Hidden in My Heart

"O GOD, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land." (Psalm 63:1; NKJV)

Sunday Morning Starters

Find a new person to encourage.

Find a new passage to appreciate.

Find a new plan for an old problem.

Find a new petition for a needy person.

There’s no excuse for not growing.

Jason Moore

Teach Your Children

“…bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4; KJV)

Many children were not brought up; they just growed. We must spend time with our children. The primary responsibility of the parents is to be there for their children. We must learn to maintain an ongoing interest in our children’s spiritual growth.

Teach your children to know the Lord. "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24; NKJV)

Teach your children to love the Lord. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38; NIV)

Teach your children to develop a faith of their own. “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10; NKJV)

Let everything you do be done within the context of the word of God. “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”(Deuteronomy 6:4-9; NIV)

Our Prayer: May our God and Father bless us with the wisdom, courage and strength to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Help us to look unto Jesus. Help us to depend upon the strength of the Holy Spirit. Increase our faith. By your grace, bless our children with a love for You. Help us develop a faith deep within their hearts. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Jason Cicero

So Walk In Him

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7; NKJV)

Receiving Christ Jesus as the Lord of your life is the beginning. It is the beginning of life here. It is the beginning of a journey from here to eternity. It is the beginning of a journey that is made with Him.

We are to walk in Christ the same way we received Christ – by faith. The sense of “the faith” here is objective, referring to the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual maturity develops upward from the foundation of truth as revealed by the Spirit, taught and recorded by the Apostles. This rooting, building, and establishing is in sound doctrine.

The Spirit uses the images of a tree (rooted) and a building (built up) to remind them of their firm foundation in what they have already been taught. Just as trees draw nourishment from the soil through their roots, so we draw our life-giving strength from Christ. “Rooted” is perfect participle, implying an abiding fact. “Built up” is in the present tense of a continued process. Christ is the ground for the roots below, and the foundation for the building above.

Thanksgiving is characteristic of those walking in Him. As we receive Him our hearts fill with gratitude. As we come to know Him more fully our hearts fill with gratitude. As we are built up in Him and established more fully in the faith our hearts fill with gratitude.

To walk in Christ is to live a life patterned after His. It is to think His thoughts. It is to speak His word. It is to model His behavior.

Father, thank you for blessing us with the opportunity to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. Give us the strength to walk in Him. May we abide in Him daily. Build us up with your power. Establish us in the faith. Fill our hearts with thanksgiving. May our walk end at your throne of grace. In the power of Your Spirit and in Your Son’s name. Amen.

Jason Cicero

Hidden in My Heart

"Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation." (Isaiah 12:3; NKJV)

Sunday Morning Starters

How To Be Worshipful:

Be prepared.

Be on time.

Be attentive.

Be reverent.

Be considerate.

Be a participant.

Bubba Garner

Repentance

The challenge of the gospel is the challenge of the human will. The challenge is not to get people to believe (John 2:23-24), confess (Luke 6:46), or be baptized (Matthew 3:6). The challenge of the gospel is the challenge of getting people to repent: to change what they need to change (Matthew 11:20-24). Sin has separated us from our God (Romans 3:23; 6:23). What are we to do with this guilt? This sin? Go to God and repent of it.

Repentance is not knowing we have done wrong. David knew he was wrong long before he repented (Psalm 32). Judas knew he was wrong and never repented (Matthew 27:3-5). Peter knew he was wrong before Paul called him out (Galatians 2:11-14).

Repentance is not feeling sorry about our sin. Judas felt bad about betraying Jesus. He was sure sorry he had done so. Yet he did not repent (Matthew 27:3-5).

Repentance is not regretting that your sin has caused pain to other people. Your sin affects everyone you know. Judas regretted the pain his sin caused Jesus. Yet, he did not repent (Matthew 27:1-5).

Repentance is not confessing your sin. To be sure, God would have us confess our sin (1 John 1:9). Saul confessed his wickedness and David’s righteousness (1 Samuel 24:17-19). Later, Saul confessed his sin to David (1 Samuel 26:21). Although Saul confessed, he did not repent.

Repentance is not a mere change of conduct. When Josiah set about to reform the southern kingdom of Judah the conduct of the people changed for a time (2 Chronicles 34:31-33; Jeremiah 3:6). A change of conduct does not necessarily reflect the repentance that God desires in the hearts of men.

Repentance is a change of the heart resulting in a change of behavior. Repentance is a change of behavior that results from a change in our feeling toward God. Repentance must begin in the heart because this is where sin begins (Matthew 15:15-20). You have to make up your mind to serve God. Only you can give Him your heart. And so, you must repent: “I am sick of sin and from this day forward I am finished with that. I am Yours!”

Jason Cicero

Maybe the Best of Things

"...hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.” (Andy Dufresne)

“Hope” defined. Hope is favorable and confident expectation. It has to do with the unseen and the future. As a verb, hope means “to trust” (Vine’s). Our Father in Heaven would have us “hope continually” (Psalm 71:14; NKJV)

“Hope” describes. Hope is the happy anticipation of good: “in hope of eternal life” (Titus 1:2). Christ is the ground upon which "hope" is based: "Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Christ is the object upon which the "hope" is fixed: “the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1).

“Hope” daily. God is spoken of as "the God of hope,” (Romans 15:13). He is the author, not the subject of hope. Hope is a factor in salvation: “For we were saved in this hope” (Romans 8:24; NKJV). Hope finds its expression in endurance under trial, which is the effect of waiting for the coming of Christ: “patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3; NKJV). Hope is "an anchor of the soul," staying it amidst the storms of this life (Hebrews 6:18-19). Hope is a purifying power: “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3; NKJV).

If hope is the best of things, perhaps hopelessness is the worst of things. Those without Christ are described as “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12; NKJV). Christians do not mourn over the loss of a loved one “as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13; NKJV). Those who “have no hope” have not experienced the “one hope” of Ephesians 4:4. They have not experienced Jesus.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3; NKJV).

Jason

Know Him, Follow Him, Share Him

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23; NKJV).

I've written these three points on the last page of my Bible. They help me stay focused. I hope they will help you.

Know Him. Paul sacrificed everything "for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:8; NKJV). To "know Him and the power of His resurrection" was the emphasis of the Apostle's life (Philippians 3:10; NKJV). My Father will reward me if I "diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6; NKJV). “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3; NKJV).

Follow Him. Christ has called me to deny myself, to take up my cross, and to follow Him on a daily basis (Luke 9:23). I am to follow His thinking, His speech, His behavior. I am to follow Him in everything - "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:17; NKJV).

Share Him. When I come to Him He calls me to "go" for Him - "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). Go tell everyone who will listen who I am, what I did, what I am doing, and what I am going to do. Sharing Christ with others is the primary purpose of the disciple of Christ.
Father, let us come to know you more fully. Help us to follow your Son more closely. Bless us with the courage to share Him more boldly. Strengthen us by Your Spirit. In Him, Amen.

Jason Cicero