Name:David, FOBulous, Hyu Country:United States State:Texas Metro:Dallas
Interests:What's on my mind these days:J.C., Work, Great Music, Great Food, Recording Music, Playing Piano, Dance, Sleep, That girl... Expertise:Researching, Wasting time, Deep conversations, Analyzing, Being a son of a Pitch, Shakin' it fast, Expressing my opinions, Liberal Conservative Occupation:R&D Engineer Industry:Healthcare
Wanted to jot down some notes from this past weekend's sermon at Mariners taught by Pastor Kenton Beshore because it was SO convicting. 1 John 5:13-21 "First John... then Me" Series
Preparing our hearts for Thanksgiving
4 Spiritual Vital Signs: 1) Faith - we live a life of big, bold, courageous prayers having confidence that God hears our prayers when we pray according to God's will 2) Obedience - we live a radical new lifestyle because we are different from this world: "Before I even know what you're going to say, my answer is YES!" 3) Overcome - this world has a diabolical plan to turn God-given natural desires and twist them with sins and turn them into desires on overdrive (i.e. lust, greed) 4) Love - we live a life of love, a life in fellowship with our heavenly father; when we are loved, that's a GOOD DAY.
Apostle John's last words to us (1 John 5:21): "Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts."
He was telling the church of Ephesis not to let the good things in life become ultimate things in your life.
In the next 30-40 days, the GREATEST DANGER for ALL of us is that we don't guard our hearts and we start to love these good things and make them ultimate things in our hearts. In these next 30-40 days, we're going to SHOP MORE, BUY MORE, EAT MORE, HAVE MORE FUN, and GO CRAZY. And it's going to be SO EASY to lose sight of the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing this holiday season and that is to LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, to be people of GREAT FAITH, to OBEY, and to NOT BE OVERCOME by this world.
So HOW exactly do we keep ourselves from this danger?
Judas vs Mary Judas sold Jesus because Jesus did not do what he expected. Judas followed and obeyed Jesus on a condition that Jesus will overthrow Rome and become King. Mary, on the other hand, was completely in LOVE with Jesus and anointed Jesus' feet with precious perfume because she was SO THANKFUL for what Jesus had given her.
Password into God's presence: "Thank You!" Psalm 100:4 - Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and enter his courts with Praise. Leading spiritual indicator of our life: Thankfulness Thankfulness is wanting what you already have: "I want what I have, it couldn't be better" Contentment is not wanting anymore: "I don't need it" Who's more content? The man with 5 children or the man with $5 million? The man with 5 children because he doesn't want anymore!!
This world's message is: It should be better, it could be better, you deserve better. But thankful people want what they have and they don't need anymore.
Just like a person in the early morning with his/her first cup of coffee who takes the first sip and goes, "Ahhhhhhh," thankful and content people say, "Ahhhhhh" to everything they have.
We're not born content. We need to LEARN to be content. "WANT" is all that is pitched to us for the next 30-40 days. Companies will spend billions of dollars just to make you want. There will be advertisements and catalogs that will tell you that you want things. WANTING is a cancer to our souls. We must not lose our FIRST LOVE. God will only give us good things because that's the only thing on His catalog.
Psalm 118:24,29 - This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it... Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 103:1-2 - Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
We already began rehearsing in preparation for Christmas. Christmas!! But it's exciting! God's going to do more amazing things through the worship ministry.
Some reminders from the past two rehearsals: 1. It's all about the heart. God wants our heart. We need to pray and ask God to take our sinful heart and replace it with the heart of Jesus 2. The answer to God's call for obedience is YES even before He asks us. We need to stop calculating, stop worrying, and just hold on to Him and let Him take us where He wants to take us.
This is one of the songs for Christmas. Kirk Franklin. What more can I say?
