Are you sharing God's blessings?

Matthew 14:15-21

15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

In the feeding of the 5,000, or the feeding of the multitudes, (Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15) we see that Jesus gave the food to the disciples and the disciples then the disciples passed out the food to the crowd. What if the disciples had just taken the food Jesus gave them, thanked Him for His provision and sat down to eat? I'm sad to say that's exactly what a lot of us are doing today, taking God's blessing, thanking Him for it and keeping it to ourselves.

We are to be the hands and feet of Christ, we are to love His bride (His people) as He does. I assure you, when your life is over, God will not accept your thanks for His blessings if you did not bless others with them. Think of what you have been blessed with, whether it be a physical gift like, money, food, a house, a car, or talents and spiritual gifts, and think of how you can share these blessings.

Thought this was worth sharing...

Free People

My friends in Kansas City started a group, Free People. They started a website (http://wearefreepeople.org) and I was invited to start posting there. I encourage all of you to check it out.


Here is a little bit of info on Free People:

"Free People is an intentional community that exists to glorify God. We are not free persons but free people. We seek to be of one mind with no needy among us. We believe in working hand in hand with the church body as a whole to bring change to the society we have all helped to harm. Acts 4: 32 – 35

Christ died to set us free from sin and from a long list of laws and regulations. Christ came to set us free. Not free to do whatever we want because that would lead us back to slavery and to our selfish desires. Rather thanks to Christ we are now free and able to do what was impossible before, to live unselfishly. Those who appeal to their freedom so that they can have their own way or indulge their own desires are falling back into sin. But it is also wrong to put a burden of law keeping on Christians. We must stand against those who would enslave us with rules, methods, or special conditions for being saved or growing in Christ."

He'll use the weak to overcome the strong.

1 Cor 1:27-28
"God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are"

Once Saint Francis of Assisi was confronted by a brother who asked him repeatedly, "Why you? Why you?"
Francis responded, in today's terms "why me what?"
"Why does everyone want to see you? Hear you? Obey you? You are not all so handsome, nor learned, nor from a noble family. Yet the world seems to want to follow you," the brother said.
Then Francis raised his eyes to heaven,knelt in praise to God, and turned to his interrogator:

"You want to know? It is because the eyes of the Most High have willed it so. He continually watches the good and the wicked, and as His most holy eyes have not found among sinners any smaller man, nor any more insufficient and sinful, therefore He has chosen me to accomplish the marvelous work which God has undertaken; He chose me because He could find none more worthless, and He wished to confound the nobility and grandeur, the strength, the beauty, and the learning of this world."

The Shack: Blasphemy?

Found this interesting. Thought I would share.



Thoughts?

Desiring heaven or desiring God?

"Perfection comes when the pride of seeking heaven is sacrificed

for the pleasure of pleasing God" - Eric Lampkin

In the 1700's David Brainerd wrote in his journal about a woman who came to hear him preach. she was very upset and kept talking about how she was going to hell, and deserved it, and she didn't deserve God's grace saving her. He prayed for her over a period of time and when he saw her again she was quite happy, joyous in the Lord. He approached her and questioned what had changed, she told him she had realized even if God sent her to hell, she would happily go to be in His will. she later realized that it was God's will for her to be saved and spend eternity with Him.

This woman realized that seeking heaven won't bring us anything, but we should seek to follow God's will.

I had a thought about a year ago, that I still ponder upon to this day: "If I knew, for a fact, that when I die I would go to hell, would I still praise God and serve Him? If not, do I truly love God, or do I just want what He can give me?"

This is a good question I think we need to ask ourselves. It is not an easy one to answer. While I'd like to say I would continue serving Him and praising Him, I can't honestly be sure.

I do know, however, that we need to desire God, love Him truly, and serve Him, not just seek our ticket into Heaven. We will find that truly seeking God will fulfill our needs and desires, bringing us true joy. Everything else just brings temporary satisfaction, that pales in comparison.

Matt 23:25

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."

Don't follow God for your own selfishness, follow Him out of love, because He loved you first. (1 John 4:9)

Deny yourself and take up your cross

^{Mark 8:34-38}
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Do we really understand what it means to follow Jesus and deny ourselves? To be Dead to ourselves? I don't understand how anyone could read this and think they didn't have to give EVERYTHING up to follow Christ. I think we should all pray and ask what is holding us back, and ask for help to give it up.

But more so, I'm coming to see, if it isn't helping you grow, it's not worth holding on to. It's hard enough to follow Christ as is, why waste your time with things that aren't helping you grow? Maybe when Paul said all things are permissible but not beneficial (1 Corinthians 10:23), He was calling us to rid ourselves of all things that aren't beneficial. not just what hinders us, but what doesn't help. Why waste time with it?

I urge you to pray about all this. I will be. and feel free to let me know what you think about it all.

Romans 12:1
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship."

Matthew 13:44-46
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."