Making Plans?

If you are making plans, consider these Proverbs:

"Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way." Proverbs 19:2

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Proverbs 19:21

"Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war." Proverbs 20:18

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty." Proverbs 21:5

Our Purpose, Part 2

I just uploaded the message from Sunday. I am teaching through our fellowship's purpose statement: Love God, Love People, Make Disciples. Unfortunately the first message did not record properly, so this is the second in the series. In the first purpose, love God, we discussed believing the gospel and surrendering all to Christ. This week, still in loving God, we discussed prayer, walking according to God's Word, walking according to God's Spirit, and loving people (as a part of loving God). You can listen to or download it from the teaching audio tool in the sidebar.

Was Joseph Just Lucky?

“The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. . . . His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.” Then, after he was thrown into prison: “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (Gen 39:2-3, 21). As I read this, my heart cries out for the Lord to be with me in this way. So often I feel as though I am totally limited to my own human capabilities. I want God to manifest himself in my life. I want my life and ministry to be more than just what I can do.

So, was Joseph just lucky or chosen? Is there anything I can do have the Lord with me? Here is what Azariah prophesied to King Asa in 2 Chron. 15:2, “The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” Later, Hanani said to him, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (16:9). Joseph was not lucky or chosen, he simply took God up on his promises.

Diligence

I found an old book in my Dad's library, Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Worker. I know Mr. Nee is criticized a good bit, but he also has some great things to say. Here are some of his comments from a chapter on the quality of diligence:

  • “A person who regards everything as a burden cannot be a faithful servant of the Lord” (14).
  • “Every faithful servant of Christ buys up the moments, and when he is not outwardly engaged he is inwardly active, waiting on the Lord in real heart-exercise” (15).
  • John 4:35 – “The time to work is now, not some future date. ‘Lift up your eyes and look’ He said, indicating the kind of workman He needed—one who does not stand waiting for the work to come to him, but one who has eyes to see the work that is already waiting to be done. . . . Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today” (15-16).
  • “Diligence is primarily an inward matter and is not measured by outward busyness” (16).
  • “Oh, that we might awaken to the weightiness of our responsibility, the urgency of the need around us, and the fleeting nature of time! . . . Let us, as dying men, give ourselves with all our powers to the dying around us” (19).

Quick to Believe

When the women reported that the angels had told them that Jesus was risen, “these words seemed tot hem an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (v. 11). “But Peter rose and ran to the tomb . . . and he went home marveling at what had happened” (v. 12). Peter believed; you can tell by how he responded. When walking on road to Emmaus with the two men, Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that he prophets have spoken” (v. 25). And he said to the disciples later, “Why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (v. 38).

Father, grant me a believing heart. Let me not be slow of heart to believe and have doubts arise in my heart. But instead, when I hear the Word of the Lord, let me immediately get up and run to the truth and see and live it for myself.

New Teaching Audio: Seeking the Lord

I finally got my wireless lapel mic fixed. So, now we are back to recording the teaching in our fellowship. You can listen to it in or download it from the teaching audio tool in the sidebar. On Sunday, we discussed how important it is to seek the Lord, why we don't, and how to do it. Here are the main ideas:

1. When we seek the Lord, our relationship to God is the most important thing (Psalm 32:8-9; James 4:4-10).

2. When we seek the Lord, we will spend time in prayer.

3. When we seek the Lord, we will wait on him to act, provide, and lead (Psalm 33:20).