God's Will on Sexual Purity

This is Part One of a message delivered by Pastor Kevin Schmidt of Grace Baptist Church in Sonora, Ca. (http://www.gbcsonora.com.)

Topic:  Is God pleased with our lifestyle; the way we act??

Intro:  God has a will for our lives.  When we accept God, of course, He gives us a whole new life, which includes sexual purity.

A few quick questions to ponder about God's will  for us.

1. Do we believe in God?
2. What is our relationship with God? 
3. Why should God care about what I do with my body?

Thessalonians 5:23 is proof that God is concerned about our whole being, not just how we think or feel.

May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.   May your whole spirit, soul and body be blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

                                                                                     Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV) 

A. Three reasons why God cares about things like sexuality

     1. It's God sovereign right as the creator

         a.  Gen 1:1 says that He created heaven and earth
         b.  Gen 1:26  God sees that all is good
               I. perfect for mankind

         c.   Gen 1:26,27 states that God created man and woman in their 

               I.   notice, first that God says "let us make mankind in our image"
                      a. proof of trinity

Now God obviously has no body.  What does He mean when He said, "in our own image"? Here are some of the characteristics that God might have meant.

      1. dignity
      2. dominion
      3. duty
          a. to multiply
      4. to commune with God
          a. before the fall 
      5. moral discernment

Obviously, we have just skimmed the surface of the subject.  Please come back for more.  In the meantime, have a blessed day.
       
       

Welcome Back

I am back from a long medical process.  I hope to be able to share with you again, my interpretation of sermons that I have heard in the past.  Thank you for visiting me.

Worshiping God by Name ~ Part 2

As I said last time, these are my notes from Worshiping God by Name. This is the second part of a two part message, and was preached by Dr. Jeremiah from Turning Point.  

None of us really know God as much as we should.  Therefore, we do not love Him as we should. Oh yes, we love God...a lot; but we could show Him so much more love if we would only take the time to know Him.  We have the chance to know a little more about Him when we look at the names that the people of the Old Testament gave Him. Last time, we went through the first four names; today we will learn the last four, along with the meanings.  So let's get stated.

1. Jehovah - M'kaddesh ~ from Lev 20:7,8
        a. meaning The-Lord-Who Sanctifies

2. Jehovah - Shalom ~ from Judges 8:24 
        a. meaning The Lord-Who-is-Peace

3. Jehovah - Tsidkenu ~ from Jer 23:5,6
        a. meaning The-Lord-Our- Righteousness

4. Jehovah - Shammah ~ from Eze 48:35
        a. meaning The -Lord-Who-is-Always-There

Jehovah - Shammah is, perhaps, my favorite, as it reminds me how much God loves me.  He is there to help us through trials and to share triumphs.  He loves us because we are His children, and he accepts us and will forgive us anything.  He is always there!

I hope that you have enjoyed this study as much as I.  Next time, we will begin a study on the book of James.  Until then, have a blessed day, and remember that God loves you!

Worshiping God by Name

Today's message is from my notes on Worshiping God by Name, which was a sermon given by Dr. Jeremiah on Turning Point. Let's get started.  For a lot of us, parts of this message will be a review.  However, it is important information for everyone to have before we go on to all of the names of God.  

To worship is to celebrate God.  To know God, which is what we want, we need to love Him. Really love Him; to stop and realize who He is and what He has done;  to be in awe of Him; then to worship Him.

Dr. Jeremiah quoted Ronald Alan.  Here are my notes:

** Worshiping God  is to:
        a. celebrate in Him
        b. boast in Him (not in yourself, but in Him)
        c. extol Him
        d. sound His praises
        e. come together in prayer and song

All of these we need to do to be more like our Savior.

The people of the Old Testament had this down pat.  Every time that God  answered their needs, they would build an alter and give Him a new name. Oh, He was still known as God, but they would give Him a "nickname", for lack of a better word.  Today, we will go through the first four names, and we will finish up next time.

1. Jehovah - Rohi  ~ from Ps 23
        a. meaning My Shepherd

2. Jehovah - Jireh
        a. meaning The-Lord-Will-Provide ~ from Gen 22:13

3. Jehovah - Rapha
        a. meaning The-Lord-Who-Heals ~ from Exo 15: 22-26

4. Jehovah - Nissi ~ from Exo 17:15
        a. meaning The-Lord-Is-My-Banner
        b. meaning of banner in this context is to glisten

That is all for today.  Next time we will finish Worshiping God by Name.  Until then, God bless you all.

Worshiping a Loving God

First, let me begin by saying I'm sorry for the delay in posting.  I have been in the hospital on and off, but I am back now, praise the Lord!

The study today is from Dr. Jeremiah, entitled "Worshiping a loving God".  The link to the lesson is Worshiping a Loving God.  Our lesson comes from John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

                                                             Jn 3:16

As we all know, God is the author of love.  John 3:16 reveals the gospel in one verse.  As we read this wonderful verse, we will pick out seven words and phrases that summarize God's love for us.

The first word is "so", which refers to the quality of God's love.  He loves us so much, that His Son died for us.  Let's stop and think about the magnitude of that fact.  Jesus actually took all of our sins and died a horrible death on the cross.  And He did it so that we may have eternal life.

The next word is "object".  Well, this one is easy.  The object of His love is spelled out in the next two words: the world.  This means all of the world..not just one gender; or nation; or creed; or color; but the whole world...ALL OF US! And it's a personal love.  The kind that makes each of us feel like He's loving us particularly, and in the special way that we need Him to.

The third word that summarizes God's love for us is actually a phrase.  "He gave us His Son" refers to the sacrificial love of God.  Which of us would voluntarily give our child, as God did? Even if it would save others, I believe that I couldn't do so.  Another verse that helps us to fathom the reason that God gave His Son is Romans 8:32, which reads:

"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

                                                               Rom 8:32

Reading that verse, you cannot deny God's love for us.

The next word that we come to in John 3:16 is "whosoever".  This depicts the serious offer of God's love.  God makes His Word, in the form of the Bible, available to everyone.  This word shows that it includes the whole world, as God's love is available to the world (remember the second word: object), but those who do not believe are not included.  Isn't it sad to think of the people who miss out on God's wonderful love only because they choose not to believe in it.

"Believes" is the fifth word and it goes right along with "whosoever".  It is the selective choice of God's love.  This is where free will comes in;  we receive God's love only if we believe in Him and His Holy Son.  We also must believe that Jesus died for us, taking all of our sins; and that He rose again on the third day; and, finally, that He ascended into heaven.  He will return to take us to our heavenly home.  Isn't a comforting thought.   

Then, we come to the next phrase, which is: "shall not perish".  This refers to God's special love.  As we know, perish is the opposite of everlasting life, which is the promise.  We shall all have everlasting life if only we believe.

The last phrase is tied into the previous.  "Everlasting life" referring to eternal life.  Eternal life starts the moment you believe.  In other words, you do not have to wait until your outer shell is dead to have eternal life, but when you are "saved", you are saved from death and from hell.  We who believe shall never die!  Because everlasting life starts when you are saved, it refers to the quality of your life.  Simply put, believe and the quality of your life will rise above those who don't believe.  A perk to believing that is comforting.  This is not to say that Christians have it made in this life on earth.  But we have God's grace to help us through anything that befalls us.

To sum it up, John 3:16 shows us that God loves us, warts and all.

Thank you all for joining me this morning.  Have a blessed day, and I will see you next time.

Living Your Life on Purpose

This is a lesson that  I heard on Turning Point Ministries.   If you would like to listen to this lesson for yourself, you can find it on Living Your Life on Purpose.  Today, many people are confused as to what their purpose is in life. What does God have in store for me? Why am I here?  Dr. Jeremiah went through four different people from the Bible that were examples of "living on purpose". We will cover one person a day.

Daniel

Daniel shows the power of purpose in his life. He shows this very early in the story where the king takes Daniel captive to change his belief system to the pagan beliefs of the times. So the king called Daniel to partake in a feast with him. The custom was to offer the wine to their pagan gods.  In this way, Daniel would have to acknowledge the king's gods.

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the King's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."
                                                                                                                           Daniel 1:8

"That moment set him up for the rest of his life" (Dr. David Jeremiah). He put God first and because of that, he became "Daniel the Dearly Beloved". He set himself apart because he refused to change his heart and he lived "on purpose for God".

The lesson that we learn from Daniel is that we have to prepare our hearts for God.

The next example that we will study is Ezra.  Thank you all for studying with me today and may God bless you.

What is God's Will for the New Year

As we go into 2014, we must think about God's will for us in the coming year. Today, we will go over Psalm 143:8 – 10. This lesson is from a message given by Pastor Kevin Schmidt. If you would like to listen to the message, please go to Grace Baptist Church The sermons are under the media tab. The following message is dated 1/5/14.

Our text reads:

vs. 8  Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning,
          For in You do I trust;
          Cause need to know the way in which I should walk,
          For I lift up my soul to You.


vs. 9  Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;
          In You  I take shelter

vs.10 Teach me to do Your will,
          For You are my God;
          Your Spirit is good.
          Lead me in the land of uprightness.

We must ask ourselves, "What is Your will for me in the coming year, God?" When we get up in the morning, vs. 8 comes into play. We ask God to help us hear His lovingkindness. This is the day that the Lord has made and nothing will tear us apart from Him.

vs. 10 asks God to teach us to do His will. God knows what challenges we have, and because He is a personal God, He has something for each of us to do. This is His will, and we must ask what it is for us.

After we get our answer through studying the Word of God and prayer, we need to "[do]the will of God from the heart" (Eph 6:6).

In Matthew 6 we find the Lord's prayer which states "Your kingdom come. Your will be done" (Matthew 6:10).


So again we ask God, "What is Your will for me?" We need to focus on, not just the future, but on today, right this minute.  We also need to ask ourselves,"In what decision is God going to be honored and glorified?" Remember: we exist only for Him.

So in closing, let us pray, "God, I want to know Your will, so that I can do Your purpose for me. Help me to have a teachable heart."

Thank you for joining me today. Make God bless you and yours.

Holy New Year

I have been sitting here pondering 2013 as it is on its way out, and as 2014 is coming with all its surprises and opportunities.  I have to stop and thank God for the last year of my life with the Lord in my heart.  He has giving me so many blessings, too numerous to mention.  Suffice it to say that all of my needs were met, but beyond that, He gave me His love.  I am not worthy, but He gives it anyway.  And even though I have had trials in the past, or maybe because of them, I have gotten stronger and stronger in the Lord with each passing day.  As James puts it, 

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4).

I am also thankful that with every year, every day and every moment that I have God in my life, I also have His grace, understanding, mercy, counsel, and friendship, and above all else, at the risk of repeating myself, I have His love. 

Thank you for joining me on this blessed first day of the new year.  I hope that you will count your many blessings, and never lose sight of the Lord, for He is right beside you always!