In my last post I talked about encouraging daily. This means to encourage someone else each day, but how do you do that? You do it by answering four simple, one word questions; Who, What, When, Where. Here we go.
Who: Anyone. Don’t be shy and when you look at encouraging as an opportunity you will see opportunities abounding. Maybe it’s the check out clerk and you tell them they bagged your items appropriately. Your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter by telling them they did SOMETHING (anything) good. Thank the trash man for being there to pick up your trash. There are many ways to encourage others.
What: Big or small, anything that is encouraging. Maybe something they are wearing, or a look in their eye. Say something positive about THEM! This is not about you, it’s about them. When you encourage others you will receive blessings and rewards you never imagined.
When: When the opportunity presents itself. After you get the encouragement fever, you will be encouraging people all the time. So start with something small, no matter the time or place, just do it.
Where: Anywhere. You can encourage at a local store, at church, on vacation, anywhere there are people, you’ll find someone needing encouragement. Don’t hold back. You have something they want and it does not cost either of you anything other than time.
Enjoy life and encourage others. Work with them rather than against them.
To encourage daily sounds daunting, but it really isn’t. What does it mean to encourage and why don’t more people encourage others? It seems society is more inclined to tell someone they cannot do something rather than encourage them to test their abilities, explore the world around them and find out what THEY are capable of doing. There is a special feeling you get when you help someone accomplish what seemed to be an unattainable task. Try it! Encourage someone today. Encourage just one person. Give it a try; encourage daily.
There is a season for everything and this year, this season is the time to restore.
“2024 is The Year to Restore”
This is a big Christ Theme, but then again, we have a big God. So where do we start when we start to restore and what should we restore?
This year’s theme is not about anyone but you. It’s time to restore some elements of YOUR life. The Christ Theme for this year is about restoring things for you as a person. The first element we need restore is our relationship with God.
If you have a good relationship with God, kick it up a notch and get in a better relationship with Him. This is the year to do it. There is so much to be had in life when your relationship with your Heavenly Father is good. He made this very promise in 1 Kings when He said:
1 Kings 9:3-5
The Lord said:
“I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
“As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
God’s word is for all of us. It is His guide so we do the right thing. Study His Word so you know what is expected of you. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the blessings He’ll bestow upon you and your family. God’s Word is timeless and cannot be changed.
I can see things happen in those who’ve met the challenge of having a good relationship with God. And I can see things happen in those people’s lives who haven’t met the challenge, or don’t want to meet the challenge of having a good, or better relationship with God.
The relationship is not so much about you and God, but about doing what God asks you to do. Most of what He’s asked is in the Bible. The other times He asks you its because He needs “boots on the ground” to do His work. You are that person He may ask. The real question is are you willing to do what God has, and will ask you to do?
The hard part is letting go of reality to do the work God asks of you. It is hard stepping out of this world, letting go to see, hear and do what God asks. This world entices us to stay a part of it. The world does not want to let go of you long enough for you to have a good solid relationship with God. It’s not hard to be a Christian.
There is a step by step guide about what you should be doing as a Christian. It also tells us how to live our lives to align ourselves with Christ. The guide is the Bible. The blueprint is there.
The hard part is letting go of the world we live in long enough to be the Christian Jesus asks us to be. It does not happen overnight and is something a person has to work at a little bit at a time.
What I’ve been writing about is why we need to restore our relationship with God, first, then look at restoring, or upgrading; our love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23). GB
As I sit here getting ready to write I am overcome with emotion about the number of people who want to keep the Martinwood Christian Church Facebook page open. We have decided to keep the page open and will support it as best as we can.
That’s the first announcement. The second is the 2024 Christ Theme. Christ’s theme did not come to us as soon as usual this year. For the last seven years we’ve announced it at the Christmas Eve Service, but this year was somehow different. Christ waited until I could understand His Christ theme, not mine.
The Christ Theme for 2024 is
2024; The Season to Restore
2024 is the season to restore hopes.
2024 is the season to restore dreams.
2024 is the season to restore love.
2024 is the season to restore peace.
2024 is the season to restore your health.
2024 is the season to restore your attitude.
It’s the season to restore your relationship with God!
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This year’s theme is based upon Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: there is time for everything, and 2024 is The Season to Restore.
Look closely at this year’s Christ Theme and you’ll see a pattern. The pattern involves you, not others. This is not meant to offend anyone or sound mean, but I did not mention, nor does Ecclesiastes, restoring relationships. It is intentionally left out because there are some relationships YOU cannot restore. They will only bring you down. Christ is the only one who can restore THOSE types of relationships, but we must restore ourselves first! We cannot restore something we don’t have control over, but we do have control over ourselves and what we can do for us.
*****
It’s the season to restore hopes and dreams.
Remember those hopes and dreams you had as a kid. Remember how much love you had in your teen years and how much you love you had when you got married or had an equally special event happen in your life?
That is what we will restore in 2024. You will restore you to the person who will reap the benefits of the Lord’s fruits called the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Those who know me, know I don’t write poetry. As you read this poem about experience you’ll see it is written by someone else. I found it on an old piece of paper without the author’s name. This poem will remain “author unknown.”
Experience
We must live through the weary winter, if we would value spring.
The 8 Spiritual Attacks you need to know about have been known since at least 400 A.D. I found out about them while reading a book about the desert monks. I believe these attacks happen on a daily basis today, just like they did in 400 A.D.
There are many spiritual attacks to watch out for. You will know when these spiritual attacks are coming against you. You will feel icky feelings inside, unless you’ve gotten used to them. Amongst those feelings are…
Jealousy
Contempt
Pride
And lot more feelings you notice that are more intense than you have ever felt.
There was a fourth century monk called Evagrius of Pontus. His influence was seen throughout early Christian churches. Evagrius was a high ranking bishop who’d spent most of his life in ministry. He was the overseer of many churches. Evagrius was also instrumental in the original Nicene Creed which as you know is very similar to the Apostles Creed.
Evagrius of Pontus was a dessert monk. He researched evil attacks made against the monks he worked with. For instance he talks about a monk coming from wealthy families who had a spiritual attack of the love of money. The kind of attack trying to get him to believe he should have had lots of money, but instead he chose to be a monk.
Evil spirits know what to attack. They sometimes seem like they know as much about you as your best friend knows, but they’re not a friend, much less a best friend. Evagrius wanted to understand and define the spiritual attacks the monks were having because each of the 8 attacks seem to have certain characteristics about them.
As a result of his studies, Evagrius of Pontus identified 8 spiritual attacks (demons we face, some on a daily basis). These are attacks you need to be aware of so in full armor, you can fight against them and win! Any one or all of these attacks could happen against you, especially if you have a strong relationship with God. These spirits do not like us having a strong relationship with God so they try to kill steal or destroy that relationship. .
Evil believes it has forever to taunt you and to get between you and God. What he doesn’t expect is your knowing and fighting his every move and that’s why we first need to know these demons exist, then I’ll show you how to fight them.
Evagrius book, Talking Back is about taking charge, standing up against them for the fight by talking back to evil spirits using the same tools Jesus used when Satan taunted him in the desert.
The premise of the book is that there is scripture to combat each one of the 8 demons. These scripture verses give you the ability to stand your ground and talk back to each of the 8 demons and repel them.
Thoughts of Gluttony
Excess in eating or drinking
Greedy or excessive indulgence
Thoughts of Fornication
Consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other
Concerning Love of Money
Making the love of money a priority in life, even above God.
Concerning the Thoughts of the Demon of Sadness
Affected with or expressive of grief or unhappiness
Against the Demon of Anger
A strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism
A threatening or violent appearance or state
Against the Thoughts of the Demon of Listlessness
Characterized by lack of interest, energy, or spirit
Against the Thoughts from the Demon of Vainglory
Excessive or ostentatious pride especially in one’s achievements
It sometimes feels crazy going through life without what the secular world calls “direction.” They may think or say “he doesn’t have any direction in their life,” or “he doesn’t know what he’s doing with his life.”
There are times in people’s lives where I can see that is a problem, but not so with Christians. They may seem not to have direction, but when they are truly listening to God’s voice (yes, He still talks to us today), and do not appear to have direction nor can they explain their guidance from a secular point of view, they are moving in a direction, toward God.
This may sound crazy to some, but not for those who Believe. Those who believe in the Word as coming from God and scribed by men. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
He leads us through His plans. His plans cannot compare to anything we could possibly think or conceive. It is up to us to follow His guidance. But doesn’t it seem strange to follow guidance you can’t see, or touch; to follow what most see as a whim? That is what is called Faith. To believe and follow something even though you have not seen it.
John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
God knows. He is a sovereign God and knows everything. He knows where you need to be, where you need to go and what you need to do. When you accept that what you are doing is for Him, your blessings will be as you have never before seen.
Take a chance; spend one hour doing nothing but what He tells you to do. If He tells you to read, read. If He tells you to read the Bible, read the Bible. If He tells you to meditate, meditate. If He tells you to clean your kitchen, clean your kitchen. Do this for Him and you will find his blessings are greater than anything we could imagine.
God is the Word. That’s how we find out what he wants us to do and how to love ourselves. The better our relationship with our Lord, the more we’ll want to do for Him and love someone else per the last chapter, then the more we will love ourselves in the process, but where does it start? Where does loving yourself start? It starts with you. It starts in the beginning. It starts with the Word. The Word of God. Let go to the first book of John, the very first verse.… In the beginning; at John 1:1.
The Great Commission calls us to “Make disciples of all nations….” There are hesitations when it comes to actually going beyond the walls of the church to do what we’ve been called by God to do. Sermon Creation is an easy reference to get you started, and gives you ideas on what to say and how to say it. If you’re a pastor or minister, sometimes the words just aren’t there. Sermon Creation will be able to help you get over those humps and focus on a sermon even Jesus would be proud to hear. Don’t let “brain fog” plague you again. Be bold! Be courageous! Go! Go and preach the Gospel to the world!
It’s great to have you all here and we look forward to spending the next half hour or so with you. What better way than to spend time with the Lord and His great goodness.
If you would, please pray with me.
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Lord Jesus,
We repent of any sins we knowingly or unknowingly have committed. We come to you with open arms and ready to do your work, the work you set out in front of us. We know you are there for us and our families as we fight back anything that comes against us and tries to stop us from doing your work. We know you will break any chains we have that try to take us down or hamper us from our relationship with you. Open our ears and our eyes to your words. You know what you meant when You wrote Your Word and we ask you show us what you meant as we read, hear and ponder Your Word to uncover the work you have for us.
In Jesus name we pray Amen.
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Last week we talked about Hope. Your tasking was to spread Hope. I hope you gave hope to a lot and that you got a lot of hope in return.
Today I am going to talk about Pray Preparation. This may sound strange, but this is pray preparation. It is not prayer preparation because the way I look at it, prayer is something you pray with. I want to be sure you are ready to pray. We want God to answer your prayers, and He will, if we have prepared to pray.
In the book of Leviticus around about the 10th chapter Aaron asked Moses a very important question about God. It had to do with whether God would have accepted his sin offering because of some recent events.
You See: Aaron had just lost two of his sons; Nadab and Abihu. They were part of the Tabernacle and thought they would light their censers even though in Leviticus 10:1 the Lord commanded them to NOT do that.
The NIV states “they had unauthorized fire.”
Things change when the Lord commands you to do something, whether it’s to stop doing something or do something. Both are actions, but the Lord specifically said to NOT do something.
Because of what they did, fire came out from the Lord and devoured them.
As you can imagine Aaron was pretty shaken. Now we go back to where we started; Leviticus 10:19 to that very important question Aaron asked Moses.
Moses had just gotten upset with Aaron because he had not eaten the Sin Offering and the Sin Offering was now burned up (but not as a Burnt Offering, though).
What Aaron said after all this is “…..should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD?” kjv
Leviticus 10:19
19And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things have befallen me: and if I had eaten the sin offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD?
And this is what we should be asking during our prayer preparation. Are you ready to have a conversation with God? Do you feel you are prepared to pray with the Lord?
Do you feel your prayer will be accepted? I’m not giving you an excuse to not pray, but think about these things as you prepare to pray. Me, I like to keep the door open. What I mean is I am, for the most part, constantly praying.
I am in a perpetual conversation with the Lord. He has a way of reminding me when I’m not communicating, so for me, I have to always be ready to ask forgiveness and repent.
That’s what I saw as I was reading Leviticus, and I want to walk you through a short story. The more I thought about it I realized what the Old Testament was doing. They were being commanded to do things that were in the Natural World (see, touch, smell hear).
When Jesus arrived on the scene, His ministry was not a ministry in the Natural. His is a Supernatural ministry (you can only feel it; you cannot touch, hear or smell).
His ministry was not as much about what we do. As about changing our attitudes towards others and realize how others are affected by our attitudes; which come out of how we feel inside.
Luke 6:45
….For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of
Luke 6:45
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
I’m sharing this because this is what you need to know to pray, to prepare to pray, and pray in His name. Don’t you want to know the language of the person you’ll spend eternity with? I do.
Okay, so let’s go to the other day when I was reading the Old Testament. I was reading in Leviticus about the offerings people make through the priests of the time; the Levites. It came to my attention the sacrifices were in preparation for meeting with the Lord.
Leviticus chapter nine talks about Aaron’s first offerings (sacrifices) as a priest. In Leviticus 9:6 Moses told Aaron that “the glory of the LORD shall appear unto you.”
Isn’t that what happens when we pray? The glory of the Lord appears to us. We talk directly to God, but through Jesus. He’s the one who is our intercessor. And we feel, the Glory; it’s Supernatural.
So this is the way the sacrifices go that I thought were the coolest.
Sin Offering – Giving up our sins. Telling God we know we did wrong and asking forgiveness.
Burnt Offering – We’re burning our sins by repenting. They’re all burned up so they can’t come back.
Peace Offering – We want peace with our Heavenly Father. We’ve done wrong and now we’re asking to make a truce with him.
Wave offering – Presenting the sacrificial offerings to God.
After all this took place
Leviticus 9:23
23And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people.
24And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
This story caught my eye as guidance as how to pray.
Admit sins – We need to come before the Lord with clean hands.
This is sometimes hard for us to do. Hard for us to admit our sins. How bad do you want your prayers answered? Bad enough to save someone’s life, or maybe save a soul? You have to be willing to admit your sins.
How hard do you think it was for Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross? And Jesus never sinned, yet he died for our sins. That fact alone should be enough to want you to be saved.
Repent of those sins – Burnt offering
We want to make sure our hands are clean for the reason that Moses told Aaron what the Lord had said in Leviticus 10:3.
Leviticus 10:3.
The Lord said, I will be sanctified in them that come unto me and before all the people I will be glorified….
This is why it is so important that we prepare to pray because the Lord wants to be sanctified in those that come before Him. He also wants to be glorified before all people. And that’s what he wants when we come before him. Nadab and Abihu went before the Lord, even though they were commanded not to.
The Lord in chapter 10 verse 1 stated the Lord commanded them, so they knew they shouldn’t have done that.
Make Peace – Peace offering to make peace before asking for what we want in His name.
So when we go before the Lord to pray, we have to be clean so the Lord can be sanctified in us.
Aaron’s question to Moses is one we need to ask ourselves as we are going before the Lord.
Leviticus 10:19
19……. should it have been accepted in the sight of the LORD?
We need to ask ourselves, will what we are praying for be accepted in the sight of the Lord? If we have not prepared ourselves to pray it might just be like a clanging gong. I don’t want that for you.
I want your prayers to be answered. To have them answered, we need to be ready to pray. Be ready to go in front of the Father, but ask everything in Jesus Name!!
This week think about how you prepare to pray. Make sure you are ready to go before God. Even better yet, live a life to boast about before the Lord. Always admit your sin, repent as quickly as you can, then offer peace to the Lord and ask for things in His Son’s Name; Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus,
Wow!! Such a powerful message of hope and guidance. We ask you to watch over this entire congregation as we go our separate ways this week. You have us here for a reason and in Jesus Name we ask you to guide us to your tasking. Help us boldly come before you with Glory so you can sanctify yourself in us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
I want to give you the opportunity to give your life to the Lord. Just say
We Love you,
We care about you and
we can’t wait to see you again next time.
Take care and God Bless.
Marketing:
Mike Bitter walks us through how the Sin Offering, theBurnt Offering, and the Peace Offering compare to post Resurrection of Admit sins,
Repent of those sins, Make Peace as a way to come before the Lord in prayer.
