Growing Personally

In the old days, it was said that ministry was a special calling and if you want to do really serious work for God, you must go in that direction.

This sort of thinking, can affect our young people who believe that one day they'll be able to serve God. May be they don’t need to get an education and perhaps we don’t need to excel at work -just bum around till you get into the "real ministry." Do you know that the number of people applying to become missionary’s, follow the unemployment graph!

Spurgeon said to his students, “If you can be happy being a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher and business men then do it, for God is not calling you, ministry is just a nice idea to you.”

There is the effectual call of Christ where were saved and called to a lifestyle holiness; then there is the providential call in which you find yourself, like in your present job; the call to ministry and use of you gifts and the heart call. The thing you really want to do, maybe you want to be an engineer, where you would enjoy deep gladness and meet one of the world’s deep needs.
Friend, God is coming to widows and farmers to help them succeed. He knows about matchmaking, crop growing, administration and even prison work! Talk to Him about your work too!

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Sometimes we pray like this Father as we gather at church meetings- Lord, help us to leave behind the hurly-burly of the world as we come together now to do your work in this place.

What does that tell our people? That they are nothing till Sunday? That they have no value all week till Sunday or home group and they can get to do some of Gods work? No! At the office, you are the minister there. Your work is your ministry.

Throughout history, there came a division probably unintentionally between those doing full-time church work and the rest. There was the sacred word and secular work and sometimes we still use that division. It elevated the spiritual ministry above other jobs. Calvin reclaimed work not as secular but spiritual and holy. Calvin said, “your work is your ministry, so serve God in it.” Your call and vocation are the same.

God is a worker and it’s part of Gods nature to work. God is a worker and if we want to be like Him we will be a worker. Some religions have Gods that live a life of self-indulgent pleasure and revelry. God is never represented sleeping it the Bible. He is running, sitting, standing, and being a farmer, a potter, a weaver, gardener or shepherd but never a sleeper. God is a worker it is part of Gods character to work. He expends energy in the service of others; it fulfils Him and He says it’s very good. Everything that He does benefits others and for his own glory.

Friend, John Stott said, “Work is expending energy in the service of others bringing fulfilment to the worker, benefit to the community and glory to God.”

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Out of all the religions of the world; all the sages, human leaders, priests and poets of all religion, the only people that are bringing people into peace with God are the disciples of Jesus Christ.

No one else has that message. Disciples of Jesus Christ hate contention and discord. If you promote peace in your home, church, and world, God will call you his kid.

Believes can continue talking without being contentious, disagree without being disagreeable and confront without being abusive. They seek to not give offence but live kindly. They will not take offence but love and live in harmony rather than take offence. They will gently seek to build bridges between those who have been separated. They sow peace not strife and they cover others sin to not separate other. They don’t whisper or gossip and they don’t try to make other people look bad to someone else.

They are not as Pharisees, who think they are now better than others but are like beggars telling other beggars where they can find bread.

The church preaches peace through Jesus Christ. That Jesus loves them and wants them to find peace with God through Him. He wants to help people find inner peace and peace with others.
Friend be a peacemaker. When you leave are people more at peace than they were. Do people call you a trouble maker or a peacemaker?

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It takes truth to bring us into true freedom and freedom must run on the rails of truth. If your freedom ever gets off the rails of truth it will hurt you badly and destroy those around you. People may want to be free to take other people’s money but it will destroy them and others. So the truth will set you free and knowing and living the truth will keep you free.

Truth is reality; life as it truly is. When you’re a child you need adults to tell you how life really is because a five year doesn’t know about scalding water. Truth protects and sets free.

A teenager needs parents to tell the truth because they don’t know about the danger of men or drugs. The truth set free. An adult needs God to tell them by a revelation about how life is designed to work best, how to become right with God or how to live successfully with their wife or husband.

The law or the Old Testament is not the Truth by itself. It set no one free and made no one righteousness. The Truth is not any one part of the bible; it is the whole Bible. Thy Word is Truth and that truth was perfectly demonstrated by Jesus Christ. Another word for truth is reality and the Bible tells us how a thing really is. There really is a God. There really is a hell. There is a devil and you do reap whatever you sow.

Friend the greatest reality is that God loves us and Christ died for us to bring us back to God forever. That is real love, really awesome and real truth.

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Paul said that he had tried to avoid offending God or men. We should too and sometimes we need to ask somebody for forgiveness, if we know we have offended them. You may need to ask your parents to forgive you or a friend to forgive you for your unkind words.

On the other hand Jesus said if you come to the altar and you know someone has something against you should leave the altar and put things right with that person before you carry on to worship. Sometimes we may even have to ask Gods forgiveness for the sins of our grandparents as well as forgiving those who have sinned against us. We need to clear our conscience before God and people.

That doesn’t mean we go and confess all our sins to our parents, wife or a person we are secretly jealous at, unless they know of our sin. We don’t tell people that you had something against them for the last 10 years, if they didn’t have a clue. That may just create un-necessary problems.
Friend, a principle to live by is: Ask forgiveness from only those people that know of your sin or wrong attitude toward them; nobody else needs to be involved, apart from Our Heavenly Father who will forgive you completely as you confess your sin to Him.

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Fred who is a believer has a short temper and always seems to be blowing up his wife and kids. He makes yet another commitment to God to really try to not get angry so soon. The next day he fails again and feels like a hopeless failure. He will never break the cycle because he personally has no ability to help himself and the law (do not be soon angry) doesn’t empower him either.

He feels that he should be free but doesn’t seem to know-how. Jesus said “If you know the truth it will make you free. So true freedom is not from a physical problem but from something mental or spiritual.

Grace is a gift come to us from Jesus, but sometimes believers don’t seem to appropriate the gift of grace as we could. Often believers live more by self-effort.

God has revealed two weapons to smash off us, every bondage that the devil has put upon us - Grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. Grace is the unmerited favour of God that God has shown us as sinners. Grace credits to us the righteousness of God. But grace is not just His righteousness but His ability too.

Now, what happens when Fred lives under grace or should we say understands the grace of God and Truth? Fred knows God is not angry with him and that God actually likes him. God has proved that by giving Fred His power, Spirit and Life.

He knows God actually loves him and wants Fred to have a healthy home and relationships even more than Fred does, so he comes boldly to the throne of grace to find help in a time of need. Fred is so in love with his heavenly Father now that he seeks to please Him even in the way he handles disappointments and he finds a new power at work in his life.
Friend, its grace that allows us to come feeling un-condemned before God our Father and ask for help. Grace teaches us that God is not surprised that you can’t control your anger or you lust or your fear without Him and grace will be given freely to you in your time at the throne.

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Another day in the desert came and went; another day to see what was in their heart. Today the people found fault with Moses and God himself. There are people who think they could teach God a few things. Lord you not doing this right. The complained about their present circumstances and they complained about their future challenge. The two who didn’t complain should have gone in but were hindered by the rest for another forty years. (sobering) but the point is that your attitude will keep you in the same circumstance you’re complaining about and until our attitude glorifies God, we won’t be delivered.

It’s not suffering that glorifies God; anyone can suffer but suffering with an attitude that glorifies God. We don’t look for suffering; it’s coming anyway. Jesus suffered gloriously without complaint, but with trust. God is looking for settled character, where we remain stable and constant in trust because the ability is shown by stability. Some people are great today, but tomorrow they are negative, critical, cynical and flaky.

God is in charge and He hasn’t changed since yesterday. He hasn’t changed his plans and purpose for your life since last week or last year.
Friend, God only needs to see us keep the right attitude before He brings the release and the increase.

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Another day in the desert came and went; another day to see what was in their heart. Today the people found fault with Moses and God himself. There are people who think they could teach God a few things. Lord you not doing this right. The complained about their present circumstances and they complained about their future challenge. The two who didn’t complain should have gone in but were hindered by the rest for another forty years. (sobering) but the point is that your attitude will keep you in the same circumstance you’re complaining about and until our attitude glorifies God, we won’t be delivered.

It’s not suffering that glorifies God; anyone can suffer but suffering with an attitude that glorifies God. We don’t look for suffering; it’s coming anyway. Jesus suffered gloriously without complaint, but with trust. God is looking for settled character, where we remain stable and constant in trust because the ability is shown by stability. Some people are great today, but tomorrow they are negative, critical, cynical and flaky.

God is in charge and He hasn’t changed since yesterday. He hasn’t changed his plans and purpose for your life since last week or last year.
Friend, God only needs to see us keep the right attitude before He brings the release and the increase.

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