Thursday, March 16, 2017
But You Don't Want to Go to Church
I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)
We lay down our lives for the brethren.
But you don’t want to go to church.
First John 3:16 says, “...we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
That’s our Christian brothers and sisters...the brethren.
It’s our fellow Christians and our fellow church members, and we’re supposed to LAY DOWN OUR LIVES for them.
But you don’t want to go to church.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (NIV)
When you lay down your life, you give up your own wants and desires. You say, “What I want? I give that up. I give it up to be with you, to love you, to help you, to serve you, my brothers and sisters.”
Man, what would the church look like if we did this?
God has placed every believer in the body of Christ, and we all are assigned a particular part in the body. We all have gifts and talents and resources to be spent in the service of the body. The body will thrive and grow (be edified) as we each fulfill our part.
The church would look like a wonderland of love and service! And the fulfillment and satisfaction level would be out of this world!
But you don’t want to go to church.
Or you’re a church consumer, shopping around like a little Me Monster for the Me Me Me.
Man, that’s the OPPOSITE.
Going to church is about finding your brothers and sisters, connecting with them in the body of Christ, serving with them, working together along side in the mission of Jesus Christ!
We serve one another humbly in love. (Galatians 5:13)
Because He laid down His life for us, we ought to LAY DOWN OUR LIVES for each other.
But you don’t want to go to church.
God bless you, today.
I’m Doug Apple.
Thursday, March 09, 2017
A Just Man
I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)
I want to be a just man, like Noah.
Genesis says Noah was a just man, and he walked with God.
I want to be a just man, like John the Baptist.
Mark 6:20 says that Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man...and holy.
I want to be a just man, like Joseph of Arimethea.
Luke says, “Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man.”
I want to be like that: a good and just man.
I want to be a just man like Cornelius.
Acts 10:22 says Cornelius the centurion was a just man, one who feared God and had a good reputation.
Hardly anyone in the Bible is called “just,” but I want to be like them, a just man.
Proverbs 9:9 says, “Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.”
“Lord, I want that. I don’t want to be a fool who can’t learn his lessons. Lord, I want to be a just man who increases in learning.”
Proverbs 20:7 says the just man walks in his integrity. His children are blessed.
“Lord, I want to be that man, the just man, with integrity, whose children are blessed!”
Proverbs 24:16 says a just man falls seven times...and rises up again!
“Thank You, Lord, that even if I stumble I will rise up again! By Your Spirit I will keep the faith. I will run the race. I will live for You and love You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.”
“Lord Jesus, I am clay on the wheel. Mold me into the man You want me to be.”
A good man.
A holy man.
A just man.
God bless you, today.
I’m Doug Apple.
Tuesday, March 07, 2017
Selfish Little Baby Wah Wah Wahs
Selfishness is like a pac-man.
It just keeps eating and eating and is never satisfied.
If you live to please yourself, you will never be satisfied.
I want this. I want that. I want her. I want him.
You can consume all the dots, gobble them up, every dot you see, and you won’t be satisfied.
Selfishness is sin, and you don’t gobble up sin. It gobbles up you!
Selfishness wrecks marriages and families. It wrecks businesses and churches. And it will wreck your life.
To the degree that you are selfish, to that degree you will be hollow.
But there is a glorious alternative!
Jesus died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him. (2 Corinthians 5:15)
As Christians, the key is that we no longer live for ourselves, but for God.
We take our eyes off of ourselves, off our desires, our wants, our selfish little baby wah-wah-wahs.
And we fix our eyes on Jesus! We focus on Him and we run towards Him!
We want what He wants! We desire what He desires.
Our heart is turned toward Him. We surrender to Him. We love Him and desire Him, and we soak up His Spirit and are filled with the Holy Spirit and fire!
He sets us on fire for Him, for God, for eternity. Our eyes are fixed on heavenly things! And like the old song says, the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
And selfishness? It melts and disappears, like cotton candy dropped in the ocean.
“He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
God bless you, today.
I’m Doug Apple.
It just keeps eating and eating and is never satisfied.
If you live to please yourself, you will never be satisfied.
I want this. I want that. I want her. I want him.
You can consume all the dots, gobble them up, every dot you see, and you won’t be satisfied.
Selfishness is sin, and you don’t gobble up sin. It gobbles up you!
Selfishness wrecks marriages and families. It wrecks businesses and churches. And it will wreck your life.
To the degree that you are selfish, to that degree you will be hollow.
But there is a glorious alternative!
Jesus died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him. (2 Corinthians 5:15)
As Christians, the key is that we no longer live for ourselves, but for God.
We take our eyes off of ourselves, off our desires, our wants, our selfish little baby wah-wah-wahs.
And we fix our eyes on Jesus! We focus on Him and we run towards Him!
We want what He wants! We desire what He desires.
Our heart is turned toward Him. We surrender to Him. We love Him and desire Him, and we soak up His Spirit and are filled with the Holy Spirit and fire!
He sets us on fire for Him, for God, for eternity. Our eyes are fixed on heavenly things! And like the old song says, the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
And selfishness? It melts and disappears, like cotton candy dropped in the ocean.
“He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
God bless you, today.
I’m Doug Apple.
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