"I have given you a task. Hitch up your jock strap and get on with it. I know you are frightened, but you can choose: you can choose to be afraid of them and not speak; or you can choose to be afraid of me if you disobey me. I am much more to be feared.
You will need to be strong, not the kind of strength that charges at and overruns the enemy, but the kind of strength that stands firm, on task, unmoved, no matter how fierce the enemy's attacks may be.
Make no mistake about it, they will launch attack after attack against you, but they will not destroy you. You will be able to stand firm in the face of the attack, for I am with you to deliver you."
Note there are three reasons to obey God.
1) If we allow our fear of men to control us, we stand in opposition to God,
2) AND we stand alone.
3) But if we allow our fear of God to control us, we stand in opposition to the world, but we have a mighty ally.
Which do you fear? Who is your ally?
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Jeremiah 1:11ff
"Do you see the stick? Do you see the pot? Do you know what they mean?"
How many sticks do you see in a day? How many pots? How many rocks, birds, dead bugs, hairstyles, tools, heat shimmers, or poodles? Is God speaking to you through the things that are right in front of your eyes? Are you watching and listening?
The stick and the pot mean that God sees, He is watching, and His justice is coming. Good things to know, but Jeremiah wouldn't have heard them if he hadn't noticed a stick and a pot.
(If you were in church at Common Ground tonight... please notice that we were in Chapter 1, verse 11..... 1:11.)
Look. Notice. He often speaks by the things He puts right in front of our eyes. We need to notice.
How many sticks do you see in a day? How many pots? How many rocks, birds, dead bugs, hairstyles, tools, heat shimmers, or poodles? Is God speaking to you through the things that are right in front of your eyes? Are you watching and listening?
The stick and the pot mean that God sees, He is watching, and His justice is coming. Good things to know, but Jeremiah wouldn't have heard them if he hadn't noticed a stick and a pot.
(If you were in church at Common Ground tonight... please notice that we were in Chapter 1, verse 11..... 1:11.)
Look. Notice. He often speaks by the things He puts right in front of our eyes. We need to notice.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Jeremiah 1:5
"Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations."
If God knew you before he formed you, and if He also knew what role he had set for you, wouldn't he have formed you in a way well suited for that role? No need trying to be somebody or something. His calling for you is to be you, in His will.
If God knew you before he formed you, and if He also knew what role he had set for you, wouldn't he have formed you in a way well suited for that role? No need trying to be somebody or something. His calling for you is to be you, in His will.