This New Year

Somebody asked me if I had a new year's resolution the other day. I replied "It is good to have goals in this life so that you can intentionally be striving to reach them. I have goals, but that they are life goals."  We never have to wait for a new year to begin to begin again. We are give new opportunities every day. Life is so short! If we have no goals we'll waist our time quickly. I want to make the most of my time because the days are evil Ephesians 5:16. I want to live for God's glory. I can do nothing apart from God's grace and power John 15:5.


I want to glorify God in my thoughts, words, and actions. 1 Corinthians 10:31 That is how I will divide my list. Here are a few of my life goals.

Thoughts and Attitudes

*I am working towards having a meek and quiet spirit which is precious in God's sight. 1 Peter 3:4

*I want to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

*I desire to practice contentment. Discontentment lead to the first sin and leads to all others. Philippians 10:1

*It is my goal to have a humble submissive attitude as did Christ. Philippians 2:5-8

Actions

*I desire to study God's word daily. Matthew 4:4
*It is my goal to memorize scripture so that I might not sin against God. Psalm 119:11
*I want to boldly and humbly share the gospel. Mark 16:15

*I want to honor and obey my parents. Ephesians 6:1-3

*I don't want to keep a record of wrongs, but I want to forgive just as Christ forgave me.1 Corinthians 13:5, Collosians 3:13

*I own nothing, and I want to be a good steward of the earthly things God has given me. 1 Corinthians 10:26

*I want to serve others and consider them better than myself. Philippians 2:3, 1 Corinthians 13:5
*It is my goal to never pay back evil for evil, but to overcome it with good. 1Peter 3:9, Romans 12:17-21
*I want to speak for those who can not speak for themselves. Proverbs 31:8
*I am striving to flee youthful lust, deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and guard my heart. 2 Timothy 2:22, Titus 2:12, Proverbs 4:23
*I want to be hospitable. Hebrews 13:12, 1Peter 4:9
*I want to be patient and kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4
*I do not want to be educated in evil, but rather be mature in my thinking. 1 Corinthians 14:20

Words
*I want to rejoice in all circumstances and cease from complaining. 1 Thessalonians 5:16
*I want my words to be edifying to others, and I desire to become a better encourager. Ephesians 4:29

*I desire not to use sarcasm, coarse jesting, filthy language, silly talk, or idle words. Ephesians 4:29,       Ephesians 5:4, Matthew 12:36

*I will not misuse the name of the Lord my God. Exodus 20:7

*I want to let my yes be yes and my no be no. I need not swear. Matthew 5:33-37

*I do not want to gossip or slander. 1 Timothy 3:11

*I want to always be truthful. Leviticus 9:11

*I desire to boast in nothing but the Lord. 1 Corinthians 13:4
*It is my goal not to quarrelsome. 2 Timothy 2:22

What are your goals? Have you considered the ways you use your time. Are you seeking God's glory or your own? I hope you will live intentionally for the glory of God!

Headless

Without a head
I have never met a living headless person, nor a dead one for that matter. the fact is that if you are alive, you have a head. Your head contains a vital organ. Your brain. Without your brain, you cannot do anything. Your brain governs everything in your entire body.  For instance, your heart is important, but it would not beat without your brain telling it to beat. There is nothing that you do aside from your head. In Ephesians 5:^{23b says "}Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body." Christ is the head of every Christian. This means we should do nothing apart from Him.

Christ' Head
God is the head of Christ (1Corinthians 11:3). Christ did nothing apart from his head. Christ set the perfect example for every Christian. We will fail to submit to our head in everything while we are still in our fleshly, but submission should be our goal. We are still on a journey to sanctification, and we must walk by the spirit. We should ask before we act, " What would you have me to do Lord?". We are to have the attitude and mind of Christ. Philippians 2:5  says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:". Consider what Jesus' attitude was toward His head.

*In John 6:38 Jesus said, "'For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."

*John 5:19, 20, and 30 say,  "So then Jesus said to them,' Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgement is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me."

*John 4:34 Says, " Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work."

Who's Your Head?
Is Christ your head? Does He govern your life? To say He is your savior and not your Lord is ludicrous. There is no such thing as a headless Christian, and if you are your own head, you are not a Christian. God wants your whole heart, mind, soul, and life. Surrender to Him. Ask yourself if you are truly living with Christ as your head.

Great Sermon!

I just read a great sermon online by John Piper. It was entitled: "Final Judgement: Eternal Life Vs. Wrath and Fury (Romans 1:28-2:11)" It was not full of fancy analogies, funny jokes, or cute stories, but it was full of wisdom. I appreciated his straight-forwardness and boldness.

Death

"I'm dying! Quick! Save me!" I could hear my brother saying from the other room. My siblings like to play like they are fire-fighters. They will lock a door and then try to get in by using a hair pin or a little key to "rescue" the person in the burning building. A little bit latter I could hear my two year old brother trying to play the game too. He said "I Dyee!" It was very cute! The truth is though, that everyone really will die. Hebrews 9:27b says,"it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement." We will all have to stand  before God and give an account for every word, thought and deed we have ever done. The standard we will be judged by is God's law. Take this quick test to see how you will do on judgement day.

The Test:
*Have you ever told a lie? Even if it was a "white lie".
Scripture says that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire. (Rev 21:8)

*Have you ever stolen anything? Regardless of its value? Listen to your conscience.
Thieves will not inherit the kingdom of god according to the bible. (1 Cor 6:10)


*Have you ever used God's name as a cuss word to express disgust? This is called blasphemy and is a serious sin. The Bible says that God will not hold anyone guiltless who takes his name in vain. (Ex 20:7)

* Have you ever looked with lust? Jesus said who whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart and it is breaking one of the ten commandments. (Mat 5:28) (Ex 20:14)

*Have you ever hated anyone? The Bible says whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and that breaks the sixth commandment. (1John 3:15, Exodus 20:13)

*Have you always honored and your parents implicitly? Dishonoring your parents is a sin. (Ex 20:12, Eph 6:2)

Innocent or Guilty?

These are only six of the ten commandments that we have looked at. How did you do? Will you be innocent or guilty on judgement day? We are all guilty of breaking God's law! According to scripture no one is righteous. We will all be found guilty on judgement day. Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, not even one;". The Bible also says, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,". The law will not help you it will just leave you helpless and guilty before a Holy God exposing your sins. So what are the wages of sin? What happens when we are tried and found guilty? Scripture says the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).

Judgement

And so we are back to our topic, namely, death. We will all die and then we will be judged (Acts 17:31). After this some will go away to eternal judgement, but the righteous to eternal life. (Daniel 12:2) (Matthew 25:46) (Mark 9:48) So who can be saved if "no one righteous"?

Good News!

 ^{1 Corinthians 5:21 says, "}He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Because Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for or sin, we can be forgiven and made righteous through faith in him. 

God cannot overlook our sins because  He is a righteous judge. Justice had to be served. That is why Jesus paid the price for our sins. He died so that he could give us mercy. He died so that we could live. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;" Because of God's grace we can be saved through faith in Christ. Trust in Christ alone for your righteousness. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but through me." (John14:6) Also Acts 4:12 says " and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

You can only be saved through faith in Christ! When you put your faith in Christ, God gives you His righteousness's and a new heart. True faith is always accompanied by repententance. Scripture says even the demons believe that God is one. Yet the Holy spirit does not dwell in them. Trust Christ and repent, and God will fill you with his Holy Spirit and give you a new heart!

Freedom of Speech

In America we have laws that were set up to give us freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Other countries are not this way, and our country may not always have the same laws. Even I wonder how long it will be legal to openly speak about my beliefs, but what I'd like to remind you is that if you are a Christian, you are always free to speak the truth and the gospel. We are not free to speak things that would dishonor God, but we have freedom to obey God and honor him in every aspect of our lives. Remember that the apostles were often told to stop proclaiming the gospel, but they continued to do so. We must obey God rather than men. We do have to love and honor all men, but our highest authority is God. We must obey him first and other authorities second. Click Here for more thoughts on submission to government leaders.

Hiding In My Heart

The Challenge
I have a very difficult time memorizing things. In fact, I learned to skip count by singing a song, and I still sing songs in my head when I do my math. I can remember things for a small amount of time, but they just don't stick. When I don't use it, I loose it. I assumed I just couldn't memorize God's word either until one day something inspired me to try.

The Inspiration
I was conversing with a friend who told me of a teacher she had. He had memorized the whole book of Ephesians. The teacher challenged her, and she challenged me to memorize it. I began trying, but it wouldn't stick. Finally I made a melody up and recorded small portions of it on my Ipod. I listened to a few verses every night before I went to sleep until I had memorized them. I repeated this process until one day I had finished The whole book after about a year. As I was learning it, I went around singing it, and as a result many of my family members have memorized portions of it too.

The Benefits
It is so nice to always have large portions of scripture with you so that you can use them to meditate on if your thoughts begin to wander to sinful places. It is also good to have scripture in your heart when you are witnessing. I like the fact that if Bibles were ever illegal I'd still have some of it with me.  Not only that, but it gives me wisdom when I need to make decisions (Psalm 119:24). In Psalm 119:105 The psalmist compares Gods word to a lamp for our feet. I think this is such a wonderful picture of what scripture is. When God's word is in our hearts we have a light with us to guide our steps.

The Goal
Memorizing scripture for the sake of just knowing it will not profit you very much. You must hide it in your hearts so that you may not sin against God as the psalmist says in Psalm 119:11 "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Our goal for memorizing scripture should be to apply it to our lives. Scripture is one of our defenses against temtation. We need to hide it in our hearts not just in our heads.

The Charge
Do you have a hard time memorizing scripture? Pray God will help you. God has given our minds the capacity to memorize the entire Bible. Don't you think God would want us to use what He's given us well? Be creative and look into different methods for memorizing God's word. You may sing a song, write it on paper, or pace back and forth. Just find whatever helps you to hide it in your heart! God's word is precious! Read it, memorize it, meditate on it, and obey it!

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