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1 Corinthians 14:3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.
When we pray, we pray to God. When we study the scriptures, we listen to God. When we do things for God, we obey Him.
But what about the people around us? How does the gospel message get out to them? They have to be told by someone and what better person than the one thinking about the subject?
God wants us to share what we learn, share what we know and share what we hear.
Give God the glory for all He continues to do in this world and not just what has happened in the past!
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1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
The apostle promoted many things, love being one of the most highly recommended; but here he makes sure people know just how important prophecy is.
We should all desire spiritual gifts from God. We should all exercise those He has given us. To What end?
So we can tell people about Christ, about God and about all which is to come still. That is prophecy. Be willing to listen to God and tell others what he is telling you!
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1 Corinthians 12:6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
The church is made up of very special people, some very ordinary in our eyes and others very exceptional… but God sees us all as very special people with very special roles to play in the church.
You see, God wants us all to be a part of the church. Each of us will have a special part in His church.
He knows what part we should be playing in the church, parts that we may think are nothing but parts He knows are crucial to His church.
Be your part of it!
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1 Corinthians 12:5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
God does not call us all to do exactly the same thing – that would be pretty boring!
There are a multitude of things in the world God wants us to be able to do, not so He controls the world but so He can reach more people with the gospel through us all.
The church is made up of a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of different things for just one God; our God!
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1 Corinthians 12:4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.
This comes straight after a verse telling us how the only one who can identify Jesus as being God to us is the Holy Spirit.
This same Holy Spirit gives each of us the abilities to do our work for God so long as we trust in Him.
Just because a shop says they have free gifts for all customers who come into the shop, does not mean everyone gets a gift – they have to come into the shop first!
The same way is with us, when we accept Jesus into our lives, the Holy Spirit begins to explain things to us!
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Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
There are many things in our lives we cling on to just because we think they are worth it or may be useful somewhere down the line.
What Jesus was telling us here is that it is not useful if it is not helping us to get to heaven. What use is anything if it is going to keep us out of heaven?
God wants us in heaven no matter what we have in life! Don’t hold on to things preventing you from communing with God!
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Mark 9:39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me
Jesus sent out the disciples to go and heal the sick and cast out demons; but He did not limit that to just those few!
God continues to allow people to heal others and to ward off evil spirit by doing so in the express name of Jesus Christ.
All evil knows the name of Jesus Christ. They may not know us, but when we speak in Jesus’ authority, they flee.
Trust people who are supporting Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit; don’t trust those who work against any of these!
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Mark 9:37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
I find it amazing that I would write these words down last week and God would give them back to me when I am away on retreat.
When we are dealing with a God who knows us better than we know ourselves, we should not expect anything less than constant and perfect guidance from Him.
As long as we are listening and meditating on the bible, then we must surely know His call for each one of us – don’t be surprised when God reinforces things over and over again.
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3 John 1:9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.
Would you like to be singled out as the reason for someone else being rejected in society? Would you like to be the reason why someone else can’t get anywhere in life?
As Christians we have a role to uphold others in a similar fashion to how Christ did; we should be trying to lift others up and not put them down!
As much as we like to think others are going to listen to us and do what we say, they will not all do so! But when you lift them up, they will be more likely to listen as you act in kindness…
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Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves
How often do you put down everyone else in your family? I am hoping the answer to this is “I don’t!”
When we become part of God’s family we must not think we are better than everyone else in the world, just because God has accepted us.
Jesus is God’s Son and yet He came to earth as a servant to us all and not as a pompous king!
He is our King. He is the King of Glory. Yet He humbled himself. We should too.
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Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.
When we get to know Jesus and place our trust in Him, we are said to be born into His family and gain a whole mass of brothers and sisters.
We do not choose these brothers and sisters. We do not choose who we have and who we can ignore. God has chosen us first of all and we are family.
If we are to act like a family then we ought to love each other and to prefer each other over those who choose not to be part of God’s family.
We should not turn our backs on others, but treat ALL Christians well!
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Ephesians 3:8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ
Going by what Christ did and through words like these written by the Apostle, we should approach life in a similar way…
Not full of pride and boasting, not full of goals and aims, but humbly as a servant of our most high God in heaven, ready to give out the good news given to us by Christ.
Don’t hold back because other people are not the same as you but rather show them they are the same in Jesus’ eyes – a potential Christian!
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Luke 2:7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
This is the way God found to come and live in a house on earth. He allowed His Son to come to earth and be born in Human form to live amongst us.
God became flesh so He could be here with us and show us how much He loves us.
Even then, His first day on earth was not in a nice house decorated for His birth, but in a stable alongside animals.
Even Jesus did not require a mansion to live in!
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2 Chronicles 2:6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?
Solomon realised he could never build a house to contain God. There is no way we can fit God into a house, no matter how big and grand it is.
Yet they continued to build the temple, not to put God in it, but to make the grandest place they could to give up their sacrifices to God.
It is all about giving glory to God and not trying to put Him in a pigeon hole so we can understand Him or control Him in some way!
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Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
No longer is a single small country following a large pillar of smoke through the desert. No longer are they following a pillar of fire at night.
God opened the doors so everyone could come to Him through Jesus Christ. He is now the light we follow, not just the Jews but all of mankind.
After being separated from God on the cross, Jesus now has His rightful place in heaven, seated next to God the Father – yet we can still follow Him from wherever we are!
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John 14:7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Just taking this single verse may make Jesus sound like He was being as blasphemous as the Jews were saying He was – but when we take it alongside all of the other verses where Jesus describes Himself, we find the truth.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Through Him we have eternal life. In Him we see the express image of God. Because we know Jesus, we know God.
Jesus gave His life on the cross so we could have a direct and uninterrupted path to God the Father; use that path and get to know God!
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John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
And not forgetting on of my favourite verses – Jesus made sure that even though He was the Messiah, everything always pointed to God the Father.
Jesus came into this world so we could be safe from evil for eternity. He did not come so we could be safe a few years whilst on earth!
We may well go through horrible things because of the evil in this world, but when we get to spend eternity with God the Father, there will be no more evil!
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John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus knew exactly who He was and knew God the Father was with Him every step of the way. Even though He was a mere human being, He still did everything God said.
Even standing up in front of the Scribes and Pharisees to tell them He was the Son of God… knowing He would be rejected by them…
But also knowing God was telling Him to do these things for our sake and not for the sake of His own health.
Trust God and allow Him to work with you!
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Isaiah 42:6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles
These words were given to Isaiah to give to us. This is God calling out to the people and telling them what is going to happen.
God will raise us the Messiah in absolute righteousness and will lead Him and take Him wherever He is needed. And Jesus showed us exactly what that means.
Giving your life to God and allowing Him to lead you where He wants you to be will always end in God getting the glory!
But it will also end up in a whole lot of people getting to know Him too!
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Isaiah 43:1 But now, this is what the Lord says - he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
What happens when a few people who God created get together to share the goodness He has created in us? We become a church!
The first church was a gathering of the Jews who had accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah. They turned up to share this good news with each other and to give the glory of all creation to God.
They celebrated the fact Christ had finally come to save them from the perils of this earth and from their sins.
God had called each of them by name – that is how Jesus called the disciples to follow Him, by name!