Tag: Seek

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You Must Act

DECEMBER 7

MATTHEW 7:24_and doeth them…

Jesus’ masonry skills move to the next step—doing. Doing requires action. Get up and do something! Do what? Obey Jesus’ teachings you have studied the past year!

You can heed every teaching of this sermon, but until you act upon those teachings—they are powerless. This requires dedication. Doing, trusts God to help when you can’t help yourself. Doing, requires time in prayer: asking, seeking, knocking on how to live Jesus’ teachings—not just read them. 

If you make rules, but never enforce them, they cannot achieve their purpose. If you mix together all the ingredients for a cake but never bake it, it’s not a cake.

Knowing and believing are only part of the process. You must act. You may believe there are rewards for attitudes of humility, meekness, mercy, purity, and peacemaking, but believing is not doing. You can believe anger is as deadly as murder, but until you curb the anger it still controls.

You can believe in sexual purity, inside and outside of marriage, but if you are not living purity, your belief is powerless.

Remember, to have power—connect to the Source!  

PRAYER

God of Power, Please give me the power to live what I believe. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ wants me to act on His teaching—He helps me!

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But the Power of Jesus

NOVEMBER 29

MATTHEW 7:22_and in Thy name cast out devils…

Can these people actually cast out demons? Or do they think they can just convince Jesus they can? I don’t claim to know a lot about demonic possession, but I don’t believe there is any power to exhort them but the power of Jesus. 

Because life is spiritual as well as physical, we need to have knowledge of both. We primarily focus on the physical until we have had an encounter with Jesus and answer that knock. John 15:16 (KJV), “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”

You didn’t become a Christian because it was your idea. You answered the call, the knock, the pursuing of Jesus. You responded, and now you are doing the asking, seeking, knocking, pursuing. You enter a strait gate and a narrow way to gain wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of truth. And why do you want truth? By now you’ve got this—to live free!

We must face the reality that the spiritual world consists of darkness as well as light. Jesus calls us to be light and light must be free.

Any encumbrances to light keep it from overcoming darkness.                   

PRAYER

God of Heaven, Please keep my light free to serve You. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen. 

Christ’s light is free from encumbrances—He frees mine!

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Not Everyone

NOVEMBER 23

MATTHEW 7:21_Not everyone…

Since Jesus begins this teaching by saying not everyone, there must be some exclusiveness. Can mercy be exclusive? If so, who decides who is excluded? Would it be Jesus? How does He decide it?

Mercy is a God-like attribute.

Mercy is a Jesus quality.

Mercy covers sins.

Mercy covers shortcomings.

Mercy covers failures.

Mercy rescues the undeserving. 

Mercy brings the lost to shelter and safety.

Mercy does this by its very nature of being merciful.

However, one of those hard realities of life we prefer to avoid is, mercy is not limitless.

That is hard truth! 

Mercy has no limit for askers, seekers, and knockers. But arrogant pretenders, aka hypocrites, will experience hard truth.

Personally, I don’t think mercy had limits in the Garden of Eden. But free will caused it to pull in the reins, put on the brakes, and turn off the power.

That’s when a phrase like, not everyone, came into play. Mercy is for everyone, just as life without death was for Adam and Eve, but everyone has the freedom to reject it. 

PRAYER

King of Kings, Please help me never to reject Your mercy. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                                                                                                       

Christ offers mercy to those who will receive it—I will receive!                                              

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What Jesus Wants

NOVEMBER 22

MATTHEW 7:21_Not everyone…

Jesus gave Himself for everyone.

His teachings are for everyone.

He wants everyone to live free.

He wants everyone to have wisdom that comes from the Bible.

He wants everyone to seek and find understanding and knowledge.

He wants everyone to abide in His love.

And He wants everyone to share His love through their own heart—with each other.  

Jesus’ inclusiveness shows up again: everyone.  You want to be a part of His everyone. However, there are times when Jesus blind sides with reality. You would just as soon pass over some of these realities because, in reality, you only want life to be about love, joy, and peace.

1 Corinthians 2:13-14 (KJV), “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

 To avoid the hard spiritual realities of life—is a foolish mistake!

PRAYER

Only Mighty God,Please give me spiritual discernment to know the truth. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                                                                                      

Christ’s spiritual discernments are realities—Teach me!

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The Source of Power

NOVEMBER 10

MATTHEW 7:17_but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

The word corrupt in this verse means subject to decay. To decay is to rot: dead to the life and abilities once possessed. A tree that is in the process of decay may still bring forth fruit, but it is not good for consumption.

The condition of the fruit is the same as the condition of the tree that produces it. The strength of the tree determines the strength of the fruit.

In the same way, the weakness of the tree determines the weakness of the fruit. It’s all about the tree—the vine—the source of power. If you go anywhere other than the Bible for the source of connecting with the Holy God of Heaven—you’ve gone to a weak source.

Psalm 60:11-12 (KJV), “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” Now that’s a powerful source! 

It’s not that you should not go to people when you need help: everyone needs a little help from their friends. The problem comes when people are your primary source. When you place all your trust in what people can do, and never seek God’s help.

It’s all about the source!

PRAYER

Holy Master, I want You to be the primary source of all I am and need. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.              

Christ is The Source—He wants to be mine!