Is there any doubt in your mind that we're living in an increasingly polluted world? There is pollution everywhere. We hear about it most often in the news, about our earth’s environment and how it is being threatened. But, how often are we hearing about our decaying society, decaying morals, decaying values, the push for things that are not normal should now be the norm. Where now, in our own homes we must constantly be on guard through what comes into our homes on the TV, the internet, magazines, books, radio, and other things that are there to constantly bring an all out assault on the way we live.
Doubt is a huge giant we'll all face at some point, some of us deeper and further than others. Some of you will cross paths with people who doubt the Lord, and you'll be able to share the truth with them! Even preachers have doubts from time to time, and you can read about some amazing, Godly people who have doubts. It is ok to say it out loud today!
The title, "Something Worth Living and Dying For", is simply the desire that God has put inside every human being. There has to be something worth looking for. What are you living for today, or better yet, WHO are you living for in your life? Is there anything in your life worth dying for? Christ offers us something worth living AND dying for and we see that fleshed out in the life of this man called Stephen.
Many of us have written on something, carved on something, left our mark on something, that said "I was here" – maybe at a restaurant, bathroom, cabin wall, billboard, etc. We all want to outlive our life – yes to be in heaven with Jesus, no doubt, but also in hopes that our time here on earth, given to us by the Lord, somehow made a difference. In hopes that the world noticed we were here, that we made an impact, that our lives made a difference in the life of someone else. We want that impact to outlast our presence after we are long gone!
The Church here in Jerusalem has experienced explosive growth, going from 120 to numbers that swell into the thousands, well over 5000 in just a few years. Imagine that happening here. Things had to change and grow as the church grew. Problems arose and we will see what happened and how they dealt with it.
Do you Realize that God has a plan for your life? But is it possible that Satan would have one for you as well? Wouldn’t it be the same for the church, specifically our church?
As a continuation of last week, we Recognize the enemy's vision, and rely on God's. The best is yet to come!
See where we've been in 2015 and where we're headed in 2016!!
We get to take another glimpse again inside the early church and we find some incredible things takin place in its infancy that didn’t last forever. But from it we can learn some valuable lessons and we can see clearly the ideal church at its birth and bring these transferable truths to bear right here at Petal FBC. Remember we are not trying to recreate the early church because that is impossible any more than we can go back and make Petal FBC like it was in its founding almost 70 years ago! We see this Church was a Community of Faith that the Lord as using in extraordinary ways – what can we see and how do we know that is true?
Courage in making the righteous decision isn’t always the right decision. We always need to start at the place of being people of courage who start towards the righteous decision and as we seek the Lord we discover what is the right righteous decision to make.
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