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Church on The Rocks Devotionals

money_pit_yj

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Oct 28, 2013
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Collierville, Tn
I try and send out a devotional a week on the facebook and email list. I'm going to include it here as well. If you wanna read it and share awesome! If it sucks and you hate it PM me and let me know!!! Also if you want to be added to our email list and keep up with everything we are trying to do, please email me at [email protected] and I will add you to it. Stay tuned, we are working on some things later in the year! Here is todays devotional (or incoherent rambling :dunno:)

Salt Life
We have all seen them, "Salt Life" stickers on the back glass of cars from Pensacola all the way to Nebraska. What does it mean? Salt life is an online store specializing in beach stuff. They have everything from flip flops to UV fishing shirts to swim suits. Through their clever marketing they have built a brand that transcends proximity to the ocean and literally has spread nationwide. What if I told you that as Christians, we are to live the "Salt Life"? Before answering such an odd question, look at what salt is and does. It is a small and grainy substance that is used for flavoring, preserving, purifying, and providing nutrients. The Israelites were told in Leviticus to season all their offerings with salt. Later in the New Testament Jesus commanded the disciples to be salt and light. Matthew 5:13 reads "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." Jesus knew when teaching this, that He was going to leave the disciples, and He knew that He was the unbreakable covenant or the salt covenant with man, so He passed this wisdom on to them and us as believers in his word. The disciples were the salt of the Earth, and as they taught and evangelized, they created more salt. Nothing has changed in 2000+ years, and to this day WE are called to be salt. The flavoring of God's Grace in our life, the preservation of life through Faith in Jesus, and the purification from our sin through His death burial and resurrection are all rewards we receive through a relationship with God and are all attributes of salt. As we grow closer to God, we become more salty and, just like real salt moves to areas of lesser concentration, his spirit will lead us to people who need Him. If we are not striving to know God more, and striving to do as Jesus did and make disciples and following His command to be salt and light, we are "not good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot". Apart from Jesus, we will be trampled on and ground up into dirt. Today, make the decision not to be thrown out and trampled underfoot and Live the Salt Life. Strive to know Christ more each day. Bless your friends and neighbors. Pray often with purity and purpose. Encourage those who are down. Seek out and love the lost that they may see Christ in your life and ask Him into theirs. Be the same man in the world Monday through Saturday that you are in church on Sunday.
 
Here was last weeks:

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he lacked imagination and he never had any good ideas. His company, Disney, now makes billions of dollars yearly on merchandise, theme parks and movies. Akio Morita's first product was a rice cooker that burned the rice rather than cook it and only sold 100 units; he later founded, with his partners, Sony. Elvis Presley was fired from the Opry in 1954 and told the only way he was going anywhere was driving a truck. What do all of these men have in common? They did not let their failures define them.
Aside from Jesus himself; Moses, Peter, and Paul are three of the most recognizable men in the Bible. Looking at the resume of these three men is astounding! Moses led the Israelites out of captivity. Peter preached at Pentecost and saw 5,000 people come to Jesus as their Lord and savior. Paul was the first missionary and helped establish the church we know today, as well as write a major portion of the New Testament. It is hard to argue against the impact these men have had on our society; their lives and willingness to let God use them to change the world are still influencing people daily, but what some may not know, or sometimes forget about these three men is that they had major failures in their lives before God used them. Paul and Moses were both murderers. Paul was actually on his way to kill more Christians when he met Christ. Peter denied Christ three times prior to the crucifixion just weeks before Pentecost. These men made HUGE mistakes and had EPIC failures!
What if each one of these men would have let their past define their future? What if each of these men decided to stay on the path their mistakes led them to? All of these men literally changed the world but they did not do it on their own. Each of these men allowed God to use them despite their past failures and the world is different now because of that. You are not defined by your past mistakes or failures, you are not ruined by poor decisions, no matter how much you have messed up, God can still use you. God has a plan for your life, don't let your mistakes lead you off the path God set for you. Submit to God and let him live in you. Let Him abide in you and free you from your mistakes and failures and heal your heart. Paul writes in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior and we turn our life over to Him, we are a new creation, just like Paul and Peter and Moses. We are no longer defined by what WE have done in the past, but what Christ has done for us and what HE will do through us. Let your story begin today! Surrender to HIM!!
 
Keep it up! Good stuff. If others don't wanna see don't click on the thread but I hope they do. my random thoughts from this week.

"Christianity" and "Christian"are terms used to describe believers by non believers. Therefore I am no longer a Christian. I am a disciple. That's what we are called in Jesus's word.

The church's only purpose is to remind us to "love" him and each other. When it has different agendas run to another.

It's a parents job to make sure our children become followers of Jesus not a youth group, church, or church camp.

God only wants us to love each. That's it. It's that simple. But if someone tries to threaten your life or your families life shoot them.

We need to do try and look at the ones we hate with God's eyes. God loves us all even our enemies. They will no longer be enemies if we do it.

Happiness and love is not real unless it's shared.
 
I'm not going to lie, this was a hard one to write. Very hard to put what is on my heart on paper without sounding judgmental or crazy. I hope my rambling does not blur the message.

The Fight Club Part 1
The first rule of fight club is to fight the right fight. Many people may read that and be confused why they are reading about a fight club in a Christian devotional. As Christians are we supposed to fight? The answer to that question is without a doubt, yes. One of my favorite verse is Nehemiah 4:14 "After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." The command is to fight for your families, for your sons, and daughters and wives and homes. In the passage above, the Israelites are rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, to protect them and keep their enemies from taking them over, and allowing them to return to being able to freely worship God. They are instructed to continue their work and keep one hand on their sword as well as to back each other up and protect each other as they are working. It astounded their enemies and the walls were eventually rebuilt. They knew their enemy and they fought their enemy and succeeded in their goal.
As Christians today, our goal, our command is to make disciples of Jesus Christ and to spread the good news of the Gospel to the far reaches of the earth. We have somehow over the past 50 years made it our goal to bicker and argue amongst each other over doctrinal issues, as well as making public stances about what we are against. If we look at our facebook pages, daily conversations, and reading materials we have a very clear picture of what we are against and what we are fighting. Is it important to know what we are against and to make that known? Yes it is important, but we need to do it on a personal level. If we spend all our words and energy telling people what we are against, then we will have no audience when we begin telling them what we as Christians do believe in.
Unless it is a physical altercation, the fight is not between you and another person, the fight is between Good (God) and evil (satan). Make sure you are fighting the right fight, Ephesians 6:10-12 says "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." I love this verse. It tells us what we are to do (be strong in the Lord), how we are to do it (put on the full armor of God) and who we are fighting (not flesh and blood but the rulers of the dark world). The Israelites job was to rebuild the wall and allow God to protect them. Imagine the outcome if they had spent their time arguing over how to build the wall, which family would fight and which would work or so on and so forth. Our job is to make disciples and spread the Gospel. Imagine the outcome if we would stop arguing began to walk as Jesus and his 12 disciples did? Jesus and the disciples walked in love, they lived amongst the lost, prayed for them and used every opportunity they had to tell the Truth of Jesus Christ, and the world has not been the same since. Face your battles using the truth of the Gospel, pray for your enemies and allow God to be glorified as you fight the right battle.
 
Dang, so much for weekly devotionals....

The Fight Club Part 2
The second rule of Fight club is fight with the right tools. We have all heard the saying "bringing a knife to a gun fight" when someone is unprepared for something. What if I told you that God lays out the tools we are to use as we fight our fights? Ephesians 6:13-17 reads: "13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." How does this apply to the fight club?
We already know our opponent is Lucifer, who was the brightest of all angels and cannot be defeated by man's powers alone. We know he is the master deceiver and looks to win at all costs, so look at the tools God has given us. Start at the top with the helmet of salvation; before we can fight the fight, we must believe in our mind and know that Jesus died for our sins and rose again and is seated at the right hand of God. That helmet protects our mind, the brain, our processor that controls the rest of the body; a renewed mind allows us to discern God's will and lead us through battle. Now we move to the shield of faith. Without the shield of faith, we are not fully protected. We believe in salvation and as we proceed into battle our faith is what shields us from the flaming arrows of the devil. "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). We exhibit our faith in Jesus Christ by following Him into battle where he calls us, wielding His shield. Next we see the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate guards the heart, our righteousness is a product of our belief in Christ and our Faith that he is our savior. Romans 3:22 says "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…" Our breastplate of righteousness ensures our heart is protected from pride, hatred and bitterness and our motives are to win the fight for God's glory. The belt of truth is God's word, the Holy Bible, God's written account to us that holds all his promises. This belt holds together our suit of armor and allows us to forge into battle knowing we are girded with God's inerrant timeless truth.
Up to this point all of our armor has been defensive, protection for us as we enter battle. Now we get to the sword of the Spirit, our offensive weapon. There is a difference in a sword and the sword of the spirit. The sword of the spirit is more powerful than any sword we can humanly wield. Our faithfulness and belief in Jesus Christ as savior, our pure hearts, and armor girded by the belt of truth allow the Holy Spirit, God Himself, to be our offensive weapon. We proclaim His name, His truth and allow the Holy Spirit to pierce the heart of our adversaries and lead them to Christ. We finally get to our feet, which are fitted with the Gospel of Peace, our calm in any storm, or battle. No matter what the condition of the road is, we are protected by the Gospel of peace.
None of what Paul was writing about in this passage was meant for a safe and complacent life. The people He was writing to were facing intense persecution as they tried to spread the good news of the Gospel. Their mission was the same as ours is today, to make the Gospel known; and their adversary was no different now than he was 2000 years ago. Do not get distracted and believe your fight is against man, we are fighting a far more dangerous adversary, but God has equipped His children with the power to change the world. Fight the right fight with the right tools, allow God to be your commander and watch the impact it makes in the lives of those around you. Pray for your enemies and allow God to be glorified and exalted as He leads you through battle.
 
Another hard one to write, especially since I love a good old fashioned argument!

Jesus Talk
2016 has, thus far, been a very tumultuous year for our country. With the election looming, civil rights movements happening, and terrorism both domestic and foreign dominating the news, there are a lot of people saying a lot of things. It seems now with the unprecedented access we have to an audience thanks to social media everyone freely and unashamedly voices their opinion. Browsing social media, one thing is evident; people have a bunch to say. James 1:19-20 tells us "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." By addressing "brothers and sisters" James is speaking directly to Christians. In the time that James is writing this, Christians were being persecuted, they were being hunted and punished for their faith in Jesus Christ. The world was out to eradicate the Christian faith and in the midst of their trials James tells them to be slow to speak and slow to anger. James did not tell them to stand up and post all over their Facebook pages who was going to hell and why, or to be openly against a people group or politician; James simply said "Calm down, don't get mad and make sure your words honor Christ." James is not telling them to roll over and play dead, he is simply telling them to listen to what folks are saying and be slow to react. We see again in Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Think about your responses to the things you hear either on Facebook, twitter, in conversation or in the newspaper and ask yourself if those responses glorify and honor Jesus. Jesus faced more harsh criticism and opposition than you or I could ever imagine, yet he still did not let that opposition drive him to sin. Next time you are faced with an opposing view, right or wrong, take a few breaths and let Jesus purify your heart so that your answer honors and glorifies him. While we are talking about the tumultuous time we are in, be sure to pray fervently for our country, and that Christians, through the Holy Spirit of God would be a catalyst for revival. God is faithful, and He is still in control. God Bless!
 

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