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God Must Be First

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Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” If you notice, Jesus is speaking about priorities; about what matters most.  He tells His disciples not even to worry about the essentials of life, but to focus on one main priority—the eternal purpose of God.

Every generation of believers needs to hear this message.  Jesus was simply restating a truth that is seen throughout the entire Old  Testament.  And is seen clearly here in the Old Testament prophecy of Haggai as well. God must be first in your life!

The prophet condemns God’s people for paying attention to their affairs while ignoring the house of God.  Haggai 1:4-5 says, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.”

Haggai’s message is certainly a message that the church of God needs to hear today. In many ways, the church today mirrors the situation of the people of God then.  They had great abundance, but they kept it for themselves, displaying great apathy for the things of God.  And they displayed a lack of passion for the things of God.

Ask yourself, “Is my comfort more important to me than God’s work? Am I working hard to get ahead financially while finding earthly success empty? Do I focus more on my wants and wishes or God’s will for my life?”  If so, it’s time to rearrange your priorities.

Be honest with yourself and think about what your priorities have been.  Now, in light of Scripture, determine what they should be.  What are you going to do about it?

A Future Hope

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Contrary to the way the title sounds, this is not a spiritual post concerning our eschatological expectations.  Maybe that post will come some day. But today, is not that day.  Today’s post is dedicated to the most awesome fast food chain in the world, Chick-fil-A.

Here is a photo to show the progress of the new site in Millington where the Chick-fil-A will one day reside.  I am, to say the least, highly encouraged and spurred on by this “future hope.”

Why is Chick-fil-A so popular? Without getting on my soap box, I’ll mention a few simple reasons.

  1. Family-Freindly– for me, my top reason for loving Chick-fil-A is its family-friendly focus.  It’s not just a good place for families to go eat and hang out, they are seriously intentional about focusing on the family and helping families grow together. It’s more than a playground, decent meal and a good time.  It’s a focus on the family that seeks to deepen relationships, encourage participation and increase quality time. 
  2. Proper perspective– Chick-fil-A is owned and operated by faithful followers of Jesus Christ.  I’ve had a chance to spend time with the Cathy family and I know their heart to serve the Lord.  They are the real deal!  They have a proper perspective about life.  They know that God has given them a platform to make a difference for His kingdom and that’s exactly what they strive to do.  Chick-fil-A tithes off the profits of its entire corporation.  Amazing!
  3. Great service– I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a Chick-fil-A when I received poor service.  I am always greeted by friendly faces who are willing to help in any way possible.  Not only that, but I am way impressed the restaurants are always willing to take expired coupons.  They go the extra mile.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into a very busy restaurant and my order was taken in a timely manner with polite and courteous people willing and ready to serve.
  4. Great atmosphere– this one could probably be grouped into the previous point but I separated it for a reason.  What other fast-food restaurant do you know of where employees are constantly walking around the place offering to get you a refill on your drink or take your trash? Just another way Chick-fil-A steps it up and separates itself from the rest.
  5. Good food– I would say the food at Chick-fil-A is very good.  But that’s not the reason I love the place.  Now, I am known to really enjoy the nuggets, sandwiches and especially the milkshakes. But it’s not about the food for me.  
I read a great book one time entitled Raving Fans.  The point of the book is that if you are a business or a service organization (or a church for that matter) you should strive for more than just “satisfied customers.” Your goal should be “raving fans.”  Chick-fil-A has raving fans for sure.  
Now let’s get spiritual for a moment.  Take a look at the five reasons I listed and apply them to the church.  Think spiritually substitute the fifth for “good preaching” or “proper discipleship.”  How would our churches be different if we followed these principles? 
And to end…a wonderful song by Tim Hawkins extolling the virtues of Chick-fil-A. Enjoy…

The Power of the Holy Spirit

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Why Don’t We Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit? Simply put, we don’t live in the power of the Holy Spirit because we love our sin too much. In any given moment, it is impossible to live in the power of the Spirit and sin at the same time.  Sin is wholly opposed to everything that is of the Spirit.  They are mutually exclusive and totally contrary to each other. 


As a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit.  You are not just a person living your life by human power.  The Spirit of God is in you; that is why Jesus said it was before for Him to go and the Spirit to come.

Living in the power of the Spirit requires complete and total surrender on your part.  Nowhere in Scripture do you find people who have this beautiful balanced life with a little bit of God added in.  But when you look at the modern-day church, this is exactly what you see: a lot of people who have added Jesus to their lives. People who have, in a sense, asked Him to join them on their life journey, to follow them wherever they feel they should go, rather than following Him as we are commanded. 

The God of the Universe is not something we can just add to our lives and keep on as we did before. The Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us. He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So if a little bit of spirituality added in to our lives is not what God has in mind, what does He want for His children? How does He desire us to live? We are called by Christ to give up everything.  His call is to come and take up the cross.  In a phrase, it is death to self and life in His Spirit. 

Through the Holy Spirit, you have the power of God residing within you.  Now this is good news and bad news. The bad news is, you have no more excuses for living in your sin.  The good new is, you have the power to overcome through the indwelling Spirit of the risen Christ!

(Portions of this post are borrowed from Francis Chan’s book, Forgotten God)

The Conviction of the Holy Spirit

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The Bible teaches us that all people are by nature rebels against God and hostile to Jesus Christ.  We are dead in trespasses and sins and by nature children of wrath. We are alienated from God and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds; blinded by Satan so we cannot understand spiritual truth. In that condition, we are helpless and unable to believe the truth. But through the Spirit of God bringing about a convicting work in our lives they are confronted with the truth, drawn to the Father and brought to life. (paraphrase of John MacArthur) 
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin. Primarily, this means the greatest sin of all; the sin of not believing in Jesus Christ. But beyond that, the Spirit convicts of us of the sin in our lives on daily basis. If you are brought under the conviction of sin, especially your sin against Christ, grace is at work in your life.  Pay attention to the work of the Holy Spirit and cast yourself upon the mercy of God! 
You see, the work of conviction in your life is actually an evidence of God’s endless grace.  Until you know how bad the bad news is you’ll never know how good the good news is. Conviction always comes before conversion. Blaise Pascal once said, “Man is great insofar as he realizes that he is wretched.”
  
Those who are truly close to God do not feel an overwhelming sense of righteousness. Instead, they see their sinfulness in light of Christ’s righteousness.  And through the work of the Holy Spirit of God in their lives, seek to draw ever closer to Him.