"The Purpose of Your Good Deeds" - Sermon

    This week, to finish off our lesson series on good works I've attached a sermon link and I really hope you will make time to listen to it, with an open bible and an open heart!

    The sermon is titled, "The Purpose of Your Good Deeds," it is presented by Andy Cantrell and was part of a Youth Series at Embry Hills church of Christ in Atlanta, Georgia.

    The things I would like you to focus on while you listen:

1. Good works are not about magnifying you, they are to magnify God! (Matthew 5:16, Ephesians 2:8-10)
2. As Christians, your behaviours/actions/words directly influence what the others perceive about God (Matthew 5:13-16)
3. You cannot be lukewarm! (Revelation 3:15)
4. You are the lens by which the world sees God - do you increase His greatness (make Him look magnificent) or do you decrease/minimize His greatness?

    God's reputation is on the line! You represent Him to the world!

    Throughout this week, if the Lord wills, take time to read and study the book of Titus! Ask God to help you "maintain good works," open your eyes and heart to the opportunities that are all around you. Be a beautiful representative of God!!

"...these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men." (Titus 3:8 NKJV)

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works." (Titus 2:11-14 NKJV)

You can do it! So can I!!

Link to listen to sermon "The Purpose of Your Good Deeds":

https://embryhills.com/listen-study/all-sermons/2010/05/01/purpose-of-your-good-deeds 

Fix It So You Can Flourish: Transformed By Renewing Your Mind

    Our passage to read and think on throughout this week, as the Lord wills, is Romans 12:1-2:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (NKJV)

    Following in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6) we learn to humbly submit to God, sacrifice our wants and desires (Matthew 16:24), and obey His instructions and commands so that we can be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-16) and be pure just as He is pure (1 John 3:3). We will determine to make good choices in our attitudes, our words, and our actions so that others will know that we belong to God!

    When I was younger my Dad explained Romans 12:2 like this: Pour Jello into a mould, after it sets, you turn it out and you have a lump of Jello that looks exactly like the mould. The Jello conformed to the mould it was in! We conform to the world when we let it shape us, which will leave us looking just like the world!

    God wants us to be transformed (undergo a change in character). How do we do this? "...by the renewing of your mind." Fill up your heart and mind with God's word motivates us to try harder each day to make good choices in our speech, our attitudes, our actions. Read and think on Ephesians 4:17-32 as it echoes these thoughts. 

    If we put in the self-sacrificing effort, God will provide the transforming renewal!

    Determining to do things God's way will take faith and trust on our part, but it's well-worth our every effort because we will soon prove to ourselves - and to others - that His will is "good and acceptable and perfect."

    Only when we transform ourselves by doing what God has told us to do can shine as a light in the world (Matthew 5:14-16). Only when we are different from the world can we show the world that there is a different way!

    Let's be the living sacrifices that God wants us to be, so that we can prove that His way is the best way!

From wherever you are right now - BEGIN!

Fix It So You Can Flourish: Swift To Hear, Slow To Speak, Slow to Wrath

    Continuing in our new 'Fix It So You Can Flourish' series, let's consider James 1:19-20:

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, 

slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not 

produce the righteousness of God.” (NKJV)

Swift to Hear 

    We need to teach ourselves to hear. Hearing and really listening involves quietness on our part. Rearrange the letters in SILENT and get the word LISTEN. We hear best when we remain silent with our voice and in our mind. How often have you missed what someone is saying because you’ve been too busy thinking how you’re going to respond and/or refute?

“He who answers a matter before he hears it, 

it is folly and shame to him.” 

(Proverbs 18:13 NKJV)

    We can cause hurt if we speak before or without hearing. We can give rash or harmful advice when we let our emotions have free rein. When we keep our mind calm and our ears open, we can hear what people are really saying. When we calmly listen, we can take time to consider the matter, we can employ wisdom in our response.

“He who has knowledge spares his words, 

and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.” 

(Proverbs 17:27 NKJV)

Slow to Speak

    We all know the harm that can come from speaking before or without thinking. God wants us to be slow to speak; He wants us to be wise.

“In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, 

but he who restrains his lips is wise.” 

(Proverbs 10:19 NKJV)

    When we pause and consider a matter before answering we give ourselves opportunity to discern right from wrong, and we can better determine the right thing to say or do.

Slow to Wrath

    Why does God command this? Read again James 1:20 “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” When we are wrathful and quick to anger, the possibility of saying or doing something wrong/sinful is very likely.

“He who is slow to wrath has great understanding,

But he who is impulsive exalts folly.” 

(Proverbs 14:29 NKJV)

    When we are slow to wrath we can prove to the world “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). When we are slow to wrath, we can keep our emotions in check, we can keep our words in check, and we can keep our actions in check. When we are slow to wrath we become a safe haven instead of a raging storm.

    All of these, swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, take self-control. Only when we control ourselves in obedience to this command can we produce the righteousness of God and bear the fruit of the Spirit:

“...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 

longsuffering, kindness, goodness, 

faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

Against such there is no law.” 

(Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV)

    Let us have a heart to say, 'If God said it, I believe it, and I will do it.'  As Christians, we are God's children, God wants us to to be pure just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3). Let us honestly examine ourselves and determine that we will do what God has commanded us so that we can flourish in our faith and service!

You can do it! So can I!!

Faith, Hope, and Love – God’s Armour

    As we continue our study of Bible references that make mention of the vital trio of faith, hope, and love, we arrive now at this passage:

“But let us who of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8 NKJV)

    Looking at the surrounding context and other bible verses we quickly learn that “us who are of the day” refers to Christians, brethren who are not in darkness* (5:4), nor of darkness or the night (5:5). People who once were darkness but now are light in the Lord and walk as children of light, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord (Ephesians 5:8-10).

*Side Note: “darkness” always refers to sin and “works of darkness” to sinful activities, because God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5-6). Read 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 and 1 John 2:9-11 and consider the efforts of the devil to blind and keep souls in darkness. Jesus states the difference between light and darkness in John 3:19-21. God calls us out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9) through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, Romans 10:17) so that He can deliver us out of darkness (Colossians 1:12-13). He commissioned the apostle Paul to preach the gospel “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God…” (Acts 26:18). Everything that is opposite or against God and His way is ‘darkness.’

    We who are of the day must be sober. This means that we must be watchful, alert, careful (circumspect), and self-controlled; it also means that we are prepared to face the Light (the day of Judgement). Read and think on Ephesians 5:15-18, Matthew 24:42-44, 1 Corinthians 15:58, 16:13-14, 1 John 3:1-3, and Matthew 5:8.  One who is drunk is unaware, even oblivious, and recoils from the light. “We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:5b-6, NKJV)

    Christians who are watchful and self-controlled, who work at preparing themselves to meet the Lord, will put on the breastplate of faith and love – Whoa! Wait a minute… I thought Christians were supposed to put on “the breastplate of righteousness”? That’s what Ephesians 6:14 says! – Okay, think of it this way: Faith in God (Romans 10:17, Luke 6:46-49) and love for God (John 14:15, 1 John 5:3) will motivate us do what is right in God’s sight, which is righteousness (1 John 3:7-8). Developing a deeper faith and increasing our love for God will guard our heart, so that we do what is right and are shielded from the fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16, James 4:7). Faith mixed with love leads to righteousness!

    So, we are to be alert and prepared by wearing God’s armor (Ephesians 6:10-18), guarding our vital inward parts (heart) with faith and love (righteousness) and also protecting our mind when we wear, as a helmet, the hope of salvation! This hope can safeguard our minds as we press toward the goal (Philippians 3:12-15) because it keeps our minds focused on God’s glorious grace and His abundant blessings. Wearing this “helmet” means that we also are prepared and ready to talk about/share our hope through Jesus (1 Peter 3:15, Titus 2:11-14)!

    Faith, hope, and love are all part of the essential armour of God. They are all needed to be adequately prepared and protected as we walk as children of light in this world of darkness!

   Do you put on God’s armour each and every day? You need to put it on daily so that you can become familiar and comfortable in it, learn how to use it, and realize its best benefits! Only then will you be prepared to meet the Lord!! It is worth every effort to put on faith, hope, and love every.single.day!!

You can do it! So can I!!