Abide in His Love

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. - John 15:9

Abide means to: stay - stand - endure - reside - dwell - remain - bear.

Jesus not only says COME to me, FOLLOW me, he says ABIDE in me. If our relationship with Jesus has in any way disappointed, our expectations not met it would be best to look at our own heart rather then Jesus heart.

To often we come and even follow but to abide we find difficult. There is a richness yet to be discovered in the infinite sea of God's love for us. We have felt its cool touch on our tired feet as it laps around our ankles only to be distracted and wander off never understanding fully what we have turned our backs on.

We have been satisfied with a mere touch of his hand when he is waiting to embrace.

"The intercourse was not only to be unbroken, but most intimate and complete. He opened His arms, to press you to His bosom; He opened His heart, to welcome you there; He opened up all His divine fullness of life and love, and offered to take you up into its fellowship, to make you wholly one with Himself. There was a depth of meaning you cannot yet realise in His words: "Abide IN MY LOVE."" - Andrew Murray

It's your devotion that will define you

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. - Psalm 63:1

There are many things that God could have chosen to define the life of David. He could have chosen to sum David by his mistakes. He could have said:

David a..... murder
David an.....adulterer

But he chose

David a.... man after my heart
David a.... man of devotion

After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ - Acts 13:22

Billy Graham said:

You cannot possibly be a happy, dynamic, and powerful Christian apart from a daily walk with Christ. Christ is calling Christians today to cleansing, to dedication, to consecration, and to full surrender. DEVOTION will make the difference between success and failure in your spiritual life. It will make the difference between being helped and helping others. It will make a difference in your habits, in your prayer life, in your Bible reading, in your giving, in your testimony, and in your church membership.

Surprising Leadership Goals

The great apostle Paul opens his hear to the believers in Philippi giving them the glimpse into the mind and heart of a Godly leader.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
 - Phil 3:12-14

Humbled by his own imperfections. Too often leaders take their eyes off their own weaknesses and sins and to readily see problems in those who are following. If only the people who they are leading were better examples of followers of Jesus then things would be a million times better around here.

Paul was never afraid to put his own frailties and difficulties up front. He didn't try to pretend he was something he wasn't in front of his followers. The recognition of his own imperfections kept his heart humble.

Honoured to be chosen by God. Leadership can go to peoples heads. It is amazing how people can react when they are given just a little bit of "power". No matter how gifted a leader we are we are not God's gift to the world, Jesus is! Paul understood that the only reason he was a leader was "because Christ Jesus has made him his own." 

God is not honoured because we are serving him we are honoured because he found us when we were not even looking for him and we get to serve him and his family.

Hungry for more of God. Leaders tend to be hungry driven goal oriented people. Church leaders always want more. If they have 50 people in their community of faith they want 100. If they have 100 they want 200. If they have 200 they want 500. If they have 100 people in small groups they want 200. If they have one location they want 2. The list goes on. There is nothing wrong with this. Its just that too often the quest for more of these things replace a quest for more of God.

Paul was probably one of the most "successful" leaders of Christianity. He literally had nowhere left to go in his region where he hadn't preached the gospel. (so he went to another region) But his hunger for MORE of God never abated.

Continue to be humbled before a holy God, savour the honour of serving and all powerful God & let the desperation of starvation drive you on to discover more of God.

Chapters of Life - Doubt

Chapters of Life - Doubts from MKCCpreaching on Vimeo.

Today I had the opportunity to continue the Chapters of Life teaching series at MKCC - This week DOUBT

• For too long the church has taught us that if we doubt its a sin. So we hide our doubts. But what I know is that hiding something doesn’t get rid of it it just gives it room to grow. 
• It’s not the end of the world when we doubt – it’s how we deal with those doubts that’s important. 
• So many people God works through in his Word were a mixture of belief and doubt. 
• The fact is that the faith is required doubt is bound to lurk – the two are like stingy nettles and dock leaves – you’ll always find them together. 
• Faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenceless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. (The Reason for God) - Tim Keller 
• Zechariah was praying for a child and even when an angel appeared and told him his prayer was going to be answered. Believe it or not Zechariah doubted the message. 
• God took away his voice for 9 months because of his doubt Somehow I think church would be quite quiet if we all lost our voices every time we doubted a promise of God to us. 
• John The Baptist, the guy who had lept in his mothers womb at the news of Jesus, had a revelation on the shores of the Jordan river, baptised Jesus and watched the supernatural unfold before his eyes was having doubts, now he was in prison, that Jesus was the Messiah. 
• What causes us to doubt? Crisis, Isolation & Time. 
• John faced with his doubts only had one thing to do he went to Jesus. We must do the same. 
• He does not always answer with the speed we desire, nor is his answer always the deliverance we hope for. But he will always send the help that is needed. His grace will always be sufficient for those who trust him. The hope we taste in the promises we trust will often be the sweetest thing we experience in this age. And his reward will be beyond our imagination. - Desiring God