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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: ARISE OUT OF SLEEP

Being a servant of God is not always an easy road. Sometimes in the middle of the night you find yourself awakened by the needs of others. God will wake us up to pray. After an hour or so of intercession you feel the release to go back to sleep, only to be awakened in a couple of hours with an urgent thought running through your mind. By the time the computer boots up, the thought is gone. Then you sit with one eye open, trying to think about what you should be writing. (At least that is what happened to me last week.)

God will sometimes stretch us out of our comfort zones to make us more moldable clay. It is sort of like the process of getting out all the air bubbles. The potter beats the clay, not because he is angry or out of a twisted sense of revenge, but because if the air bubbles are not removed, the pottery will explode in the fire.

God is preparing us to be on fire for him. A great army of warriors that will be the ones to witness, persuade, encourage the final harvest of souls. It will not be a snap of the fingers, and we are done kind of task. Although God goes with us and will work on them to make their heart ready to hear the word. We will still have to speak the word.

Warriors endure great hardship for the sake of king and country. We need to think about our willingness to sacrifice when God asks us to step out of our comfort zone. How willing are we to push back our plates and fast a meal? How willing are we to spend an extra fifteen minutes sitting quietly waiting for God to speak to us? How willing are we to sacrifice to see a soul saved?

It is my prayer that God will find me a worthy vessel for his use and that I am strong enough to do his will.

Matt 26:40-41And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 

Our flesh is the enemy at times. This is why we must make it uncomfortable in order to carry out God’s plan. Because our mission is greater than we are.

Joshua 5:2 At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.

All the men that came out of Egypt had died over the 40 years except Joshua and Caleb. God was getting ready to take them to the promised land.  But first, they cut away the flesh in order to renew their covenant with God.

It is time the church got back to the business of truly being the church. It is time we cut away the flesh.  I am not saying we need to cut ourselves with actual knives. But the Old Testament is the type and shadows of the new. It stands to reason that if they had to cut away the flesh to regain covenant that we would have to remove the desires of our flesh and cut away parts of the way things were done. It is time we strengthen our determination to follow Jesus.

Luke 9:23-24 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

When we take up our cross it will not always be pretty. Attending church service and enjoying ourselves. Sometimes it is driving for an hour and sitting with a friend that is at the hospital with a loved one that is dying. Sometimes it is loving and serving others. It means sacrificing our will to what God needs us to do in that moment.

How do we show we are the disciples of Christ?

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

We could have love, for them and instead of praying or going to that hospital we go back to bed and pet our flesh. Then send a sorry I couldn’t be there card. When we know we should have sacrificed our time.

I could have a million dollars to give you, but if I never made effort to let you know or take it to you, you could starve to death. We have to show that love and give it to others.

I guess this is a long way of saying, it is time the church woke up and got outside the walls. No agenda, just people loving people with God’s help, encouragement and strength. Showing them God’s incredible love for us all.

It is time to leave religion in the desert and step into the new, just simply living a life sold out to Christ. Cutting away traditions of men and denominational boundaries set by men unable to reason together. It is time for the church to wake up.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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