What are you teaching your children, what are you teaching those around you? Are you teaching them to be leaders? How are you preparing them for the day they stand without you? 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 10You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. We have a responsibility to teach our children to walk worthy of the calling into His kingdom. This does not happen with words, this happens with relationship and our own commitment to Jesus Christ. Young people don’t delete this blog and say today’s message is not for me. Paul used fathers as an example but he is speaking to believers and charging them with influencing others. Paul is clear, we must influence others with action not words. Our testimony has impact when we live it our each and everyday. When those around us see Jesus working in us and through us for His good will, then we have impact and to do this we must be about our Father’s business. To do this we must do what Jesus did; pour ourselves into a group of people. Give them our all. Let them see Jesus in us daily. We will impact others when we develop a relationship with them and meet them where they are and present ourselves true to your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. IMPACT COMES FROM REAL COMMITMENT Mark 8:34-38 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? "Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Jesus taught His disciples before He departed to do three things. These things would help them turn the world upside down. I hope my actions help those around me (especially my children to do the same). In verse 34 He says, deny self. Contrary to what we believe we are not the most important thing in the universe, He is. In verse 36 He tells us to be more concerned about spiritual things than worldly things. In verse 38 He says, stand strong and stand Bold. Shout His name and glorify Him from the roof-tops, never ever, deny HIM. May we do these things today and love Jesus with all our hearts, love the others around us and teach them through our walk with Jesus to be leaders. RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Daddy
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“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14 I love it when things are just so simple. When they are outlined perfectly and all we have to do is follow simple steps. Okay, Okay, I know I am not telling it like it really is, I am a man. I don’t stop for directions and I don’t read the instructions before putting things together. The answer to your obvious question of, How is that working out for me, well generally speaking I ride around lost weaving in and of streets trying to find the right address, and yes I generally have a couple of bolts, one or two useless washers, and few other items left over after the assembly of my latest and greatest purchase. This certainly is not the best way to look for a new place nor is it the best way to assemble a new purchase. Think about it, the company spent several thousand dollars to develop and provide step-by-step instructions so the product can be built as designed. That is the key, built by design. You and I have been built by design. And Jesus spent His life making sure we had the correct instructions, perfectly arranged. God has given us the instructions and it is full of steps to follow. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God tells us how we can have our land healed. First, we must make sure we are His people. Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If so are you called by His name? That’s right when people call on you do they think of Jesus Christ. Or do the people around you not even know you are a Christian? 2 Chronicles 7:14 goes on to tell us we must humble ourselves and seek His face. Stop trying to do it all by yourself, realize that you can only face the difficulties in your life through Jesus Christ!!! Then comes the kicker, you must then turn from your wicked ways. Please notice the order of events. You see it is just like assembling a product, you can do the right steps but out of order and the result is you can’t finish the assembly because you had to do step 3 before step 4 or it wouldn’t work. Hello, this is the same with Jesus Christ. If you put the cart before the horse, it will not work. You see, you turn from your wicked ways after you humble yourself, pray to Him and seek His presence. Then God says, He will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land. When we wrestle with the sin and difficulties in our life without following the proper steps, we have our sin and difficulties to deal with. However, when we follow the instructions, 1) Be His child, 2) Humble ourselves 3) Seek His face 4) Turn from our wicked ways then we will be heard, forgiven and healed. He deals with our sin. Stop trying to deal with your sin out of order. Do steps 1,2,and 3 then watch God deal with your sin in a snap. If you are trying to deal with your sin before completing steps 1,2,3 it is like going to a mechanic when you are sick. It doesn’t make sense, go to the doctor. It is time to go to Jesus. Right now humble yourself, pray to Jesus, seek His face, allow Him to turn you from your wicked ways and be heard, forgiven and healed. RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Daddy I want you to think about what is your definition of worship. How do you define worship? We as children of God and servants of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ must understand what this word means. I want to introduce you to a powerful definition of worship. Worship can be defined as Jesus Christ being the center of your life. This is a powerful definition and can change the way we walk our walk with Jesus Christ. Think about it, there are so many things that we do but are we doing the things that places Jesus Christ at the center of our life? When we are listening and singing praise and worship music at church, at home, in the car etc., Jesus Christ can be at the center of our life. When we are helping a brother or sister in Christ through difficult times we can put Jesus Christ at the center of our life. When we are reading and studying our Bible, and we shut the cares of the world out, and focus on Jesus Christ and what He is teaching us, we are placing Him at the center of our life; thus we are worshipping Jesus. When we listen to the preacher preach the Word and truly listen we are putting Jesus Christ at the center of our life; thus, we are worshipping Jesus Christ. We must worship Jesus Christ by loving Him with our entire being. Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ God also tells us in His word that we are to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. You placing Jesus Christ at the center of your life is a spiritual thing that requires you to place Him first and abandon self. He says we have to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. We have to tap into Him spiritually and we cannot fool Him. We can’t truly worship when we a worried about the world. Worry is simply a symptom of us not putting Jesus Christ first, and not centering our lives on Him. He wants us to worship Him. He says so in His Word and He seeks us to worship Him. John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is seeking us to worship Him, but He wants us to worship Him the right way, or should I say the only way, with all our hearts, with the right heart attitude. Let us give Him everything and worship Him all day long, He wants that from us and we must give Him that if we want our relationship to be all it should be. RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Daddy 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. Can you remember where you were on 9-11-01? It was a day that we will remember forever. When we watch the videos of the attacks and the pictures, the above scripture comes to life. There were men and women running to the aid of those injured, trapped and dying. Greater love has no one than to lay down one's life for his friends. America stood united that day. America stood united for many months and even years to come after that tragic event. We have a history of doing just that, rallying around each other in a time of need. When tragedy hits we come running. Men and woman put their life in jeopardy to save those around them. Jesus says in scripture that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends. Following 911 many men and women served and loved this country by fighting a good fight and providing freedom for you and I. Take a moment today and pray for those individuals that serve and protect this country. Pray for our military, police, firefighters, sherif department, nurses and doctors and the many others that when most are running from the trouble they are running into the trouble. After you pray ask yourself who are you laying down your life for? Are you giving of yourself for the love of Jesus Christ? Do the souls of men and women mean anything to you? Are you running into the spiritual warfare or are you watching the tragedy develop and just running from the struggle. The eternity of men and women are at stake. What are you doing about it? Serve and protect! Love and cherish those around you and give everything. Surrender ALL not today...NOW! RAK CHAZAK, I Heard You With My Eyes! Do you live your life as if it is not yours but it belongs to Jesus Christ to be used and molded into what He wants for you? Do you live your life with the attitude of, 'all of Him, none of me?' Galatians 2:20 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Long before Paul was put to death, he said he was put to death. Paul says was been crucified with Christ and that it is no longer he that lives, but Christ lives in him. Have you ever wondered why the Bible does not record the deaths of these valiant men of God. Think about we depend on history books and writings to tell us, Paul was most likely beheaded, Peter crucified upside down, John boiled in hot oil yet survived. The Bible does not tell us much about these men regarding their death. Instead, we read and study much about their lives. We read much about what they did while they were alive. They lived for Jesus with a drive to spread the Gospel. Let us live today with a drive to spread the gospel not with our mouths but with our hands and feet. We have all heard the statement, “actions speak louder than words.” But I wonder if we really listen to these words. It is a true statement and one that should be a guide in our life. Our actions should be a reflection of who we are. How we say it, is as important as what we say. There exist “expected behaviors” because of who you are and what you do. For example there are certain things you should do because you are a father, and a husband, a wife and a mother, a son or a daughter. There are expected behaviors, because I am a child of God. As we walk on this earth, we influence, there is no way around this. The things I do will influence people far more than the things I say. I can stand on the rooftops and preach the need for self-control. When difficulty comes in my life all those who heard my words will then determine the truth in my words. My actions will speak what I really believe. Why do we do the things we do? Why do we participate in the things we participate? For the most part it is because we choose to? These choices you and I make on a daily basis speak volumes about what we believe. When our decisions are about what we want and not what Jesus Christ wants, then we will always struggle and we will always fall short. You see our relationship with Jesus Christ must drive our decisions. If it doesn’t, we have a problem. The problem is SELF! This life is not about what you and I want! It is about Jesus Christ and what He is doing. We must make sure that the things we do are centered on Him instead of what we do being centered on SELF. Whether we like it or not as a child of God our actions must be different from the world’s actions. You have a choice today, your actions can reflect the fact that you are a child of God and that you live for Jesus or they can reflect the fact that you live for yourself and you do what you want to do. Today, we will be heard more by the eyes of the people than by the ears of the people. The lives of the disciples are the best examples we can examine. They were not perfect yet what I see in the Bible is even when they stumbled it was in service to Christ. There actions centered around Jesus Christ and Him alone. He was the driving force in their lives, where to go, what to say, how to get there, where to stay and the list goes on and on. Ephesians 4:1 states, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” Paul encourages us hear to take the calling on our life serious and to walk in a worthy manner. What do you think he means when He says “worthy”? What do you think He means when He says “calling”? Today we can walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling of the Lord Jesus Christ or we can walk in a manner worthy of the calling of this world! In the end it won’t be about what you say it will be about what you do! RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Daddy As I was studying this morning I came across this from Mitchell and thought I would include in today's blog yesterday's message it just feels appropriate! may God bless you as you read and may the Good News of the Gospel come alive in your life. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, Philippians 1:27. What does a life worthy of the Gospel message look like? For us to answer this question we must first define what the Gospel is. What is the Gospel? The word gospel simply means “good news.” The central message of the Bible is the gospel, or good news, about the person and work of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul provides the best summary of the gospel: the man Jesus is also God, or Christ, and died on a cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins; three days later He rose to conquer sin and death and give the gift of salvation to all who believe in Him alone for eternal life. God gave up His Son for you and me. Jesus Christ came to this earth and lived a life poured out for other people. Jesus who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus says, ‘he came to seek and to save that which was lost,’ Luke 19:10. He said that, ‘I the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). This is the Gospel message so how can I live a life worthy of this news. I think the only way to live a life worthy of this good news is by living a life, which emulates this Gospel. 1 John 2:6 says “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked”. We must live a life poured out for other people. Not a life that is self-serving or self indulging, but a life that is a living sacrifice for Him (Romans 12:1). The closer I draw to the Lord the more I realize this life is not about me and my comforts, but about furthering His kingdom and living a life of gratitude in service to Him. I think when we really grab hold to this we won’t have to call ourselves Christians. It won’t be a name we ascribe to ourselves, but it will be a name that others ascribe to us. I want to live a life worthy of this Gospel and I hope and pray that you do as well. God Bless! Mitchell May you walk worthy today! RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Da Romans 8:37-39 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I have been to many wrestling tournaments and yes I know that it is football season, but I was just thinking about my baby boy yesterday, his first football game of the 2013 season is tomorrow and i couldn't help but remember when. We would watched young men wrestle for about 11 hours on any given Saturday. It was awesome to see them pour their hearts out on the mat and give one hundred percent to complete exhaustion in a quest for a championship. They would fight until they could fight no more. Hands raised in victory. Mothers crying as their sons advanced in the tournament. Okay, Okay, daddies were crying, too, but in a cool way. The scripture above speaks of our spiritual quest and it states that we are more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Please pay close attention to this. It is through the love of Christ that we are made conquerors. We can live on this earth a victorious life because of His Blood and the love that flowed as He shed His Blood. Paul goes on to say in verse 38 that not even death can separate us from the love of God. Look at the end of verse 39: it tells us that the love of God is in Jesus Christ our Lord. The key part of this verse is “our Lord”. That brings me to a serious question. Is Jesus Christ your Lord? Sometimes we deal with God like a child deals with a teddy bear. It brings comfort just before we go to bed, then we sleep throughout the night in the comfort and protection. Then we awake and take off into this world leaving our teddy bear until we return to bed and back into the comfort again. You see, if we really want to experience and understand the love of Christ, He must be Lord of our Life. That means when we wake up from our comfortable night we have to take that same comfort into the day, walking daily with Jesus and understanding we are more than conquerors on this earth. We are empowered to live on this earth because of His presence as Lord in our life. What does it mean to for Him to be Lord? It means He controls all that we do. It means our life belongs to Him. It means He is our master and He must direct and lead everything we do. If these things are not true then we are not fully experiencing the love of Christ. It may be love that we never see. Think about how many times your earthly mother and father bestowed love upon you and you never saw it. I never really thought about this until I became a father. There are so many things we do for our kids to protect them and make sure they are ok. They may never see some of these things, but they are there and they work. One more time let me reiterate to fully experience the love of Christ He must be Lord of our life. Then we will be more than conquerors, more than victorious, more than winners we will be Christ like, and peace will abound in and through us. Today, I hope you are blessed, but more than anything else I hope and pray Jesus is Lord of your life. RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Daddy |