Growing Closer to God Pt 29
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Your Attitude; You Life
Your Attitude; You Life
Last week we discussed the gifts God has given us. Ultimately we have the free gift of Salvation and if that’s all we received it’s still more than we deserve, but God, being the good God he is, give us above and beyond what we can ask or think. God has the desire to give good gifts. The bible tells us this, we believe it’s the words of God to His creation and believe the bible is true.
So then we are left with this question: If we love Jesus and pursue Him
Why are we not blessed beyond measure?
Why are we not blessed beyond measure?
I believe this is also why we don’t see healings happen as frequently. Why we don’t see people coming to Jesus as regularly possibly why you haven’t recieved that promotion you’ve been trying to get for a few years now. This could be the secret to why your bank account is empty. Why your joy seems to be sucked dry and why your health is deteriorating.
Attitude
Attitude
We all heard saying like this. If you want to be happy you have to have the attitude of gratitude. Nothing is more of a black hole of joy sucking, fun time killing, laughter silencing, kill joy than someone who walks into the party with a sour face and an attitude to match. You have all seen it it’s the one family member that when they show up the attitude of everyone completely changes. This works for good or bad. The life of the party shows up and it seems like more people dance and the music gets louder. The dreadful somber barrier shows up and it seems like a vortex sucked all the fun out of the room.
Having the right attitude controls everything in your life. Now understand it’s ok if you fall into a black pit every once and a while. IT happens to the best of us. We all get discourage and over taken. We are human, but at some point you have to decide wether you are going to stay in that black pit or if you will climb our and seek the joy of the Lord.
So how do we position ourselves to be used by God. How can we ensure that we are ready for the blessings and gifts God wants to give us because I guarantee most of us have lost blessings or lost the joy the blessing was supposed to bring because of our attitude.
Romans sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
There seems to be a lot of rules in this passage, but everything can be summed up in the first four words
LET LOVE BE GENUINE!
LET LOVE BE GENUINE!
Nothing else matters in that list if the fuel firing up those acts isn’t love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
The ultimate gift didn’t start with a selfish act.
3:1-4
C.S. Lewis stated that The Son of God came to Earth so that we can become Son’s of God.
The reason we celebrate the Christmas season was due to the most self sacrificial gift one could have done and Christ asks us to the same. If you love, serve, sacrifice, and display Christ to the lost than God will pour into your life. You cannot receive without first giving. Even the free gift. In order to receive Christ we must give of ourselves. For those who said the sinners prayer and recieved salvation the word take or give had to be the center of that prayer.
Surrender is the center of love.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
If you want to be blessed beyond measure the second thing you have to do is:
Not to be slothful in Zeal---in other words Do not be lazy in your relationship with Christ.
If we get lazy in our relationships our relationships will end. Marriage doesn’t die over night and you certainly cannot fall into or out of love. It’s a process in becoming lazy in your desire to serve.
The bible tells us we cannot serve two masters if we are slothful in serving God than we are active in serving Satan. Backing away from God allows us to become closer to Satan. We have discussed that the presence of God is the only thing that can ward off the evil that comes against us. The opposite of serving others is serving self. When we find ourselves in a slef serving attitude the first question we need to ask ourselves is:
How is our relationship with God?
How is our relationship with God?
Lastly: If you want to be blessed beyond measure we first have to;
Bless those who persecute us.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
This is probably the most dificult of them all, but doing good doesn’t always mean receiving good. This week I went into the gas station. Upon exiting I held the door for this hippie looking girl. She didn’t say anything, but if looks could kill you’d be doing my funeral. What she didn’t know is that my holding the door had nothing to do with her per say. If she was a man, I would have done the same. If she was old, same. If she was young, Same. If she were a giant bear…I would have fainted and probably held the door open as I couldn’t move.
Not everything good you do is received as good, but if your doing it for the good you will grow weary. That’s why God says do good because God is good. In life people will persecute you and if you take everything offensively than you will always be offended. But if you bless them then when someone attacks you it doesn’t affect you.
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
If you do all of these things you will be properly position to be blessed this year. I don’t do New Years Resolutions, but this would be a good one for 2019. With all the evil in the world, don’t be the good
Be the Christ!
Be the Christ!