ON PURPOSE – Discipleship

Hebrews 12_2a

How well do you play Follow the Leader?   Do you watch carefully to mimic every movement, or do you get frustrated and jump to the front eager to blaze your own trail and display your fine leadership skills?  When Jesus called his disciples he said, “Come, follow me.” (Matthew 4:19). And the job description for Disciple has not changed in the last 2,000 years.  The CHRISTian church is called to be disciples and to follow Christ, and not just on Sunday mornings.  God sent his son to offer us a way to salvation, to prepare us for a life in the kingdom, and to show us how to love and how to live.

The angels rejoice with each and every new Christian – but there are warnings against remaining an infant in Christ.  The goal is to be mature in Christ.  This comes from developing the discipline (habit) of spending time studying every movement, thought, teaching, and attitude of Christ in order to follow his lead. Discipleship will include other disciplines, but it must begin and continue to grow with a constant diet of God’s word. Jesus studied, knew, and used scriptures well, which built the foundation for him to follow his Father. So we should do the same!

Hebrews 12:1-3 says,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Make time today to fix your gaze on Jesus so you will be able to mirror his moves. The sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7) would be a great place to start. You could listen to it while driving, mowing, cleaning, eating… whatever your day has in store.

Be a follower!

Marcia

ON PURPOSE – Worship

Matt 22 37,8

 

The rest of this week we are talking about living life ON PURPOSE – the way God intended.  Choosing God-given targets (not the fake worldly targets that keep popping up in our way), and then pursuing those goals with everything we have – both individually, as well as with the church body.

 

If you took the opportunity to read the passages at the end of yesterday’s post (Matthew 22:36-40, Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 2:41-47), you read the Great Commandment(s), the Great Commission, and a brief description of the Early Church – great reading for sure.   In Rick Warren’s book, Purpose Driven Church, he recounts the work done at his church to create and live by a great purpose statement.  After much study of God’s Word they boiled it down to this slogan: “A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a Great Church.” (p. 103).

 

Today let’s dive into just the first part of the Great Commandment passage.  A Pharisee tested Jesus, asking him what is the greatest commandment?  Jesus replied – quoting Deuteronomy: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt 22:37-38).  And, so living our life to love God should be our first and greatest priority.  What does this look like?  When we love something/someone we revere it and hold it up.  We spend time with what we love.  We seek out ways to honor those people and things we love.  We put up on a pedestal those we love – and in God’s case – he fully deserves this and much more.  We call this WORSHIP!

 

Worship is defined as, “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity”.  I like that the definition includes not just feeling it – but showing it.  Our church worship services ought to be great places for us to be active, engaged, thoughtful, giving, speaking, singing participants in worship.  But, if that is the only time we are worshipping we are falling far short of our God-given purpose of worship.

 

Many examples of worship can be found throughout the book of Psalms.  Go ahead, pick a chapter or two and look for instances of worship – as well as why God is worthy to be worshipped.  Just a few examples are: “I will PRAISE you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will TELL of all your wonders.” (Psalm 9:1), “OFFER right sacrifices…” (Psalm 4:5), “WAIT for the Lord…” (Psalm 27:14).  “I PRAY to you, O LORD” (Psalm 69: 13).  “I will PRAISE God’s name in SONG and GLORIFY him with THANKSGIVING.” (Psalm 69:30).

 

This is all well and fine when we FEEL like praising God – when the sun is shining and we are on top of His world.  But, what about those days when the clouds are out and we are discouraged or feel God is silent or playing hide and seek with us.  Our feelings don’t change the first and greatest commandment – to LOVE God.  Our circumstances don’t change our first and greatest priority – to WORSHIP God.

 

Psalm 13 is a perfect example for us when we are stuck in the cloudy day mentality.  David feels forgotten by God, he is wrestling with dark thoughts and a heavy heart, he feels he has been trampled down by his enemies/life.  Yet, he ends the short Psalm with this: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:5-6).   God is worthy of our worship – all the time …. And all the time – God is worthy of our worship.

 

How will you WORSHIP Him today?

 

Blessings,

Marcia Railton

 

On Purpose

Eph 2 10

Imagine a marathon runner who starts the race excited, prepared and pumped.  But, he doesn’t know where the finish line is or how to get there.  Add in lots of runners who are running lots of different races – following completely different paths to multiple finish lines.  It is questionable whether our racer will finish the race he had hoped to win.

Or, take an archery championship where all the competitors are lined up and across the field are 1000 targets.  They do not know which target they will get credit for hitting and they each have a limited number of arrows and time.

WHAT is YOUR TARGET_

“It’s not how you start out that matters but how you end.” (Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Church p. 26).   Life gets messy and when you lack a clearly defined goal and a plan for how to get there, it is easy to get completely off track and find you don’t reach the finish line you thought you would and you don’t hit the target that really counts.

 

Just as individuals need a goal – churches also will drift without a set purpose and vision.  Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”  Why does the church exist?  Why do you exist?  God knows.  And He gave you His Word to help point the way.   Jesus knew his goal, and what sustained him and kept him going in the right direction.  “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  (John 4:34).  Paul said that we all have God-given work he designed us to do – “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10).

You don’t want to end life (whenever that might be) with the big house, cute family, lots of adoring facebook friends, and retired from the dream job; BUT, find you missed the mark on doing what God planned for you to do – meeting HIS Purpose for your life.

By digging into God’s Word we can get a clearer picture of what our God-given purposes are for us as individuals and for His church.  Take a few minutes today to look up a few key passages.  Matthew 22:36-40, Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 2:41-47 are great possibilities.  Tomorrow we will look further into God’s Purpose for YOU!

-Marcia Railton

 

Marcia has the cute family and the dream job (wife and mom).  She is working on seeking God’s purpose for her and for the Family of God she gets the pleasure of worshipping with in Granger, Indiana. 

 

 

Quite an Inheritance

psalm 37 29

There are five short verses in the Bible that every believer should commit to memory. Psalm 37:29, Proverbs 10:30, Proverbs 11:31, Matthew 5:5, and John 3:13. This is enough information to keep anyone from being confused about the place of the eternal reward of the righteous. It has become my habit to say that teaching that the righteous will go to heaven is telling a lie. And all liars will be rewarded by fire. Jesus had good reason to teach us that the meek will inherit the earth. I want to encourage everyone to commit to memory those verses.

-Larry Rankin

Love and a Consuming Fire

 

Deut 4 24

John 4:24 does say that God is a spirit. But let’s not assume that he is only a spirit. 1 John 4:8 says God is love and we all love that aspect of God. Deuteronomy 4:24 also says that God is a consuming fire. That’s because he is an awesome God. So awesome that when he was on Mount Sinai the Israelites were sure they were going to die from the sound of his voice but when Elijah was at the same mountain God spoke to him in a still small voice. But still the same God.

Therefore its no wonder that he is both LOVE and a CONSUMING FIRE even at the same time and all in righteousness. This is why he is a spirit. We must use other verses to help us understand the physical nature of God. Spirit is not a description of physical resistance in any form. The GOD of the Bible is awesome and he does have a voice.

-Larry Rankin

Choose Wisely

2 corinthians 6_14

 

A good study of the life of Abraham and the life of Rebecca from the book of Genesis chapters 24 to 30 shows us that they were very concerned about who their children married. Then in Deuteronomy 7 God held the parents accountable to teach their children not to marry unbelieving neighbors. This is reinforced in the story of Dinah, Solomon, Ezra, and Nehemiah. It’s no wonder that 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 gives us the same commandment.

A young lady active in the Church of God in the Philippines has chosen to marry an older never before married gentleman from our Cashmere Congregation for that very reason. She calls him “her man of God”. The wedding will be on May 26, 2018. God bless their decision.

-Larry Rankin

Life is Short – Live on Purpose

james 4 14

Have you ever really thought about the length of a life? James 4:14 tells us our life is like a ‘vapor in the wind’, here and gone in a flash. We only have a precious little while to live, to learn, to love. To help someone in need, to work, to play, to laugh, cry, mourn, model, teach, encourage, and bless. Only a little while to pray, sing, dance, fellowship, make memories. It seems like forever at first, but the wheel is spinning. And someday too soon, it will stop. How far did you travel? Did you choose wisely the roads you experienced, or did you never have a plan? Did you have a destination in mind, or just get in the car and drive? Will the map of your life show a journey of love and gratitude, or carelessness and self-absorption? One day all the stops on our map will be seen. Drive well:)

-Barb Fuller

 

Barb is very active with the teenagers at Cashmere and this year she volunteered to work with Cyrus Catanus at the National Youth Seminar held in Initao, Misamis Oriental, Mindanao, Philippines. She often shares her observations with Scripture. She believes that social media is to be used for spiritual instruction.

Where Do You Worship – Part 2

 

 

romans 12 1.png

In Romans 12:1 we are told to sacrifice our bodies, a living sacrifice. This is our reasonable (or true and proper) “service”. Service is also translated correctly worship. So, a Sunday Service is a time of worship. However, in verse 2 Paul tells us how to do the sacrifice.

romans 12 2 satisfy font

When we change our minds to obey God, leaving worldly things and performing God’s will, it’s worship. So, the place of worship is in our own bodies. Many people have been misled into believing that you must be in a particular place to worship. It’s better said you must be in a particular frame of mind to worship.

-Larry Rankin

 

Where Do You Worship?

WORSHIP

I have been asked many times during my trips if we have to worship in the chapel. Or, which chapel is the right place to worship. The word they use in the Philippines came from the Spanish priests. “Simbahan”. “Simba” means worship and “han” means place. So naturally they assume the building is the place to worship. Read Genesis 22:1-12 and notice in many translations verse 5 says Abraham worshipped on Mount Moriah.

EVERYWHERE (1)

And what did he do there? Sacrifice. This makes us think of sacrifice as worship. In fact what we sacrifice for God is our worship to him. It’s that we should worship God as we love God. With all of our being and available resources.

-Larry Rankin

 

SACRIFICE

What Will You Sacrifice?

Genesis 4_4 b
One of the first stories in the Bible is the story of Cain and Abel. It’s in Genesis chapter 4. Do you ever stop to think about why God liked the sacrifice of Abel more than the sacrifice of Cain? Cain knew that food was important so he plowed and planted so that there would be food for the family. While Abel chose to watch the sheep, and the question is why – because they didn’t eat sheep. When Abel saw the product of a sheep, that the firstborn was very perfect, he sacrificed it to God. Cain also sacrificed from the product of his field. To Cain food was important so he was doing good. But for Abel the sacrifice to God was first. it was the first thing in his thought.
What should we be doing? We should think about what we’re sacrificing for God every minute of the day with everything that God gives us. So that our sacrifice will be pleasing to God. Then we will be following the sacrifice of Abel, but when we wake up and go to work and go about our daily life and then have time for God also, we’re following the sacrifice of Cain. Look at Hebrews 11 verse 4. Let’s follow the example of Abel and put God first in our life.
-Larry Rankin