Bible Heroes

From following on from the previous blog I wanted to explore people in the bible who lived with strong convictions and what those convictions were

• But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. Genisis39:11

Joseph-a conviction about sexual purity.

• Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
  Daniel 3vs 17

Meshach,Shamrach and Abendigo-A conviction about Gods protection

• But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; Daniel 1:8

Daniel- A conviction about obedience

• And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”Joshua 24

Joshua-a conviction about commitment

• Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household. 2 Kings 7:9

The 4 leprous men-a conviction about mission

• Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.Job13 : 15

Job -a conviction about unswerving devotion

On those days when I feel strong...I will praise Him.On those days when I feel weak...I will praise Him.On those days when I feel sick...I will praise Him.On those days when I feel like giving up..I will praise Him.On those days when I feel overwhelmed...I will praise Him.On those days when I feel tempted...I will praise Him.On those days when I feel strong... I will praise Him.And the circle of days will go on and on....and I will praise Him!!! Let that be your resolve too!

• There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” John 6:9
  

The little boys lunch-a conviction about significance

You matter -I matter -We matter!!

• “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42

Jesus Christ-A conviction of surrender to his fathers will

Wow what a legend ,What a hero-The most wonderful man I know -Take a bow Almighty God

So there you go,of course thier are many others,Esther,Deborah,Rahab,Mary,Paul,Noah,Moses,David,Ruth etc etc etc ..

But i hope you get the drift when we allow God to shape our convictions our convictions will eventually shape us and, they will set a pattern of your life.

Strong convictions will and do build a strong life, but if your convictions are weak and wavering, your life will be the same.If you want to build a pattern in your life that will produce God's best for your life you will need to make good choices. The choices you make are determined by your convictions. Becoming people of strong conviction, will ensure we will stand firm when tough times come.

I look forward to your comments about the last two blogs.

How important are convictions to you?

Do you have any?

Do you agree with the statement "If you stand for nothing,you will fall for anything"

What Bible people stand out for you who had strong convictions and what were those?

I am off to auckland until the end of week,see you after that

Blessings Jeremy

Living with Conviction

Some time ago I read a quote that said "If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything".
Your convictions are the beliefs and persuasions that ground you and establish the pattern of your life.

Without strong convictions our decisions will be guided and influenced by whoever or whatever has the strongest persuasion at the time.
whether that be the persuasion of Culture- Everyone is doing it ,Tradition- We have always done it that way ,Reason -It seems logical ,Emotion-It feels right

Your convictions cannot be separated from the pattern of your life. Where and how you stand will set the course of your life.

Paul went on to exhort and encourage Timothy: "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 1:13 NKJV

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God Romans12:2

The bible says we are transformed by the renewing of our mind the Greek word is metamorphosis used to describe the amazing change a caterpillar goes through in becoming a butterfly

When we allow God to shape our convictions our convictions will eventually shape us and, they will set a pattern of your life. Strong convictions will and do build a strong life, but if your convictions are weak and wavering, your life will be the same.

If you want to build a pattern in your life that will produce God's best for your life you will need to make good choices. The choices you make are determined by your convictions. Becoming people of strong conviction, will ensure we will stand firm when tough times come.

Next time I will explore people in the bible who lived with strong convictions and what those convictions were

Pleasure Ship or Rescue Boat?

This is an except from a article I read about the Tititanic

"Even before Titanic arrived on the big screen in 1997, people have been fascinated by its story, perhaps because there is so much to it. Clearly, many mistakes were made that led to its sinking. Although it was called the unsinkable ship, it sank. And it sank relatively easily.We know that 1,500 people perished in an icy grave. We know there were not enough lifeboats
on board. We know that many of them went out half-full, some with only four or five people when they had the capacity to carry at least 60. But one of the greatest tragedies about the Titanic is the fact that while there was room in the lifeboats, no one went back to save anyone else.

They had rowed out a distance from the sinking vessel because they were afraid of its suction.
Survivors said they could hear the screams of the people as the Titanic finally disappearedbelow the surface.Here were people in lifeboats that had room. They could have rowed back and pulled others in. Yet they did nothing about it. They waited for about an hour, and then they went back. By then, they were only able to save a handful of people. They waited until it was too late".

The point I have to say about this account of the Titanic is that history often tells us so much,they say hindsight is a wonderful thing.

But my question is what have we learned from the tragedy of the titanic?
Right now, there is a lost world around us. People are going down, and we have room in our lifeboat.
Do we care enough to go and pull them on board?
Do we care enough to do something for them?
Or will we say, "They should have gotten into the boat when there was time"?
Do you have a burden for lost people? That is where it starts
Ask God right now to help you be a rescue boat to rescue those that are lost

The "Be-with" Factor

In Mark 3:14 it says Jesus ordained 12 that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach -
Whatever you think your calling is, you are called to be with Jesus -that is your primary calling -your highest ministry
Before Jesus said go into the world he said “Be with me”

The Lord has so many things that he desires to show us -but his real desire is that we know him more .I don’t know about you but I need more of Jesus every day .I need him more today than I did yesterday.
The apostle Paul was able to say after listing all his accolades ,all his awards and all his achievements that I count all things but loss that I may win Christ-

Paul's entire being his ministry ,His life, his very purpose for living was focused only on pleasing his Lord all else was rubbish to him.
God’s highest desire for you is not that you love him but that you will become like him

John 15:5
Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing”.

When you stay “connected,” you bear fruit spontaneously. There’s no striving and straining. It’s just an outgrowth of your intimacy with Him.

We often assume busyness means godliness .We hear so much talk about the doing stuff .I did this for God, I did that, but I want to start hearing more about the “being” walk of our relationship with Jesus. Jesus summed it up really well in

Luke 10: 38-42
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.
But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her


Why is it at times easier to focus on the "doing" part of our faith walk than our "being"?
What are the potential problems that can happen as a result of this ?

Today lets have the "Be with" factor in our day ,spend time in his glorious presence , sit at his feet and hear the soft still voice of his spirit
You will choose the "better part" as you do

As always I look forward to your comments about this

See you tommorow
Jeremy

Dr.Seuss-Through his eyes

I came across this poem sometime ago -whoever wrote it has obviously had some experience with running youth events ,hope you enjoy it as much as i did

What if Dr Seuss had chaperoned one of your "all nighter "outreach events this year?
Perhaps this would be found in one of his archives.....


One kid,two kid
Flabby kid, toned kid,
clean kid, stoned kid.

Some come from near.Some come from far.
Some come with friends in their lowered cars.
Say! What a lot of kids there are!

Some like to drink.Some wear pink
And some of them just straight up stink!
Why do they drink, wear pink and stink?I don’t know.
Go ask your shrink!

This one is a kid named Blunk.
Blunk is just a little punk.
I’d like to stick Blunk in my trunk.
Then I’d have a Blunk punk trunk!
I do not like this one so good.

He’s from the burbs, but thinks he’s from the hood.
He wears lots of gold.He wears a big ring.
How the heck can he afford all that bling, bling?
I do not know, ask his dad.
He’s doing a dime in Sing Sing.

Bump,Bump, Bump.
That must be a kid named Stump.
Stump’s car goes bump.
He has a $7,000 car stereo, but lives in a dump.
Stump is also plump.
He just sits on his rump listening to bump, bump, bump.
Stump is so plump that he has seven lumps on the hump of his rump.
Stump goes bump, bump, bump on his plump rump with the seven lump hump.

So many kids.
They come and go.
Some learn fast.
Others learn slow
We really want to reach them,
And help them to grow
But with what the church pays our youth worker . . .You’d never know

Whos your Daddy?

There was once a person American Indian who once was walking down the trail when he discovered an eagles egg had fallen out of it's nest. He looked up and saw that the nest was too high for him to return the egg. So he placed the egg in a nearby prairie chicken nest. The eagle egg hatched with the nest of chicken eggs and grew up with them, all its life the misplaced eagle thought it was a chicken and did only what chickens did. Prairie chickens stay on the ground, scratch in the dirt for seeds and eat only worms and grubs. So, as the eagle grew, he ate nothing but worms and grubs and walked around with the other prairie chickens, never flying any more than a few feet of the ground with a great almighty thrashing of wings like the other prairie chickens. years passed an d the unfortunate eagle grew very old ,One day, he looked up in the sky and saw a magnificent bird high above in the cloudless sky .hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents it soared gracefully on its strong golden wings

What a beautiful bird said the unfortunate eagle to its neighbour
That’s an eagle, the chief of all birds the neighbour replied, but don’t give it a second thought you could never be like him He asked another one of the prairie chickens, 'How can they fly up there while we are down here eating worms and grubs, and scratching around in the dirt all day' The prairie chicken answered, 'They are the eagles, they can do that but we must stay down here. We are prairie chickens and that is what we do.'So, the poor eagle never gave it a second thought and spending the rest of his life flying very little and eating worms and grubs, scratching around round in the dirt and eventually died thinking it was a prairie chicken


This frightening story underlines the importance of what we identify ourselves with
Human beings are like vine branches we need a vine in which we can belong to and connect our selves with
The vine in with we belong to and connect with conditions the way we see ourselves, the expectation we have of ourselves, and the ceiling of achievement we place on ourselves and because of this it has a huge influence in how we live out our lives
Vines come in many shapes and colours Culture, peers, media, the devil, ourselves
In the gospel of John 14 it Jesus Christ makes a statement that says he is not only the vine but the true vine
The word true symbolises that which is real as opposed to something that is false
The misguided eagle in our story was like a branch grated on a false or imperfect vine ,that is why it remained false or imperfect all its life .If a wise bird had told it the truth about itself it would have shifted its self identification from prairie chicken to eagle allowing it to be the eagle that it it really was
Today that word of wisdom is addressed to us to stop identifying ourselves primarily in terms of nation, social or economic status, rather see ourselves as we really are in Christ as the Vine and the vine branch

Romans12:2 Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God

Spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth
We must accept its authority over our life .The compass I rely on for direction ,the counsel I listen to to make right decisions ,the bench mark I use for evaluating everything, it must have the first and last say in my life
Many of our troubles occur when we base our choices on unreliable authorities, (the chicken)

1.Culture- Everyone is doing it
2.Tradition- We have always done it that way
3.Reason -It seems logical
4.Emotion-It feels right

The most important decision toy can make today is to settle the issue of what will be the ultimate authority for your life –decide that regardless of your culture /tradition/reason /or emotion you choose the bible as your final authority
The bible says we are transformed by the renewing of our mind the Greek word is metamorphosis used to describe the amazing change a caterpillar goes through in becoming a butterfly
Its beautiful picture of what happens when we allow God to direct or thoughts


What are some areas of incorrect grafting do you recognise in your life and what truths can be applied ?

Is our God to safe?

One of my favorite things I do once a year is watch reruns of the Rocky movies
Not that I am a huge fan of boxing -but I love the thought of the ordinary guy overcoming the odds and becoming a champion .One of my favorite quotes of Rocky 3 is

"But then the worst thing happened that could happen to any fighter,you got civilised"-Mick to Rocky

Today I want to explore this very topic in what I have titled "Is Our God to Safe"
This comes from an except from a book I am reading called "The Barbarian Way" by author Erwin Mcmanus

"You cannot meet the creator of the universe and remain the same .If God who is all powerful ,all knowing and all present comes to dwell within your soul,you would expect at least some minor disruption.

I think there is a problem when people talk about meeting God or knowing God and yet remain unchanged by God .When the creator chooses to dwell within his creation,there is transformation.If Jesus has come to dwell within you, you are no longer suited to a normal life.

To have the Spirit of God dwelling within the heart of someone who chooses a domesticated faith is like having a tiger trapped within a cage.You are not intended to be a spiritual zoo where people can look at God in you from a safe distance. You are a jungle where the Spirit roams wild and free in your life.You are the recipient of the God who cannot be tamed and of a faith that must not be tamed .

You are no longer a prisoner of time and space ,but a citizen of the kingdom of God -whose kingdom suffers violence and the violent take it by force .
God is not a sedative that keeps you calm and under control by dulling your senses .He does quite the opposite .He awakens your spirit to be truly alive".

I am interested in your comments about this.
Catch you tommorow
Jeremy