Book of James

This week's scripture will be the last half of James.

I know some of you are reading through the entire book of James every week. So I followed your lead and did that very thing today. Truthfully, I woke up really needing the Word and was lifted up dramatically simply by reading through James. God is so good and His Word IS life.

Don't forget to post anything God spoke to you here in comments. Remember that if God shares something with you it may need to also "feed" the body.

Book of James

We are moving on to the book of James this coming week. Please read chapter 1 and be ready to share.

Last week in Galatians

Our topic scripture will be Galatians 6:11-18 for this coming Sunday. Please read and come to home church prepared to share what you got from the scriptures or leave a comment here. Our next book of the Bible will be the book of James.

Went and saw "My Life in Ruins" - Not bad - Richard Dreyfus saved the day...

Fruit of the Spirit

I love it when the Holy Spirit puts 2 and 2 together.

1 of 2

Sunday's scripture was in Galatians about the Fruit of the Spirit. We discussed how the fruit of the Spirit is the result of walking in the Spirit. We found that there is indeed purpose to the order in which the fruit of the Spirit is listed. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. They seem to build on each other starting with love and down the list. If at some point you are struggling with one of the list, perhaps you need to go back and check the list to see if the other fruit are being exemplified in your life.

^{Galatians 5: 22}But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.²⁵If we live by the Spirit,let us also walk by the Spirit.

2 of 2

And then yesterday someone said something to the effect that God was working on patience in his life (don't we always tell each other not to pray for patience?). Something began niggling at the back of my mind or rather the Holy Spirit was poking me with His elbow.

So, early this morning both of these things came together as God woke me this morning:

If the fruit of the spirit are exactly that--the result of walking in the Spirit everyday--then isn't what we need to do is to focus on our relationship with God? The word surrender comes to mind (seems to be my "word of the year"). Instead of trying to be loving, trying to be joyful, trying to be at peace, trying to have patience, trying to be kind, trying to be good, trying to be faithful, trying to have self-control, perhaps the key is simply surrendering to God on a moment by moment basis. Loving God with all our heart so that surrender is not a chore. In fact surrendering becomes a delight when we give something to someone we dearly love.

I truly believe that God isn't really trying to teach us patience or that we are even supposed to pray for patience. I believe that God's greatest desire is for us to be able to love Him with every inch of our heart, with all our actions and with every word that comes out of our mouths. He tells us that if we do surrender ourselves to Him that all those "fruit" will flow out of us, that nothing will stand between us and His love for us.

The first fruit is love, therefore, we must surrender to God, to seek His heart, a heart that loves unconditionally and completely. When we do that we experience His joy, then His peace, then patience comes easily, kindness will flow out of us, we'll automatically "be good", faithfulness will be rich in our lives, and self-control--well it becomes a moot issue.

So, let us surrender to God so we can walk in the Spirit and have a veritable "fruit salad" exploding out of us today.

When 8 Rowdy's Get Together

...you have our Great God, His love and His presence being amplified and encouraged and spoken with deep personal meaning and conviction!

That is what church was for me on Sunday. Our group got together read through Galatians with power, affirmation and a sense of it personally touching us deeply.

I thank my brother Craig Hayes for starting us out right...this section of scripture was all about Paul encouraging the Galatians and a couple of thousand years later you and I to be sensitive and heart the Holy Spirit.

We discovered the Bible is a tool to do that. We discovered prayer and corporate intercession (all of us together!) is a tool. We learned that in fellowship AND eating together we fulfill and articulate just how it is God wishes us to hear from Him personally...

You guys are joy and life to me.

Blessings on You All ... on you and all that you love

Pastor
John

Home Church Fun

Worship Team

Sewing Class
Look what Phoebe made for Charlize
Pastor John and Charlize
Star Sunday School Pupil

Where did our righteous indignation go?

Has your heart been broken this week? Have you fallen on your face before God pleading for forgiveness of our country? Do you remind yourself that there are things that our government condones and God abhors?

How easily we shrug and say "I can't believe how many babies have been murdered in this country!" and then go on to our normal lives without falling on our knees in grief. So soon we forget. So soon.

Well, that's where I've been--forgetting, or ignoring, or too preoccupied with my own concerns to look and really see what is happening. Too self-absorbed to grieve for the lost little ones--all created by God and yet snatched out of His hands before they could even see the sunlight on their perfectly formed faces.

How thankful I am that I went to a Pro-Life Teen seminar this past week. My eyes were opened again--my heart broken again. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut when the pictures of torn babies were shown on the screen--to try to block out the unimaginable cruelty of how they were ripped out of their mothers bodies. I didn't want to see it--Oh God! how I don't want to know that anyone purposefully, out of ignorance or denial could allow this to happen. Oh God! forgive them--so many don't understand what they are doing. Evil, evil ememy of our souls who deludes, persuades and closes the eyes to this heinous act.

Why are more people not outraged? Why wasn't I? Lord forgive me. Remind me oh God to look and see, to allow my heart to be broken. Remind me God and break my heart that I will stand up in righteous indignation to protect those you love.

Psalm 71:4-6 (English Standard Version)

⁴ Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
⁶Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.

God's Perpetual Purpose

Wondering about what happened to that purpose of yours?

http://awomanspurpose.blogspot.com/

Pro Life Event

June 6th First Baptist Church of Maricopa 10 am -2pm. 18702 N John Wayne Parkway Maricopa , Az 85239. Come join us for prayer and education. Or at least pray for us.