Overflowing

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 - Overflowing With Thankfulness

Has anyone ever said to you, "You are just overflowing with thankfulness"? Honestly, that's never happened to me and probably not you either. Yet, the Bible tells us in Colossians 2 that we should overflow with thankfulness.

I do believe this, with all my heart - if you learn to practice thankfulness, people will notice. They'll notice your joyful spirit; they'll notice your words of thanks; they'll notice the smile on your face and the bounce in your step. You look different when you overflow with thankfulness. It softens the lines in your face; makes you look younger and gives a gentleness to your words. It lightens your load so you have a spring in your walk.

You don't believe me? Well, I challenge you to practice thankfulness and see if people don't notice the difference in you. I've given you five suggestions to help you practice being thankful. Here's one more:

5. Think about where you'd be without Jesus.

That will make you thankful. There's a song I like by Stephen Curtis Chapman entitled

"Remember Your Chains." The chorus says:

Remember your chains. Remember the prison that once held you

Before the love of God broke through.

Remember the place you were without grace.

And when you see where you are now,

Remember your chains, and remember your chains are gone.

For me, nothing makes me overflow with thankfulness as much as remembering what Jesus has done in my life and hearing what he has done in the lives of others. Each year some of my close friends get together at my home on New Year's Day, and one of our traditions is to re-tell our stories - to remember our chains are gone. What a great experience that is. We always overflow with thankfulness when we remember where we were before we met Jesus.

As you prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, have you stopped to truly have a thankful heart? Maybe you've been so busy with all the preparations that you've forgotten the purpose - to be thankful. In fact, there are very few people in our country who will celebrate thanksgiving tomorrow. Most will celebrate a big meal, a family gathering, a football game. But not too many will be primarily focused on having a thankful heart.

Don't miss this opportunity to develop the habit of overflowing with thankfulness. It is the only way to live.

Theology and Youth

Excerpt from Vintage Faith Dan Kimball post: Wonderful time at Youth Specialties in Nashville

I am heading home today after being at the wonderful as always Youth Specialties Convention here in Nashville. I taught this year about theological topics to address with youth prior to their graduating. ...

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The first one I stressed was to be teaching on the importance of being able to address the trustworthiness and inspiration of the Bible, having a sense of how it was formed and put together, knowing what "inspired" means, and how to think about problematic passages and basic biblical hermeneutics. ...

The second issue that I suggested that we need to adequately prepare teenagers to be thinking through how to view and respond to world faiths and pluralism in a thoughtful, intelligent, and heartfelt way. Again, prepping them to be aware of the kind of questions and challenges that will inevitably arise and they will have to wrestle with.

The third topic I shared that I feel is important to adequately address with youth before a high schooler graduates is teaching about human sexuality and marriage. Not just about whether one should have sex before marriage or not. But a holistic look at human sexuality. ...

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Without Walls

A man without self-control
is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Proverbs 25: 28

Sharing

Excerpts from Vintage Faith |Dan Kimball post: New Network/Community: Passionate about Scripture, Innovation and Evangelism

I just spoke at Vintage Faith Church in our Clash series about the exclusive claims of Jesus and the New Testament in the midst of a pluralistic culture. ...

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I fully believe that we can teach truths from Scripture that even go against cultural norm, yet how we do it makes all the difference. With global faiths I believe we need to not shy from speaking what the Scriptures say - but doing so with compassion, understanding, listening and studying. ...

At the end of the message, I brought up a UCSC (University of California Santa Cruz) student who is getting her PhD. She was raised in a very strong Buddhist family. She grew up mainly in the USA but also had some time living over in Taiwan. She shared her story of growing up Buddhist and knowing nothing about Christianity. But then someone who was a Christian took interest in her and eventually invited her to church and then she began hearing about the stories of the Bible and began wrestling with the claims of Jesus and Christianity, and she eventually became a Christian. One of the things she said which stuck in my mind and heart was how glad she was that a Christian took the effort to befriend her and introduce her to Jesus and the Bible. And how much her life now feels purposeful as she believes she is here to be living her life as a disciple of Jesus and sharing about the joy of knowing Jesus in this life. It was obvious she lives this out, as while she was speaking she mentioned that 6 of her non-Christian friends were there in the church gathering to support her as she shared. It was really a beautiful thing.

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Waiting

John Waller While I'm Waiting

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I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

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Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

Psalm 27:14

Broken and Marginal

Found at Reformissionary (Steve McCoy ) via Eitheror.org (Matt Grayson)

Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think.

Tim Keller in The Prodigal God, 14-15.

Just Thinking

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8

Showing the Grace of God

Excerpt from Improving Our Gospel Communications by Tony Reinke | Miscellanies

In the last post I wrote: “Showing people sin is the easy part. Showing people the grace of God is not so easy.”

A profound—but plagiarized—thought.

The simple truth is that convincing someone of personal sin is not hard. I remember reading the story of a horror film writer on opening night of his movie sitting in the front row and watching the ghastly evil on the screen and realizing that this entire movie had been born in his heart. It was a sort of Ah-ha moment of his own sin. He was no Christian and I’m not certain he ever became a Christian. Every sinner knows that they are sinful, this is a truth none of us can escape–we can only suppress its reality.

And for those of us who are Christians, who have openly and honestly looked into the eye of that heinous beast of sin residing in all our hearts, a preacher can convict us of sin with little trouble. But if we are more aware of sin than grace the conviction of sin can easily dominate and suffocate a more important truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In the last post, this led Tom post this comment: “As a pastor I desire to present Christ in all His goodness and glory in such a way that He is beautiful desirable, attractive and appealing, and yet I feel I so often fall short. You would think that it would be easy to present Christ in such a way that people would have a natural hunger and yearning for Him, yet I find it to be a great challenge and am frustrated that I fall so short of proclaiming Christ’s glory winsomely, fruitfully and effectively.”

Great thoughts, Tom. Its worth taking a moment to understand how we can better communicate the grace of the gospel.

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Multiplication

My prayer for you today is

"... may grace and peace be multiplied to you."

(1 Peter 1:2)

Trust

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

HOW FAITH AFFECTS OUR LIVES

Ephesians 2:8, 9
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast

After Jesus claimed to be sent by God, some were seeking to seize Him, having come to the conclusion that He was not a good man. But others did believe in Him, "and they were saying, 'When the Christ shall come, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?'" (John 7:31). All the evidence was there. Some chose to believe; others chose not to. People do the same today. Faith is a choice. We choose to believe or not believe.

Faith is the operating principle of life. It is the means by which we relate to God and live our lives in freedom. Notice the variety of ways stated in Scripture by which faith affects our lives.

First, we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

Second, we "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Third, being found faithful is a prerequisite for ministry: "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service" (1 Timothy 1:12). Paul then adds, "And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). This is more than being reliable, since a person could be counted on to follow through on an assignment and not be a believer. The added ingredient in faithful people is that they know the truth and can be counted on to be reliable.

Fourth, the quality of any relationship is determined by faith or trust: "Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?" (Proverbs 20:6). The words faith , trust and believe are all the same word ( pistis ) in the original language. The man who has faith believes in something. The one who believes also trusts, or he doesn't truly believe. There is no concept that looms larger in life than faith because what we believe determines how we live.

Prayer:

Lord, I affirm that I cannot please You without faith. I choose today to believe in You and trust in Your name.

Strong Tower

The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

Proverbs 18:10

Filled

Excerpts from How To Be Filled With The Spirit by John Piper

... Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit.” I argued Sunday morning that verses 19-21 describe the effects of being filled with the Spirit. The effect in verse 19 is very musical. Clearly joy in Christ is the mark of being filled with the Spirit. But not only joy. Also gratitude in verse 20—perpetual gratitude, gratitude for everything. (Which obviously eliminates grumbling and pouting and self-pity and bitterness and scowling and murmuring and depression and worry and discouragement and gloominess and pessimism!) But not only musical joy and universal gratitude, but also loving submission to each other’s needs (v.21). Joy, gratitude and humble love—these are the marks of being filled with the Spirit. To this should also be added boldness in witness from Acts (see Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 13:9). No one can fail to be bold and eager in witness when the Spirit is producing in him overflowing joy, perpetual gratitude and humble love. O how we need to be filled with the Spirit! Let’s seek it! Pursue it!

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So drinking the Spirit means setting our minds on the things of the spirit. And setting our minds on the things of the Spirit means directing our eager attention to the teachings of the apostles about God and to the words of Jesus. If we do this long enough we will get drunk with the Spirit. In fact we will get addicted to the Spirit. Instead of chemical dependency we will develop a wonderful Spirit-dependency.

One more tip: the Holy Spirit is not like wine because he is a person and is free to come and go where he wills (John 3:8). Therefore Luke 11:13 must be added. Jesus said to his disciples, “If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” If we want to be filled with the Spirit we must pray for it. And that is just what Paul does for the Ephesians in chapter 3, verse 19. He asks his Father in heaven (v.14) that the believers “might be filled with all the fullness of God.” Drink and pray. Drink and pray. Drink and pray.

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Calling

Beginning thoughts from Rebranding Reflections by Mark Batterson | Evotional

Thought it might be worth sharing some rebranding reflections. For eight hours we drilled down on these questions: 1) What business are we really in? 2) What is our greatest passion? 3) What are our greatest strengths?

I think rebranding is really rediscovering your primal calling. And I think the genesis moment for me was a Willowcreek Conference. I remember feeling like Willowcreek gave me permission to do church differently. I think many of my core convictions trace back to that moment. Here are a few of them:

1) there are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet.
2) the church ought to be the most creative place on the planet
3) we need different kinds of churches because there are different kinds of people

Even our core value, everything is an experiment, is an expression of that fundamental desire to do church differently. It's not about being different for difference sake. It's about reaching emerging generations. And that requires new wineskins.

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Wise and Intelligent

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Proverbs 17: 28

Gifts

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them ...
Rom 12:6a

I was listening to an orchestra the other day and watching the performance of the individual members and it occurred to me that if I were the trumpet player for a particular song, and for some reason I couldn't hear the other instruments, I would probably be pretty discouraged and think that my trumpet playing was not very worthwhile. I noticed in this one particular song the trumpet players were silent for most of the song and then would play for a few seconds and then silent for another long period and then play again for a short period. The trumpets made a beautiful combination of sounds when combined with the other instruments and was very enjoyable.

It may be that in playing the instrument God has gifted you to play you are not hearing the other instruments and therefore could come to believe that your contribution is not worthwhile or meaningful. I encourage you to not be discouraged. I believe that God "hears" a beautiful combination of gifts glorifying Him as we use his gifting for the body.

Needs

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

SAFETY, SECURITY AND BELONGING

Philippians 4:19
My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus

Not only was Adam given a significant, authoritative role at creation, he also enjoyed a sense of safety and security. All his needs were provided for (Genesis 1:29). Adam was completely cared for in the garden. He had plenty to eat and there was plenty for the animals. He could eat of the tree of life and live forever in God's presence. He lacked nothing.

When Adam sinned, he lost that sense of safety and security. Before, he was naked and unashamed. After, he wanted to hide from God and cover up. The first emotion expressed by fallen humanity was fear.

Safety and security is another facet of our inheritance in Christ. We have the riches of His kingdom at our disposal and His promise to supply all our needs.

Adam and Eve also experienced a sense of belonging in that perfect garden. Adam apparently enjoyed intimate, one-on-one communion with God before Eve was created. Then God said it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). So He gave Eve to Adam--and Adam to Eve--to enrich his experience of belonging.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve had a sense of belonging. But after the Fall they felt rejected, experiencing a need to belong. It is one of our greatest needs today. Notice that what were attributes before the Fall became needs after the Fall.

I believe that a true sense of belonging today comes not only from knowing that we belong to God, but also from belonging to each other. When God created Eve He established human community. It's not good for us to be alone. Aloneness can lead to loneliness. God's preventative for loneliness is intimacy--meaningful, open, sharing relationships with one another. In Christ we have the capacity for the fulfilling sense of belonging which comes from intimate fellowship with God and with other believers.

Prayer:

Lord, thank You that all my needs for safety, security and belonging are fully met in You.

Honor

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Proverbs 14:31, ESV

Shepherd

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1, ESV

Freedom

Excerpt from Jon Bloom Do Not Be Afraid | Desiring God | Blog

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So Jehoshaphat gathered the people of Judah in Jerusalem for a fast. They stood before the temple, and the king, in an act of great leadership, pleaded their case before the Lord and then said this:

“We are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. (2 Chronicles 20:12)

Isn’t that a beautiful confession? It is so child-like in its humility and faith. It is, in fact, another Old Testament picture of the gospel. We are powerless to save ourselves. But when we look to God and call on him for deliverance from the impending judgment, he brings about a salvation beyond our wildest imagination.

The reason God orchestrated Jehoshaphat’s predicament is the same as his design in the tribulations and crises in our lives: he want us to increasingly find freedom from fear.

You see, real freedom is not the liberty to do what we want, or even the absence of distress. Real freedom is the deep-seated confidence that God really will provide everything we need. The person who believes this is the freest of all persons on earth, because no matter what situation they find themselves in, they have nothing to fear.

But the only way for sinners like us with a bent toward unbelief in God to find this kind of freedom is by experiencing repeatedly God’s delivering power and his faithfulness. That’s why we are to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds (James 1:2). They are making us free.

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Complete

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

COMPLETE IN CHRIST

Colossians 2:10
In Him you have been made complete

Colossians 2:6-10 reveals three levels in our relationship with Christ. If we are going to present every believer complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28), our discipleship must acknowledge the following order.

Level One ensures that our identity is firmly rooted in Him . This entails:

Leading individuals to Christ and directing them to their scriptural assurance of salvation; Guiding them to a true knowledge of God and who they are in Christ; Helping them see the ways they are still playing God or rebelling against God's authority; Breaking down their defenses against rejection by accepting and affirming them.

Level Two deals with the issue of maturity in Christ, which Paul alluded to as "being built up in Him" (verse 7). The second level of discipleship is to accept God's goal of sanctification and grow in Christlikeness. This entails:

Helping people learn to walk by the Spirit and by faith; Helping them get off the emotional roller coaster by focusing their thoughts on God instead of their circumstances; Encouraging them to develop self-control; Challenging them to resolve personal problems by forgiving others and seeking forgiveness.

Level Three reflects the issue of our daily walk in Christ, which is possible when our identity and maturity are in Christ. The third level of discipleship is to help believers live responsibly in Christ in their homes, on their jobs, and in society. The effective Christian walk involves the proper exercise of spiritual gifts, talents, and intellect in serving others and being a positive witness in the world.

Prayer:

Lord, I desire to be firmly rooted and built up in Christ today so I may walk in Him.