Day 53: "The Holy Spirit Tells You What Is Coming"

Day 53: "The Holy Spirit Tells You What Is Coming"

Read: John 16:12 - 15

With the Fall Festival being first thing in the life of our church and with my wife and I manning the "Crafter's for Christ" table with any and all able bodied sound minded volunteers, this morning's devotional effort comes directly from the Devotional Book titled "Listening to God" by Bruce Bickel. Listen to what the Holy Spirit tells you is coming. Hear what the Scriptures are speaking to heart this wonderful fall morning.

"I love the Holy Spirit, and I hope you do as well. I sent the Holy Spirit to be a witness to the reality and the glory of my Son in your life. I love Him for that! The Holy Spirit also empowers you, gives you at least one spiritual gift, convinces you when you are on the right path, and convicts you when you are not. He is so versatile!

The Holy Spirit does something else you probably overlook, so I am going to remind you: the Holy Spirit speaks about what is coming. I am not talking about things in your immediate future, though He will sometimes give you warnings and confirmations. No, I am referring to the big picture of what is to come - namely, your glorious future in heaven.

The Holy Spirit is like a deposit guaranteeing that Jesus is coming back for you, to unite you with all believers of all time, for all eternity. There is nothing you can do to revoke this promise. The Holy Spirit has signed, sealed, and delivered His assurance to your heart (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Whenever you grow weary of this world, with all of its cares and troubles, remember what the Holy Spirit is telling you."

My Prayer Offering: Living God, help us so to hear your Holy Word that we may truly understand; Help us to hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking into our lives this day that, understanding, we may believe, and, believing, we may strive to follow in all faithfulness and obedience, seeking your honor and glory in all that we do; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtSKzHxVqxQ&feature=g-high-rec

Calling Glory, Don't Give Up - Official Lyric Video.

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Day 52: Four Dimensional Love

Day 52: Four Dimensional Love

Read: Ephesians 3:14 - 21

Have you watched any 3D movies yet? Played any wild 3D game systems with your family or your friends? You know the ones that when you play them seem to reach out to you and grab you? I have only seen them in commercials myself because the cost of them is more that I can justify. I do remember being overjoyed when Jaws 3-D came out in the theater and mom, just as excited as we were, brought us those weird cardboard glasses for watching it. 3D films have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a small niche in the motion picture industry because of the very high cost of equipment required to produce and display a 3D film.

I guess that the reason I find myself so focused on 3D stuff this morning is the near proximity of 'Black Friday' and the incredible wave of store advertisements that have appeared earlier than I remember from last year. Everyone trying to beat the other guy in offering the greatest early sales on all kinds of technologically advanced stuff. It just boggles my mind I guess to see all this stuff which spent most of its time far outside my ability to pay for it, suddenly become the source of 'affordable temptation'.
I am not a very techno sort of person and neither is my wife. It takes me a very long time for to make the effort to just keep up and update myself into the 21st century.

So, this morning I find myself drawn by the Holy Spirit to these verses: '18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.' Please let me spell it out for you: Hear it is: There is someone out there praying 'that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints' the 4 (four) D(Dimensional) love of Father God, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Where is the sales sheet for selling that powerful brand of love? It is not sold anywhere. It is God's grace freely given to all.

The power to comprehend: A group of four-through eight -year - old's were asked: “What does love mean?” Their answers vary from the amusing to the profound. Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your McDonald's French fries without making them give you theirs. Love is when your puppy still licks you face after being left alone all day. So, God's Four Dimensional Love? Paul’s prayer that we read this morning reveals to us the wellspring from which the power and the glory of God bear hugs us like our own skin, rises up, raises us up, in our midst. “God loves you.” "Jesus loves you." "The Holy Spirit loves you." The fourth dimension: "I love you too."

Let Us Pray; In the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit Let me be loved, let me be happy, let me be peaceful, let me be a vessel from which others may drink of Your love. Let my family be happy, loved, and peaceful. Let them be vessels from which others may drink of Your great love. Let my friends be happy, loved, and peaceful. Let them be vessels from which others may drink of Your great love. Let those who are my perceived enemies be happy, loved, and peaceful. Let them be vessels from which others may drink of Your great love. Let all CREATED beings be happy, loved, and peaceful. Let all CREATED things be vessels from which others may drink of Your great love. By Your infinite and matchless gift of grace, I pray for the time when the whole world will experience the length, breadth, depth and height of all these things.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt5e8_jN5vA

Day 51: Who Is Really Going To Know If .....

Day 51: Who Is Really Going To Know If .....

Read: Romans 2:12 - 16

I suppose one might call it splitting hairs. I mean if I have an opportunity that has been thrust before me to do something I would not ordinarily do, then why would I not just simply go ahead and do it if I was reasonably sure I would completely get away with it? I mean "Who would ever know I did it" because there was no way I was ever going to admit I did it. It is not that I am always seeking opportunities to try something completely risque and scandalous ('what would my Rabbi think' stuff). I mean after all that sort of behavior might just be a wee bit out of character. But what brings a person to the place where they will willfully do what they know is wrong?

Who are we really when nobody is watching us? Do we really have a conscience that we do daily battle with when it comes to choosing whether or not we are going to cross a line that has been drawn in to the sands of 'right' versus 'wrong'? I mean who is really going to know if .... (1) we believe (actually hope) nobody is watching or is likely to notice? (2) we believe that we can effectively hide whatever it is we did. (3) we believe (actually hope) can effectively lie our way through with a plausible enough
explanation. (4) we know that we are never going to admit it even under great duress or the presence of a frying pan in our faces. (5) It's not going to be in the newspaper.

The hidden conscience of man versus the all revealing Word of God. The battle that began when Adam and Eve clothed themselves with fig leaves and tried so hard to hide themselves from God in the Garden of Eden. Perhaps they thought to themselves in that moment "yeah, we really blew it this time. but if we work hard to hide it .. who is really going to know whether we did it or not?" "I mean we both know there is no one else around so ...!" "I know you wont tell and you know I wont tell so ...!" This is one time I wish I'd been in the woods behind Adam and Eve when God called out to them. I really believe if neither Adam or Eve willingly came out, I would have yelled.

'15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.' The hidden(?) conscience of man and the all revealing Word of God. The conscience is a self-awareness that judges whether or not an act one has carried out or plans to carry out is in harmony with ones moral standards and the revealed Word of God. Everyone of us is born with a conscience with right and wrong written upon it. So who is really going to know if ...?

Let Us Pray: So Lord, who is really going to know if I ......? I know in my heart that .... really was not the smartest thing I ever tried to do and I know that .... was not the most correct thing to do. But I yielded to my desire to try it just that once and now I am finding myself conflicted by .... and I have no earthly idea what to do about it. I can certainly keep ..... hidden from .... but I find myself conflicted about that too. So please call me out of my hiding place that I may do that which is righteous in Your sight. Create in me a clean heart, O God and put a new and right spirit within me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9azOSb_bONA

From the Inside Out (Lyrics) - Phillips Craig and Dean

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Day 50: Cynicism: Believing Everything Your Told.

Day 50: Cynicism: Believing Everything Your Told.

Read: John 14:5 - 14

You know folks we are becoming a cynical kind of people. Please let me explain what I mean to you. What would you say to me if I told you that a single phone call from a company you never heard of located in a place you did not even knew existed would give you a free vacation to somewhere and add $250 to sweeten the deal just for you filling out a survey about something you would not otherwise even take the least bit of time to care about? That couldn’t be true could it? There’s a catch, right? Probably is. Seen any of those infomercials that promote the weirdest "I so wish I had thought of inventing that (not!)" thingamabob they say you can't live the rest of your life without? Point made?

We are a people who have been so over exposed to claims that we know just can’t possibly be true, that we really don’t want to believe in anything unless we can see it for ourselves, or (gasp - actually buy that thingamabob) or look on the internet to see some bizarre set facts that the inventor or the salesman said would definitely back it up. There are those wise and well considered philosophers somewhere in the midst of our culture who sit on top of their mountains of good sense and sensibility saying in loud and clear whispers; “Prove it to me first, then I might believe it.” Right?. Well, I pray so for there are some people out there trying to sell dirt back to mother nature. A deal she cannot refuse?

This morning I want you to really concentrate with me on our passage, and the life changing Truth that we can apply to our personal lives and the Life of our Church as we get ready to move into new sales territory together. As we approach Scripture, I want you to ask yourself a question. We realize that the world we live in is cynical, it’s a world that recognizes that it needs to see something to believe it. Words are thrown around in unrecognizable ways through bizarre unbelievable claims. "Take my word for it" nowadays sounds like a con job not a signal of a persons integrity. In some industries and some cultures a mans spoken word is truly accepted with all sincerity, his oath is very much his sacred bond.

This morning as we dive into the Word of God.... I want you to ask yourself... Do I really believe What I read in God’s Word? In my heart of hearts, do I believe what Jesus said? 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” This is one of those places in the Bible where Jesus claims to be absolutely the only way, the only truth and the only life, the only gateway to God the Father. Thomas doubted. Phillip doubted. My question is this - what about those other disciples in the room? What about you too?

Let Us Pray: Lord, there are many claims in the Bible that are simply extraordinary and truthfully, in today's day and age, very hard to take at face value. We were not there face to face, we are not the 2000 year old flies on the wall that could bring to the people of this worldly kingdom the authentic witness to the words spoken at this moment and the facial expressions of each disciple as they decided whether or not what was being said was something they could, should, would truly believe with all their hearts. Lord, help us to rise above the sin of our cynicism that we too may truly come to believe the Words of Jesus Christ spoken in that very place at that very time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuPC0C9qlXs&feature=related
Sidewalk Prophets - You Can Have Me
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A song about submission and commitment to God, about devotion and sacrifice. "Lord, I give You my life, You can have me"

Sidewalk Prophets - You Can Have Me

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A song about submission and commitment to God, about devotion and sacrifice. "Lord, I give You my life, You can have me"

Day 49: Choose: Perfect Acceptance Or Perfect Hate?

Day 49: Choose: Perfect Acceptance Or Perfect Hate?

Read: Matthew 5:43 - 48

This morning I’m going to give you a quiz, and I don’t want you to think real hard about your answers. I just want you to answer as you feel you should. I want you to raise your hands if any one of these critically important questions relates to you. Be honest now because while I cannot see you wherever you are reading this from - Keep in mind that God can see you. Question #1: How many of you believe you are perfectly accepted? Question #2: How many of you out there believe it is actually possible for someone who is actually still living to become perfectly accepted? Now, how many of you really raised your hand?

Now let us look at it from a bit of a different perspective. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ Now take the same quiz and where it asks if you are 'perfectly accepted', replace the word 'accepted' with the word 'hated'. So now question number one asks you this (and again be perfectly honest here because God is paying attention): How many of you believe you are perfectly hated? Question 2 becomes: How many of you out there believe it is actually possible for someone who is actually still living to become perfectly hated? Now, how many of you raised your hands?

Our reasons to hate are just as numerous as our reasons to accept. We can rationalize anything. Notice that Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” The part about hating your enemy is actually found nowhere in the Bible. The part about loving your neighbor is from Lev. 19:18. We come up with good reasons to hate people. Since it was said that we should love our neighbor, some drew the conclusion, that we should only love our neighbor. The conclusion was then to not love someone who wasn’t a neighbor, that neighbor being a fellow countryman.

In other words, it meant that a neighbor was someone like any one of us in thought, physical appearance in how they dressed, birth race, cultural, societal, religious and spiritual beliefs, and so much more. On the other hand, an enemy is someone who is against us. An enemy is someone who is different from us. It could be our nemesis at work, school, or wherever. It may be someone who
has more money and status or just the opposite less money,less status. Why should we love someone who doesn’t like us? Why shouldn't we hate those who're different from us? It is your choice: perfect acceptance or perfect hate.

Lord, Make me an instrument of your love. May I see each circumstance in my life as an opportunity to grow in your love. May I see my environment as a place to grow in your love. Where I see others differently, help me to see where we are the same. When I am tempted to become resentful, give me your power to love. Lord, grant that I may take no pleasure in criticizing others, but that I may see the very same good in them, as you have always seems to have found within me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7RIuukDINc&feature=related
Above All -- Kaitlyn Maher -- 5yo
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Kaitlyn Maher, the 5 year old who was the youngest ever Top 10 finalist of the hit TV show "America's Got Talent" when she was only 4,

Above All -- Kaitlyn Maher -- 5yo

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Kaitlyn Maher, the 5 year old who was the youngest ever Top 10 finalist of the hit TV show "America's Got Talent" when she was only 4, sings an original arra...

Day 48: Dear God, About Your Idea of Accepting One Another

Day 48: Dear God, About Your Idea of Accepting One Another ....

Read: Romans 15

Dear God,

Truth be told, I really do not know how You do it. I mean this business of accepting anybody and everybody at any given time on any given day. It's just that, I mean I know You are God and all and from what I have read about You it just seems to be about Golden Rules, love one another even (gasp) those who would find great joy and pleasure making my life a piece of misery and even worse those who would act the same way around else they might ever meet. You know, God, and I feel I must really
lay it on thick here that what you are asking me and my friends to do by setting all of our 'junk' aside, rejecting our 'worldly' experiences, is just way way to much to do.

In case You haven't already noticed (although You probably already have), and please do not take this wrong, but there are some remarkably strange people down here that I just have absolutely nothing in common with. Some of them are farmers who get up at ungodly (oops sorry) hours of the morning and who do strange things like milk cows with their bare hands (yuck!), feed pigs (double yuck) in the dead cold of winter. Some are die-hard city folk that love the hustle and bustle and wildness and
unrelenting noise. Personally, Lord, I have nothing against anyone who chooses to live a certain way, raise their families in their own way. But I have to accept them all? They're just so completely different.

Let's face it, Lord, that idea is quite a stretch for us human types. We are so different from one another, that some of us have little or nothing in common that would lead us to socialize or have anything to do with each other. Some of them appear well off - not a financial worry in the world. Others look like they wonder how they will pay your bills next week. I mean, we are all so very different from each other. I do not come right out, walk up to them and tell them that I openly reject them for some vastly silly reason which they know nothing about and that is entirely my own thing. I pray that I am not nearly that insensitive or uncaring. But how do I communicate Your message of unconditional 'acceptance'?

And yet, Lord, here we are. We are humanity at its finest. We are all striving to be the very best, brightest shining examples like Paul wrote: 'We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.' 'Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.' 'May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' 'Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.' God, tell me truthfully: how are we doing with Your message?

Let Us Pray: God of our hearts, You see us as we are and as we live amongst each other. Help us to see and to know things as You see them for what they are, both inside and outside of us. Help us to accept things as they are, even when we may wish them to be different. Help us to experience the importance of acceptance: and that if our eyes and our heart are open we can gain and learn some much needed wisdom from what all things and the vast diversity of people teach us about life. Help me to remember that acceptance means that I can truly live in the world among all Your people, accepting all those who are my neighbors knowing You accept us all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbEhBXxe5vU&feature=relmfu
Hillsong - We The Redeemed - With Subtitles/Lyrics - HD Version
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Hillsong - We The Redeemed - With Subtitles/Lyrics - Faith Hope Love - HD Version You like Hillsong

Hillsong - We The Redeemed - With Subtitles/Lyrics - HD Version

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Hillsong - We The Redeemed - With Subtitles/Lyrics - Faith Hope Love - HD Version You like Hillsong Music? You can buy a CD or DVD at

Day 47: "My Word Will Equip You"

Day 47: "My Word Will Equip You"

Read: 2 Timothy 3:14 - 17

Well, this morning my wife is in a battle with her sinuses so I am going to be posting this mornings devotional directly from devotional "Listening To God" by Brian Brickel. Please take a few moments out of your day to prayerfully consider and meditate upon these thoughts as God takes the time from a busy eternity to speak directly with you:

Hear God's voice as it speaks directly into your life this day:

"I have some big plans for you. Seriously, I do.

You may think I make plans just for the high profile people who preach to thousands, or for those who venture into difficult and dangerous places to share my grace and take my Good News to those who need it most. Yes, I make their plans - but I am just as interested in you, and my plans for you are just as important.

When I saved you, it wasn't only to give you a ticket to heaven. I also wanted to set you on an earthly life journey for the express purpose of carrying out my plans (Ephesians 2:10). What kind of plans? You will find out soon enough if you stay close to me and allow my Holy Spirit to speak to you.

Most importantly, you will know my plans for you as you read and study my Word. If you immerse yourself in the Scriptures, you will discover my purpose for your life, because my Word will equip you - literally, furnish you completely - to do those good things I want you to do."

My Prayer: Lord, Open our hearts and minds by the power of Your Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and Your Word proclaimed, We may hear with joy what You say to us today. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVFzxazTQNM&feature=fvwrel

Agnus Dei by Michael W. Smith with lyrics

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Agnus Dei by Michael W. Smith with lyrics.