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INCREASE AND ABOUND

8/9/2024

August 9, 2024 INCREASE AND ABOUND

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 “and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.”

To love and to grow in love is of God. We cannot conjure up the love that comes from God. It was Paul’s prayer that the ‘Lord would cause us to increase and abound in love.’ If we know Jesus as our Savior, then there Is a desire to increase and grow in love. Because we are in Christ and He is at work in us, then we must be pursuing what He is doing in us-and that is, transforming us to His own image. So, as Christ loved, so are we to love. The worldly love, the love that is not of God, is a selfish love; the love that God works in us is an unselfish love. Someone said that if we do not have the best interest in our hearts for another, then we do not love that person. There is a reason and a motivation for the love of God to be abounding and increasing in us; when the love of God is expressed in and through us, He will establish us unblamable in holiness when He returns. For that reason, we must not take lightly the call of God to grow and increase in love. There is no time to coast in our walk with the Lord; God has a purpose, and a big part of that purpose is transforming us into His own image! It should be our deepest and greatest desire to work out what God is working in us and cooperate with Him as He transforms us into His image. As alluded to above, we cannot work up the love of God; however, becasue we have been made new creations and have been given the Holy Spirit, we can experience God’s love and we can be expressions of His love to all. It’s a serious issue; only by God’s love abounding and increasing in us will we be found unblamable in holiness when He returns-and His love brings blessing in the present. So the Lord causes love to abound and increase, but we have a part in responding to what He is doing.
1 John 4:8-9,12 “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” “No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

Blessings,
Buddy

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POWER AND LOVE AND DISCIPLINE

8/7/2024

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August 7, 2024 POWER AND LOVE AND DISCIPLINE

2 Timothy 1:6-7 “And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”
1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Timothy had received a gift form God and Paul was admonishing him to ‘kindle afresh’ the gift that God had given. But let us remember that if we know Jesus as Savior, then we too have received a gift from God. We may at times forget that we have been gifted of God and just as with Timothy, we need to kindle afresh the gift that is within us. Note that we are not to wait on God to kindle afresh the gift (or stir it up); that is something we are called to do. The gift that God has put within us is not primarily for the purpose of blessing us, but for blessing others. Because we are gifted to bless others, we cannot live isolated lives; it is necessary to have contact and relationships with other believers if we are to use our gifting. This does not mean that you have a be a socialite or constantly involved with people; but we are to have some involvement with others as God leads. Paul gives us another good reminder; he reminds us of something we might loose sight of. Because we are in Christ and He is in us, we have been given a spirit of power and love and disciple; he has not give us a spirit of timidity. We each have different temperaments and personalities; some have a type A personality and some have a more gentle and quite spirit. But in either case, being timid in spirt is not from the Lord. The life we live is to reflect this gifting that God has put in us. We have the power of God to do whatever God puts in front of us to do; all things are possible in Him. God does not know defeat; and we are in Him. No matter how unlovely the world is, God has given us a spirt of love; a love that overcomes the world and all it’s darkness. And, we have been given a spirit of discipline. We may find this one more difficult to embrace-especially if we tend to be undisciplined. To be disciplined is to choose to do what needs to be done. We are not inadequate; God has put His Spirit within, has given us spiritual gifts, has given us power and love and discipline, equipping us to be about fulfilling the ministry that He has given us.
Romans 12:6 “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:”
1Peter 4:10 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another;”
1 Corinthians 4:20 “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.”

Blessings, Buddy

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IT’S NOT THAT DIFFICULT

8/5/2024

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August 5, 2024 IT’S NOT THAT DIFFICULT

Ephesians 4:29-32 “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirt of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

We have the power to let; and that is a great power. God did not make us as robots; as creations of God, man is free to choose. The word ‘let’ is used often in the New Testament. In the above passage, let deals with the words we speak. In the book of Revelation there is a section describing Christ, and part of the description pictures Christ as having a sword in His mouth. I recently heard someone say that we have a sworn in our mouth-and its called a tongue. With our sword (our tongue) we can injure others or we can build them up. This passage in Ephesians has a very simple, yet very powerful admonition; ‘Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,.’ You cannot miss the point. Because the power of the words we speak or so powerful, we must guard our words carefully. We are to speak words that edify-words that build up and encourage. We must not be guilty of simply responding to others the way they respond to us; just because someone speaks unwholesome words to us is no excuse for us to respond likewise-its best to take the high road and respond with grace. Our words can meet the need of the moment and they can show the grace of God. When we speak unwholesome words, we grieve the Holy Spirit. A second let in this passage is about letting certain things go-again, that is a great power. We can actually let dark and damaging things go; such as bitterness, wrath, anger and malice. What a blessing for us and others to lay these things aside. We have the choice of being kind, tender-hearted and forgiving. An amazingly, we can be imitators of God! Wow! You can sum all of this up by the command to walk in love, just as Christ loved us. To live according to this passage cannot be done in our own strength; however, even though God has made this available to us, we must choose to walk in what He has provided.
1 John 2:5-6 “But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”
1John 5:3 “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome,”

Blessings, Buddy

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DO WHAT IS RIGHT

8/3/2024

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August 3, 2024 DO WHAT IS RIGHT

Acts 10:34-35 “And opening his mouth, Peter said: I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him.”

This is one of those verse that seems so simple, we pass over it. However, this passage has a message for us. To begin with, Peter ‘opened his mouth.’ When opportunities present themselves, we must open our mouths as speak what God would have us speak. In the first part of Acts 10 God made it clear that the gospel was for the Gentiles as well as the Jews-and that was a shocker for the Jewish leaders of that day. The point is that Peter was willing to do an about face and to lay aside his convictions that were not in line with the gospel. Many are unwilling to change what they believe even though it may be in conflict with the gospel. God revealed to Peter that God does not show partiality; our culture is based on partiality. It is refreshing to see that God does not show partiality-and neither should we. I have to admit that when I see someone that is dressed really weird or is unclean looking, or whatever, my tendency is to avoid that person-and that is not pleasing to God. (God forgive me and may I not show partiality.) Another seemingly simplistic truth we see in this passage is that God welcomes those who fear Him and does what is right. How could that be more clear? If we have a healthy fear of God, our actions will reflect that. This fear of God is a reverence for God and a deep awareness that we are each accountable to Him for the life we live-that’s a healthy fear. The admonition to ‘do what is right’ is refreshing and uncomplicated. Because He is holy, we are to be holy in conduct. Our motive for doing what is right should not be to earn His approval or to avoid chastisement, but we do what is right because that is who we are in Him. So, let’s keep it simple; let’s have a healthy fear of God and do what is right; when we do that, we are welcomed by Him. I might add; we do what is right in His eyes, not ours.
James 4:17 “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Blessings, Buddy

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SEATED WITH HIM

8/1/2024

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August 1, 2024 SEATED WITH HIM

Ephesians 2:5-7 “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

God is up to something-and its big! We were all dead in our trespasses, BUT God raised us up-made us alive together with Christ. Did you get that? We were dead-as dead as could be. Not only were we made alive and raised up, we were also seated with Christ in the heavenly places. That sounds awesome-but what does it mean to be seated with Christ in heavenly places? I don’t know exactly-but I have some ideas on what it means. To be sure, being seated in heavenly places is real-it’s not just for theological discussion or class room debate. Through out the New Testament we see that we have been joined to Christ, made one with Him, and will always be with Him. So even though we live in a physical body on planet Earth, we are at the same time seated with Him in heavenly places! We are not just mere human beings; we have been made new creations-creations unlike the world has ever seen. We have the Spirit of God living in us and we live in Him. We will not be eternal beings someday; we are eternal beings now. Being in Christ means just that-we are now IN HIM. Because we have been made new; because we are in Him and seated with Him in heavenly places; and because we have the mind of Christ; we can think as God thinks; we can view the world and circumstances just as He does; and we can respond as Jesus would to all situations. Many neglect or underestimate the salvation we have in Christ-how sad, considering the price God paid for our salvation. Surely it grieves God to see His children living beneath what God has made available to them in their position in Christ. A major problem many believers face is that they are locked into perceptions from the past that blind them to the truth of the gospel. May we have our eyes opened to who we are in Christ and may it impact our daily lives. The awesome blessing we have is that we can now live super-natural lives-even in our temporary physical bodies-all because of what God has done on our behalf. Remember, the truth is that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places-and that changes everything.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Colossians 3:1 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

Blessings, Buddy

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INCREASE AND ABOUND

POWER AND LOVE AND DISCIPLINE

IT’S NOT THAT DIFFICULT

DO WHAT IS RIGHT

SEATED WITH HIM

Buddy Fitzgerald

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