Category: God

TONIGHT was Life Group night, and no matter how late I end up arriving it always seems like I’m still the first one there. That was the case tonight as well. I arrived at the house of Patricia N., and she informed me that she and the rest of her neighbourhood had no electricity (due to the heavy rains of the afternoon). She had her entire living room and dining room lit up with beautiful candles. She joked that she wasted all of her ‘romantic evening’ candles on us. There were so many candles in that room that I wanted to take my usual place behind the main table and offer the symbolic body and blood of Christ in Communion.

Once our Life Group got all settled and in-place we enjoyed ‘Praise & Worship’ as Leo D. led us by guitar (unplugged) and we all sang in unison to our Lord and Saviour up above and all around. We sang several hymns including “Above All” and “All Who Are Thirsty (Come Lord Jesus, Come)”. The Angels in Heaven were cheering us on as we sang proudly to Him.

I led tonight’s teaching on the real man that was Jesus Christ. He was a real man who lived on this Earth and faced the same general day-to-day challenges as we all do on this journey. He was encouraged and cheered on by his friends and followers. He was ridiculed, persecuted, hurt, and abused by his enemies and antagonists. He was just like us – with one glaring exception. He was without sin.

Tonight’s lesson was all about being more like Jesus. We’ll never be as perfect in every way as Jesus, but our goal should always be to get closer to His every way. We are to be His eyes, ears, arms, hands, legs, and feet here on Earth. We are to be His Disciples here on Earth.

Jesus is far more powerful and superiour to Satan, but Satan is always working hard to tempt us when we are at our most vulnerable stages of Life. Satan always takes the easy way out, and he’s always hoping that we’ll do the same as well and join the party of evil and darkness. It’s easy to do what the world is doing. That’s what Satan wants us to do. Following Satan will lead us straight to hell. Following Jesus and totally believing and trusting in Him is the only way to get to Heaven. There is no other way.

Patricia alerted me that I’m teaching our Life Group this Wednesday night. It’s time to kick it into high gear, and go in to preparation mode.

We’ll be discussing the following passage out of the Book of John. In it Jesus sees a lot of things that he doesn’t like. He gets angry and throws a temper tantrum. He cleans House. Check it out: 

Jesus Clears The Temple (John 2:13-22)
13  It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.
14  In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.
15  Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.
16  Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace !”
17  Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
18  But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing ?  If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”
19  “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20  “What !” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days ?”
21  But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body.
22  After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.

It was another glorious Sunday morning at Life Pointe Church in Homestead Florida. Here are my takeaways in 15 words or less:

– God said ‘Let there be rain !’, and so it did – if only for a few minutes.
– The 9 AM service was a bit more crowded this week than last week.
– Everyone must be on the same Daylight Saving Time zone now.
– Mike B. led ‘Praise & Worship’ as we all sang to God and He listened.
– Mark S. hosted during that first service, and he was loud and confident.
– It was his best hosting performance to date.
– He later revealed that he had been up since 1 PM yesterday.
– I’m thrilled that he’s blogging again. I need the company.
– Dan B. led the teaching this morning for the first time ever.
– He did an outstanding job leading us through His Good News.
– If I’m on trial for obeying God would there be enough evidence for conviction ?
– I will never ever be just like Jesus Christ.
– I will however move to become more and more like Him.
– I must continue to grow towards His likeness.
– I must continue to permit God to mold me in His likeness.
– God should be able to easily reach me.
– I must protect myself from evil and darkness and those who relish in it.
– I do not wish to go back where I came from nearly 31 months ago.
– I do not wish to be a puppet of this world.
– I wish to see what’s around the corner for me on God’s fantastic journey.
– Stay away Satan. You did nothing for me. I have no use for you.
– This morning’s teaching was based on the following 28 verses:
   – 1 Timothy 4:7-8
   – Romans 12:1-2
   – 1 Corinthians 15:32-34
   – Philippians 4:8-9
   – Galatians 5:22-23
   – 1 Corinthians 11:1
   – 2 Peter 1:3
   – 1 Timothy 6:6-20
– This is my favourite – Romans 12:1-2:
A Living Sacrifice to God
1  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.
2  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.