shadow

Sadducees

LISTEN TO THE RIGHT GUY!

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In 1974 Coca Cola came out with a commercial song called It’s the Real Thing. This little ditty took the airwaves by storm for several years and had everybody in the country humming the tune and pattin’ their feet. “It’s the real thing … what the world wants today,” the young people sang. And so it is today. People everywhere are looking for something real …”the real thing.”

Click the link below, pat your foot along with me, and listen to the song. Then click back into today’s Dose of Encouragement as we start our week with a question. How do you know “the real thing” when you see it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSnjjdGh5M

 

LISTEN TO THE RIGHT GUY!

“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

2 Peter 2:1

Well, I might as well address the white elephant in the room. It’s silly season. Our nation is embroiled in a viciously divided election battle that is bringing hypocrites out of the woodwork. In our day, we have republicans and democrats, conservatives and liberals. In Jesus’ day, they had Pharisees (conservatives) and Sadducees (liberals). And they fought just like their counterparts fight today.

Everybody claims to be a pundit – a teacher of authority who starts sentences with “I think”, or “I believe.” But I am not going to do that. It’s not about me or what I believe. What I am going to do is listen to the One Who really is the authority so I won’t be deceived. And I will offer His words for our encouragement and for our wisdom.

Again and again the Gospels record Jesus’ strong rebuke of those who said they were people of God yet lived and led others in direct opposition to the Word of God. The majority chose to follow the popular agenda being spouted by the leaders instead of standing on the Truth of His Word. And they ended up losing their country because of it. Sound familiar?

As we go to the polls next year, I beg you not to listen to the political parties of our day, but listen to the truth of God’s Word. Not a single one of the candidates running will line up totally to it because we all fall short of perfection. But we can vote for those candidates who line up most closely with the truths of His Word this country was founded upon, and who – and this is where the rubber meets the road – live and govern the way they SAY they believe. Remember our verse this week from I John 2:4? Listen also to Jesus’ voice in John 10:27-28:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 

 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; 

no one will snatch them out of my hand.”(NLT)

Some don’t like to hear this, but our country was founded on the truths of God’s Word. It was founded on the principle that the God of the Bible is our God. To prove it and cast it in stone, Bible verses were chiseled in concrete monuments all over our capital city of Washington D.C. – and still point us to what this country was founded upon.

Until tomorrow,

Your Traveling Companion,

Brenda

What Am I Doing Here?: Equipping the Called

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Having been made in the image of God, our hearts have been set by Him on eternity. Rooted in each heart is a God-given desire to impact the world around us. But in the midst of endless distractions, countless opportunities to live out our purpose can go unnoticed each and every day. Stick around this week as we look at how we live our day-to-day lives in a way that points others to the cross.

 

Equipping the Called

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. 

Acts 4:13, NASB

wedenesdayMy comfort zone. I like it there. A lot. It’s … comfortable.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  Somewhere along the way, I have learned that these “works” Paul referred to doesn’t usually happen in our comfort zones. Believe me, I’ve tried.

With our eternal mind-set comes God-sized, God-inspired dreams and before time began, God knew the plan He had in store for each of us. Sadly, our desires for reaching the world around us for the gospel are all too often overshadowed by big doses of insecurity and self-doubt. Believing the lies whispered to us by the enemy that we aren’t gifted enough, driven enough, smart enough, or influential enough, we sit paralyzed with that doubt and are rendered ineffective. To be totally honest, none of us are enough, but God is and His power is perfected in our weakness.

Like John and Peter, we may not be formally trained in anything. Or maybe we do have formal training … in something completely unrelated to the calling God has placed on our lives. Fortunately for you and me, God is in the business of equipping those He has called!

Peter and John certainly didn’t have a resume that screamed “world changers,” but they led thousands to salvation in Christ. Not because of who they were or any skills the possessed. In fact, they were recognized as being uneducated and untrained. Ouch! That has to hurt.

However, filled with unmistakable confidence and boldness by the Holy Spirit, they preached the gospel message of salvation and repentance, and their critics—the Sadducess—were able to clearly see they had been with Jesus.

Despite our gifts and talents, we are able to do little, if anything, in the way of eternal significance in our own strength. Like John and Peter, reliance upon the strength of the Lord is the key to any work that the Lord calls us to do. In order to receive that strength, we, too, must be with Jesus. Worship, prayer, and reading Scripture are essential to meeting with Him and being filled with the strength, confidence, and ability to do His work.

Confident in Him,

Traci