What Does God Expect From Me?

Everyone can do this!

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  - Micah 6:8

Act justly.

Micah challenged the people because they worshiped God with their lips but not their heart.

9 The voice of the LORD cries to the city- and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: "Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it! 

10 Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? 

11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? 

12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 

13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins.  - Micah 6:9-13

Treat people the right way.

Honor, love and respect your neighbors.

Just think how you act when you are cut off in traffic or when you are headed into a parking spot and someone whips around you and gets that spot.

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. - Romans 12:17-18

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

20 To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:19-21

God expects His children to act justly.

Look around at the lost world.

There is great opportunity to act justly.

How do we act justly?

1. Control your anger.

Your greatest opportunity to act justly is when you are mad.

People will not respect you.

Quick temper verses:

31 Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, 

32 for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD, but the upright are in his confidence.  - Proverbs 3:31-32

The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.  - Proverbs 12:16

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.  - Proverbs 14:29

You can control your temper.

Just stop, be quite, be still and give it to the Lord.

Respond with grace.

Be accountable.

2. Care for others.

Love your brother.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.  - Proverbs 3:27

Every person is important.

Give that heart felt smile.

Love one another!

Thank you Pastor Kevin!

Devastated and Delighted

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)

What would the doctrines of grace — the old Puritan term for the Calvinistic teaching of God’s sovereign grace in our salvation (TULIP) — what would those doctrines of grace sound like if every limb in that tree were coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight (that is, “Christian Hedonism”)?

Total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to God’s beauty, and deadness to the deepest joy.

Unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed, as the overflow of God’s joy in the fellowship of the Trinity.

Limited atonement is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for God’s people by the blood of the new covenant.

Irresistible grace is the commitment and the power of God’s love to make sure we don’t hold on to suicidal pleasures, and to set us free by the sovereign power of superior delights.

Perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God not to let us fall into the final bondage of inferior pleasures, but to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of fullness of joy in his presence, and pleasures at his right hand forevermore.

Of those five, unconditional election delivers the harshest and the sweetest judgments to my soul. That it is unconditional destroys all self-exaltation (that’s the harsh part); and that it is election makes me his treasured possession (that’s the sweet part).

This is one of the beauties of the biblical doctrines of grace: their worst devastations prepare us for their greatest delights.

What prigs we would become at the words, “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6), if this election were in any way dependent on us. But to protect us from pride, the Lord teaches us that we are unconditionally chosen (Deuteronomy 7:7–9). “He made a wretch his treasure,” as we so gladly sing.

Only the devastating freeness and unconditionality of electing grace — followed by all the other works of saving grace — let us take and taste such gifts for our very own without the exaltation of self.

John Piper 

Are you in a trial - or being tempted?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

James 1:13 says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.”

Some people get confused between temptations and trials, and the difference between the two is this: 

Trials are sent by God to cause us to stand.

Temptation to sin is sent by the devil to cause us to stumble.

One is meant for our maturity. The other is meant for our misery.

Any temptation to sin comes not from God but from the devil. While God does not cause both kinds, God allows both kinds, and He will use both to make us more like Jesus.

ACTION POINT:

Are you in the furnace of affliction? Do you feel you’re being tempted? Trust in God to see you through.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

He Does All That He Pleases

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)

This verse teaches that whenever God acts, he acts in a way that pleases him.

God is never constrained to do a thing that he despises. He is never backed into a corner where his only recourse is to do something he hates to do.

He does whatever he pleases. And therefore, in some sense, he has pleasure in all that he does.

This should lead us to bow before God and praise his sovereign freedom — that, in some sense, he always acts in freedom, according to his own “good pleasure,” following the dictates of his own delights.

God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. He is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced.

Even at the one point in history where he did what in one sense was the hardest thing for God to do, “not spare his own Son” (Romans 8:32), God was free and doing what pleased him. Paul says that the self-sacrifice of Jesus in death was “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). The greatest sin, and the greatest death, and the hardest act of God was, in some profound way, pleasing to the Father.

And on his way to Calvary, Jesus himself had legions of angels at his disposal. “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18) — of his own good pleasure — “for the joy that is set before him,” as it says in Hebrews 12:2. At the one point in the history of the universe where Jesus looked trapped, he was totally in charge doing precisely what he pleased — dying to glorify his Father in justifying the ungodly, like you and me.

So, let us stand in awe and wonder. And let us tremble that not only our praises of God’s sovereignty, but also our salvation through the death of Christ for us, hang on this: “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases.”

John Piper 

What do you believe about Creation?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Let them praise the name of the Lord: for He commanded, and they were created. Psalm 148:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In Genesis 1:11-12 we read, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (italics mine).

In this text, when God made everything, He made it all by the Word of His power. He just spoke it into existence. The universe dripped from His fingertips. If evolution were true, then one plant or animal group would have to evolve into another group. But then you would expect to find transitional forms of life. You can't find transitional forms between amoeba and man—not one. You talk about the “missing link,” the whole chain is missing!

Satan is very clever. He is behind the whole theory of evolution because, as H.G. Wells said, if there was no fall in the Garden of Eden, then you don't need to be born again. There is no sin, no God you'll have to face, no accountability. But you're not an accident.

"Behold if any man be in Christ Jesus, He is a new creation” ( 2 Cor. 5:17).God made the original creation by speaking it into existence. But the new creation—new creature in Christ? He didn't make that new creation with a word. No, His Son had to hang on a cross, enduring unspeakable torture because of His love for you, so you might have your sin forgiven.

ACTION POINT:

What do you believe about the origin of creation? You didn't come from slime. God made you in His image, loves you and has a wonderful plan for you. When you accept the salvation He offers through Jesus Christ, you become a new creation. “All things have become new.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Majesty and Meekness

1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 

2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 

3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 

4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. 

5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 

6 "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 

7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 

8 I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 

9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."  - Isaiah 42:1-9

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.  - Isaiah 57:15

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! - John 1:29

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. - 1 Peter 1:18-21

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 

2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 

5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 

7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 

9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples-of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. - Isaiah 11:1-10

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, "Come, gather for the great supper of God,

18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great."

19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.

20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. - Revelation 19:11-21

The Lion and the Lamb

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” (Matthew 12:18–21, quoting Isaiah 42)

The Father’s very soul exults with joy over the servant-like meekness and compassion of his Son.

When a reed is bent and about to break, the Servant will tenderly hold it upright until it heals. When a wick is smoldering and has scarcely any heat left, the Servant will not pinch it off, but cup his hand and blow gently until it burns again.

Thus the Father cries, “Behold, my Servant in whom my soul delights!” The worth and beauty of the Son come not just from his majesty, nor just from his meekness, but from the way these mingle in perfect proportion.

When the angel cries out in Revelation 5:2, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” the answer comes back, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).

God loves the strength of the Lion of Judah. This is why he is worthy in God’s eyes to open the scrolls of history and unfold the last days.

But the picture is not complete. How did the Lion conquer? The next verse describes his appearance: “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Jesus is worthy of the Father’s delight not only as the Lion of Judah, but also as the slain Lamb.

This is the peculiar glory of Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son — the stunning mingling of majesty and meekness.

John Piper