A group you grow in? Grow in what? friends, weight, money, memories, fun; the list goes on…I want to be in a group that I can grow. Opposite of grow, decrease.
We choose groups all week long. We go the movies, lunch, vacations, meetings, and church. Some groups fulfill their purpose. Others don’t. Unless you are going to weight watchers, decreasing is NOT the ultimate purpose for your group.
Renaissance Road, my church, sets aside a 10 week period of time three times a year to purposefully, intentionally, grow in spiritual things. (The nice thing is, other things grow at the same time like: friends, memories, and weight!).
We schedule this time, because lets face it, few people set aside time to grow in spiritual things. It’s hard really. It challenges you and we don’t like to be challenged unless we’ve got a super duper prize waiting at the end!
Maybe you grow at church. I hope you do. Maybe you don’t like church and this is the way you choose to grow. But, I ask you to go further. It is SUCH a great choice of your time to intentionally study God’s word with a group of people. In fact, probably the best use of your time you will ever spend. Why? When you grow, you increase.
Every time I have put a principle in God’s word at work in my life, I grow. I grow stronger, happier, wealthier, …the list goes on…
so…whether you believe in God or not? Whether you believe God’s word was written by a group of fisherman and you aint listening to them or not?
I challenge you to check it out. You will be hooked.
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what. (Hebrews 4:12)
is a 15 year old at our church that hurts! Her body for a week has writhed in pain due to surgery to remove 10 lbs of tumor! She has already had 6 months of chemo and now will have 6 more.
Last year this time, Haley was my most committed, most passionate, most precious worker in kids church. She did anything you asked her to and loved on every child.
As I look into Haley’s eyes, I feel so helpless except to say, “Haley Anne, you are so special to me and Jesus. I can’t make the pain go away and take away the cancer, but Jesus can. We have asked Jesus time after time after time to take away the cancer from Haley. Two Sunday’s ago, all the kids held hands and stood around Haley and asked Jesus to take away the cancer.
Well, the tumors are gone. We are one step closer. We WILL NOT stop asking Jesus to take away the cancer, Haley Anne.
PLEASE ask him along with us. Haley Anne is a mighty, mighty, force for the kingdom of God. We NEED her! Our kids NEED her!
Isa 53:5
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
People achieve great things not through strenght, but through perserverance. I’m not sure which is harder? Strong-arming-it or perservering. Both involve hard work and discipline. However, someone will always be stronger but NOBODY has to stick it out longer than me. Right? Therefore, I am assured completion if I stick it out.
How many people have given up right before achievement? I know I have. However, many other times I’ve reached my goal because I didn’t quit.
For years when things would get hard, the enemy of my mind would say, just quit. You don’t have to do this. It’s too hard. Noboby cares. YOUR GOING TO DIE! Sometimes I quit. Most of the time, I didn’t. But that’s irrelevant.
The enemy of my mind now rarely, rarely, tells me to quit because it is a waste of time. I quit when I say quit. I quit when God says quit because usually when I want to quit the most is right before achievement.
“Endurance develops strenght of character in us, and character strenghtens our confident expectation of salvation” (Romans 5:4)
To ponder, means to weigh things out…and we tend to use that verb to denote thinking rather than speaking….
Basically, I think it’s safe to say Mary was speechless when “she pondered in her heart after the birth of Jesus.” (Luke 2:19)
Being a new mother on Christmas day is familiar to me….my son was born on Christmas day….every memory of that day is clear….Best DAY of my life. It was Christmas ..…family out of town, friends w/ their kids/families, even my mother was w/ my other children. It was just me and Dennis and our almost 10 lb perfect baby boy. He was born at midnight and Dennis went to sleep. I stayed awake all night long and held him. I was speechless.
I know why Mary was pondering rather than celebrating like the shepherds. You know what I mean mothers. Nothing feels more like love, than the flesh of the child that grew inside of you for 9 months. Your heart is immediately smitten and stolen by this living, breathing being and your life changes forever! It’s no longer about you but about them. You can’t be happy, unless they are happy.
Oh, if our heart were to change that way when we met Jesus. That is what is suppose to happen you know; a heart change.
Mary didn’t just ponder, she pondered in her heart. This love was a heart issue. One of the greatest ‘heart’ moments on earth! The Bible says that “God is love”.
Have you ever thought about this? Jesus, God’s son sent down from heaven, a perfect place, to earth…full of hate, sin, pain, death….but God choose to send him first to the arms of a loving mother….his descent from heaven cushioned by the closest thing to heaven’s love on this earth…..just proof that God is love…and his ways are oh so mysterious…..
Heart issues happen when relationship happens. Heart issues make you estastic with joy. Heart issues hurt. Heart issues make you crazy!
Why did I parallel the relationship of Mary and Jesus?
Because the heart of God’s love is so defined and exemplified in this relationship.
I ask you tonight to ponder or ‘weigh out’ this Jesus thing?
Is your relationship w/ Jesus a heart issue, or not? If it’s not, it should be. He longs for it to be. He longs for you to want to make him happy, even more than yourself.
