2011-01-30 10-01-33.123.wmv

Strong Quotes

"A God deserving of worship cannot issue an arbitrary amnesty for humanitarians or pantheists who persist in worshiping and serving themselves more than their personal Creator."

"The condemnation of everyone who is lost will be wholly attributable to himself or herself for having disregarded God's revealed will."


Pretty strong stuff.

Do not blame me

On a 16th century church in Lubeck, Germany:

You call me eternal, then do not seek me.

You call me fair, then do not love me.

You call me gracious, then do not trust me.

You call me just, then do not fear me.

You call me life, then do not choose me.

You call me light, then do not see me.

You call me Lord, then do not respect me.

You call me Master, then do not obey me.

You call me merciful, then do not thank me.

You call me mighty, then do not honor me.

You call me noble, then do not serve me.

You call me rich, then do not ask me.

You call me Savior, then do not praise me.

You call me shepherd, then do not follow me.

You call me Way, then do not walk with me.

You call me wise, then do not heed me.

You call me Son of God, then do not worship me.

When I sentence you, then do not blame me.

THE ROCK

This week I started thinking about the fact that God is referred to as a/the/THE Rock.

Ps 18:2 - The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
He *is* my fortress, a place of protection, a solid structure which I can hide in when the storms of life rage high. He renews my strength, shields me, protects me, delivers me. He is my stronghold.

Ps 18:46 - The LORD lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
He lives!! He is the author of my salvation! If I spent the rest of my life just praising God for salvation, I would still not be able to praise Him enough!!

Ps 31:2 - Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of refuge,
A fortress of defense to save me.
God wants to listen to us! He wants us to be close enough to whisper in His ear. He wants us to sit in His lap, allow Him to hold us, to be intimate with us. Broken, vulnerable, honest and needy.

Ps 62:7 - In God is my salvation and my glory;
The rock of my strength,
And my refuge, is in God.
God is. No really, God is!! God is sovereign. He reigns over all things. He is my strength. He is my refuge. He is alive!!!

Ps 144:1 - Blessed be the LORD my Rock,
Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle—
This is good. He is my steady footing, preparing for battle. The same protector, deliverer, author and finisher, provides a steady footing for all!!

There are so very many scriptures, but I wanted to encourage you today that God knows all things. He sees all things. Seek Him and He will give you the answers, when you didn't even know the questions.

Run to Him Take refuge in His hiding place. Allow Him to renew your strength. Allow Him to hold you close, then whisper your needs to Him, He is waiting.

1/23/11, announcements

1/23/11, Part 1

1/23/11, Part 2

1/23/11, Part 3

11/16/11, Part 3

1/16/11, Part 2

1/16/11, Part 1

God's glory

John 9: ¹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

God does not heal people to heal them. God heals people to show His glory!!

I woke up this morning thinking this. I don't know if it's something I read or if it was just inspired, but it seems right. I love the Glory of the Lord. Moses tells the story of turning to jello at even the sight of God's back. His Glory is so incredible.

Revival in the land

There were a few words I received from the Lord this morning and last night. The one that stuck out the most was this. Everywhere you go you hear about revival. Look on any church and it will be there in their goals.... 'true revival'. Revival this, revival that....

There will be no true revival until there is true repentance.

That's the word I was revealed. It seems easy right? How easy is it for us to get over ourselves and see the destructive nature of our sin? Can we in 2011 really truly humble ourselves? We've become such a people of 'me first' that it permeates our very soul. Just as there is no true salvation until a person experiences true repentance, there can be no revival without it. Why?

2Corinthians 12: ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

If Christ is perfect in weakness then why can't we humble ourselves and just admit our sins? Why can't we ever be weak? It seems as though no one really wants to talk of repentance. Please understand that I'm not talking about an alter call. I'm not talking about saying a prayer and then going on. I'm talking about being truly disgusted at the sins you've committed and being fearful before God for them. See, we've taken the fear of God out of our churches and along with that true repentance. Why are we even sorry for our sins? What is it that we should even be worried about because of a life of sin? Consider this from Isaiah...

Isaiah 8:¹² “Do not call conspiracy
everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
¹³ The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread.

I always hear of a place called 'a devil's hell'. But do you know that the devil has no power over hell? He has power over the Earth, but hell is his punishment. It's God's hell. It's God's punishment for sin. Be it angels or humans it must be punished by hell.

Ezekiel 18^:31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

This is why we must first repent. God must punish sin because Holy cannot mix with sin. So, if you've never truly repented and asked for forgiveness in Jesus then please don't hesitate one second more. After a true repentance comes a true salvation. After that salvation is a call to holiness. Consider this...

John 8:¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Go now and leave your life of sin.... Jesus didn't command her to go and try not to sin. He told her to leave her life of sin. I do believe the KJV says to go and sin no more. Why would Jesus tell her that if he didn't really want that? The answer is that he does want us to live a holy life. He wants us transformed by his love and grace. So am I saying that if you sin that you're going to hell? NO! What I'm trying to do is show you that God has great plans for all his disciples and if we would just start ACTING like his disciples he could reveal these plans. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to come and help us act like his disciples.

The Holy Spirit comes to pinpoint sin in our lives and to bring us to repentance so that we can be clean for Jesus. Now we use the word sanctification as an excuse for sin though. I hear so many times that we can't leave our life of sin because we have to be sanctified. That's true, but the process of sanctification is not one of living in the world and jumping at every sin that presents it's self. It means true sacrifice and devotion to a Holy God. It means that when the Holy Spirit convicts our heart we need to hit the airwaves of God and honestly be truly sorry for our short comings. When you make yourself weak by putting God over your life and submitting to his Lordship, then you will make the Holy Spirit alive in you. Only through this can true revival happen. Remember that Holy cannot mix with unholy (sin). So....

There will be no true revival until there is true repentance.

Repentance starts today. Will you not bend your knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

A fasting whiny boy is me

So Charity and I have been fasting since Sunday. When preparing for this fast I had fully intended to keep coffee. The biggest reason is that I work a whole lot outside and this warm beverage is really useful to combating the freezing temps. The only problem is that the Holy Spirit came to me Saturday and said that he really didn't want me to drink coffee. So Sunday I began to fast coffee too. Everyone has such huge goals for this fast but I had only one. To grow in Spirit toward the Lord. What's funny or not so funny was that for 4 full days I couldn't concentrate on the Lord. My headache was non-stop. My body for some odd reason aches worse than ever before. This is probably the 5th time we've fasted like this, but this has been the hardest. It's been the hardest when I was the closest to the Lord so I just couldn't understand why. Yesterday my headache started to subside and with it came a rushing in of the Holy Spirit. See, I believe that God tested me to see if I was committed or not. Here's what I heard.

Quit whining. This is YOUR fast to ME. No one has put this fast on you but yourself. I will not accept a grumbling fast to 'show' your devotion to me. My grace is more than sufficient for you to be joyful and humble in your devotion to me. Also I heard this... If you think this is bad just imagine Jesus without anything for 40 days and being tempted by the devil face to face.

So, Lord I give you my gluttony. I will joyfully fulfill my fast to you. It is truly my will for you to grow and work in my life. I will seek your face, JOYFULLY.

1/09/11 part 4

1/09/11 part 3

1/09/11 part 2

1/09/11 part 1 prayer and announcements

The hardened heart of sin

Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!"

Hebrews 3: 12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”

Yesterday I put a few quotes from a sermon I had been listening to by David Wilkerson, titled "Continue in Sin?" It's really convicted me to write some about it and even as it was playing I kept up some notes. What I'm posting is not a copy or something lifted. But merely what the Holy Spirit has put on my heart. Some of it may be in the sermon which is why I am referencing it just in case I do happen to end up lining up with it as to not present it as my work, but as what the Holy Spirit has designated me to write.

Before I even start, please let me say that I believe that there is but one way you can lose your salvation and that is by personal apostasy. What that means is you give up your salvation and turn from God. I know this very thing, eternal security, is used by the devil to tear a church apart so I'm not debating this. What I am saying is that I'm not actually talking about going to Heaven but of discipleship and sanctification.

We are all in danger of hardening our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Let me explain. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and convict us of sin in our lives so that we can begin the process of becoming a pure bride for Him. He was sent to direct us and lead us to the throne for our bride. Acts 7 which I posted above really describes the human condition. We are a stiff necked people. Why? We want to hold on to our sin. Sin feels good in our bodies because we were born sinful. There used to be a saying that went 'If it feels good, do it' and of course there is no use for a quote like that today because it would read 'It felt good and I did it'. See, we've taken the very idea of even sin and pushed it from our whole society.

Here we are in our sinful condition, being stiff necked. The last thing on Earth that we want is for anything to come and convict us from our pet sins. Why do you think that there are whole Bible translations now that omit anything saying that homosexuality is a sin? People who are doing it don't want to hear it! It's a very steep slope we get on when we start to omit sections of the Bible we're uncomfortable with. If I were divorced and remarried then I wouldn't like the part where you commit adultery if you remarry. But who are we to ignore this? Does it mean that there is no forgiveness to it? NO! There is forgiveness to every sin except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. But you must truly repent for it to be forgiven.

Only after true repentance can your sin be forgiven. This is the true danger of a hardened heart toward the Holy Spirit. When you harden your heart and decide that you won't listen to the Holy Spirit convicting you and you continue your sin, what you are doing is hiding this sin. These revolving sins, ones you keep doing over and over and over.... What you're doing is hardening your heart around this sin. You are protecting it for your personal use. Every time you do it the sin becomes easier and less sinful to you. Tell me then, how can you be truly repentant and yet hold a sin protected in a hardened heart? Every time you do this the Holy Spirit works tirelessly to get you to let it go and melt your heart so that you can be forgiven. This is where the true danger lies.

God hates sin and sin hates God. Your revolving sin will push you from Christ's salvation. You see it all the time, even in pastors. It's not the sin that damns you, but the sin that's driving your heart away. It may be a month or 20 years later, but sooner or later the Holy Spirit will give a 'Last Call'. If your heart is not with the Lord then you will be at the Great White Seat of Judgment. It really is playing Russian Roulette by hardening sin in your heart. So what if you don't want to hear about it, God's law is God's law. I can hear it now... but this is the new Covenant....

Jeremiah 31:³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

The purpose of God's law is to expose our sin. How does he write the law in our hearts? By using the Holy Spirit to convict us. The reason we're not subject to the written law anymore is because we're subject to a much more detailed, harder law of the living law. It's one that is constantly being written by the Holy Spirit in our lives. Designed to make us purer and open our hearts more to his commands. It's to have us broken before a loving God. Transformed to a better bride for our Lord.

Do not justify your sin. How many times have you heard... I was born gay? Or, it's just my nature. There is never justification for sin. It doesn't matter where you are from or your circumstances. If the Holy Spirit convicts you of it, you better repent of it. NOW. Sometimes we ignore the Spirit and decide that everything is ok because you have your fingers in your ears and can't hear anything. But in the end if you are justifying it, then it's sin because there has been a conviction. Remember, the object is to soften our hearts to be able to repent of our transgressions.

So I talked about the ultimate danger of hardened heart sin which is apostasy (turning your back and renouncing your citizenship in Heaven). Now I want to bring up something else that can happen. It's not as bad because you don't renounce your citizenship in Heaven, you still are going. But you're going useless to God and Heaven.

Want your Spiritual life to grow? Truly repent. When we harden our hearts it becomes a road block to the Spirit to work in our lives. There is a time when God will lift his Spirit from us and let us wander without his guidance. Want an example? Look at 1 Samuel and King Saul. God was heart broken over having to relieve Saul of the Holy Spirit. Yet, Saul had hardened his heart and through this became useless to God. Is that the way you want to slide into Heaven? Useless? Trust me, I know personally this. For probably 30 years I had unconfessed sin that I had hardened my heart around. I justified it by different excuses. Excuses that were truly not my fault. Yet, there it was. A roadblock in my Spiritual life. It wasn't until I was eagerly seeking the Holy Spirit that I let this sin go to God. It wasn't until I was hungrier for God than this sin that he baptized me with his Holy Spirit to do a good work in me. It wasn't till I truly repented that this sin was forgiven and released from me.

Do not look to the world to condemn your sin. The world has made it so everything is hunky dorey. Everything is accepted. Maybe you are stumbling just because you can't accept the Holy Spirit's designation of something as sinful. Maybe it's something you consider dumb and not worthy of worry. However God doesn't consider it dumb and unworthy of worry. God wants the best bride for his Son. God wants you striving and continually regarding your hearts for him. He wants to use you for His Kingdom. He wants you in the game and not under the bleachers picking your boogers.

The only hardened heart we need is around God's word. Everything else needs to be open to the Holy Spirit to work. Your sin WILL be judged. There is no way out of God's judgment. It can either be judged under the blood of the Lamb or separate from it. Truly repent. Make your life a work for God. Don't hide, there's no where to run. Worry if you don't feel conviction for your sin. Don't try to fool God, it only makes him angry. Our heart is what matters, not speech or actions, but the heart. You confess your sins to God himself, not to a minister in a box. Confession does not mean exposure to the world, but exposure to God. Sometimes God will choose to expose a sin you have hardened your heart against just to get you to repent. Exposure and embarrassment doesn't mean repentance. Accepting man's penalty isn't repenting and exposing your sin to God. Only through being broken before God can you come to repentance. If this has convicted you then please don't let a second go by without touching Jesus' garment. Eliminate the stronghold that Satan accuses you from and become a work of God Almighty. Today.

Quotes from 'Continuing sin' sermon

"The greatest thing that God can do for you if you are living in sin is to load your conscience with guilt."

"The fear of God includes a full understanding of the danger and consequences of continuing a sin"


--David Wilkerson

Flesh? We don't need no stinkin flesh!

Philippians 3: 1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Watch out for the dogs. When I see this verse I just see some goth person standing there all black and a billion piercings with their ear lobes stretched like an African. Sitting there cutting their flesh with a shiny razor. But you know who this is talking about? People of the flesh. This could be a name it claim it preacher preaching prosperity. It could also be a mainline church preacher who has burned out and is just doing the job of preacher. See, we don't have much of a problem identifying the wiccans or mormons or the muslims as wrong teachers or of the flesh doing evil. But what about us? How much flesh do we have in us? What about everything we've built and done? Paul has a word for all that...

"I consider them garbage". Such harsh words for the stuff of our life. I cringed in offense every time I had heard this spoken. But I've worked so hard for this stuff. I don't have garbage, I've got things. Without these things I couldn't be where I am today. I hear it all the time. Standing there looking into the mirror, telling myself how much better I am because we're not in debt. Thinking that one day too, I'll have bigger, better stuff. Sure we've been sacrificing but only because we want all those things too, but already paid for. Is that really how to live? Don't get me wrong, because I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan, but really? Live like noone else so you can one day live like noone else? What a great line. The problem is that we're sacrificing now for riches later. We're not sacrificing because we consider the stuff garbage. Actually it's the opposite, it's the god.
Want to move up in gods? Save up or go on out and buy yourself a motor home or boat. Next thing you know you'll be out there preparing your god for service. One of the first things you'll notice is what David noticed.

2Samuel 7: ¹ After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ² he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

So you'll build a nice shop or shelter for your god to protect it from the elements. Everywhere you go you can see these large garage type shelters just for motor homes or boats. But now comes the fun part. See, these types of gods aren't cheap. So you've got to work at a minimum 5 days a week to either replace your bank account or to just pay the minimum payment. Now you're down to two days you can enjoy actually using the god that you worked all week to afford. The only problem is that one of those days is the Lord's, you know the true God? Who do you think gets the boot? Not the god, but the God.

Now you probably think I'm anti motor home or boat, but that's wrong. My fleshly side would LOVE a nice big ski boat. I'd love nothing more than to be out on the water with the kids and my wife. But I can tell you that what I just said wasn't true. There is something I'd love more to do and that's be in the house of God on Sunday morning and most of the day. See, every time I drive by a boat and think... boy I'd sure love me one of those. I ask Charity... "want to buy a boat?" And she and I both say... "sure, we can give up Church and ride the lake on Sunday." But you know, it's not just those things. Maybe it's season tickets to the Falcons games. The other day Camden asked why we never went to a pro football game. I told him it's because they're on Sunday and we're not going to miss church to see a stupid game.

So, wow Doc you've really got it going on right? ummm NO! So I sacrifice some to be in church with the Lord, but that's a whole 1/7 of my days and even then that's not even a full 1 on the fraction. As I draw closer to the Lord I can see why Paul calls this all garbage though. Why? Because it distracts us from loving the Lord with all our hearts. It keeps us out of the word. It quenches the Holy Spirit. I want the Lord. I want his Word. I want his comfort. I want to resist my flesh. I want to forget this world.

Now I'm going to say something controversial but it needs to be said because we're dealing with the flesh and this world. How much of the church (all the church including ours too) is of the flesh and the world? I've heard the quote a lot lately and it's one from Falwell I think but it has to do with God's house should be bigger and better than everything else. Yes, that's a paraphrase and my memory isn't what it used to be so I may have gotten it wrong so just put the right quote in it. It really sounds great right? God's house should be the best. We should have the state of the art facilities that would make the government envious. We've got to build this or that and it has to be millions and millions of dollars. Really?

How much of this is our flesh talking? Jesus went to an old rugged cross. His cross wasn't overlaid in gold. He didn't build a huge estate just outside the Jerusalem city limits to avoid the millionaire taxes. In fact digest this:

Luke 9:⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Jesus didn't even have a house. How did his ministry turn out? We've got to build buildings to reach people? Tell me then, where was Paul's home church and how much was their budget? Didn't he reach a few for Christ? Seriously, how much of this is flesh? How much are we really depending on the Word of God? How much flesh are we denying? When Jesus comes back will he look at all the church's acquisitions and shake his head because we forgot to acquire Jesus himself? We just have to be very careful what we're doing. No, I'm not accusing our church leaders of anything but warning. It's easy to get caught up in becoming the church and not becoming the Body (of Christ). We have to be careful that we don't become a corporate structure hell bent on growing and maintaining that we forget that we personally need to maintain the Holy Spirit and walk with the Lord EVERYDAY.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead which is Jesus Christ. Flesh be damned, I hate the flesh. One of the greatest achievements of my life will be when my soul goes on to Heaven and my flesh meets it's ultimate doom. I've grown to hate this world and satan's wiley ways. I so look forward to Jesus' triumphant return and the building of new Jerusalem. I can't wait to see his robe dipped in blood with the name KING OF KINGS, LORD OF LORDS on it. I cheer right now just at the image of the beast being thrown into the bottomless pit. I'm humbled at the brightness of God's holiness, radiating out. We must constantly work harder and harder to deny our flesh. It's a liar who is within who wants to cheat you out of your rightful possession of Jesus Christ. He died for you and has his rightful place at the right hand of God the Father. He's waiting on your sacrifice of the flesh and devotion to him in your heart. He's waiting on you to make the decision for him. He's waiting for when the flesh says, once more... You'll say, NEVER AGAIN!

Testing 1...2...3...

1Peter 4:¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ¹⁵ If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. ¹⁶ However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And,

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”^a]">[a]

¹⁹ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Also:

Psalm 66:¹⁰ For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
¹¹ You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
¹² You let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.

So many times I curse my problems. I'll walk a mile around something if I think it will avoid a confrontation. When the Lord calls me to the test I'm usually hiding like Saul among the stuff. Often we view opposition or hardship as a fight against the Devil and sometimes it is. However there are also two other things to consider.

1. Your hardship may be chastisement from God for a previous sin or sin in your life right now.

Hebrews 12: ⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

I know that I can tell my boys not to do something a billion times. I can make them go to their rooms and threaten them with a spanking but it never works. There they are back doing what I told them not to do. It's not until I get serious and get the paddle and administer loving discipline that they decide that maybe listening would be better. God is the same way. And much like parents, God's discipline never really comes close to the sin we've committed. I thank God because I would be dead from his discipline if so. What I really wanted to talk about in this post is the second thing though.

2. Your hardship may be a trial to see how pure you are. The Bible talks about God refining us as silver is refined. Putting the fire to us. Silver has to be heated to 1200 degrees to start the refining process. It must be melted from it's rigid state and the impurities removed. We've developed a few ways to refine silver, but refining by fire is still considered the purest way. Consider:

Isaiah 1:²⁵ I will turn my hand against you;^b]">[b]
I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities.

Now this is where it gets tricky. Imagine that Silver costs $464 a pound. A 100 ounce bar would weigh 6.25 pounds and cost right at $2900. That's a normal silver bar that is the most common to sell. Now let's imagine that we're a silver trader and we see people every day come in and buy silver and they have no idea what they're doing. One day you decide to take a drill and take 1lb out of the bar and replace it with lead. Well, lead is like $2 a pound so you've just made $462 by lying and cheating the buyer. But it never ends with a little. Once you see that you can get away with 1lb you'll move up to 2. Then before you know it you're selling 6 pounds of junk and silver plating it with the .25lb of silver. So you have about $120 in a bar you've sold for $2900.

This is what we do with our lives. We start off pure children though born into it, not knowing sin and from there start cheating God. Now God isn't an unsuspecting buyer though. Even back when God was squashing people like ants they still tried and tried to get one over on him. So what does God do? He adds a little heat which melts the silver plate and reveals the deception underneath. What does God want? He wants us sold out to him completely. Jesus wants the best bride. He doesn't want a cheap Vegas hooker as a bride. So he adds heat which if we react right will provide purer silver in return. This is why Peter says we should rejoice in this type of testing. Why rejoice? Because God has seen you fit to even try to refine and test. When God says he will purge away our dross what he means is that he will remove those impurities. Dross is what usually floats to the top when you melt a metal. It may be Tin or lead or some other impurity, but in the end it gets removed and thrown out. Though I run from tests and really find no revelry in being tested, I love the idea of being made purer for Jesus.

I read something yesterday that I really loved...

John 14:16-17 (NAS) "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you."

With this commentary:
"The eternal purpose of the Holy Spirit is to bring us home to Jesus Christ as His eternal, spotless, bride."

"The Holy Ghost does not come to entertain, to provide signs and wonders and miracles just to thrill us or make us feel good. No, every one of His workings has this divine purpose: 'I'm preparing a bride.'

"The work, ministry and mission of the Holy Spirit is singular: It is to wean us from this world... to create a longing in us for Jesus's soon appearance... to convict us of everything that would blemish us... to turn our eyes away from everything but Jesus... to adorn us with the ornaments of a passionate desire to be with Him as His bride!

"The Holy Spirit must grieve as He beholds pastors and evangelists today turning His ministry into a circus. The Spirit cannot bear the manipulations and fleshly showmanship, all done in His name! I couldn't begin to explain to you some of the recent gimmicks I've heard about that are used to try to create a sense of His presence. How grievous that must be to God's heart.

"If the Holy Spirit is at work in a church, then every song, every word of praise, every note of every instrument are all given unction by the Spirit to exalt Christ. The Spirit is doing what He has been called to do--presenting us to our Bridegroom in all His glory and majesty.

"In every healing, prophecy and manifestation of God's glory in His house, the Holy Spirit is at work, saying to us, 'This is the love of your espoused--this is what He is like. Isn't He wonderful? Isn't He kind, gentle, considerate, merciful? Yet you're seeing only a glimpse of Him to whom I lead you!'"

I so love the thought that here is the Holy Spirit coming into our lives to remove the impurities. To continually put us to the test so that we can see our dross and get rid of it. I never want to be away from the testing or God's discipline ever. I appreciate God's love and am flattered that he would spend enough time to even consider me for his Son's bride. Just give that a little time to sink in. One day we will be there with Jesus dressed in white raiment. Thoroughly purged and tested. Pure and clean from his washing of our sins with his blood. It's this that Paul and Peter tell us to take joy in. So maybe I should print this out and keep it for times of testing then I can look upon this instead of the test and hardship. So when we're going through a test we should focus our eyes on our bride to be and let him know that we're preparing ourselves for him. What an awesome God we serve!

careful

A.W. Tozer: "The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect... Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in His name... We want to be saved but we insist Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of Mansoul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility."

Despised

Genesis 25:²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.^f]">[f])

³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

So last week the Lord put this on my heart and I went and read this verse. I was all prepared to write about how Esau had easily given up his birthright. So I did a little research and found out that it wasn't necessarily easy thing. See, in the next chapter it talks about a great famine that came. So great that Isaac was thinking about going to Egypt. Esau was a hunter outdoors type while his brother was a homemaker Mama's boy. So there Esau was out living off the land by himself or maybe with the Hittite women he married (it doesn't say). But then famine came and food became scarce. So I think it was an act of desperation that he came back home to find Jacob cooking some stew. I imagine that he would have given his brother anything because he was probably near death and literally starving. See, I had never caught that a famine had started and thought it was just that he was out hunting one day and came back a little hungry. But the result is the same. He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. Which gets me to thinking...

At what point are we selling our birthright for sin? You know... I believe that man is sin. I also believe that there is no way we'll ever not sin. But I do believe that willful big sins committed over and over again will separate us from Christ. There is a time when the Holy Spirit will convict you of a sin and then you have a choice. Either follow the Holy Spirit and eliminate this sin from your life, or eliminate the Holy Spirit from your life and follow the sin. You really can't have both. Sometimes it's a really easy thing where you can just change your environment or thoughts and that sin in your life is gone. But then there are habit sins. Maybe it's drugs or alcohol, maybe it's pornography or even adultery. Things that are huge sins and you may quit for a day, but then it's back to the same old thing. It's these sins that you MUST depend on Jesus Christ combined with the Holy Spirit while leaning on God's love and direction that will get you through it. And then it's not easy. So which are we going to be? Esau selling his birthright when the body became hungry, or Jesus who stood his ground to the Devil when tempted? See, even though Jesus was hungry since it was over 40 days since he had last eaten, He didn't sell his birthright. Everyday our body gets famished from Earthly lifestyle. Everyday we have to make a decision... are we like Esau or are we like Jesus?

For everyone reading this I encourage you to listen to the Holy Spirit in your life. I encourage you to start today to rid your life of habit sins that destroy your relationship with Jesus. It's through the Holy Spirit that we can get the strength to overcome these sins. Even with the Holy Spirit it's still a daily crawl over razor blades, knowing that with one little wrong decision you could ultimately destroy everything. The encouraging thing is that we're also one little right decision to coming back and restoring our relationship with Christ. So we need to check our relationship status constantly and see the Holy Spirit as guidance. God wants us to seek his face, which means that it's our responsibility to constantly strive to be in his presence. I think it's a great time to lay down our sinful habits at the alter and make this the year that we draw near to Jesus. Which is more important, the stew or the birthright? Which do we want, a life of death or a death of life? I don't want to despise my birthright. I want to be with my Creator and walk with my Savior. I choose to endure and draw close and let the Holy Spirit guide me and protect my steps.

1/02/11 part 3

So now I messed up the order... I'm editing and writing this to put it on top of part 2

1/02,11 part 2

Sorry y'all I seem to have forgotten that I needed to change videos after 15 minutes so I missed a few min until I realized my folly.

1/2/11 part 1