Promise Land Preparation, Part IV

I commanded Joshua at that time, "You've seen with your own two eyes everything God, your God, has done to these two kings. God is going to do the same thing to all the kingdoms over there across the river where you're headed. Don't be afraid of them. God, your God—he's fighting for you."

Deuteronomy 3:21-22 (The Message)

Your Promise Land is in sight and Your spirit is being stirred...you feel a certain God-Ordained tension to take action and head straight towards it....You know you must move forward and take action but you keep wrestling with the decision to take that step of faith. No worries my friend, because God is fighting for you!

As Joshua as his men were preparing to enter their Promise Land, they definitely encountered resistance. However, all they had to do was remember how God had granted them victory in the past. God is not only God of the past, but He is also God of the present and God of the future...

With your own two eyes, I know there has been a time when you have seen what God has done...have faith and courage because He is going to do the same thing to all the "kingdoms" over there across the river where you're headed.

God Is Fighting For You

So what is holding you back from entering your Promise Land? What is holding you back from downloading that application, submitting your resume, turning in your two-week notice, enrolling in that class, calling that friend? Listen, if you are faithfully diving into God's Word and speaking and Praying to Him on a daily basis, if you are seeking counsel, trusting Him and Obeying Him, and being sensitive to The Counsel of The Holy Spirit, then God is going to reveal The Promise Land that He wants you to conquer.

To conquer it may not be easy...but don't quit before you try...allow faith to shape your decision's instead of fear...you need to identify the giants and the "kingdoms" in your life and have no fear from them..... Don't be afraid of them. God, your God—he's fighting for you."

Surround Sound Steward:Adrenaline Rush

In the "Whatever It Takes" series, I mentioned how to become a "Surround Sound Steward." That is, how to use every thing from every angle God gives you in order to live for Him...



So today I want to mention a new way of thinking and being this kind of a Steward from an approach I learned this weekend from listening to Mark Batterson in his "Wild Goose Chase" series....



>>> Be a steward of Excitement: God created our Adrenal Glands, he created the Epinephrine and Norepinephrine that the Adrenal Glands secrete, and these are the hormones responsible for our Sympathetic Nervouse system that kick in the "Fight Or Flight" response.



>>> One caveat: Being a Steward of Excitement and Adventure, a Steward of The Adrenal Glands is pursuing excitement in God-Ordained ways. Mark has a cool definition of sin that says, "Sin is meeting a legitimate need in an illegitimate way." So make sure you are pursuing this legitimate need of an adrenal rush in the legitimate God-Ordained way!

Crucified Life

Let's TALK about HOW WE LIVE as CHRISTIANS…

REAL VOICE

THERE are SO MANY VOICES that TELL US HOW TO LIVE…whether DIRECTLY or INDIRECTLY…everything INFLUENCES our LIVES…MOVIES tell us how to LIVE. TV SHOWS…OUR FRIENDS…THE INTERNET…LISTENING TO MUSIC can INFLUENCE how WE LIVE...COCA-COLA even has a good theme for LIFE…have you seen the Polar Bear commercials: “GIVE.LIVE.LOVE”. If COCA-COLA has a theme for life and a polar bear to show them how to live, certainly Christians have a way of life...maybe not a polar bear...but a PERSON...the PERSON of JESUS CHRIST! For Christians, the WORD of GOD is to BE THE MAIN VOICE in TEACHING US HOW TO “LIVE”. WHY? BECAUSE the “LIFE” of JESUS is found in the PAGES of SCRIPTURE!

REALLY LIVED

NO ONE “LIVED” a BETTER LIFE THAN JESUS CHRIST. NO ONE LOVED more…NO ONE was MORE JOYFUL and THANKFUL…NO one PRAYED MORE! NO ONE GAVE MORE…NO ONE LIVED MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN JESUS CHRIST! HE is EVERYTHING GOD is and EVERYTHING WE ARE TO BE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS SO AMAZING JESUS’ LIFE? HE LIVED IN ORDER TO DIE! HE CAME to “DIE”. He CAME to be CRUCIFIED. TONIGHT, I WANT TO suggest the ANSWER to our TOPIC: “HOW DO I LIVE?” is this: LIVE A CRUCIFIED LIFE. THAT’S HOW JESUS LIVED! 1 JOHN 2:6 says this: “The one who says he belongs to Christ should live the same kind of life Christ lived. (NLV)

REALLY CRUCIFIED
WHAT KIND OF LIFE DID HE LIVE? A CRUCIFIED LIFE. HIS CRUCIFIED LIFE SAVES OUR LIVES. OUR CRUCIFIED LIFE CAN TRANSFORM our FAMILIES, our CHURCHES, our COUNTRY, our WORLD. GALATIANS 2:20 will SHOW US 3 WAYS TO LIVE A CRUCIFIED LIFE...

I. TO DIE
THE FIRST THING WE MUST DO TO ‘LIVE” IS “DIE”. I don’t want to confuse anyone, so let me explain. Look at the very FIRST part of GALATIANS 2:20

ILLUSTRATION
Question for you...do you like Burger King?

• Burger King is HOME of the “WHOPPER”! Who knows the INGREDIENTS to the WHOPPER? grilled quarter-pound (113.4 g) beef patty, sesame seed bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and sliced onion.
• Burger King is HOME of the BURGER KING
• Burger King is HOME of the SLOGAN “HAVE IT YOUR WAY!”

EXPLANATION
You see, a lot of times, Christians can get caught up in living “BURGER KING” CHRISTIANITY instead of “BIBLICAL” CHRISTIANITY.

• “BURGER KING” CHRISTIANITY SAYS “I am KING”.
• “BIBLICAL” CHRISTIANITY SAYS, “JESUS is KING!”
• “BURGER KING” Christianity is “HAVING IT YOUR WAY”.
• “BIBLICAL” CHRISTIANITY is “HAVING IT JESUS’ WAY”.

THE WAY
JESUS’ WAY is the CROSS. The CROSS calls us to COME and DIE. When Jesus called His disciples and said, “COME, FOLLOW ME”, He was saying, “COME and DIE”…DIE to “HAVING LIFE YOUR WAY” and START “HAVING IT MY WAY”! Just like one of my favorite SONGS: “THE WONDERFUL CROSS”. LOOK at one of the LYRICS –(MEDIA SHOUT)--:

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live

Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

ILLUSTRATION
When a PATIENT is on the OPERATING TABLE in a SURGERY ROOM and “DIES”, the DOCTOR will ANNOUNCE the TIME of death. Let me show a MOVIE clip from the TV SERIES “LOST” to explain what I am talking about—(SHOW the CLIP)—Sometimes, we JUST WILL NOT LET A “SIN” or “OUR OWN WAY of DOING THINGS DIE”. WE KEEP TRY to keep them ALIVE the JACK did in the CLIP. WE need to “CALL IT”. We need to “CALL IT RIGHT NOW”! Right now, as you are ready this blog, what time is it? ome of us need to LET “OUR OWN WAY DIE”…we need to CALL out a SIN in our LIFE that we are letting LIVE and WE need to LET it DIE…cheating, lying, cuzzing, gossiping, lack of serving others, lack of loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, body of strength…I want to give all of us a time of silent prayer right now to announce the time of death of a SIN and SELF. LET’S PRAY. If you prayed those PRAYERS you have “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”. Remember, a person on a CROSS faces ONLY 1 DIRECTION…there is NO LOOKING BACK to the OLD “WAY of LIFE”. May each of you TRULY have JESUS “LIVE IN YOU” and FACE the DIRECTION of CHRIST…which brings us to our NEXT POINT→

II. CHRIST “LIVES IN ME”
LOOK AT THE SECOND PART OF GALATIANS 2:20

A. FLU “IN” YOU
Have any of you ever had the FLU? WHEN YOU HAVE THE “FLU” you have a NASTY VIRUS “LIVING IN YOU”…IT TAKES OVER YOU ENTIRE BODY…IT AFFECTS the way you THINK, FEEL, EAT, and SLEEP. You end up looking like this PUMPKIN—(MEDIA SHOUT)— you are either on the COUCH all day or hunched over in your bed. The “VIRUS” “INSIDE” YOU EFFECTS HOW YOU “LIVE” on that DAY or that WEEK!

B. CHRIST “IN” YOU
When “CHRIST LIVES IN US”…HE AFFECTS EVERYTHING in a POSITIVE WAY…HOW WE THINK, TALK, ACT, PRAY, READ, PLAY, LOVE, LAUGH, ENCOURAGE, ETC! SIN NO LONGER CONTROLS OUR “WAYS”…JESUS DOES! LOOK AT GALATIANS 5:24(NIV)

The SIGNS THAT YOU HAVE THE FLU are:
• Body aches, especially joints and throat
• Coughing and sneezing
• Extreme coldness and fever
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Irritated watering eyes

The SIGNS that “CHRIST LIVES IN YOU” are:
• YOU MAKE SIGNIFICANT TIME TO PRAY
• YOU MAKE SIGNIFICANT TIME TO MEDITATE on the WORD of GOD
• YOU REALIZE your LIFE is NOT about YOU…IT’S ABOUT GOD and OTHER PEOPLE
• YOU FIND WAYS to HELP others WITHOUT them having to ASK YOU
• YOU COMPLAIN LESS and PRAISE GOD MORE
• YOU TRUST GOD even if life does not go the way you expected it to
• THAT’S JUST A SHORT LIST

III. LIVE “IN” CHRIST
CHRIST LIVES “IN” US…WE ALSO “LIVE IN CHRIST”…LOOK at the LAST part of GALATIANS 2:20

A. ALL ABOUT THE CROSS
WE LIVE BY FAITH “IN” THE ONE WHO LOVED US AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR US! IN OTHER WORDS, our life IS ALL ABOUT THE CROSS of CHRIST! LOOK AT GALATIANS 6:14-18.

B. ALL ABOUT GOD and OTHERS (LOVING and GIVING)
WHEN WE “LIVE IN CHRIST” WE DO FOR GOD and OTHERS what HE DID for us on the CROSS: HE LOVED US AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR US! In those 2 WORDS, that’s how WE ARE TO LIVE THIS CHRISTIAN LIFE…(1) LOVING and (GIVING)! COCA-COLA HAD IT RIGHT THE WHOLE TIME: GIVE.LIVE.LOVE!

CONCLUSION

A. PAUL
PAUL SAYS IN GALATIANS 5:6b,14 “THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF IN LOVE…LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”…


I LOVE C.S. LEWIS’ QUOTE IN MERE CHRISTIANITY:

“Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”

B. PRACTICAL
Here is how you can LOVE someone. It's not a "magical formula" but it is designed to make us "intentional" about loving someone...remember, if you aim for nothing, you will hit nothing! Here is--> it's called the "7 times 3 times" rule (7x3x).

Love someone 7 times.

Tell them the Gospel of Jesus 3 times.

There is no telling how the Spirit of the Holy Christ will work on someone with the 7 times 3 times rule...remember, every time we love someone and witness to them about Jesus, we are the 2nd witness. The Holy Spirit is the 1st Witness in their lives...whispering to them about the Lord and Savior...then you come in and "incarnate--(flesh out)" what the Spirit has been telling them.

How do you love someone 7 times?
1. Invite them to lunch and pay for it
2. Invite them to church
3. Take them to a movie
4. Text them an encouraging text message or write them an encouraging letter
5. Tell them something you like about them
6. Pray for them
7. Play video games if you are a guy; go shopping with them if you a girl!
* Think of some more ways you can love them!

How do I tell them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ 3 times?
When you are loving them in one of the 7 ways, ask them if they worry about stuff. First, find a point of connection. While you are pigging out on Chick file, ask them if they worry about stuff. Tell them you do and then tell them how Jesus helps you overcome your worries. Let that be a bridge to begin talking about Christ. Another way is this: ask them what they get most excited about...tell them how Jesus loves when we live life abundantly and how we can use our talents for His glory...find out if they have received Christ as their Lord and Savior...tell them what it means to live with Jesus as Lord and with Jesus as Savior...it's a "Come, Follow Me" relationship. Pray with them...God save you and the people you love 7x3x!

Promise Land Preparation, Part III

Here is the follow up to Deuteronomy 1.19-25. The first part can be found by clicking here. This post focuses on Deuteronomy 1.26-36.


Complaining, Rebellion, and Fear
But then you weren't willing to go up. You rebelled against God, your God's plain word. You complained in your tents: "God hates us...'The people are bigger and stronger than we are; their cities are huge, their defenses massive—we even saw Anakite giants there!'" (From Deuteronomy 1.26-28 MSG, emphasis added).

I wonder how many times God hears us say, "God, where are you?" It would be great if we had the audio files of God. I believe sometimes He is saying, "Why are you rebelling against me?...Why are you complaining?... Where is your fear coming from?" We must hold ourselves accountable if we want to enter the Promise Land. God is waiting on us to Trust Him.

God, your God, is leading the way
I tried to relieve your fears: "Don't be terrified of them. God, your God, is leading the way; he's fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you're here, you won't trust God, your God—this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go." (Deuteronomy 1.29-33 MSG, emphasis added)


Need I say more? Remember what God has done for you in the past. Give thanks to Him. Trust Him to lead you into your future!


Following God Heart and Soul
When God heard what you said, he exploded in anger. He swore, "Not a single person of this evil generation is going to get so much as a look at the good land that I promised to give to your parents. Not one—except for Caleb son of Jephunneh. He'll see it. I'll give him and his descendants the land he walked on because he was all for following God, heart and soul." (Deuteronomy 1.34-36 MSG, emphasis added)


I don't know about you, but the last thing I want is for God to explode in anger because of what I say. God gives us life, He expects us to live for His Glory. I want to follow Him with Heart and Soul straight into The Promise Land!


Promise Land Pearls
1. Big or small? Is God bigger than your 'Anakites?' Focus on God, not your challenges.
2. Praise & Thanksgiving. Praise God and Give Him Thanks instead of complaining.
3. Trust & Obey. Take your energy that you put into rebelling against God and use it to Trust Him and to Obey Him
4. God Our Warrior. God Fights for us, leads our way. Meditate on how He has delivered you in your past and know that He is fighting for your future!
5. Are you ALL for following God with Heart and Soul?

Promise Land Preparation, Part II

Welcome back to 'Promise Land Preparation' Series! You can review part one by clicking here: Preparation To Enter The Promise Land, Part 1


The next two posts will be from Deuteronomy 1. Today's focus will be on Deuteronomy 1.19-25. We will nutshell 2 crucial points today of What God teaches us about Entering our Promise Land


God Has Promised Us The Promise Land - Take It!
There I told you, "You've made it to the Amorite hill country that God, our God, is giving us. Look, God, your God, has placed this land as a gift before you. Go ahead and take it now. God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised it to you. Don't be afraid. Don't lose heart." (From Deut 1.19-21 MSG, emphasis added)


What more confirmation do we need? Fellow Christ Follower, don't hesitate-Take the land. God is giving it to you! No Fear. Your Fear should only be reserved for God, but you shall fear no one else. You shall fear nothing else.


Scout Out Your Promise Land
But then you all came to me and said, "Let's send some men on ahead to scout out the land for us and bring back a report on the best route to take and the kinds of towns we can expect to find." That seemed like a good idea to me, so I picked twelve men, one from each tribe. They set out, climbing through the hills (From Deuteronomy 1.22-25 MSG, emphasis added).


Scout out your land and by all means do your research and due diligence. However, realize that God did not have them scout out their land in order to determine if they should take it or not. To the contrary, God gave them the land to take, so they only needed to scout it out to determine what it was like once they arrived!


Promise Land Pearls
1. God's Promise: Realize that God has a promise land in store for you. Be ready to Take It!
2. God's Path: Know God's path to your Promise Land and do your research. Scout your land, not to determine if you should take it, but instead, to know about it when you do take it!

Whatever It Takes, Part IV: Jesus

Welcome back to the "Whatever It Takes" Series, here we will start part IV of the series by talking about our final point of doing Whatever It Takes: Following The Ultimate Example.

The Mac OS X Dictionary, of course the ultimate of all dictionaries, defines the word ultimate as:

• being the best or most extreme example of its kind : the ultimate accolade.

So when I talk about following The Ultimate Example when it comes to doing whatever it takes, I am talking, of course, about Jesus The Christ!

He is The Ultimate = The Best example that we could ever imagine following. He is the ultimate person to pattern our lives after. 1 John 2.6 says, "If we say we are his, we must follow the example of Christ. (CEV)"...other Translations say that we should lives as Jesus did, and that we should walk as Jesus did.

So over the next few "Whatever It Takes" posts, I am going to turn this final point of Following The Ultimate Example into a subcategory. It's going to be a Character Study of Jesus in the context of Leadership and doing whatever it takes. So our first look into The Life of Jesus will come from what John Maxwell calls "The Law of Sacrifice."

Matthew 26.47 through 27.54 tells us how Jesus gave up His life, how He laid it down for us. No one took it from Him. He did whatever it took for you and for me in order that we would have life to the full (John 10.10)

• Jesus gave His life so that we could have ours
• We must live as Christ died...thus we must live like Warriors for Christ!
• Jesus lived a life that pleased God His Father
• Like John Maxwell says, "This is the mark of a true leader. Leaders pay any price to get the
job done." ...Translation: Jesus did whatever it took!

Preparation To Enter The Promise Land, Part 1

32 “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

Deuteronomy 5.32-33 (NKJV)

I believe it was Bob Costas who once said, "Champions are not made on the field, they are simply recognized there." Champions must pay a price for glory. They must put in the blood, sweat, and tears in the off-season, in the camps, and in the every day practice in order to enter their promise land of victory. It's the same way for your life and in your walk as a Christ Follower. You must follow certain principles of success.

If you want to enter your promise land, the principles you must follow are God's Commandments. Not that they are a magic formula, but they are definitely a requirment, if you are to be in The Presence of God. He is calling you to be Holy as He is Holy. God will not be in the presence of sin; just as oil does not dissolve in water, God and sin simply don't mix...

Join me in the next few days as we walk through Deuteronomy together to see how God gives us this gameplan for success. He gives us the preparation we need so that we will be ready to enter our promise land. Then we will always remember that it is God Almighty who delivers us from slavery (sin) and gives us the land flowing with milk and honey.

23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’

Deuteronomy 6.23-25 (New King James Version)