Friday, Feb 06, 2009

TWG - February 6, 2009 - Lovin' the World

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Now, let’s see, what did I do yesterday? I know it was a busy day! I worked on the bulletin, announcements and men’s retreat. I spoke to John Gardin for a while on the phone about men’s retreat. We plan to meet today to talk some more. Bill and Jim were in as they have been lately working on the entryway. It looks great. Carl P stopped in to give me carpet samples. Now all we have to do is decide on which one. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone to pastors Mike Ruyle, Nate Shin, Stan Paoshel and Shelley Gayle about men’s retreat. Then I went to Bible Study. We had a great time… you should have been there! I put a picture of our Super bowl party group on the blog at http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com. Check it out. We’re all wearing our 3-D glasses

Today is February 6, this is time with God, I’m Pastor Dennis - I’ve been waiting here for you. Welcome to our life transforming community. TWG is a complete turn of events; it is a 180 degree turn around. God is changing us and turning us around as a community. This is not business as usual, this is life transforming, this is spiritual, this is essential.

Today's Scripture reading is Joshua 16; Psalm 140; Luke 1:1-25
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com

Today’s thought comes from 1John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

The World: There are 197,060,800 square miles that comprise our planet… 71% of our world is covered by water! The Earth's crust contains over 2,000 different minerals. As of February 2009, the world's population is estimated to be about 6.75 billion. So when the Bible says, “Do not love the world” is it talking about the planet itself? The dirt below our feet? The 6.75 billion people on our world? None of the above. The Greek word for world is “cosmos.” From it we get words like cosmopolitan (common to the whole world, sophisticated) cosmology (a philosophical study of how we got here and what our place is here) and our English word cosmos which means our world or universe as an orderly system. We are not to love the world system. The world system is a set of philosophical ideas – some call it a “world view” that the educated or sophisticated in our world have adopted as “the facts of life.” Some examples… Evolution is a world view. So is hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure). As is materialism (he who dies with the most toys wins). And so are many religions. Many of these views synthesize and mix with each other to make up a person’s world view. If this is getting too complex, let me make it simple. Any idea or view or opinion that does not harmonize with God’s Word is of the “world system.” The world system is at odds with God’s system. You can’t honestly embrace both. It just won’t work. The one is at war with the other. There are three branches of the world system. #1 The flesh. The favorite saying of the flesh is “if it feels good, do it.” The lust of the flesh is hedonism – the love of pleasure resulting in immorality and abuse. We’ve got that. #2 The eyes. The lust of the eyes is materialism – the love of things. It’s jingle is “he who dies with the most toys wins.” #3 The ego. The pride of life is elitism. It expresses itself in education (I’m smarter than you) society (I’m better than you) politics (I’m more powerful than you) and many more. These are all things that the worldly wise man wants. But when it’s all over, and we pack up and go to our eternal home, not one little ounce of it will have meaning. It’s all going to go. All your pleasure, all your stuff, and all your accomplishments will evaporate like rain in death valley in August. Only one thing matters; the will of God. It will last forever. Just do it!

Dear Jesus, I need to love you! You are all that matters. You are all that will last. Help me to become so acquainted with Your Word that I come to know what is truth and what is error. Help me to reject the world and it’s system and instead love you with all my heart, soul and might.

We make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 10:30 AM |   

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