Pastor Bobby Ready: 2010

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Bringing Your Behavior In Line With Your Belief

I ran across this the other day and thought it was right on target!

So many people suffer needlessly in their Christian walk because their belief is not in line with their behavior. They say they love God and love his people and their enemies. They believe that they trust God completely. They call themselves faithful to their perspective churches and ministries. But their behavior outside of the atmosphere of the church is not in line with the convictions they carry inside. Consequently, they lead spiritually weak, defeated and unfulfilled lives, never growing and never conquering bad habits and fleshly lusts.

To bring clarity, carefully read these few statements;

1. Actions speak loud.

2. What you “do” does matter.

3. Where you go does matter.

4. What you say and listen to does matter.

5. How you respond to situations does matter.

Your behavior must match who you are, which will match whose you are. So allow me to digress to number one, “Actions speak Loud.”

It is difficult to convince people that what you say does not have to be demonstrated by what you do. Although it may be a hardship for someone to express their feelings, if you are intuitive it is not too difficult to figure out what someone is thinking. Just go by their actions.

Tragically, you have developed a mastery in deception. You are taught not to show your true feelings, leaving it up to an individual to “figure out” how you feel and what you think. But it was never meant to be that way. You may have your reasons, but being deceitful will never lead you in the right direction. Your relationship with God should not be a guessing game for others. Although God knows all things, there are some things you must show in order for others to know that you have a great “working” relationship with Him.

Jesus stated in John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Jesus didn’t say “love for each other”. He said “love to another”, which indicates action…love to another. I could go on but time and space will not permit.

The next statement was; where you go does matter. You might ask or think, why does it matter? It matters because you should not offend God by going places that are not conducive to His character. I Thessalonians 5:22 states “abstain from all appearance of evil.” If something or some place does not look like it represents the spirit of good will, don’t go there.

What you say and listen to does matter. Colossians 3:8 states; But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. I’ve heard so many so called “Christians” use profanity to “get a point across”. There is a behavior that we acquire when we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives that makes us respond differently than the world.

Those who have not been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ may resort to a language that sub-intelligible minds adhere to. But in I Peter 2:9 it states; “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You are not to listen to nor engage in filthy communication.

Sure you love the Lord, and sure you love your church, and sure you love your Pastor and sure you love…shall I go on? But does your behavior match your belief?

To bring in the above-mentioned scripture, God told Israel that he would forgive them for adopting the ways of the heathen and He will do it for “His name sake.” He would put His name in them so that their enemies would know “who” they belong to. Then God will “clean them up” or “sprinkle” them and because they “loved” Him with a stony heart, He would give them a new heart, a heart of flesh.

Could this be your problem? Are you loving God with a stony heart? Are you serving him with a heart of “self will” or “my own way” or the “way of the heathen” or the “way of the world?” Is that why your relationship with God is so weak? Why you don’t grow? Why you are the same way you were years ago? Why you just can’t stop doing this or that or you cannot seem to keep His commandments?

God knows you love him but your actions are not lining up with your belief, which makes you an easy target for your enemy to engage in unprotected warfare resulting in your “daily” spiritual defeat.

It’s not about you loving God. It’s not about you trusting God. It’s not about you giving your body to be burned. It’s not about how long you’ve been serving God. It’s not about your desire to go to heaven. It’s about helping others through demonstrating to the world that God is your King. There cannot be anyone or anything you worship outside of Him. Your behavior must demonstrate a God-fearing, people-loving, all forgiving, soldier for Christ. Ask God to help you line up your behavior with your belief. If you are a true Believer, then you ought to show some signs.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

From The Pastor's Heart:

I am so excited about what God is doing in our midst right now! We have seen some great things in the past, but what God is doing right now, IS SO WONDERFUL! I am very partial and fully prejudiced about the subject, but I know that God is allowing me to pastor the best group of loving Christians on the face of this planet!!! Church, these are great days and I am confident that we are going to see God bring to fruition the great vision and calling He has given to us. I have recommitted myself to the task and I ask you to do the same.

I hope to see you in church tomorrow with a heart full of expectation!!!

Pastor Bobby