lighthouse2014

Timothy's selfless concern for the church was a rare one because other leaders were only on the lookout for themselves. The things that the Lord has taught me in my life is not to be judgemental, regardless of the situation or circumstances. We are to of help and never be a judge. The Lord has helped purify me in some area's by telling so, provided one keeps their heart open for the voice of the Holy Spirit himself.

Looking at my past struggles as a drink offering before God was because it taught me to persevere in my faith and knowing in the end that the Lord's plan's for my life were indeed in his hands. In my present struggles the ability to remain faithful and wait upon the Lord for his intervention is the most important thing to me. I have learned not to be impatient even if the circumstances seemed bleak at the time.

The sense that we Christians hold fast to the word of Life is that we follow the Lord's commands and reveal Christ words to our society we live in, the words of life and eternal salvation. We are to hold fast to the word of life by living it and revealing it to our neighbors. This relates to the purpose of the church because we believe, declare and live by the word of the Lord and of the church.

A church by ceasing to complain and agree will be following the Lord's will. Their deeds and works will display the true church that is serving the Lord. Shinning as stars signifies that the dark world of wickedness can see the church doing the will of the Lord. There had been a when some new comers have come into the congregation and started complaining and using gossip because the church, as they determined, was not functioning as thought it should. These new comers were bouncing from church to church in our community because they caused trouble and were thrown out. We as a congregation allowed the church counsel to confront the new comers. All are welcome but we follow the new Testament commands and do not allow others to change things by their complaining and tail bearing gossip.

Philippians 2:12-13, in this passage the church at Philippi had a lot of discord in it. Paul stress that as a church they are to stop this discord and work things out for the unity of the church. They are to be at peace with love and harmony of the spirit. This reference of salvation is a command to leave this sin behind that the church was committing by being in disorder with bickering, selfish ambition and a party spirit. The salvation Paul is referring to here is not a personal salvation.

Philippians 2:9-11, we know that God will exalt us if we humble ourselves because in Matt. 23:12 Christ tells us whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. We get impatient with this probably because we have not totally humbled ourselves. However, if we are truly humble God will lift us up in due time. Our impatience may sometimes keep God from lifting us up because being human we want everything in our own time instead of God's time.

Philippians 2:7-8, jesus was fully human and fully God. He has not pretending only God could heal sickness, raise the dead and rebuke demons from possessed people. Even the demons admitted he was the Son of the Most High God. Verses 7-8 teach that Jesus made himself nothing (not being equal to God) taking on the nature of a servant, was made in human likeness and in the appearance of a man. If Jesus was not a human then his suffering and death was for nothing. Only God could satisfy the just sacrifice that would be accepted for the sins of man.

Abraham's achievements inspire me to give God all the glory and honor and then some. Abraham knows all things (blessings) come from God himself, provided we obey his commands. As I reflect on my life the thing that stands out most is that God the father loved me before time. He sent his Son to die in my place for the punishment I deserved for sins against God. This love he has for me is unfathomable to understand. As Abraham worshipped and prayed to the Lord, so I also do the same. To me God is El Shaddai and El-Roi. Hallelujah.

I think the servants prayer and test of God is an act in faith. He knows God has blessed Abraham and will not let the servant or Abraham down. He knows God is in control of Abraham's destiny. The servants prayer was hasty at the moment, he did not know what to expect at the town or it;s people. He did not know whom the Lord had chose for Isaac. The Lord heard his prayer and gave him the answer from the girl.

Christ who existed with the Father from the beginning af all time, came to earth in human form to reconcile man back to the heavenly Father. He was humble and meek, thinking of no great thing of himself, only to fulfill the Father's plans for our salvation. Jesus is of divine nature because he was with the Father from the beginning meaning he is the word of God, he is God in the flesh.

We try to achieve unity in the congregation and stress it's importance by teaching that we are united with Christ in his love. We are to be like minded in spirit and tenderness. We are disciples of Christ and put others interest before ours. We are to do this in humility and meekness, not in self interest or ambition. A lack of humility in our church happened when a person joined the congregation and believed they were appointed by Christ to be a prophet. This person would not submit to church order as expressed in 1 Timothy 3:1-13. I and those in a ministry of teaching express the Lord's instructions from the New Testament Ephesians 4:1-6 and verse 32.

Abraham's faith is knowing that God has promised him the land where is to bury Sarah, but he pays the price for both because he has not yet inherited them. He is not in possession of the promised land and does not know when God's promise will come, so he must purchase the parcel of land. Abraham knows God has promised him the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, by faith he knows his heirs will posses it in the future.

Sarah's life and legacy has many aspects for her strengths she knows she will be taken by pharaoh as a wife , knowing that by doing so she is saving the life of her husband. In her her weakness she gives her slave servant to Abraham to have a son for her. She has not listened to or have confidence in the prophecy God gave to Abraham that she would bear a child. She shows faith by telling Abraham to send Hagar and her son away. She knows her child Isaac will be a blessing to the nations which God has promised. She lacks faith by not waiting for the Lord's word to come true for a child to be born by her, not another.

Philippians 1:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 teaches us that the state of a Christian after death is to be immediately in the presence of Christ. This comforts me because what ever the sufferings we experience in life, we will be delivered into Christ presence. This energizes me because this life is full of hardships, diseases and other things we encounter for witnessing for Christ. Knowing what ever may come, it is all worthless for the gain of Christ.

Fear can keep us from being a bold witness, if we are ashamed of the gospel; if we fear for our lives; if we fear we will be rejected by loved ones; our loved ones will be persecuted for our belief. These are just a few reasons that would keep us from declaring Christ and the gospel. Fear of people alone can bind our tongues because we know that they do not want to hear of the gospel and the truth. People also may think we are freaks for Jesus or have fallen into a cult type belief. However, losing our life for Christ sake is a gain for us. Whether we lose all personal positions, loved ones or what other worldly things, all is lost for the abundant life God can give us by witnessing and living for his Only Begotten Son, Jesus. The fear that may keep me from being a good witness for Christ is that I may fail in word or speech to declare his word correctly.

Our ability to rejoice in times of trouble and trails is dependant on the fact that our faith in Christ and his ability to control the out come of such mishaps is for the glory that will be revealed in the end. In order for our continuous rejoicing in the midst of problems is the fact we have faith God is in control of all aspects of our life whether it is good or bad. All things work for the glory and plans for God. Our faith in him is steadfast, he will neither leave us or forget us.

To me, it may not be a good idea to be a creditable witness for Christ. Some circumstances may clutter my mind too much to do this, of course this is typically an attack from Satan. Keeping our mind on other problems would not allow us to have a free mind to witness. Keeping our minds on things that clutter our mind could keep the Holy Spirit from doing his work through us. Paul's witness was powerful because he had devoted his entire life witnessing for Christ. He allowed God to provide for his daily needs and his faith and devotion in the Lord kept his mind clear for the work of the Holy Spirit. Personal struggles in my life at the time of witnessing could not help me enhance my testimony at the time. Only after the struggle has been done away with or solved through prayers, could I only use it for a positive testimony to others.

The analogy of Abraham sacrificing his only son for an offering to God seems to be a parallel of God offering hos only son for the sins of the world. Abraham was stopped by an angel from the act of sacrificing his only son and God provided a ram that Abraham could use for a sacrifice instead. Abraham was obedient to God, Jesus God's son was obedient to the father in his life, but in this case only God's son could satisfy the just punishment for the sins of man.

One example of the Lord providing for me would be an occasion when he supplied the money necessary to pay our taxes and home insurance. Now this may seem a bit ridiculous to some by the fact that we should save for it, however this is not always possible. The thing that is facing me right now is a spiritual blessing from the Lord. Spiritual life has it's up's and down's, why no one knows. When the Lord blesses us with his Holy Spirit it is indeed a reminder that he has never left or forgotten me.

We can not really know God until we give all our trust to him and that he will provide all our needs. I have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and day by day I learn to let him lead and guide me in his will for me. This can prove difficult because the flesh wants to go it's own way which is contrary to God's ways. Learning to trust God for my daily needs whether it is material or spiritual has taught me that when I do lean on him, he provides. God blesses me in return by answering my prayers, blessing me when I pay my tithes and healing when I pray for others. This is just a few of the blessings I receive by putting my trust and faith in God.

Satan's effect on us that he expects is that we will have pain and struggles in life and loss of our hope and faith in the true God. God uses Satan's attacks on us to help us to persevere in the faith we have for God. I have been through trails that in the end they invigorated my faith because it helped me to depend on God and not on myself or anyone else. I know of no one who has been invigorated by my trails, if there were, they never told me.

Paul ask God to give the Philippian Christians discernment so that they may know what is best or excellent for them in their lives. The result of this discernment for their lives will be to test things that are important to them and God. Selfishness clouds discernment because we are not interested in the things of the Lord, but of things that are important to our selfish desires. The good is the enemy for our lives because God wants us to have the best of things especially knowledge that brings us closer to understanding God.

In the Philippine Christian lives God is expected to complete in their live's a change of heart that results in a Christ like life. As the Holy Spirit dwells within them their life will reflect their faith and hope in Christ. Paul expects God to carry out our completion in Christian life as soon as we become a believer in Christ. The bases of Paul's confidence in God doing this completion in the Philippine's Christians lives is that God is faithful to his word. We can expect God in his faithfulness to complete his work in us as soon as we become believers in Christ.

When we are financial partners with a missionary we get a spiritual and material blessing, because we have helped support them in the preaching of the gospel. Those saved have been a blessing because we helped the missionary or preacher bring lost souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. Other types of support we might provide a missionary besides financial is that we pray for them and send them materials they need in their ministry, personal, scriptural and of course clothing. We might also go and visit them and offer our assistance were needed.

Basically being a slave is serving the one who owns you. A saint is being dedicated to the service of God. Slave and saint refer basically to the same thing. When we become believers in Jesus we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have become sacred property of God through the sacrifice of Jesus who has purchased us by his death and resurrection.