Wednesday Night January 02, 2013
scriptures: James 1, Psalms 51, Matthew 26
audio file: click to open in a new window or right-click to download
Notes
Considering the song, One Pure and Holy Passion
Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Jesus give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You
What are you planning to do this year to be closer to the Lord and serve Him more this year?
Our goal in Christ is to do the maximum, not the minimum. Whether you do the maximum or the minimum shows how much you care about something.
You have to give true effort to get results. Different efforts get different results. Do you give hearty effort to expect hearty results?
Considering the questions of journalism, who, what , when, where, and to what extent.
WHO
To know and follow hard after God, the change must begin with me. I have to give true effort.
James 1:22
A person who continues to talk about what they are going to do but never do it may deceive people for a while. Eventually they are only deceiving themselves. Know that God is not
fooled.
To do something different requires a change of heart.
Psalms 51:10
If you are trying to know God more, you need to ask God to help you, to get all of the things removed that need to go. Like cleaning the attic of things that are not helpful but you are
holding on to. Want your heart to be clean to make sure there is room for God to take His proper place.
WHAT are you willing to do to know and follow hard after Him
Study more. Pray more, communicate more, this will help you grow closer to God.
WHEN do you want to know more and follow after Him. Now is the time. You cannot take God or the opportunity to change for granted.
Scripture doesn’t give good results for the lazy, sluggard. Don’t delay to do what is needful.
WHERE does the change need to occur for me to know and follow hard after God?
In my heart, attitude, in the things people can see and cannot see. Change in the heart will show in all the places in my life.
Psalms 51:7-10
Going hard after God. Like people say that someone fell hard for someone else.
Matthew 26:41
Just wanting to change is not enough. You have to watch, avoiding temptation and praying so that you can be successful in the Lord.
TO WHAT EXTENT will I go to know God more and to follow harder after Him?
Consider body builders. They may spend large amounts of money, put forth a lot of time.
When they do those things, you can see effects.
What is your diet in God? Are you filling up and supplementing in the word. Are you exercising? Are you keeping your body flushed from impurities?
3 Body buiding exercises. How about 3 simple bible-building exercises? What if you replaced body building with bible building.
Bible building exercises
1. not Push-ups, but PRAY-UPs
You want to be prayed up so that you can have strength to deal with life.
2. not Bicep Exercises, but PRAISE & WORSHIP Exercises
How cut would you be, how much staying power would you have if you put this energy into worshipping and praising God?
3. not Ab crunches, but BIBLE READING
A lot of time and money can be spent on body building. How do you look in your bible building?
If you do what you are supposed to do in God, you get strength, stamina, psychological health.
The Axe.
What are you going to do? Bear fruit so that your tree doesn’t get chopped down.
Be a doer, not just a hearer.
Don’t let anything sway you from serving God. How are you going to be better this year, this month?