August 23, 2009 |
Matthew 20:25-28 |
three commitments
How do we get our focus back and sustain it? One way is by becoming an active contributor to God’s Kingdom. We follow King Jesus and pour out our lives like Him. Jesus was a giver. He was committed to making a complete contribution of all that he had and all that he was. We can make becoming like Him our “One Thing.”
In the book of Matthew, the mother of James and John asked Jesus for seats of authority for her sons on either side of Jesus. Jesus told her and all the disciples that following Him was not a call to be great in the way the world sees things. He said that the greatness they were called to was called servanthood. He told them to follow His example of service by being willing to contribute all that they had in serving God.
August 16, 2009 |
Romans 12:4-5 |
fellowship
Many of you have made a commitment to Christ. You’ve surrendered your life to Him as Savior and Lord. But you’ve lost focus. You started out focused on Christ, but He is no longer the organizing principle of your life. He isn’t the focus.
Perhaps we’ve made following Christ too complicated. We’ve forgotten that following Christ means we have to hang out with the other disciples.
Can you hear Peter saying? “Sure Jesus, I’ll follow you, but do I have to hang out with Judas over there?”
No, following Christ, we become one of His disciples together. Connecting together as we follow Christ has a sharpening effect. It sharpens our focus on Christ.
As Proverbs 27:17 (NIV) says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
In the book of Romans the apostle Paul told the Roman Christians that even though they had followed Christ by an individual decision they must recognize that in following Him they had become one body, connected to other believers. When we follow Christ we make must make an individual decision to follow, but that leads to a corporate identity. We become the body of Christ connected to every other believer.
August 9, 2009 |
Mark 12:30 |
three commitments, worship
Did you know that God cares about what you celebrate? I think it’s because we celebrate what we truly love. And God cares about that.
August 2, 2009 |
Philippians 3:12-17 |
three commitments
In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul said that he had put following Christ first. Paul didn’t say, “These 100 things I dabble in.” No, he said, “This one thing I do.” We can make following Christ our first thing. The text gives three rocks we can put into our lives in order to make following Christ our “one thing.”
