8.31.14
It’s All About
Me – NOT!
In a book
called: "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies" (that was
published as Copernicus lay on his deathbed), Copernicus proposed that the Sun,
not the Earth, was the center of the Solar System. What Copernicus did for the
earth, God does for our souls. When God’s Spirit truly dwells in us it’s as if
He taps us on the shoulder and says: “..You are not the center of the universe,
I Am !..” Think about it and repeat after me: It’s not about me. It’s all about
Him. This type of thinking often comes to us slowly, stubbornly, reluctantly,
but it’s true. Life makes more sense when we know our role, when we accept our
celestial and spiritual place. A God-centered life works; it rescues us from a
life that often doesn’t. Discover your place in God’s universe...Pastor Keith
8.24.14
Hold on, not
yet!
Whoa, slow down,
hold your horses. But God I want and need it now! Ever said that? If you are
discouraged because of God’s delay in answering your prayers remember that
delay is not denial. Part of becoming spiritually mature is learning to
understand the difference between no and not yet. I’ve been asked: “So Pastor, is God testing my patience
during a delay in answered prayer?” Well, maybe. But there's a better
chance He wants you to learn the difference between a need and want. He also
wants you to see how patient or impatient you are. How committed are
you? Will you become discouraged when you don't get what you want, on your timetable, or
will you persevere? The "no not yets" of our life are part of God's
bigger plan to teach us to discern, trust, be patience and persist. Just a
Sunday Thought, I pray it helps…Pastor Keith
8.17.14
Are you a people
pleaser? I am not. Don't get me wrong I love people. I want to encourage you,
challenge you and bring as much joy and happiness and love into your life as
humanly possible. But I'm not going to blow smoke at you or fib or try to
impress you. Scripture says: "...we will all stand before the judgment
seat of God...each of us will give a personal account to God..."
When you keep
those verses in mind I thinks it’s going to change what you say, what you do, and
whom you try to impress. It’s kind of like the people-pleaser antidote.
Consider this.
In life you only have one person to please, your creator, the one who made you.
For me, this simplifies life a whole bunch. Ask yourself this question first,
is what I’m about to do or say honor God? Yes or No, simple. Now ask yourself,
who are you trying to win the approval of or trying to please, besides God? Some
Sunday food for thought...Pastor Keith
8.10.14 God, teach me to be wiser. Have you ever prayed that prayer?
Intellectually, wisdom
is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. In
literature, wisdom can be found in the writings of many renowned philosophers
and scholars. Biblically, wisdom is often quoted from the books of Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & the Song of Solomon. Practical wisdom can be
distilled down to maybe this: The
right way to do the right thing. But when I pray: God teach me to be wiser, aren’t I actually
praying, God teach me to listen to You and teach me when and if to speak. Maybe
wisdom is really about knowing when to speak our mind and when to mind our speech. A wise old bird sat on an oak—The more he
saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Lord, make me like
that wise old bird. If you want to be wise use your
tongue to build people up and not tear them down, ask God to make you wise.
Just a Sunday Thought...Pastor
Keith
8.3.14
Cut me some
slack!
No
relationship will make it without gracious love. Want to see that love in
action? Cut people some slack - let things go. The Bible says, “Love never
stops being patient.” 1 Corinthians 13:7a (GW). The Message paraphrase of
that verse says it “puts up with anything.” The New Century Version says it
“patiently accepts all things.” And the New Jerusalem Bible translation says it
is “always ready to make allowances.” How many of us demand perfection from
others and have very little forgiveness when it comes to others making a
mistake. But when we mess-up we become tweaked when we are not given a break.
Gracious love lets some things slide, that is, we forgive because we are
forgiven knowing forgiveness is a two way street. You cannot receive what you
are unwilling to give to other people. If we’re going to have any relationship that
lasts, we’ve got to learn to make allowances for the mistakes of others. That’s
called grace. As you read this post, who is coming to mind? Show that person
some grace; show them some forgiveness; cut them some slack..Pastor Keith
7.27.14
Have
you ever failed at something? I have, several times. Think about it - what is
failure? Failure isn’t failing to reach your goal; it is not having a goal.
Failure isn’t failing to hit your target. Failure is not having a target.
Failure is not falling down; it’s refusing to get back up.
God
has called ALL of us to do something for His glory and His name’s sake, each of
us. But the fear of failure keeps many followers down. I continue to cross
paths with oodles of churched people who are scared of failure in their walk
with God. Often good meaning believers seem to be more focused on failing and concern
with what people think, versus what God wants them to do. Consider this rather hard
lesson: You cannot serve God, effectively, and be worried about failure and the
opinions of others. Proverbs says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” So, move forward towards the
goal, towards the prize, towards the high calling of what God has asked you to
do. Real failure is failing to try. Just a Sunday thought…Pastor Keith
