Closeness to Jesus Brings a Fruitful Life - November 8, 2015

Matthew 15:29-39 New Living Translation (NLT)

29 Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. 30 A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. 31 The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.

32 Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.”

33 The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”

34 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”

They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”

35 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.

37 They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. 38 There were 4,000 men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. 39 Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.

 

As we enter into day 4 of 21 days of prayer, I believe the Lord has at least 3 nuggets of truth in this passage.

1)       There’s always more to discover.

The disciples had been with Jesus for 3 days. He’s been pouring into them. But after 3 days, He wants them to learn more. When you think you can absorb no more, Jesus says, there’s more to learn here. He wants to and He does teach them by example something new.

No matter how much we think we know, with Jesus – there’s always more to discover. So we persist in faith ready to learn even more.

2)      There’s more to display

As we learn more about Jesus, we not only want to display Him to others, we will display Him to others. When we bump up to Jesus, when we sit at his feet and let Him pour His word into us, we display Him to others. Out of an overflow, like a river flooding, the Holy Spirit oozes out of us and it becomes evident to others that we have been with Jesus.

3)      There’s more to distribute.

We live to give Him away to others.  One way of giving Jesus to others – is when we decide to give people our time to pray for them. That’s a tangible way of giving Jesus to others.  As we discover more, we display more, we learn that there’s just simply no ending in ways to give Jesus away to others.

Today may we just soak in so much of Jesus through the Word and the infilling of the Holy Spirit,  that our lives just overflow with evidence an fruit of our time with Him.. and then may we experience the natural result that there is no end in distributing Jesus to others.

Posted on November 8, 2015 .

“What I’m a part of is bigger than the part I play.”

“What I’m a part of is bigger than the part I play.”

Ephesians 3:10-21New Living Translation (NLT)

10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 Because of Christ and our faith in him,[a] we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,[b] 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.[c] 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

 

Paul prays these 5 things for believer and for/over the church:

-       that we would be empowered with strength v.16

-       that Christ will make His home in our heartsv.17

-       that we would be rooted (deeply) in His love. v. 17b

-       that we would understand His love v. 18

*** note: Paul praysthat we would have the power to understand His love.

how wide, how high, how deep, how long.

-       that we would experience His love. v. 19

These are things we should pray over one another and the church – and when we do, the results are in verse .20

v. 19 we would be made complete

v. 20 that by His power and might He would accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Do you have a big vision for what God can do in your life? Because whatever you thinkor ask.. He is able to do INFINITELY MORE!!!

What would it look like if God did more than we ever imagined?

--- thousands of people coming to Christ / being baptized / sharing their new faith

n  planting / establishing hundreds of churches

We are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves

“What I’m a part of is bigger than the part I play.”

Posted on September 11, 2015 .

Sometimes Your Marriage Needs to Stop ------ what's that??

Could it be that God is calling you to S.T.O.P? 

Couples that are not rested will have a marriage that will be tested! Spending time working for God is not a substitute of spending time with God!

Maybe you and your spouse are overwhelmed, overtaxed, over extended and just plain over obligated. This is exactly where some couples have been. They had thought, “there was no way that we could take a break " while at the same time knowing they could no longer continue  at the pace they were living. Their marriage was affected, they were strangers to their children and their ministry was suffering. This is when they heard the voice of Lord say, “S.T.O.P!”

Still yourself before the Lord.
Take a deep breath.
Observe God’s goodness.
Proceed in God’s presence. 

Posted on August 29, 2015 .