Blog 09-29-2009

Tuesday

PRaP 09-29-2009

 

“Did You Know?”

 

Did you know that Jesus prayed for you directly?  I’m not kidding!  After He prayed for His Disciples He prayed for you!  Here read this it is from John 17:

 

20″My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24″Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25″Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

 

Now that you know this why aren’t you serving Him?  Why is it we cannot come together as one body in Christ to glorify Him?  Jesus prayed for us while He was still here on the Earth in flesh.  Yet we still do the same old thing.  Something to think about today.  He prayed for YOU!

 

John 17

 

Key Verse:

John 17:15
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
John 17:14-16 (in Context) John 17 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Blog 09-28-2009

Monday

PRaP 09-28-2009

 

“It’s All Uphill From Here”

 

For those of you that were at church with us yesterday this is somewhat of a repeat but I think it bears repeating.  In our world when someone reaches what is called middle aged it is said. that it’s all downhill from here.  Well I got news for you that you may have never thought about.  When we are conceived we are actually at the top of the hill and science tells us that when something is at the top and there is an angle of any kind that if you put a rounded object at the top it will roll down the angle.  Also when a woman is pregnant what does the doctor check for during the last days of the pregnancy?  He checks to see how far the baby has dropped, right?  As a baby in the womb you have not sinned therefore you are in the hands of God at the highest point of life.  On the day you are born then sin takes over and you begin your fleshly down hill roll.  Depending on many things around you including genetics and your surroundings will determine the angle of descent and the speed of your roll down that hill and the length of that hill. Some hills start at a small angle and the roll is slow and then they get over to the cliff and roll off of that cliff and begin a spiraling fall into the depths of life but before you reach the bottom of the pit there is Hope and when you accept that Hope which is Jesus Christ your fall will begin to slow and then it will stop and begin to go uphill again.  Although that uphill climb isn’t easy and it isn’t without pitfalls once you have accepted Christ you begin.  It is all uphill from here.

 

John 3

 

Key verse:

John 3:18
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:17-19 (in Context) John 3 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Blog 09-25-2009

Friday

PRaP 09-25-2009

 

“Lord Why Didn’t I Get…”

 

Lots of Christians have become whiners.  Well lots of people have become whiners.  If God is this then why that?  You told me to pray about it and I still didn’t get what I wanted.  If I do this God is supposed to do that.  Well I think maybe you don’t got it and if you got it you didn’t ask appropriately.  Here let me share something from James 4:1-3

 

¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

 

Now many love to hate God because they didn’t get what they wanted and they live in material things and entertain themselves with worldly stuff.  Here let me share something with you from James 4:4-6

 

⁴You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?^{[a] 6}But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”^[b]

 

Now here let me share some hope with you from, you guessed it, James 4:7-12

 

 ⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

 ¹¹Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

 

James 4

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Blog 09-24-2009

Thursday

PRaP 09-24-2009

 

“Da Wolf! Da Wolf!”

 

Wow was I caught off guard last night!  I watched the program called Glee on Fox last night.  The advertisements were showing a High School glee club and how they overcome and when I watched all I saw was the glorification of alcohol, sex before marriage, teen sex, teen pregnancy, and homosexuality.  What I thought it was going to be was singing and dancing and overcoming odds.  Boy did they fool me.  What I really thought was off the hook was the teen cheerleader that got pregnant wears a cross around her neck.  She was the one that got drunk and had sex.  Has Christianity fallen to that point?  Are we no better than the rest of secular society?  The Bible says we are to be a peculiar people.

 

1 Peter 2:9-10 (King James Version)

 ⁹But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

 ¹⁰Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

 

1 Peter 2:9-10 (New International Version)

 ⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

We are a people belonging to God and should live our lives as such.  Watch that you will not be deceived and do not get caught up into the world and the desires of the world for it leads to destruction.

 

John 3:21
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
John 3:20-22 (in Context) John 3 (Whole Chapter)

1 Corinthians 3:16
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
1 Corinthians 3:15-17 (in Context) 1 Corinthians 3 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Blog 09-23-2009

Wednesday

PRaP 09-23-2009

 

“Dry Crumb”

 

God is so amazing in His plan and in His Word.  Yesterday we were talking about distractions and yesterday afternoon I came across this verse in Proverbs 17:1

 

Better a dry crumb with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

 

Can you shout AMEN with me on that one?  I would rather have peace and quiet with a dry crumb to eat than house full of food and mess.  Proverbs 17 has many wisdoms for us.  Take time to read it today it took me 3 minutes.

 

Here’s another really good one that stands out in verse 3:

 

The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

 

Proverbs 17

 

Key Verse:

Proverbs 17:14
Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
Proverbs 17:13-15 (in Context) Proverbs 17 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Blog 09-22-2009

Tuesday

PRaP 09-22-2009

 

“Distracted”

 

Ever feel distracted from what you should be doing.  Sometimes life throws garbage in your path and you get drawn away from your destination.  The inability to focus on the path before you can be blurred if not erased and then it is so difficult to get back on the path.  Sometimes the world will throw a shiny new penny in front of you and you get so distracted by the shine of the penny you lose sight of what you should do with the penny.  Many of you will just see the shine and move on because it isn’t that important to you.  But I bet if someone dropped a shiny new car in front of you that would make you stop.  Well you would have to walk around it to get back to your path anyway.  I feel distracted because of sin.  I allow my mind to wander places it shouldn’t wander and it causes me to lose focus.  Other people’s sin distracts me, and then I wonder why it even takes place, I get distracted by sounds and sights and scenes and tastes and events and stuff and more stuff and this and that and the other.  It drives me crazy!  But I know where to go when all this stuff gets laid out before me when my path gets blurred.  I go in search of the peace that passes all understanding that I can only find in Christ.  Sometimes it takes me a while to remember that but I do go to Him.  At times I cry out to Him and I yell and scream and cry and ask Him why even though I should ask what.  Is this you?  I know it’s me.  Come with me to the place of peace today.  Let’s go sit with Him in His place.  Look He’s right over there and He has God’s Word in His hands and He’s waiting for us to come and sit and listen and read and praise and heal us.

 

Philippians 4  and or 2 John 1

 

Key Verses:

Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-8 (in Context) Philippians 4 (Whole Chapter)

2 John 1:3
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
2 John 1:2-4 (in Context) 2 John 1 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Event 10-04-2009

 www.fuelcybercafe.com

Blog 09-21-2009

Monday

PRaP 09-21-2009

 

“He Sends Us Out Into The World”

 

¹After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ²He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

 ⁵“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ⁶If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. ⁷Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

 ⁸“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. ⁹Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ ¹⁰But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ¹¹‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ ¹²I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

 

This is from Luke 10:1-12.  Ask the Lord of the harvest!  Who is that other than Christ Himself.  We ask for help as workers of the harvest for His hand to be upon us that when we enter a home or enter a town that even the demons submit to us in Jesus name.  Not that they have submitted but that our names are written in the Book of Life because they recognize Jesus Christ who lives in us.

 

Luke 10 and/or Matthew 11

 

Key Verses:

Luke 10:22
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Luke 10:21-23 (in Context) Luke 10 (Whole Chapter)

 

Matthew 11:27
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Matthew 11:26-28 (in Context) Matthew 11 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Blog 09-18-2009

Friday

PRaP 09-18-2009

“Righteous Boasting?”

 

Pride is sinful.  Therefore boasting of ones self is sinful?  So what is righteous boasting?  Here let me give you a good example:

 

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. ¹⁷In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. ¹⁸Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. ¹⁹You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! ²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. ²¹To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!

   What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. ²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

 ³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. ³²In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. ³³But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

 

Boasting of the things that show your weakness.  For we can do nothing without Christ.  Therefore boast of the things that require Christ to get you through and share with others how without Him you would not have made it through that time and speak of His miracles that rescued you from death and how He has fed you in times you had nothing to eat.  Although most of you have never really suffered for Christ there will come a time that we will and once we have stood the test against evil we will still stand, that Jesus Christ will be glorified.

 

2 Corinthians 11

 

Key Verse:

2 Corinthians 11:25
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
2 Corinthians 11:24-26 (in Context) 2 Corinthians 11 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve

Blog 09-17-2009

Thursday

PRaP 09-17-2009 

“Party, Party, Party!”

 

 ³Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

 

Are you one of those that accepted Christ but fell away? Became lost in the world of fleshly desires and stuff?  Do you want to be the honoree at a party only heaven can put on?  Turn from the ways of the world, walk away from your sinful nature and let Jesus come back into your life and allow Him to be the center of your life and then the party will begin.  Not just any party but a party in your honor because you were lost and have been found.

 Luke 15

Key Verse:

Luke 15:7
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Luke 15:6-8 (in Context) Luke 15 (Whole Chapter)

 

Jesus Bless,

Pastor Steve