Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008

TWG - July 22, 2008

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TWG - July 22, 2008
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
Leviticus 8; Psalm 59; Acts 15:22-42

Today is July 22, this is time with God, I’m Pastor Dennis - I’ve been waiting here for you. Welcome to our life transforming community. This is your invitation to take one step forward every day in your relationship with Christ. We invite you to do something unbelievably radical. We invite you to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Jesus

Yesterday was a stay at home day. In the morning I mowed the lawn. Out back I hit a big rock and I think I ruined my lawnmower! It is spewing white smoke. Then I did a bit of tilling in preparation to move my shed. And boy do I feel scratchy again today. I don’t know what is in my backyard, but it always feels like poison oak after I mow it down! After that it was time for our first 5 day club. We had seven kids from the neighborhood! Great start! We hope more will come today. Pray for them. I put a picture of Rowdy Ruyle, the winner of the Faster Pastor on the Blog at http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com. Check it out.

This week’s theme verse is 2 Peter 1:5-10 giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble

Faith alone saves, but faith should never be alone. Faith is like Vanilla Ice Cream. I just happen to love plain Vanilla. But for most of you, Vanilla is not enough. You want chocolate chips, Carmel topping, strawberries, bananas, sprinkles and who knows what else! Vanilla tastes just fine by itself but if you add other ingredients, wow! It tastes great! Faith alone is good! But if you add a few sweet toppings like virtue, knowledge and brotherly kindness, wow! Faith is so much better! As Christians, we should exhibit godly behaviors… it’s all a part of the maturity process. You should be adding Christian Character to your life every day. Hey, how about rating your maturity? I’ll tell you what. I’ll give a single sentence of explanation of each of Peter’s eight character qualities and you rate yourself between 1 and 4 on how well you are doing at it. 1 = not doing well at all. 2 = developing. 3= proficient. And 4 = exceptional! That will give you some idea of how “mature” you are in Christ and what you need to do to grow:
1. Faith: Trust… complete confidence in God and his plan for you
2. Virtue: Purity… doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong (defeating temptation)
3. Knowledge: Learning… getting more and more grounded in the truths of the Word of God
4. Self-control: Mastery… to be able to control thoughts, desires and passions especially sexually
5. Perseverance: Endurance… never giving up on God even in the greatest trials and sufferings
6. Godliness: Reverence… demonstrating the proper worship and respect for God
7. Brotherly kindness: Neighborliness… recurrent acts of charity and kindness to your Christian family
8. Love: selflessness… unconditional acceptance mixed with self denial placing the interests of others first
So, take your time and review these 8 qualities. Be honest with yourself and find out where you lack, where you are growing, and where you are strong. Let me suggest a rating scale. 1-8 Poor – you have some serious flaws that must be mended. 9-16 Not so good – You still have a lot of work to do. 17-24 – Fair. But come on, we are looking for maturity. If all you want to be is average, maturity is not for you! 25-32. In the Zone! This is the goal you want to reach and this is where you want to stay. With all honesty… I didn’t quite make it into the zone by my own calculations. Did you? If not, I guess the two of us had better begin praying and make the changes that will lead to maturity.

Dear Holy Spirit! I need your transforming power to grow up in all these 8 magnificent qualities. I want your grace and forgiveness for failing you. Please help me to develop the disciplines needed for a godly life. Most of all I want to reach that one lofty goal: I want to have love!

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

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