UNFORGIVABLE SIN

Mark 3:28-30
28 " Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" — 30 because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." NASU
** Ok, the age old question….. what is blaspheming the Holy Spirit? I’ve been told all kinds of things and I used to think it was just dying as a sinner without Jesus in your heart. Although that is partly true, Jesus clearly states here what it is if you read the “because” after He talks about blasphemes. “Because they WERE SAYING, HE HAS AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT.” Understand this is a heart matter not a head matter. People in the past have felt like they have committed the un-forgivable sin because of something they said or did, but was it from the heart (do you hate Jesus from your heart) or was it because you were drunk or on drugs or mad and spouted some stupid thing off about God? God knows your heart and if you are even the least bit concerned about whether or not you hurt Jesus or sinned against Him then you didn’t. As long as you have conviction in your heart then that means the Holy Spirit is still with you convicting you and calling you back to the heart of God.

EATING WITH SINNERS

Mark 2:16-17
16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, " Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." NASU
** Isn’t it amazing that we often times follow the example of the scribes in these days. You ask how? I’m glad you asked. It just seems to me that we find it so easy to meet and eat with our Christian friends and family and yet we leave the sinners out in the cold of the world. I have to admit, I love just sitting down with my leaders and fellowshipping with them and sharing my heart. I could make this very comfortable in my life…… but….. Jesus, even though He loved being with His disciples, made time to eat with sinners. He says it very clear…. “ I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Father God, help me have a heart like your Son Jesus. Help me have a passion to meet with sinners and see their lives changed by Your Gospel. AMEN

TAKE COURAGE

Acts 27:25-26
25 "Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. NASU
** I love this verse. Here they are in total loss and turmoil and Paul’s words to them is “to keep up their courage.” Why? Because Paul believed that God would do what He said He would do. So it is with me and so should it be with you…. Whatever you are going thru right now, take courage for God’s Word will not be false. Find a scripture that speaks health, blessings, peace, joy and hope to your situation and believe that it is from God to you (because it is) and then stand and take courage and believe that what God said to you in His Word, will come to pass and you will soon overcome that which is bringing you down.

THOUGH HE SLAY ME

Job 13:15-18
15 " Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.
Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.
16 "This also will be my salvation,
For a godless man may not come before His presence.
17 "Listen carefully to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
18 "Behold now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I will be vindicated. NASU
** I’ve always quoted this phrase… “though He slay me, I will still serve Him.” But I’ve never really looked at the rest of the verse or the verses after it until now…… Wow! Job says in the same sentence… “Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.” Job knew his relationship with God would carry him thru this trial he was going through. How do we know? Look at verse 16… “This also WILL BE MY SALVATION for a godless man may not come before His presence.” In other words, “I will have salvation thru this because I am a godly man and I can and will come before His presence.” Wow! And if that isn’t enough, he finishes up in verses 17 and 18 “listen carefully to my speech (in order for Job to speak like this, he had to be convinced that what he believed was going to happen) and let my declaration fill your ears. V.18 “I KNOW I WILL BE VINDICATED.” I can’t tell you how much this reading has meant to me today…. It makes me remind myself of what I know to be true (God’s word) and walk past all the garbage that is cluttering my path (king county officials, whiners, doubters and people who don’t have the vision I have for this city) and set my face to please God and make my request known to Him.
Thanks Jesus, You’re enough!

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

Acts 16:30
30 and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" NASU
** “what must I do to be saved?” this is what I long to hear everyday! What must I do to be saved? 7 wonderful words that all of heaven loves to hear. What brings a person to this statement of faith? Well in this case it was because of 2 people who even though they were beaten and in prison bruised and scarred, they chose to praise God in the midst of their troubles. Earthquakes happen and bound people (not just Paul and Silas) were set free. Are we leading the same kind of lives as Paul and Silas? When troubles come do we let the troubles be the music for our praise services? If we will use the troubles that come our way be opportunities to honor and lift up Jesus, then we will hear more people say… “What must I do to be saved?”

AFTER HIS HEART

Acts 13:22
22 But God removed him from the kingship and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, 'David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to.'
NLT
** Why was David, called by God, “a man after my own heart?” FOR HE WILL DO EVERYTHING I WANT HIM TO. Is it really that simple? I mean to become a man after God’s own heart? That is, if you think doing everything God wants you to do simple…. Even though David made some pretty bad mistakes and murdered…. Etc. He is still called “a man after God’s heart” hundreds of years later in the New Testament. I think this is just another picture God wants to show us, that He is not interested in your sinless life but your life of obedience and faithfulness to Him. What are you suppose to be doing in your life for Him right now? Are you doing it? What little things have you heard from Him? Are you doing them? You can be like a lot of unfaithful, disobedient children or you can me a man or woman after God’s own heart….. the choice is yours…. What will you do? What will they write about you a hundred years from now?

I KNOW NOTHING

Job 8:9
9 "For we are only of yesterday and know nothing,
Because our days on earth are as a shadow. NASU
** Ok, ok…. You know this is coming if you know me…”There is only one thing that I know, and that is that I know nothing!” But thank God, He knows everything! I’m so glad that I serve a savior that is all knowing and all powerful. I can’t tell you how many times I just come to dead end streets and butt my head against brick walls. But it is at those times that I see a savior that walks beside me and leads me beyond my knowledge. He is faithful! He never leaves me nor forsakes me even when I’m un-faithful, He remains faithful. Thank you Jesus for loving me in spite of myself! I truly love you…. FOREVER!

WE FEAR

Mal 3:16-18
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 17 "They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." 18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. NASU
** “Those who feared the Lord.” That’s me! I fear the Lord! I will never stop fearing the Lord. I only want to speak to other people who fear the Lord because I know that they will keep me walking in righteousness and purity. It’s an amazing thing to be around a group of people who fear God. Knowing that they have the same convictions as you do and that you feel safe to share your passions and convictions without judgment. God is writing a book about us because we are the faithful that have chosen to fear Him and follow after His ways. I can’t wait to read it and see what He wrote about me and you!

CONSUMED BY HIM

Acts 4:13-14
13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. NASU
** Can people tell by the way you talk and how you act that you’ve been with Jesus? Are you reading the Word so much that you’re speech gives you away? Oh that we would be so consumed by the Word of God and be so consumed by spending time with Jesus, we would start to walk and talk and sound like the one who gave His life for us. Have you ever been around couple who spent so much time together that they even finished each other’s sentences? That only comes from time spent together…. Lot’s of time! Do you know what He’s thinking? Can you finish His sentence?

UP FOR THE TASK?

Neh 9:36-38
36 "So now today we are slaves here in the land of plenty that you gave to our ancestors! We are slaves among all this abundance! 37 The lush produce of this land piles up in the hands of the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They have power over us and our cattle. We serve them at their pleasure, and we are in great misery.
38 "Yet in spite of all this, we are making a solemn promise and putting it in writing. On this sealed document are the names of our princes and Levites and priests." NLT
Neh 10:28-29
28 The rest of the people — the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, Temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the pagan people of the land in order to serve God, and who were old enough to understand — 29 now all heartily bound themselves with an oath. They vowed to accept the curse of God if they failed to obey the law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, laws, and regulations of the LORD their Lord. NLT
** All this abundance and still we are slaves! This is so true for the people of God today…. There is abundance all around and yet we have become slaves to the worlds system. We are trapped in the ways of the world and we have compromised our faith and have heaped upon ourselves sin after sin trying to get the abundance not knowing that leaving the world and all it has to offer will set us free to reap a harvest of abundance thru obeying our Lord Jesus. It’s time to do as these people did. It’s time to bound ourselves to an oath. An oath to follow Jesus no matter what the cost. An oath to follow all the commands of God and to put Him first in all that we do….. Are you up for the task? I am!

GOOD WORK

Neh 2:18
18 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king's words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, "Let us arise and build." So they put their hands to the good work. NASU
** I like Nehemiah. He is one of my hero’s of the bible. His heart is to rebuild the wall and he does a great job organizing and rebuilding. I like this verse (v.18) because of its last words… “so they put their hands to the GOOD work.” It’s so important that when you are serving God to make sure that the church you serve in is doing a good work for God. And what is a good work? Anything that brings glory to God, whether it be evangelism or discipleship. These two GOOD works were what Jesus commanded the church before He left for heaven….. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations.” So how about you? Are putting your hands to a GOOD work?

COME QUICKLY JESUS

Luke 21:28
28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." NASU
** I used to think it would be exciting to be on the earth at the return of Christ, but every time I read all the conditions that have to happen before He returns, I feel like a wimp. We are living in exciting times and it does hurt my heart to see hundreds and thousands of people dying all around us in wars and famines and diseases. Yet all of this has been foretold and must take place. We must follow scripture as it says above…. “straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Even so…. COME QUICKLY JESUS.

FAVOR FROM THE COUNTY

Ezra 7:6
6 This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him. NASU
** So….. the hand of the Lord is upon Celebration… and I know that God is not a respecter of persons. If Ezra was granted all he requested from the king because the hand of the Lord was upon him then I claim favor from the king county officials and that they would grant us all that we request from them for the favor of the kingdom of God and for the favor of our church. I break the demonic strongholds that are keeping our permits and progress in check right now in the Name of Jesus Christ!

WHY HE CAME

Luke 19:10
10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." NASU
** Why Jesus came into this world has definitely been lost in the growing of the church today. Being raised in the church, I’ve seen the church over the past years take a nose dive into selfishness and self-serving practices. The church has lost it’s desire to see the world saved to just being saved themselves. I’ve even found myself several times just trying to survive thru the week instead of reaching out to a lost world in need of a savior. Satan is definitely tricky in that he draws us way from the harvest field to our own comfort and self centered goals and ministries. How do we turn these tables? Start witnessing! Just start everyday with this prayer: “Lord, send me to someone who needs to hear about you.” Then spend the day listening to the Holy Spirit directing you. He will send someone in your path especially if you live in the Puget sound area being that 9 out of 10 are not saved. Be obedient when He calls you to step out and shows you that person and strike up a conversation about hope. You can do it! This is why He came and this is why you exsist….. “To seek and save that which was lost.”

FUNNY FOR TODAY

After being laid off from three jobs in the past year, Dewey was hired to work in a warehouse.

Unfortunately, one day he lost control of the forklift and drove it off the loading dock. Surveying the damage, the owner shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Dewey, but I'm going to have to withhold 10 percent of each of your paychecks until we back the damage."

"How much will it cost?" Dewey asked.

"About $5,000," the owner replied.

"Finally!" Dewey exclaimed. "Job security!"