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Matthew 26:50 Jesus replied, ‘Do what you came for, friend.’ Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus called Judas friend when he was about to betray Him?
Being the loving Christ He is, Jesus was not about to stop what was happening, but did He have to call Judas friend?
If there was any conscience left in Judas would he not have stopped his action at hearing those words?
Jesus knew what would happen and was still was willing to call Judas a friend, probably as an example to us all about willingness to forgive.
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Matthew 22:12 He asked, “How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?” The man was speechless.
Just because the king had told the servants to go out and invite anyone in to the wedding banquet did not automatically give everyone the right to come in…
Does that sound wrong? Well, the servants invited lots of people but they would have been told it was a wedding banquet and they would have to dress accordingly.
This person had not listened and assumed they would be let in anyway… Never assume!
The same is our entry to Heaven. We are all invited, but we do have to believe in Christ first of all.
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Matthew 20:13 But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
When you make a deal with someone do you try your very best to stick to that deal? How do you feel when you find out someone else has a better deal than you?
It is not nice to find out that someone else got more for their money than you, but we all make what we think are the best choices at the time given the best information.
When information and circumstance changes we should not expect others to bend over backward to make sure we get more for nothing!
Be happy with what you have managed to get; it is bound to be better than nothing!
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1 Samuel 15:22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
Samuel confronted Saul after he rejected God. He was reminded that God had been there throughout his life and had allowed him to be king over all Israel.
When Saul said that he was offering the best of the haul from the wars he was reminded that God wanted Saul to listen to His words and not to do what he thought was right.
Many times in our lives we think we can bring more glory to God by doing things our own way! Not so! Listen to God first of all! Obey Him second. That is all…
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Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
God spoke to the people through the prophets because many of us are too hard at heart to listen to God. We have lived in this corrupt world which has hardened our hearts in many ways.
The sacrifices were designed to soften people’s heart as they made them; but they too lost their effectiveness when people hardened their hearts again.
God wants us to come to Him with open hearts and willing to receive; that means allowing those walls we build up to be broken down by Him…
Easier said than done; but try we must.
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Hebrews 13:16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
It is all very well to give what we can directly to God through praise, prayers, giving, worship and whatever other act we can because this is all very pleasing to God.
But what about the people around us? God wants us to show others kindness and love. When Christ reminded us to love our neighbours it was not just something He said!
God wants us to show love to others, not when we can afford it, but always. If it costs us, all the better because we are sacrificing to do it.
We are sacrificing to do it for His people. Not for ourselves!
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Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
How do you get across to people that you believe in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit? How do you show others how special God is to you?
The best way is to actually tell people that God is real and deserves your praise as well as their praise!
That does not just mean shouting it out in the streets or preaching in churches…
Sometimes the best way to tell someone the truth is to show them from your heart. Praise God openly by the way you live in front of them!
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Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.
Don’t get down thinking that you are the only one that knows about God and that everyone else thinks you are mad as a fish!
They will have trouble understanding about God and who God is, but they do know that the name God means an omnipotent one!
People know that the name of God is special and that it means something; even if they don’t know what it means!
Don’t feel like you are alone because our church is huge and growing every day as more people get to know the truth about God. Be happy and rejoice that you already know!
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Matthew 18:22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
When you set your mind to do something for God, what sort of things stop you from completing your task?
Do you get despondent when people come up against you? Do you get angry with people who try to stop you? Do you object to people who do not see what you see?
It may seem very hard to keep going when so many around you seem to be against what you stand for, but that is just the way of the world.
God sees every step we take and He notices what we do. Keep going for His sake and not for your sake.
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2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
When we present the Gospel to others we need to make sure that we are telling them the truth just as Christ has given us the truth.
This is God’s Word we are spreading and if we bend it and shape it into our own words it stops being God’s Word and becomes just another thing we say!
We know when we make it up ourselves and we should be thoroughly ashamed of those lies we spread.
When we give out God’s truth we need to stand proud and know we have done what God has intended!
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Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Don’t expect God to give everything to you your own way and according to your own rules!
Yes God loves you and probably wants to spoil you rotten, but He is also just. That means that we will not get away with everything just because He is our Father!
Here He reminds us that He will rebuke and chasten us if He needs to. Correction is part of growing up in Him.
So when we know we are doing something wrong we need to do our uttermost to stop it and repent before it is too late!
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1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
When a baby grabs hold of the milk to drink it is not going to take a small tester first to make sure it has not gone off, it goes for the milk 100% and expects it to be good.
When we take hold of our bibles we should be grabbing them as if we trusted them without question and diving into the words as quickly as possible!
God has given us exactly what we need and not what we think we want. Trust Him, trust in Him and consume His every word.
As we grow we can then question and make sure that what we have is the best that we can get; God expects us to seek what we need.
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Psalm 2:11 Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
Getting to know God means getting to trust Him and rely on Him. As you do that you get to know Him better and you realise just how awesome He is.
He’s not just awesome because He can do great things but because you can actually believe every single thing He has said.
We get used to having to filter out stuff that we should not believe because people still tell lies.
But God’s promises stand forever and that means we should be very afraid of what He has promised will happen to us; especially if we reject Him!
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Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
Getting angry has its moments! But it also has its difficulties and down sides. When we get angry we often lose control of our thoughts and feelings and what comes out of us is not nice.
All those bad things that we have soaked up all seem to come out at once and embarrass us because they are not the normal us.
But those are the things that we have allowed into our lives and those are the things that our bodies will release under pressure!
Don’t continue to be angry; release your feelings and get things straight before you sleep on and with them!
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Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
As we change in our relationship with Christ and grow closer to Him we will find that we want to spend less time with people who work against Him.
It is hard to turn your back on anyone when you know how special Christ is, but sometimes we do have to escape from the oppressive atmosphere that they carry round with themselves and come to praise God together with other loving Christians.
If they are secretly working against God and against Christians, then try showing others how it is damaging not just Christians, but society as well!
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Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.
When God changes our heart we need to be prepared for a different life with Him in our heart.
He will constantly encourage us to turn away from our old ways and embrace His ways, the ways of righteousness that he has taught from the beginning.
He taught us these ways because they are good and profitable for us to follow; unlike the ways of the world which offer short term gratification only.
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2 Corinthians 7:11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
When we do understand sin and turn from it we find that we change. This is God working in our lives, allowing us to understand just how awful sin is and what damage it does.
That fear of working against God allows us to move away from sin and show others that it can be done.
God changes our hearts so that we want to work with Him and not against Him.
God wants us to live a full life with Him and that means turning away from sin because He cannot abide sin.
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Matthew 3:8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance
Do you have a proper sense of what sin is? Do you really know how much damage sin can do?
When we find out the real meaning of sin and accept that we are real sinners we can move forward with Christ under His repentance.
When we start to change our lives and live according to how we should live and not how we want to live, we begin to work with God and not against Him!
When people around us see that we are living according to God’s will and not our own, the Holy Spirit can work with them in their own hearts to show them what forgiveness is all about!
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Luke 7:23 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.
Jesus’ own words confirm that He is very pleased with people who will not doubt Him and who continue to not be offended by believing in Him.
Is that hard for you? Are you persecuted for saying Jesus is God? Are you reviled for trusting in Christ?
Christ knew what he was going to have to face, but He also knew that we would be weak if we had to face anything similar.
He still went forward so that we would not have to face all He had to; but we may still find it hard!
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2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
Because of what Christ has already done for us, the apostle charged Timothy with these instructions and we should take this instruction as personal as Timothy would have.
Jesus did not go lightly to the cross. It was with great pain and suffering but knowing that it was God’s will and what was required for us.
Take up the baton and follow in the footsteps of the apostles and Timothy. Tell others about Jesus but be ready for some people to reject you when you tell the truth!