific doctrine." God is beyond any man or woman’s understanding. God goes where he is welcomed and even at times not welcomed. God is who he says he is in the bible and who we are as his creation. God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. God is omnipresent.

If we believe this, why is there this human idea that the Holy Spirit is no longer at work amongst us. I can tell you the Holy Spirit is at work amongst us and has to be at work amongst us or else we are not risen from our old lives and will not be risen from the dead when we leave this place.

I know there are many faithful believers who were raised in the church who just believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and live according but I know there are many others, including myself, who didn’t just believe wholeheartedly in God’s Good News and Word.

I did not just say, "Well I think today is a good day to be saved so… Christ here is my life on a platter for you." No way was my untrusting and guarded feelings going to let God have his way in my life. I liked my miserable life…well at least I acted as if I did. I really didn’t try to do anything to change it. It was easy to be angry, frustrated, hurt, mad, depressed, opinionated, judgmental and focused on the "If I had only" and the "What ifs" of thought life. Thank God, even though I had many opinions and foolish ideas of him, he didn’t let that get in the way when I finally looked at the dark prison walls surrounding my life and looked up and said broken, "I can’t do this anymore God. Please help me." God’s reply wasn’t instant but he did answer. He answered through someone who was obedient to God’s Holy Spirit and prayed over me with one of her hands touching my back, in tongues and in interpretation of tongues. She spoke of things in my life I tried to hide and things I was burden with. Things she could have not known because she was a total stranger. She read my mail from God and God had one heck of a trash burning party inside of me. The door of God had opened after that. God was so thorough that I felt brand new. I had a new zeal that I had never known before- a zeal to read God’s Word and to live for Christ. I now could see and understand God’s Word where before it held little or no relevance in my life. People, whom I had wished for dead and had made me angry, I wrote letters to and called asking them for forgiveness. I am certain they questioned my sincerity and what exactly happened to me. I tried to tell friends what had happened to me and they seemed to withdraw as if I had joined a cult or gone crazy. It has been seven years since that experience and God’s Holy Spirit is still working in and on me. The Holy Spirit is still at work today bringing others like myself to God.

"And I will give them singleness in heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead so they will obey my laws and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God." Ezekiel 11:19-20

When I hear things such as the Holy Spirit is no longer moving and/or at work, I ask myself if these pour souls who speak such things actually understand what they are saying?

Since Jesus joined the right side of the Father, we are living in the last days are we not? Peter quotes Joel (Acts 2:16): ‘In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams."

Jesus says in John 3:6-7 "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."

If God has called us, then we are able to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John 7:37 "If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within." When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory."

Jesus says in John 14:15-26 "If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor [or Comforter, Encourager, or Advocate] who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans- I will come to you. In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them… But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative- and by my Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit- he will teach you everything I myself have told you."

Acts 19:2 "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" he asked them.
"No," they replied, "we don’t know what you mean. We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
"Then what baptism did you experience?" he (Paul) asked.
And they replied, "The baptism of John."
Paul said, "John’s baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later."
As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied."

The Holy Spirit is still moving and working just as he did in Pentecost.

You have given your life to Christ and want the Holy Spirit to come into your life? Ask for it! God wants to live inside of you and do wonders through you.... for His glory not our glory.

What Needs to Remain Central

This morning, I ask the Lord to help me with my story for young adults and those who are just a kid at heart and as I was writing part of illustration of why these children in the story couldn't see what was on the pages of 'the book' - that spoke of them, it became clear that they couldn't read the pages because they hadn't received the message (the key) that allowed them to read the pages.

In our world Jesus Christ is the key to open the pages of the bible and to life. Without Jesus the pages of the bible and to life are meaningless and even difficult to understand.

Jesus is the foundation of our faith. He is the one who pursued us when we were far away from him. He is the one who allowed our 'blindness' to fall from our eyes and transformed our hearts and minds so we could forgive and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the needs of others.

Christ needs to be central in every thought, action and deed in our Christian lives.

Jesus is our hope. Not some hope we imagine but know in our hearts because He has touched and is continuing to touch our lives.

Jesus is who we trust in every aspect of our lives.

Jesus is the REAL love, the REAL understanding, the REAL authority, the REAL servant heart, the REAL consoling spirit, the REAL miracle maker, is the REAL LIFE and EVERLASTING LIFE.

Jesus needs to be central. Without him we are just lost and running around circles.

The Authority in Christ Jesus

You have no real authority unless it is in Christ Jesus.

God’s word says, " I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people."

Paul then writes, " I pray that you will begin to under the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe in him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ who fills everything everywhere with his presence." Ephesians 1:18-23

To my current understanding, the authority in Christ has very little to do with our understanding or even concept of authority. Imagine a container that holds a cancer-fighting drug. It not only holds the drug but also the instructions on how to administer the drug. Does the container have the powerful agents to fight the cancer or does the drug inside the container? We as Christians are merely the container that holds authority but like the drug container that sits on a shelf and doesn’t get used -so are we when we don’t look to God in how to use that authority. The Holy Spirit is living in us but he can only work through you and I if we listen and do as he specifies.

(To be quite honest this can take some patience at times. It seems easier when you get instruction right away- it’s not so easy when you have to wait for an answer.)

"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." (Ephesians 2:10)

"For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe." (Colossians 2:9)

"How stupid can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you. You are only jars he makes! Should the thing that was created say to the one who made it, "He didn’t make us"? Does a jar ever say, " the Potter who made me is stupid"? (Isaiah 29:16)

Obviously we are to use this authority but how?

We have all heard of stories where the servant, who’s master is a great king, is given a position of great authority. This unlikely recipient is not a person who we would see as a person in great authority. They are often timid, sometimes not all that ambitious. They have doubts and concerns. They more or less like to stay out of the public limelight. They have don’t look like a strong candidate for a leadership role but underneath that ordinary exterior is a patient, kind, fair, faithful, hopeful and endure soul who God knows will endure even through the worst of circumstances.

A great king chooses his warriors, commanders, counselors, advisers, and leadership - not so much on a person’s special abilities but in how a person accomplishes their role in respectful honest and faith manner using their abilities. For authority is useless and an embarrassment if not done in great care and/or consideration.

Our authority as Christians (under Christ) is useless if not done in love and we can only have great authority if we submit to God who is the greatest of great kings. We submit to God’s will and we not just see the authority of Christ but experience it.

Remember this authority is patient, kind, not jealous, boastful, proud or rude. It does not demand it’s own way or it’s own way in his or her understanding but goes God’s way. It is not irritable and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is sadden by injustice but is joyful when the truth wins out. It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) This is as love.

Colossians 3:12-14 says: "Since God chose you to be holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony."

I hear the shutter, "Where is the authority in that again? It sounds more like a doormat."

Authority is rising above it all. It is having peace knowing you didn’t retaliate or get agitated when could have. You didn’t go back to your boxing corner for round 2 after you received one to one the gut. You stayed cool and collected not trusting in your understanding but God and God’s way to work all things out. You stood and stayed on the rock when a ripple of a wave came toward you and you stayed dry.

Romans 12:17 "Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, ‘I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it," says the Lord. Instead, do what the Scriptures say: ‘If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.’ Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good."

You are an acceptable living and holy sacrifice to God when you live this way.

Authority in Christ sounds very different to this world’s point of view of the understanding of authority doesn’t it? For some of us, we visualize authority as a harsh drill Sargent nose to nose and toe to toe yelling in someone's face like a rabid K9 and as if they, the person on the receiving end, were hard of hearing.

Our authority in encompassed by love, the leading of the Holy Spirit, trusting in Christ Jesus and standing up for what is true and right according to God’s word.

And the more we look to Christ in every aspect or our lives, the more maturity and peace we have with others and ourselves - even during times of conflict. (A picture of Yoda’s lightsaber absorbing the volts of Sith suddenly came to mind)

As my brother, Weaver put it, this betterment "is to wear out the earthly individual, for a more fruitful one which is Heavenly."

Once we see it’s all about Christ’s authority and not our authority, we can sink our teeth down into the true meaning of authority.

1. Christ submitted to his Father’s will.
2. Christ had all authority in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18) by submitting to his Father’s will.
3. Our authority is not based on ourselves but solely on the submission of Christ’s authority.
Matthew 10:1 "He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness."
4. Our authority is prompted by directives by the Holy Spirit. Directives by the Holy Spirit are given to present, instruct, correct, awaken, and encourage everyone to the power and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Directives happen anywhere! From our prayers to our conversations to our workplace to our chat rooms on the Internet to the grocery store.

When the Holy Spirit lives in you, you know when He is agitated, correcting, leading, mourning and at peace. Ask Him what He wants you to do... don't let yourself tell you what to do! (Wink)

Here is an example of authority by Paul.
2 Corinthians 10:1-18"Now I, Paul, plead with you. I plead with the gentleness and kindness that Christ himself would use, even though some of you say I am bold in my letters but timid in person. I hope it won’t be necessary, but when I come I may have to be very bold with those who think we act from purely human motives. We are human, but we don’t wage war with human plans or methods. We use God’s mighty weapons, not merely worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil’s strongholds. With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and teach them to obey Christ. And we will punish those who remained disobedient after the rest of you become loyal and obedient. The trouble with you is that you make your decisions on the basis of appearance. You must recognize that we belong to Christ just as much as those who proudly declare that they belong to Christ. I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the Lord. But this authority is to build you up, not to tear you down…"