Category: News (Page 17 of 25)

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” — John 13:14

During the day of Jesus, it was common for a servant to wash people’s feet as they entered a home. And as we might imagine, this was an important practice of hospitality. Most people wore sandals as they walked roads covered in dust and  dirt. Can you imagine how unpleasant it would be if the Q asked all Pax to remove his shoes at the COT and proceeded to wash everyone’s feet?

But here Jesus gives us a beautiful picture of His gospel—the good news of the kingdom of God. Washing his disciples’ feet shows God’s love for sinners in a way that mere words cannot express. This act of service gave the disciples a preview of the cross, when Jesus laid down his very life to wash our sins away.

But Jesus didn’t stop there. He also told his disciples to go and do the same for others.

We are called to communicate the gospel through a servant lifestyle, giving of ourselves so that others may experience life.  When satan was tempting Jesus he said for Jesus to bow before him on the mountain top.  Jesus said that “a house divided cannot stand.”  We are called to be humble, to “wash the feet others” daily.  We can’t become all God has created us to become if our “house” is divided.

We are entering the holiday season, let us focus this season on giving of self.  Be all we can be for the circle most near us, and go out of our way for others.

Following up on Sargento’s challenge, this week let’s pray for T Square, Vanilla Ice, Emoji, Wichita, Sarlacc, Huckleberry, Panama, Top Hat

Tiger

At yesterday’s convergence I read James 5:13-16 which explains that we’re to pray and sing praises. We’re also called to pray for one another.

The power of prayer is real. To pray is to be in direct contact with our maker.

I challenge each of you to pray. As a way to multiply the challenge that Roscoe laid down for the month of November, I challenge each of us to take time each day to pray each day for the next 40 days. 5 minutes a day may be easy for you or it may be a totally new endeavor. Start where you can but just make it a routine and habit. You’ll be glad you did.

To help with the effectiveness of our prayers for each other, I’ll post a daily running list of current prayer concerns that we have. Just direct message me with anything you’d like for the PAX to pray about and I’ll list it on Slack.

Current Prayer concerns:

• Catamount – pray for recovery from Ramsay-Hunt syndrome
• Breaker Breaker’s aunt Judy
• Sister Act’s daughter’s continued improvement
• Roscoe’s friend Billy Simmons

The following written by Mo Michalski:

God’s Word profiles two kinds of people: someone who allows the chatter of many voices to pull in many directions versus someone “wise in heart,” who listens to once voice and accepts His commands.

The difference between the two pivots on these basic actions:

• Being disciplined enough to listen to only one true voice – blocking out the chatter of the world around us
• Being humble

Those who excel at both listening and humble obedience face clear reward: the promise of no lifetime ruin and getting tagged as “wise in heart.”

Let’s take a closer look at the actions that make the man or woman.

LISTENING – See with our ears. Hear with our eyes. A held tongue is better. Shut up to listen up. When we do, God calls us wise.

The one who chatters never gets that label. That person can’t shut up and has to have “the last word.“

HUMILITY – Humility creates enough space for others to weigh in well, especially God’s Spirit and His Word. Only the humble consistently accept commands. Only the humble get tagged as teachable.

They’re the ones who become world class when it comes to trust and obedience. When humility sets in, critical turnovers are avoided, sin downsizes and ruin is escaped. In contrast, the one who chatters is filled with only self-directed thoughts, never leaving room for humility to grow.

Reflect: Which one are you more like – the “chattering fool” or the one “wise in heart”? How are you doing in your listening skills and commitment to humble obedience? Are you doing it like Jesus?

This week let’s pray for Sister Act, Slaw, Mayor, Flintstone, Big Pappy, Huckleberry, Dolph, Quiche

Tiger

“He said to them, The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts], but those who are outside [the unbelievers, the spiritually blind] get everything in parables, so that they will continually look but not see, and they will continually hear but not understand, otherwise, they might turn [from their rejection of the truth] and be forgiven
Mark 4:11, 12 (AMP)

The following written by Brian Lassister of Heritage Church:

I’m astonished at God’s love despite my weaknesses.  My journey to know Christ was slow and tangled, I walked away numerous times out of fear of losing control.  However, after accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior I realized that dying to myself in order to gain a personal relationship with Christ enabled a freedom that I’d never experienced apart from Christ. I was like most unbelievers that thought Christianity was about religion and rules.  However, once I committed my life to Christ, I realized that Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus.

God wants His children (you and I) to see the Kingdom of Light with a level of clarity that enables us to grow in our spiritual maturity.  It’s imperative that we understand it’s not about who we are or what we’ve done, but who God is and what Jesus did for us on the cross that enables us to have a relationship with Him.  Mathew 6:33 states “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”  When God sent His son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross, He created the environment for us to seek Him on a personal level.

Our belief and trust in Christ lay the foundation for transformation, from there our ability to learn and grow as a disciple comes from our commitment to seek God on a personal level.  We must remember that our relationship with God comes before anything else.  People often equate spiritual maturity to other areas of development.  However, at the highest level of spiritual maturity (living a God Centered life), is where the individual has learned to die to themselves daily, in order to allow Christ to flow through them.  This enables them to give, serve and expand the Kingdom of Light via their God given gifts, skills and abilities.  Victory to the believer is often characterized in different terms than the world uses to define success.

To the believer, our ability to display Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control always (regardless of scenario) is a mark of victory.  Until you’re able to gain a closeness with Christ its hard to believe you can walk through the various battlefields of life with this type perspective.  However, once you’ve gained this type of relationship with God, you realize it becomes the guiding point for everything in your life.

This week let’s pray for Anchorman, Waterboy, Virus, Fife, Dry Rub, Hermie, Gumby, Scribbles

Tiger

This is the commentary I shared at the Yank this past Saturday.  Topic follows up on the four points shared at CSAUP a couple of Saturday’s ago Build Pray Keep Wait.  Topic is listen and give God the time to speak.

Most of us picture prayer sort of like a monologue: We talk to God, sharing our heartfelt thanks and offering up our petitions and requests. But prayer is really more like a dialogue, where we speak with God and the Lord speaks to us.

Listening prayer centers around a clear request for God’s guidance. In making our request, we give God’s guidance authority over the other voices we hear throughout our daily lives. Then we hit the pause button. We wait on God in a time of silence, giving the Lord opportunity to speak to us. We focus our time of prayer on intentional, purposeful listening and let God do the talking.

This is really important because as followers of Jesus, we all desire to do the right thing and make the wisest choices. Yet we are constantly being bombarded with the noise of the world all around us. There are lots of voices telling us very different messages, and too often we find ourselves challenged and confused about what we should do in a given situation or what is really the best way ahead. These are times when we can seek God’s guidance through listening prayer.

This is from the Listening Prayer guide from Faithward.org

This week let’s pray for Pilgrim Progress, Stone Cold, Flintstone, Stinky Bird, Waterboy, Gold Digger, Loveboat, Spiderman, Less Nessman

Tiger