Something I made a commitment to this new year is to memorize a scripture passage every month. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many verses I have memorized, but I know I haven’t memorized no where near enough. I know what your thinking… “that is only 12 passages memorized, that’s not very much.” I know that is pathetic, however at the end of the year that is 12 more than what I have now. I think that the lack of Scripture meditation and memorization is the number one factor in poor Christianity. Disagree with me if you want, but I challenge you in either two ways.
If you read scripture daily, STOP and see what happens to your life. It will become a madhouse. (No, please don’t stop there are enough scriptually ignorant nutcases in this world.)
If you don’t read scripture daily, START and see the difference that God will make in your life. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.
Anyways, I plan to memorize Numbers 6:24-26
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” (NIV)
In verse 23 it says this is the way you shall verbally bless others.
I want my life to be an impact, and I want to see changed lives.
Won’t you join me in this battle?
What verse or verses do you think are most important to memorize?
I figured since this is the first of the New Year I am going to hit my students with one of the most important questions known to man. What is the Meaning of Life?
LIVE ABUNDANTLY!
“I (Jesus) have come that they (you and I) may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” – John 10:10b
First we need to determine what the two words truly mean.
The first word is to live, Greek word zaõ (dzah’-o) which means to exist in entirety.
The second word is abundantly, Greek word perissos’ (per-is-sos’) which means exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure.
So our purpose or meaning should be to entirely exist beyond measure. Our lives should consist of things that cannot be measured by human standards. We should be consumed with things above our comprehension.
Listed below are six things that I believe we should live abundantly for. There are plenty of others, however I want to focus on these six.
6 things to live abundantly for:
Abundant Joy – Ps. 36:8
Abundant Grace – 2 Cor. 9:8
Abundant Power – Eph. 3:20
Abundant Supplies – Phil. 4:19
Abundant Entrance/Reward – 2 Peter 1:11
Abundant Love – Matt. 22:37-39 (Most Important)
This is merely an exegete view, however if you wanted a simplistic exigent view I believe the meaning of life is to know God and to love Him, and the purpose of life is to experience God and His abundant blessings for all of eternity. Only then will you find absolute fulfillment.
Max Lucado just recently released a very comforting book called “For These Tough Times” Reaching toward Heaven for hope & healing. I felt that this book was definitely one you could relate to no matter where you are at in life, and no matter what struggle you may be facing. It includes topics on tragedy, bitterness, strife, loss, resentment, hope, healing, forgiveness, reverence, prayer, love, life, and death. It will captivate your heart with the philosophy that good always triumphs over evil, and that God is always in control. This book reminds us that even Satan the creator of turmoil has no power except that which God gives him. This book illustrates how God uses Satan to do the work of heaven.
Refine the faithful
Awaken the sleeping
Teach the church
Are you wondering how he does that. You will have to get the book to find out. This book also uses scripture to answers one of the world’s greatest questions: “Why do bad things happen to good people.”
“Three times I (Paul) pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He (God) said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” - 2 Cor. 8-9 (NIV)
Have you pleaded with God to remove something from your life? Haven’t we all, however we must remember that God has a plan and a purpose. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. (1 Cor. 10:13 (MSG)(FTTT pg.45)
Many times we experience the things we do so that God might be magnified, glorified, and relied upon. I know we don’t like to hear it, but sometimes it is for our own good. God’s grace is sufficient for you and I, and through these tough times God’s power is made perfect in us through our weaknesses.
I have spent a lot of time with my son here lately with it being Christmas break and all, and we have had some of the best times. We have also had some of our biggest arguments. He is 4, and the beautiful thing about it is I can just send him to his room or turn off what we are arguing about. Here lately every time we play video games together we do nothing but argue and fight. You would think that such a thing would bring people together, but it doesn’t. Recently we got two new games for our PS2, and they have been the primary cause for our turmoil. (Madagascar 2 & Lego Indiana Jones) Both are excellent games, but very frustrating. The game play is fair, but the screen view is awful. My son is very talented at video games, and when I play with him I expect him to follow my lead. When he doesn’t I try and tell him how to do it, and he becomes frustrated and the war is on. I get so mad because he doesn’t listen to me. If he would just listen to my advice things would go so much smoother, and we would accomplish a whole lot more. I don’t know if this will ever change, but I am learning to choose the games we play together a whole lot more wisely. We should have gotten a Wii.
Anyways, when I started thinking about all of this in my frustration I realized that many times we are the same way with God. God is guiding us through life, and we are just too stubborn to let him take the lead. We think that we can beat the dragons on our own, or solve the mystery of the puzzle by ourselves when in reality it is impossible to go to the next level without two people. Especially in “Lego Indiana Jones”. One hundred percent of the time you are playing with two characters, and it is impossible to beat the game with only one character, and it is the same way with our lives. It is impossible to be victorious in life on our own, because we require more characters to progress. In Lego Indiana Jones you have to be a girl to jump high, you have to be small in order to crawl through little spaces, and you have to be certain people in order for doors to be opened. That is the way our lives are. We need Jesus to save us, we need God to direct us and open doors, and we need the Holy Spirit to convict and comfort us. Then there are also all the other little Lego people that God has put in our lives to help us along the way. It is amazing how God can use such little things as video games to teach us such big lessons.
Tonight Is my last lesson of 2008, and I am going to be challenging my students to search out their talents/gifts and apply them to ministry for the 2009 year. We will be looking at the testimony of a young DJ named Noel who was once caught up in the partying club scene where he found himself in a mindless trance of hard, rave, techno triphopping (music). He was drinking and getting wasted with no hopes of a future or purpose. The club where Noel worked eventually got shut down, and he felt like he had no where to go. Lord willing Noel eventually found himself in church where God changed his life. Noel never thought his love for DJ-ing and the music scene could ever be used in church. He now uses his talent to draw other young people to Christ by DJ-ing in praise and worship concerts with Young Life Student Ministries.
1 Timothy 4:12-16 (NKJV) states:
“Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
Just as Paul states that Timothy was given a gift; so have you and I. God has blessed everyone with a gift that will further His kingdom. (1 Cor. 12:1-11) Many times it comes in the form of a talent, and sometimes we have to search it out. Paul states in verse 13 that our priority should be in giving attention to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. If we fail to do that, many times we become ignorant to the spiritual gift that God has bestowed upon us. Take note that the word attention means to devote and absorb, exhortation is the encouragement and application of the Word, and doctrine means to teach. So not only are we suppose to read it, we are to absorb it, apply it, and teach it. Only then will our spiritual gift be fully manifested to us. Verse 14 goes on to mention that we are not to neglect our gift. The word gift is the Greek word “charisma” which is translated “a gracious gift from God.”
In verses 15-16 we see the goal and purpose for Scripture and gifts. Purpose, isn’t that what everyone truly is searching for. Well here is the greatest purpose you and I can have; “that our progress may be evident to all.” Why? So that others might come unto the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
What talents or gifts do you posses? Are you using them to glorify God and reach others for Christ?
Colossians 3:23-25 (NKJV) states:
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.”
If you use your gift wisely, you will receive a reward, however if you misuse it you will be repaid. Repaid with what you might ask; let’s not find out. Merely, you will be responsible for the way you live your life.
This New Year live life to the fullest, and live it for Christ in every way.
If you have no clue what DJ-ing is check out this cool video of a pretty talented guy.
I have been on staff here at Bethel Baptist Church for 4 months now, and I have heard many excellent messages from my pastor Brandon Cox www.brandonacox.com since I’ve been here. However yesterday he preached two of the greatest messages I have ever heard. Sunday morning he preached on living a life with no regrets from 2 Timothy, and then Sunday evening he preached on 4 ways to grow for the New Years from one verse Luke 2:52. I’m sure he will blog on it so be sure to check out his blog above, but if for some reason he doesn’t here is the rundown of it.
“And Jesus increased (grew) in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” – Luke 2:52
Brother Brandon said that instead of making New Year’s resolutions we should set goals, and determine areas that we need to grow. In this passage Brandon found four areas that he wanted to grow, and I think that these are areas that we all need to grow in. I also feel that our churches, ministries, and leadership would greatly benefit from growth in these areas:
Wisdom – Intellectually
Stature – Physically
Favor w/ God – Spiritually
Favor w/ Man – Socially
When I consider areas I want to grow many of them definitely fall into these categories. Some of the main things I hope to achieve in 2009 is to:
Obtain another 20 – 30 hours of college credits to apply to my Bachelors Degree – Intellectually
Eat Healthier, exercise more, and limit my hours of sleep – Physically
Devote more time to Scripture memorization and meditation – Spiritually
Interact more with church members and people in the community – Socially
Re-build our savings account – Financially
Go out of my way more to make my wife feel special – Family
Adopt a little girl – Family
When we set New Years Resolution’s the moment we break them; many times we are quick to dismiss them all together, however when you set goals it is a continual process. What area or areas of life do you need to grow in? Write them down and establish what it is going to take to achieve them.
As stated above I want memorize more scripture; what verse or verses would you recommend me to memorize?
By the way keep on preaching Brandon. God truly is using you to further His Kingdom. Thanks for the inspiring message.
“I (Jesus) have come that they (you and I) may have 
