Fireproof Your Relationship With God

     Man was given the potential for passion and if we do not direct it toward Christ, the inevitable will happen.  We will end up serving our flesh in one way or another..  If we are completely sold out for Christ, we will not have time to serve our flesh.

Holiness/ Righteousness

The meaning: Separateness, withdrawal; pure, holy, 

loving, having the nature of God which is separate from evil

     Holiness applies first of all to God, although it is implied by the fear, the dread or awe that we have before Him.  Wherever God was, that place becomes holy for as long as He was there.

     Jesus was recognized as the holy one of God.

     When someone is holy, they will be pure, holy, and loving, carrying the nature of God; which is separate from evil.

     In the Old Testament anyone who came into the presence of God had to be purified physically as a sign they were pure before Him.  The New Testament, however, requires our hearts to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and as a result of our faith in Him, we follow in obedience His command of water baptism.  The symbolism in the Old Testament is carried out in reality in the New Testament.

• I Thessalonians 4:7,12
• Psalm 24:4,5
• Ephesians 4:1-7

     What does it mean to walk worthy?

     Jesus Christ paid a dear price so that we can even be called.  When we walk worthy, we are not a reproach to His name or His sacrifice.  We will have lowliness of spirit, meekness, a longsuffering attitude toward others whether people or things, forbearance, striving to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Lowliness= not lifted up, humble

Meekness= gentleness, humility

Longsuffering= patience

Forbearance= tolerance, self restraint

     There is no way of getting around it, if we are a true Christan, we can not be lifted up in pride or selfishness.  This is a basic fact of the Christian life.

• I Thessalonians 5:1-28

     Watch, pray, be sober, be girded with the armor that God has provided you, encourage each other, be at peace with each other, warn, comfort, rejoice, give thanks, do not quench the Spirit, despise not prophesying, prove everything, stay away from the appearance of evil, and pray for your leaders.  Be obedient to God's commands, and be sensitive to His will in your life.
     We must purpose in our hearts not to defile ourselves with the prince of this world's influences and character.  David said, "I will set no evil thing before my eyes".  When David sinned, it was because of his lack of carrying out his purpose.  We can not expect to win victories over the devil if we are not willing to exert effort for the cause.

• Philippians 4:8

     We must carefully guard what goes into our minds inlet.  Like with a computer or mp3 player we put certain things in and that is what surely comes out.  In our own lives, if we are dwelling on bitterness, anger, darkness or even death, that is what will come out of our darkened soul.  God forbid that we should dabble in darkness or death.
     To fireproof our relationship with God, we must be completely sold out for him.  We must sacrifice everything for Him.  The lusts of this world must be avoided or they will become your god and dictate to you what you do.
     Are we so busy doing "good" things that we have let other things slip?  We must always be watching and praying.  Matthew says, "that ye enter not into temptation".  It is part of the armor that God has given us and we must don it for the battle.  We will not be fully prepared unless we are guarding every area of our lives.  We must also pay attention to the watchmen in our lives.  They were given to us as our protection and not to spoil our fun!

• Isaiah 62:6

• Romans 12:1,2

Death Penalty

     Any infraction against God is a felony worthy of our death.  All of us have committed a felony against God.  There are no misdemeanors in God's judicial system but an infraction against Him is an infraction none the less.  When man loses his way spiritually and we all have Satan has us in his clutches.  A man or woman who has transgressed against God's law has no rights but comes under the full prosecution of that law.
     God has provided a way of escape from this looming death penalty and that is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ taking into consideration that we accept His sacrifice on our behalf.  If we accept this full pardon of our transgression the death penalty has been paid by Jesus.

Sin Is A Criminal

Act Against

God.

Did God Create The World For Love?

     God is Love!  ( I John 4:8)  How do you show someone you love them if there is no one to love?  God created men and women that He knew would fall into sin so he could show the the depth of His Love.  God in the form of  man took upon Himself the sins of all of mankind and offered Himself as a sacrifice as a means of reconciliation to Himself.  Behold what manner of Love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.  (I John 3:1)
     John 1:12  "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God."

Creation

     The last time you heard an explosion did anything new appear?  No, of course not, that is one reason why the big bang theory was not the cause for our origins.  God created the world and the people in the world so He would have someone to show the full extent of His love.
Day 1      God begins to move as a cold, dark and stormy shapeless object begins to unfold.  The waters beat with a fury making waves across the face of it as the Spirit of God gives energy or power to it.
               The laws of science are  put into effect ready to keep and maintain the unfolding creation of the earth.  As God continues to give energy to the newly created earth that cannot yet be lived on, new things appear that had not yet been seen.
                He begins with light on day one and thus begins to dispel the darkness that is in place here on earth.  This light, because there was no atmosphere yet, most likely took on the appearance of filtered light to that as sunshine on a hazy day, or how the sun shines on Mercury where there is little to no atmosphere making for an eerie glow from the sun.
                God then divides the darkness from the light using His creative power to make the light more clear, more definite. The sun as yet has not been created, but God is demonstrating His creative nature as well as His creative power.
Day 2        The earth, on day two, received its shape or form from God, but still needed work to make it livable.  Since the atmosphere had not yet been created, but was needed for the survival of the rest of the creation, now was a good time to create it.  God, first spent some time dividing the waters that covered the earth to create a canopy that was suitable for an atmosphere to sustain life.
Day 3        God begins this day with making dry land appear.  Up until this time the earth was still covered in water that was beating out its chaos.  When God moved the water aside to make land appear, the land was dry.
                 This is where the earth gets its name.  God named the dry land earth, and the waters He separated from the earth, he called seas.  God now declares His creation so far, "good".  Order had started and even though there was a lot to be done yet, progress was being seen.
                  The earth needed some sort of covering that could also be used to sustain life.  God speaks and tells the earth to bring forth grass, herbs, and trees; and then gave them power to spread over the face of the earth.
Day 4         This is the day God decides to make the sun, moon, and stars.  God spoke them into existence and gave the sun the power to rule the day and the moon and stars the power to rule the night.
                   Light and darkness are just as opposite as sin and righteousness and the fact that God would have lights to rule the night would indicate that He doesn't want us to be in utter darkness.  Sin in our culture will leave our culture in darkness, and sin in our personal lives will leave our souls in darkness unless we allow God to re-create our souls and let His light...His righteousness shine into our souls and through us.
                   The rotation of the earth around the sun makes for our times, the sign, and the seasons.  Nothing is random but clearly has order and is set in order mathematically so we can calculate or predict when certain things will happen.
                   We can always count on the sun coming up in the morning and going down in the evening.  We can also count on the constellation Orion coming up in the fall and going down in the spring, and also when certain comets and meteor showers will appear.
Day 5          The time has come for life to be made known on the earth.  God caused the fish, the whales, and the birds to come forth from the waters; and God gave them the power within themselves To spread across the face of the earth and the sea.
Day 6           God begins to speak among themselves:  the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  "Let us make man in our image.  When God created man; He formed him, moulded him, carefully constructed him and then breathed the breath of life into his nose and mankind began to live.
                     Adam, as the first man, had a responsibility given to him by God of tending the Garden of Eden.  The middle of this garden had two trees growing in it, the tree of life and the tree of knowing good and evil.  God gave Adam strict instructions that he could eat of every tree in the garden except the tree of knowing good and evil or he would die.
                      Adam needed a mate, a fellow human that he could share life's greatest pleasures with and so God brought up the animals forth from the ground to Adam to name and to see if there were any suitable for him, and none were.  (God knew that)
                    God then caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and from his side took a rib created a woman with it, and when God brought her to Adam, Adam named her woman; because he said "she was taken out of man".
                    This is what constitutes a marriage: one man and one woman pledging to love each other for life, leaving the umbrella of the parental authority to establish a new home of their own, and becoming bonded together in the bond of love.
                     God blesses this union and gives them power to spread over the face of the earth, to rule over the earth and animals, and to bring the forces of nature into subjection to use for the benefit of mankind.  He then told them what they could eat; herbs and fruit from trees.
Day 7            The creation of the world is now finished and God rests from His work, not because He is tired but because He is setting an example of what a work-week is supposed to look like.