Our True Family (Luke 8:19-21)

Our family can be the hardest people to accept change in our life. For it demands them to examine themselves which causes them to feel uncomfortable, because of guilt, shame, deep pain, etc., in which they would rather leave ignored. We cannot force change on anyone but it is so easily seen that way with those you live with. They may feel we think that we are better than them now, especially when certain things we did together we don't do anymore. They may try their best to distract us from following God and pull us back into our past. If that don't work then they might even reject us, many are those who have lost their families after accepting Christ. Jesus himself when doing the will of His heavenly Father was trying to be rushed away by His mother and brothers. Jesus response seems quite harsh, "My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God's word and obey it." Jesus point was that as Christians we must forsake all and follow God, even our loved ones. Yes, we are to try to reach them, and make that a priority, which is God's will, but it is not our only call of obedience. So when our family tries to prevent us from obeying God we don't allow it and we suffer whatever consequences therefore may follow. Our true family is now those who hear God's word and obey it. Family is so necessary for our personal growth. We all need support, so when our biological family does not support us we must look to our spiritual family. Our biological family is now our mission field, where we lay down our life to reach, but until they accept Christ we must understand that they are instruments that the enemy can use to distract, and even destroy the work of God in our lives. We all want peace in our homes, no-one wants to come home and fight, it is supposed to be our place of refuge. But, this might no longer be the case, our refuge maybe our home church, and our personal homes are now a war zone, where we fight the good fight of faith, not against flesh and blood but against dark powers, through spiritual warfare. We must learn to not take things personal, knowing the source behind unbelievers and those not yet mature in the Lord. If we are faithful to God and follow His leading, trusting Him with all of our heart, then the promise in His Word that our whole household would be saved will come true.

Coming Out Of Hiding!

Chapter 18 Coming Out Of Hiding! (Luke 8:16-18) Upon it being known that I was saved and attending the local church in my hometown, the response from my peers was that is fine if it works for you, just keep it to yourself. That is our culture, everything is accepted as long as you don't push it on someone else. People have things that they are ashamed of, that they hope remain in the dark, not exposed, hidden, so they can pretend that they are okay. The majority of those in our culture are not looking for help, they want to be left alone, lost in their own sin. So when we are bold in our faith it is offensive to them. Most people hate confrontation, so many Christians stay quite, and allow other people to dictate the atmosphere around them. People will not ask us to turn the light on, they are scared of what will be seen when things are brought to the light. We must choose to turn on the light ourselves. What that means is we fear God not man. We allow Him to lead us not others. We are in the light when we are obedient to His voice. We don't allow our fear of confrontation to dictate the words and actions we offer. Our light will burn as bright as our ability to listen and follow the Lord's guidance. We therefore must learn to never lean on our own understanding but to acknowledge Him in all of our ways, so He may direct our path. His path is the light as long as we are on it He is seen, and what is in the dark comes to the light. So many around us seem to be be bound to their past. Not delivered, burdened down, angry, yet unwilling to to receive help. They seem so hard to reach, that is in our own power. When we are in the light people just seem to open up, they suddenly become transparent, and opportunity to now share the Truth and expose the lies becomes possible. So let us be in the light until the whole world is free of darkness and the Glory of the Lord has filled the earth.

LET THE WORD DO THE WORK

God has so transformed my life and so I expect the same to happen to those around me but for many it don't. If I could make people change I sure would. It can be really frustrating to see people who in Christ have so much potential but just refuse to follow His ways. I feel I say exactly what I think they need to hear and they seem to listen yet no real change follows. Jesus teaches about this in Luke 8:4-15, "the parable of the farmer scattering seed". The Word is the seed, the field is the heart. My responsibility is to give the Word, God's responsibility is to work on the heart. Depending on the condition of the heart will determine the effect of the Word. It takes planting much seed for some fields to produce much of anything. I cannot do what only God can, it is His field not mine. He alone can predetermine the time it takes for change to follow. If I get frustrated it does no good, it makes matters worse, for most likely I will neglect continuing to scatter seed, and I will cause a delay in the work God is doing. The Devil's job is to try to delay change, so I must remain steadfast, and just do my part, and eventually change will come. Many are those whom seem to receive the Word of God yet they have listened to the lies of the enemy so long, that the truth is just not received for long. Then their are others who receive the Word, yet it doesn't go deep, because their relationship with God is shallow, and in time temptation leads them away. While others seem to receive the Word but it is choked out because their lives are so full of the problems and pleasures of this world. Then finally their are those whom have a heart ready, they are willing to be open and honest with God and therefore He us able to grow within them bringing forth His character with a great harvest following. It is not our responsibility to figure out who is best to invest time in, it is our responsibility to simply be lead by God. This is not a marketing business where we examine whom will bring the best results. Each heart is different and we just plant the seed and leave the results to God. We don't have the ability to change anyone, believe me I have tried, the Word alone has the power to transform, so all we can do is work the Word, and let the Word do the work. Some may respond well right away while others may take time but we are never to give up on anyone unless it is God.

Team Up!

Chapter 16
TEAM UP!

Nobody becomes great on their own. With each great person there are many in the background that truly make greatness possible. Jesus himself did not go out and minister on His own, He took a company of individuals, the twelve disciples, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and many others. Each of these had something to contribute including financial resources that made possible what Jesus did.

God has chosen to limit His ability to His body, the church. The body only functions correctly when each member does it's part. Disability is when parts of the body don't function right. The church in America is disabled because of individualism. Our inability to work together has crippled what we can do.

I have a huge vision of what I believe God wants to do but I can only go as far as the people around me. People don't like to commit to anything, there is such little follow through, so many things are started and never finished. People are so easily moved from one thing to the next. Why? Is it the way we are raised, the consumer society we live in, or are we just shallow people, it's a combination of all.

Are we more led by how we feel than by faith, driven by our emotions more than the Holy Spirit? Are we self-seeking, not willing to share what we accomplish? These are questions we need to examine ourselves with, for each of us will only go as far as the team we form around us. We need help to accomplish God's will, each member of the body has received only a portion of God's grace. We need to call people out like Jesus did, will you forsake all and follow me.

It is amazing to see in sports, players commit to one team their whole career, most players go from team to team. It is hard to build anything with people that are not committed, you give them responsibilities, great possibilities are formed and they leave before they are completed. I have been in my current job for eight years and what a difference it makes in building something great for the future. I find very few around me though willing to do the same.

How can we work together when we are all so different? Through the Holy Spirit! The Spirit unites, the flesh divides. Our flesh likes to be comfortable, it likes people around us that agree with us, that see everything the same, but this mentality keeps us isolated to just a few and incapable of expanding our understanding therefore remaining ignorant in our own ways.

We see the early church in Acts 4:32 were united in heart and mind, they even shared everything they had, this caused them to testify greatly of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and people were added to the church daily. A body cannot be alive if it is divided into many pieces, it is dead. The resurrection of Christ is only made known when He is truly seen through His body united together as one.

Remaining Grateful

The bible says that in serving others we are to expect nothing in return, to give freely as we have been given. The only thing I expect though is gratitude that those whom you are good to are grateful in return. Many times though the people you help still tear you down by fault-finding, not being thankful, making you feel like you can never do enough. Not that I need someone's gratitude to feel good about myself, it just seems it should be the natural response.

When someone has been good to you for so long you get accustomed to it, and begin to expect it, so you hardly even realize anymore how good you got it, unless it is gone. This happens often with our spouses, parents, spiritual leaders, etc. I can see even with my walk with God I am less thankful that I use to be. I am so use to God's grace & mercy that I don't appreciate it like I use to, even my worship is more dignified now, not as openly expressive as it was in my younger days.

Usually the people that are the most expressive in praise & worship are those who appreciate what God has done for them the most. It is those who have been saved from the darkest of sins.

We forget where we would be in life if it wasn't for our heavenly Father. We can become like this religious Pharisee in Luke 7:36-50. We may show some type pf gratitude towards Jesus, like we give our tithes and offering, come to church, hold a bible study, etc, but our love towards God is nothing compared to those who still appreciate what God has done. For we see a woman with deep sexual sin having no decency by interrupting this dinner weeping before the Lord, even kissing His dirty feet and putting perfume on them. Instead of the Pharisee joining this woman in worshipping Jesus He judges Jesus saying "He must be no true prophet for He would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!"

For those of us who have been saved awhile we can be just like this, looking at someone worshipping God extravagantly knowing they are still in sin and thinking who gives them the right to worship God like this? Well the answer is, Jesus does?

Jesus gave Simon the Pharisee a lesson which He does with all of us who begin to become religious, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. Jesus came to save sinners, and we are all sinners apart from Him, the only way sin is overcome is by drawing near to Him. Worship is not us celebrating how good we are it is celebrating how good He is. Then as we draw near He cleanses us from and empowers us to overcome sin.