Stop for a moment! Find a way to block out the distractions for the next five minutes. Today we are going to use our imagination.

I want you to imagine your heart as a big storage room. A place where you hold everything and everyone most dear to you. As you walk through the front door there is a TV that is playing back all the good memories with old friends and family. You love to reminisce about these times, they bring you so much joy. That why you store them here, its where they are the safest. Nobody else can take these beautiful memories from you.

As you walk further in you trip over a book that is filled with all the life lessons you have learnt. Not the stuff you learnt at school, that information is housed in the brain. These lessons are more important. They remind you who you can trust, how life works and that sometimes you have to look out for yourself. They record everything in the most incredible detail. Ready for retrieval at anytime.

The room is filled with a mist which makes it hard to see everything clearly. The mist wasn’t this heavy last time you were here, it seems to get thicker as you store more stuff in your heart. The mist has a very distinct aroma, but it seems to change from a vengeful stench to a romantic perfume. You begin to realise that this mist that envelopes your memories and lessons is your emotion. That mist that is fed by what you store in your heart. It filters through the cracks in the door of your heart and starts to govern your mind and your actions.

The decisions you make in your heart are stronger than the decisions you make in your mind. The decisions you make in your heart have a stronger foundation than those in your mind.They are more personal and they have emotional attachments that cannot be shaken.

That is why God is so interested in your heart! He knows what goes on in your heart is more important than what goes on in your mind. He understands that your heart governs your life.Thats why Jesus says in Matthew 15: 8-9

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’

Jesus is speaking about the Pharisees and how he sees that their hearts our governed by selfish ambition to be the most Godly person. Jesus says they worship in vain because their hearts are centered on themselves.

We are going into a series on worshipping God over the next few weeks and I pray that this series will challenge you to focus your hearts on God.
The Pharisees looked like they were doing well at God’s work but God was not interested in their work because the ‘mist’ that surrounded their heart reeked of vain worship.

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Phillipians 2: 1-11

Imitating Christ’s Humility
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Christs humility is described for us in this passage and we are asked to follow this example because of our love for Him.
The challenge here is to become completely focused on the things of God that our our selfish desire becomes non existent. Particularly difficult when the world around us is continually seeking to serve itself.
Becoming humble like Jesus would lead us to a place where our hearts are moved by God’s heart and would inevitably lead us to serving others. Just as Christ took on the very nature of a servant.
So this is an attitude of the heart that directly opposes the world view we live in. Therefore it is important to acknowledge and use the power of prayer here. Continually pray for God’s guidance in your life,  ask Him to guide and lead you, ask Him to share His heart with you.
I love the prayer that John Piper gives us:

“Lord, work so deeply in my heart that I am freed from the bondage of self-centeredness and given the disposition to look not only to my own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
A tough call, but what better way to be felt by the world than to go against its selfish principles. The world will stand by in amazement as God heals the broken-hearted, the sick and lame and the hurting souls that plague this planet.
You cannot help people unless your concern is for the people.Concern for people comes through a humble attitude.

The depth of healing that this world needs can only come from God, who works through a humble heart.

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Today we start a study on the book of Phillipians. This book is full of joy, in fact, joy is mentioned sixteen times in the four chapters. I am excited to get into this study because sometimes we miss out on the joy of being a Christian. Hopefully this book will help us to experience joy. The Life Application Study Bible has a great definition for joy “Joy is the quiet, confident assurance of God’s love and work in our lives – that He will be there no matter what!”

Please read Phillipians 1: 1 – 11 and we will specifically focus on verses 9 – 11.
Chapter 1 expresses the thanks that Pauls has for being in fellowship with the phillipian church. He excited to see God’s good work come to completition inside each person in the church (vs. 6). Paul then concludes the introduction with a prayer for those whom he is writing to.

1 Phillipians 1: 9-11

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Paul shares with us two very important ways in which we should pour out our love for God.

Knowledge

The greek word for knowledge here is Epignosis which means to have a decisive knowledge of God. In other words we should read God’s word and decisively apply it to our lives.

We are asked to make decisions about the word of God, not to sit back and accept any old silly notion. Thats a trait of a weak person and we are called to be like God who is not weak. We are asked to decisively learn about God, to test His word until it makes sense to us, to know God’s word to such an extent that it becomes our word.

That way we stand by it because it makes sense to us, it is our decision – because we have started to think the way that God thinks – because He has become our teacher who is imparting His wisdom to us.

Don’t follow the bible and don’t follow God because you have to. Follow Him because you want to, because you have decided to.

Remember Free Will – God gave you that – You need to exercise that in your faith. Freely choose to live for Him, by His word and you will never be embarrassed about your belief, never feel pressured into Godless living. Because it was your decision.

Discernment

The word discern here is a verb “dokimazo” which means to put to the test and then to accept as tested. To actively test and accept as tested would mean to have no doubt in the truth of something. It is no longer a grey area, no longer a stumbling stone to you, no longer a conversation stopper with a non-christian, no longer an obstacle to you getting to know God more.

Every discerning action is helpful in bringing you to a better understanding of God. One at a time your discernment will grow and improve as God works in you as you work out, test and approve the things of God. Your perceptions then will be based around the truth of God’s word.

Neither knowledge or discernment can improve in your Christian walk unless you read God’s word. You need to read and study the bible. It is the life line for you as a christian. Nothing else will help you grow.

READ GOD’s WORD – thats all I am asking!!

• Knowledge is the decision
• Discernment is the action

Both lead to a lifestyle that will show the world God’s hearts

If you would like to listen to a sermon about this click here

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Are you a decisive Christian? Are you proactive or reactive in your faith?

Daniel is a great example of a man who was proactive is his faith. My challenge to you this week is to focus on the first six chapters of Daniel (just one a day!). As you read the book of Daniel you will find the following proactive nature of Daniel.

1. Daniel spent time with God regularly. This gave him a better understanding of who God is and what pleases God.
2. Daniel made decisions that pleased God. He was not concerned with earthly treasure but rather with the blessings of God.
3. Daniel’s testimony of God, through the way he lived and the decisions he made, always pointed people toward God.

The problem with most Christians today is that we are reactive in our decision making and our understanding of God. Our knowledge of God’s word is limited because we choose to spend small amounts of time reading and studying His word. Daniel chose to spend time with God. Moses always set up a tent while he was in the desert where he would meet with God.

We need to spend time with God more. So we can get to know Him, His likes and His dislikes, the way He thinks and what is important to Him. We need to set up our own ‘tent.’ away from the distractions of this world, where we spend time focusing on God and His word. This tent may be your study, the bedroom or a time in the day that is dedicated to God. Whatever it is, it should enable you to focus on God so that He can spend quality time with you.

With this better understanding of God that you will gain because of your focused time with Him, you will learn how to make better decisions. Decisions that please God!

As you read through Daniel, make sure you take note of the way that every time God is pleased with Daniel, God blesses Daniel. In fact, it seems that whenever God is pleased he blesses that which pleases Him.

Finally, the end result of God’s will in action is made abundantly clear in these chapters. God is glorified! Even in the lives of the unsaved and unrighteous.

Therefore a pro-active Christian lifestyle means to get to know God better so that we can make decisions that please God and not those around us. Those decisions ultimately will lead to God being pleased with us. Which means that God can pour His blessing into our lives. His blessing in our lives is an opportunity to tell others of His goodness. Which brings Him glory.

If your desire is to please God. Then the depth of your knowledge of God is directly associated with your ability to make decisions that please God.

So how often do you spend time with God?

Just you and Him, so He can show you what pleases Him!

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