The Greatest Story Ever Told

This Christmas season, open up the Bible to the Books of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John and read about how much God loves you and me...

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

Luke 1: ²⁶In the sixth month, God sent the angelGabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,²⁷to a virgin pledgedto be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's namewas Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said,"Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

 ²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his wordsand wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰Butthe angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor withGod. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son,and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will begreat and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give himthe throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign overthe house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

 ³⁴"How will this be," Mary askedthe angel, "since I am a virgin?"

 ³⁵The angel answered, "The HolySpirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.So the holy one to be born will be called^[c] theSon of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going tohave a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixthmonth. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God."

 ³⁸"I am the Lord's servant,"Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angelleft her.

 
   

 

  

A child was born, God incarnate, who came to this earth, born of a virgin.  He began his ministry at the age of thirty and for three years changed the course of this world forever. Upon completion of his ministry he gave us the ultimate Christmas present:  Salvation. Behold, He stands at the door and knocks....

What a tremendous gift.  Will you step forward and be his disciple?

Behold the Lamb

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYv6RdQ1VmU&hl=en_US&fs=1&&w=425&h=344]

Tonight I had the privilege to attend Andrew Petersen and a few of his song-writer friends in concert called, "Behold the Lamb."  I went with two really good friends and really enjoyed seeing the heart of biblically based songwriters.  The two friends of mine are also worship leaders (at my church) and are very talented in their own right and also have a true heart of worship.  The point that I am trying to make is that this Christmas season, take a fresh look at the "old" Christmas songs and listen to some new Christmas Songs and give Worship and Praise to the one true King who deserves our praise, after all, he took our sins away and made us anew.

May God bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you this Christmas Season.

So come to this place of worship and sing a new song, a hymn, a melody and a praise to the one true King who deserves all of our praise.

The Great Condition...

Matthew 28:16-20 (NewInternational Version)

The Great Commission

 ¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went toGalilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷Whenthey saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ThenJesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth hasbeen given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples ofall nations, baptizing them in^[a] thename of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰andteaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with youalways, to the very end of the age."

o⋅be⋅di⋅ence

  [oh-bee-dee-uhns]  Show IPA

Use obedience in a Sentence

–noun

1.	the state or quality of being obedient.

2.	the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissivecompliance: Military service demands obedience from its members.

3.	a sphere of authority or jurisdiction, esp. ecclesiastical.

4.	Chiefly Ecclesiastical. a. conformity to a monastic rule or the authority of areligious superior, esp. on the part of one who has vowed such conformance. b. the rule or authority that exacts such conformance

We are quick to reach the disconnected andsometimes slow in growing the connected. That is not because of churchleadership or anyone else around us, but rather, because of our individual unwillingnessto submit and obey and grow.  In ourrecent posts we have been talking about purity and moving toward holiness.  In Mathew 28, we read about Jesus charging usto go and making disciples, BUT we sometimes miss the rest of that sentence, “²⁰and teaching them to obeyeverything I have commanded you…”  Didyou get that?  Not only does He say to goand make disciples, but he says to teach them to obey everything that God hascommanded.  We do that throughobedience.  Through multiple exercises ofdiscipline in reading God’s word, praying and meditating and talking with Himdaily, hourly and whatever we need to do in order to stop beingdisobedient.  Obedience will clearlybegin the process toward purity. 

  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

FROM LEGACY DAD TO ALL OF YOU - WE WISH YOU A HAPPY AND BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

IN YOUR PRAYERS AROUND THE SUPPER TABLE- PLEASE REMEMBER THOSE WHO ARE SERVING IN THE ARMED FORCES AND COAST GUARD AROUND THE WORLD AND GIVE THANKS TO THEM FOR PROTECTING OUR FREEDOMS.

 

Psalm 115

 ¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us 
       but to your name be the glory, 
       because of your love and faithfulness.

Psalm 118

 ¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 
       his love endures forever.

²¹ I will give you thanks, for you answered me; 
       you have become my salvation.

 ²² The stone the builders rejected 
       has become the capstone;

 ²³ the LORD has done this, 
       and it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. 
       From the house of the LORD we bless you. ^[g]

 ²⁷ The LORD is God, 
       and he has made his light shine upon us. 
       With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession 
       up ^[h] to the horns of the altar.

 ²⁸ You are my God, and I will give you thanks; 
       you are my God, and I will exalt you.

 ²⁹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 
       his love endures forever.

The Kill Zone - Navigating toward to purity

The last post was called the Road to Purity.  Along the way, in moving toward purity, we will encounter many traps (snares and kill zones).  We need to rely heavily on the Word of God and prayer and true friendship accountability (men willing to carry each other's burdens).  When we find ourselves, in our walks, we have to understand that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore, put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6).  If you are like me, then you read a lot and are a very big movie buff.  I love reading about history and about our war heroes.  If you have seen any key military movies, then you quickly learn what a kill zone is:    You will see a military diagram that depicts what the military will do in order to lure the enemy into this kill zone, where there usually is no hope for survival.  And this is exactly what sin will do to us if we do not move toward biblical purity and build up our defenses against evil.  No matter how strong we think we may be, we are truly kidding ourselves if we do not plan for battle and look toward our Heavenly Father for guidance.  This past Sunday, our Pastor preached on John Calvin and left us with this key message, "that we should all have one foot up" preparing ourselves for our move toward Home.  When you are in the military - you train.  When you compete athletically for any major sport - you train.  When you decide to stop mocking God and move to biblical purity - what should you do?  Come on, you know the answer - you have to Train.  Job 28: 28 says, "...The fear of the Lord - that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.  Looking at the diagram above, imagine that the arrow depicting Guerrilla Force is the "super highway" of sin (some would call that internet pornography -   other's may call it lust, and still others may call it whatever pulls them away from walking in purity).  The point is that, in order for us to be the hunter instead of the hunted, we have to be the ones that are setting up the kill zones for the sin in our lives- that's right - don't go there men - flee from evil.  Put on the whole Armor of God (some would call this Combat Jujitsu) in which we prepare to kill the enemy in hand to hand combat.  The enemy here is the untouched sin in our lives.  1st Thessalonians 4:3-5, and verse 7 puts it this way, "It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a away that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.  For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life." The Book of James puts it this way:  James 1:14-16, "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.  Don't be deceived, my dear brothers."  Okay, so you say you need more of a visual, so below is a movie clip from Lord of the Rings (thank you YouTube).  It is King Theoden, who walked right into the snare of impurity, and you can look at him and see what sin looks like in our lives by his appearance.  As I finish setting up this scene, imagine that sin in our lives (impurity) is represented by King Theoden.  Now imagine that his "trusted" adviser is the demon in our life who tries to make us struggle.  Imagine that Gandalf and his friends our are accountability partners and his staff and sword represent truth (the Word of God and prayer in our lives).  Okay - here it is (about 7 minutes in all):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68LlKBxNiq4&hl=en_US&fs=1&&w=560&h=340]

The Road to Purity

A lot of you have heard the saying, "The road less traveled" and some have even written a book about it, but in making a legacy for you and your family, it begins with your heart and with you making a commitment toward making God truly Lord over your entire life.  The hardest part of being male, a creature of habit, is when we get set in our ways, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, however, in "dog-training" one broken command takes eight corrections.  This is exactly what we should do as diciples of Christ, learn to reinforce the postive and stay away from the negative (the sinful things).  For instance, if we struggle with pornography (porn, images of lust, sexual fantasies) then we need to confess those to God and REPENT.  The question always comes up, "What if I cannot stop doing this, am I really saved."  That is an excellent question, and the answer is found in the New Testament, by what fruit you are bearing in your lives.  Remember that Jesus said, some may say Lord, Lord, and he will say depart from me, I never knew you.  Getting to the heart of the matter, that is, a heart check awareness of where God truly stands in our life can only start with prayer.  By Adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication we can allow the Holy Spirit to truly move in our lives and convict us of the impurities in our life that we need to clean house and to encourage us in the things in our lives that we need to continue to feed:  Reading the Bible, Praying, Meditation and quiet time.  Some of us can honestly say that we truly don't have the time?  Really?  Do we have time for sports, for sex, for building relationships with others?  Then why, in God's name, do we not have time for Him?  Seriously, prayer is a way that we can truly communicate with the Holy of Holies.  Prayer is a way that we can truly worship to the one and only God.  Prayer is a way that we can allow God to work in our lives.  Spending quiet time, whether in a closet, a basement, outdoors and or any place where you can allow no outside interferences to get in between you and God is a place where you can find that little voice that talks to you and points out the good and the bad in your life.  The voice that says that everything will be   okay and that all you need to do is to trust and obey.  Simply put, when we allow God to be Lord over our lives then we allow the Holy Spirit to make the changes in us that need to be made.   So I ask you, can you make the time?  Can we give ourselves to God's call?  Can we give to the one person who loves us so much that He gave us his only son, as a sacrifice, to once and for all atone for our sin and to allow us to be saved?   When we put things in perspective, is it really that hard to do?  Where ever you are in your life and your walk in life, whether rich or poor, whether well taken care of or barely making it, we can truly allow ourselves to take a deep reality check in our lives and discover that if we are not actively serving him, as Christians, then something is truly missing:  Community with God.  Community with the Most High and Holy God.  All this is possible through his son Jesus Christ who bore all of our sins at Calvary.    Lance and I want to make this challenge to you, 21 days, that is twenty one days to read the Book of John and the Book of James and then see where you are in life and where you think you should be.  Twenty One days, that is three weeks for those who are not counting.  Can you commit to:  1) Daily reading of the Bible, 2) Daily Prayer(s) (and we emphasize prayers in the sense of throughout the day and 3) quiet time to hear that ever so quiet voice in our lives.  If you can do that in twenty one days, then we bet that you will see a difference in your outlook, that is, your heavenly perspective.  Can you do it? 

Mark 8: ³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.³⁵For whoever wants to save his life^[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." 

Biblical Principles on Purity

Biblical Principles on Purity

As we move from milk to meat in our journey of discipleship and becoming a legacy dad we need to take a deep look into ourselves and prepare to be brutally honest.  Not all of us may have a Nathan in our lives to call sin in our life truly what it is, but some of us have deliberately derailed any kind of accountability due to the fact that we are truly afraid to be honest.  Therefore, by reading the Scriptures daily and praying for God to truly reveal that which is in our lives that needs to be repented, we can move from spiritual infancy to biblical maturity (milk to meat).  There are so many scripture verses on purity in the Bible that I cannot take all the time to name them on this entry, but what I can tell you is that we truly have to be honest to the God of the Universe and to repent for that which needs to be repented.  Pride is the biggest issue in most men, meaning that we tend to justify those things in our lives that we say are okay, but God truly says no way.  I think the Book of Job puts this form of thinking into true perspective:  Job 34:31-33 “Suppose a man says to God, ‘I am guilty’ but will offend no more.  Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong I will not do so again.  Should God then reward you on your term when you refuse to repent?  You must decide, not I; so tell me what you know.”  How can we sit there and expect to grow in wisdom and stature when we cannot be honest with ourselves about the things that need to be repented for in our lives.  Do we lust?  Do we hate? Do we fantasize about other women instead of our wives?  Do we lie?  Are we truly impure in God’s eyes?  What will it take for all of us to stop mocking God and realize that He truly knows all and that in the end, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. 

Job 28:28 “The fear of the Lord –that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding”.  1 John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  1 Timothy 4: 12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.  Hebrews 13: 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.    Matthew 5:27⁷"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'^{[a] 28}But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. 

Purity- Getting to the Heart of the matter

Deuteronomy 6  ¹ These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to …² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates ¹³ Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. ¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; ¹⁵ for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you…¹⁶ Do not test the LORD your … ¹⁷ Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with… ²⁰ In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?" …

Psalm 78:1 O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old-  3 what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

Before we can talk about discipleship and stewardship let’s talk about matters of the heart, allowing the Holy Spirit to work into us and not to grieve the Holy Spirit.  By allowing ourselves to submit to the very words and decrees that the Word of God (The Holy Bible) calls us to do (see Scripture above), we have to focus on matters of our lives from the inside out.  Sexual Purity is a virtue that is under attack in our society.  There are so many attacks to our hearts that for some of us, we can no longer stand in the midst of a Holy God, because we are impure and we have grieved the Holy Spirit.  We have to be honest and do a self check and have accountability partners in our lives to move away from the impurities in our lives.  When we commit to Purity, then we can commit to discipleship and stewardship as well. 

  Before anyone comes after me and attacks my theology on the aforementioned statement, I want to remind you of gifts and offerings to God that are better left at the altar then for us to pretend we are pure in God’s eyes.  I am not saying that we are going to create a level of a sin-free life, but rather, a life that is quick to repent and humble ourselves before our God through his mediator, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

The heart of the matter is this:  Hebrews 4:12, For the Word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Simply put, what will it take to move you toward discipleship and biblical stewardship?  A daily commitment to read God’s Word (The Bible), pray continually and find quiet time to allow the Lord to be Lord over you all of the time and not just when it is convenient for you.