Proverbs 30 & 31

Post a comment to share what God gave you from today's reading.

Ready For Takeoff!

World Changers started this morning here at the OPs Center! Sounds like it's going great out there!!!

The organizers have done a great job of putting this thing together. It's going to ROCK!

Check out these pictures from this morning:

Becoming Wise: Taking Initiative

When it comes to dealing with issues that come up in our lives, it would just make common sense to face them head on in all patience and wisdom, right? Well, when it comes to common sense in taking the initiative in facing our problems, most people would rather adopt the position of doing precisely nothing in the hope that things might "someday" get better. "Someday" people are those who lack initiative. Those who lack initiative simply need wisdom to proceed forward. The book of Proverbs speaks directly to this area that we can all grow in!

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

Take a few opportunities this week to share what God is teaching you by coming to the blog and sharing. 

Take initiative this week as you pursue God.

Proverbs 27

Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Living a life in Christ was never intended to be about isolationism. We need one another more than we think.

That's a big part of what this blog is all about. We can encourage one another and share with one another and sharpen one another. It's great to come together on the weekend and in the context of Fellowship Team - this is just one more way that our journey together with one another and with God can be enhanced. This blog is meant to augment what's already happening.

What did God teach you today?

Proverbs 26

Proverbs 26:17 (NIV)
Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.

Sometimes I tend to look at the book of Proverbs as God's book of best practices. According to this proverb, the best practice in dealing with issues is to deal with issues that involve you and to not get involved with issues that don't involve you.

If I am not either a part of the problem or a part of the solution and I choose to stick my nose in, then I should seriously consider not getting involved.

For me, an application of this is to not provide council in a situation where I am not directly involved or where I have not been invited to give council. I may have a lot of great thoughts but it's probably best if I keep them to myself unless I directly involved or if someone that is directly involved asks for council.

Of course, as with all Proverbs, they are "best practices" and not blanket guarantees or statements. Wisdom always involves evaluating the situation, seeking God's will and then acting accordingly. If I see someone getting beat up then I am likely going to step into that situation because there is a chance of physical harm. But even in this case the quarrel is not my own but God can still use me to be a part of the solution.

Wisdom is not the same as knowledge. Knowledge involves mostly hard facts while wisdom is more of an art than a science. Wisdom involves listening and evaluation and appropriate action. Knowledge is easy - wisdom is hard. That's why we need God to teach us about wisdom instead of relying on our own knowledge.

Proverbs 25: Words

Proverbs 25:11 (NIV)
A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

When you stop and think about our God given ability to speak and use words to communicate with one another it is really pretty amazing. And like pretty much everything else our words can either be used for good or not.

God reminded me this morning that He gave me the ability to speak and use words to do good, to encourage and to build up not to tear down and belittle those around me. I have a ways to go on this one.

What wisdom did God give you today?

Amazing

After I posted what God had given to me from this morning's reading of Proverbs 24, I had a moment of déjà vu.  I thought back to years ago when the men in our Fellowship Team would meet together and many times we would simply do two things. 

One was to pray together and the other was to read the chapter of Proverbs for that day and to simply share how God had spoken through His Word to us from that Proverb.

And while technology will never be able to replace face-to-face communication, we live in an amazing time when we can use technology to share God's truth and His wisdom in our lives with one another.  And even though we are not sitting across a table from each other, we can still share the reality of God in our lives with each other.

Proverbs 24

I started reading Proverbs 24 and BAM! right out of the gate verse 1 hit me.

Proverbs 24:1 (NIV)
Do not envy wicked men, do not desire their company;

Just prior to reading this I was reading Psalm 73 which was written by a man named Asaph. He was basically asking God, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" At times, I can ask the same question and in that sense, I can "envy wicked men."

God gives us His answer in verses 19 and 20:

Proverbs 24:19-20 (NIV)
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

God is perfectly just but I have to trust Him to sort it all out according to His will and in His perfect timing.

What bits of wisdom did God reveal to you today from Proverbs 24?

Proverbs 23

Verses 19 through 21 caught my attention today. 

Proverbs 23:19-21 (NIV)
Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path. Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

I think about the majority of my life where I was either the one doing the corrupting or the one being corrupted - most often it was both.

But God wants us to be a positive influencer for Christ.  May that be true of me and us as wisdom grows in us and we navigate the right path.

What did God give you today from today's Proverbs reading?

Proverbs Challenge!

As part of the new series "Becoming Wise", we are encouraging everyone to read the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds to the day of the month.  For example, Monday is the 23rd so we would read Proverbs 23 and so on.  And then check the blog daily to share the nugget of wisdom that God gave you and to check out the wisdom He has given to others.

A life of Christ is meant to be lived together.  Let's become wise together!

Becoming Wise: Go For It

We started a new series this weekend.  I don't know about everyone else but, at times, I tend to value my own opinions over God's wisdom.  This is going to be an awesome series on pursuing God's wisdom in our lives.

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

Becoming Wise: A Journey Through Proverbs

We are kicking off a new series starting this weekend called "Becoming Wise." You won't want to miss it. Join us and invite your friends as we spend part of the summer taking a journey through the book of Proverbs.

Baptism Anyone?

It's not too late to be baptized this weekend! We will have baptisms this Sunday as part of the Spring lunch after the Summitview service at Mountain View High School. We'll eat around 11:30am and then have baptisms immediately afterwards!

If you have not been baptized since receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior, we strongly encourage you to consider being baptized. The right time for obedience is NOW!

You can download and listen to the teaching on baptism (right-click on the link and select "Save target as...") from a couple of weeks ago. In addition, the Baptism Study can be downloaded from here.

Simple Faith

When I read today's reading (Hebrews 11:1-12) what struck me was verse 3.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

There is just no gettting around the fact that we live in a place that God has spoken into existence. No matter what I do, I am only able to do it because God has given me the abilitity to do it. No matter what I have God has provided it for me. But it's only by faith that we can even understand that fact. Faith is so simple and yet so difficult because in order for my faith to be real I have to take ME out of the equation. Faith has nothing to do with me and everything to do with God.

God, may our faith become more real today so that we can understand you in a bigger way.

God's Touch

I love the visual in Jeremiah 1:9. God reaches out and touches him, giving Jeremiah exactly what he needs in order to do what God has created Him to do.

Let's be in prayer today that God would reach out and touch us in whatever way we need in order to do what God has planned for us today.

In The Beginning

My thought from today's reading (Genesis 1:26-29), was simply the fact that both male and female are needed in order to accomplish His purposes for this world. It's refreshing to think about that we have been created uniquely as males and females - that we are different and that's OK. we were never intended by God to be the same!

Let's celebrate that fact today as we go about our stuff.

Father's Day 08: Being Dad

Hope everybody had a great Father's Day yesterday. 

We had a great family day.  We went for a picnic and some fishing after church and then got to watch some golf, a movie and then some basketball.  And we got to eat some fresh trout that we caught.  It was a good day - hope yours was too.

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

Freed From Sin

Romans 6:6-7 (NIV)
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--
7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

There is something big that happens in the spiritual realms of baptism. While baptism doesn't save us in any way, when we get baptized there is this "confirmation" that our old self is dead and has been buried and that we have been raised to new life!!! And in that we are free from the eternal effects of sin. Not that we will never sin again or that there will not be earthly consequences of our sin - because we will sin and we will experience real consequences. But we can find peace in the fact that through Jesus Christ our sins (past, present and future) have been forgiven and we will not have to suffer the eternal consequences of sin, that is eternal separation from God as Paul goes on to explain in Romans 6:23.

That is our hope and God's glory. Have you experienced that hope through belief in Jesus Christ? And have you been baptized since believing to publicly proclaim your new life in Christ?

OOPS! Wrong Verses for Friday

I posted this earlier in the week but thought I'd repost in case you missed it.

There is a typo on the Think It Through for Friday. The reading for Friday is Galatians 3:26-29 NOT Galatians 6:26-29.

What Hinders?

After yesterday's post on Acts 8:26-40, I was looking at a few different translations and came across the one in the New King James version that renders verse 36 like this: "What hinders me from being baptized?"

Good question - is there anything that hinders you from getting baptized?

I also thought about it from the perspective of simplicity. Is there anything I am doing or we are doing as a church that "hinders" people coming to know Christ or in obeying Christ?

Simple Obedience

I just love the example of obedience that the Ethiopian official shows in our reading for today (Acts 8:26-40). He became aware of what he thought God wanted from him and then he did it. He didn't try to make excuses or try to think about how to get out of it. He abandoned himself and went with God's plan.

How that must have honored God. It got me to thinking about how I make excuses so I don't have to obey God. Let's pray for each other that we would have quick obedience to God and that when we become aware of something that God wants us to do that we just do it.

Baptism doesn't have to be this long, drawn out exercise. The best time to obey is now - not later. Is there anyone out there that has felt God speak to them when it comes to being baptized?

What Should I Do?

I loved John's counsel to people that came to him as they were wondering how to get right with God. In our reading for today, Luke 3:1-23, different groups of people came to John and their basic question was what do we need to do differently in order to be right with God. And John's response to each group started with right where they were at and what they were doing in the midst of real life.

He didn't feed them religious practices but rather practical, everyday application of scripture. His basic answer to each group was to just treat people right. They were so impressed with John's answer to them - probably because they were expecting more religion like they had been getting - that they wondered if he was the Christ that they had been waiting for. But John did what any of us should do as followers of Christ and that is to simply point others toward Christ.

What would John say to us, if we were to ask him what should we do?

Oops! Typo on Friday's Reading

There is a typo on the Think It Through for Friday. The reading for Friday is Galatians 3:26-29 NOT Galatians 6:26-29.

Baptism: Why?

It was good to be grounded AGAIN in the basics of following Christ this weekend - we all need that. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals as my coaches used to say! It doesn't get any simpler than believing and then being baptized. And yet obedience is often hard. To be "baptizers and baptizees" - good stuff.

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

Pleasing Our Father

Let's follow Paul's example from today's reading (2 Corinthians 5:6-10) and go out of our way to please God today. Not pleasing in a "earning God's acceptance of us" sort of way but in a "God is my heavenly Father" sort of way.

How will you please God today?

Listen Up!

Too busy to read the "Think It Through" blog? Now you can listen to it through Jott.com. Once registered you'll be able to connect to Jott.com via your cell phone or any other phone and the "Think It Through" blog can be read to you. You can click on the Jott.com image in the right sidebar to get more information or to register.

P.S. - I'm just naive enough to believe that God can redeem anything and everything for His purposes, even the latest and greatest technology. Good and bad only has meaning when it's held up to God.

P.S.S. - Jott.com also works good to "jot down" reminders to yourself. You can call Jott, say your reminder to yourself, and then it can send you an email with your reminder. Handy when you don't have a pencil or paper.

By Faith

Good to be reminded from our reading today (Hebrews 11:1-11) that our daily walk with God is and always has been "by faith".

We woke up this morning "by faith", we'll breath and live today "by faith", we'll work today "by faith", we'll eat today "by faith", we'll love God today "by faith", we'll love others today "by faith", and then we'll go to bed tonight "by faith" and then by God's grace we'll get to walk "by faith" again tomorrow.

Let's be "faith-filled" and "faith-full" today.

Jesus on Honoring Others

In our reading for today, Matthew 5:21-48, I was reminded by Jesus what it means to honor others. Our relationships with others are obviously important to Jesus. I learned the following from Jesus in today's reading:

1) It's not OK to have hatred in my heart toward others
2) It's not OK to have lust in my heart towards others
3) Divorce is not an option except for marital unfaithfulness
4) Speak plainly, truthfully and clearly - A simple Yes or No
5) It's my responsibility to do EVERYTHING possible to be relationally right with everyone else
6) Love those that are hard to love

Looks like I've got some things to work on!

What did you learn from Jesus today?

Did God Show Up in Your Life?

Curious to know if and how God showed up in your life this weekend and if so would you be willing to share by leaving a comment?

I am always amazed at how easily I can forget what God taught me in the last 48 hours or so. But when I write it down or share it with someone else I am not as prone to forget. In a sense, it becomes more "real" to me because I have spoken it or written it.

What did God teach you this weekend?

The Code: Honor Others

Everybody matters to God and therefore everyone should matter to us. The majority of the Ten Commandments are all about honoring others. God took the last six commandments and He elevated everyone to an equal status. No longer would there be different classes with different rules. Regardless of how much power or status or money or anything else you had or who you were or who you knew, God’s expectations for everyone was exactly the same.

The "Think It Through" for HOnor Others can be found here.