Dont Waste Your Life

If I could say one last thing in 08' - if I had a moment to grab the attention of everyone I know have known and will know friends co workers family & associates alike. This would be it:

DONT WASTE YOUR LIFE.

In the coming weeks (at least the next 5) - I will be doing a blog series with this title. My wife and I are currently walking through a bible study curriculum that we will soon be leading in our home. In the first few lessons alone - I've been challenged to do an "inventory" of my life and it's pursuits and -WOW- lotta work to be done. Look out for the next few blogs titled DWYL. I plan to get pretty transparent with my findings, challenges, repentance, frustrations etc.

In the meantime - back to that "last message of the year". I've got a video to share. Pretty much sums it up.

(((Watch the video first -rap is only 45 seconds or so the rest is speaking)))

Toward the end shai posed the question/comment:
How shameful would it be?... he directed it to the concert attendees and kept it relevant to the topic of the music, the hype of the show etc. But if I may - I'd like to dig deeper.

Have you ever thought about this? How shameful would it be?- to have wasted your life attending church services every Sunday(or even sometime), praising God with your lips only to have Him reveal that all along your heart wasnt in it?(Isaiah 29:13) How shameful would it be to have wasted your life wearing the label of 'Christ'ian and have Christ himself declare "I never knew you"..?(Matthew 7:23) How shameful to have wasted your life saying prayers to God - and He never heard you?(Psalm 16:18;Proverbs 28:9)

Some of you have heard me say this plenty of times. "I'd rather live my life like 50 cent or Hugh Hefner than to live trying to be a "Christian" and be deceived my whole life- ultimately ending up in the same place they will" (should The Lord not grant them(50 & Hugh) repentance and everlasting life by grace through faith in Jesus Christ).

I would much rather do my own thing, chase money, women, success, and the likes - and reap the fruit of that life in the after life, than to be "lukewarm".

In Revelation 3 Jesus writes a letter to a church -who quite a few theologians say is a prophecy to the end times church (that'd be us)- saying:

"I know your ways and that you are neither hot nor cold I wish that you were hot or cold but because you are lukewarm I will spew you from my mouth."

So my plea -to professing believers- in 09'. Make your calling and election sure. As shai said "bear fruit in keeping with repentance". Repentance is not a one time deal, where you repented(or as some misconstrue it "asked for forgiveness") and now you're saved. Repentance is a part of the daily Christian life.

Daily Christian living is daily Christian dying. A part of the dying I'm speaking of is the dying of comfort and security and reputation and health and family and friends and wealth and homeland. These may be taken from us at any time in the path of Christ-exalting obedience. To die daily the way Paul did, and to take up your cross the way Jesus commanded, is to embrace this life of loss for Christ's sake and count it gain. In other words, the way we honor Christ in death is to treasure Jesus above the gift of life, and the way we honor Christ in life is to treasure Jesus above life's gifts.

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body - Paul in 1 Cor. 6:19-20

God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to PRAY, and THINK, and DREAM, and PLAN, and WORK, not to be made much of, but to make much of Him in every part of our lives.

In closing - I offer up some more of Jesus' words:
'You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!’ (matthew 7:16-23)

A Way That Seems Right

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,

but the end thereof are the ways of death." Proverbs 14:12


There are many ways that seem right to us. Those ways may have been established by tradition, culture or even here-say. Yet, there is a way that is right.

Much of what pulls us away from obedience to God is putting great trust in our own reasoning abilities (when we're not flat out seeking to compromise). We examine and weigh the facts, then we draw our conclusions. Then we often make decisions as to how to act based primarily upon what we see to be the right way to go. However, there is grave danger in following what appears to be right in our own eyes. The Bible (primarily it's "Book Of Wisdom") is very clear on this subject:

Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,but a wise man listens to advice.
Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Proverbs 26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.
Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,and shrewd in their own sight!

Clearly my eye-dea will carry me off onto the wrong path(s).

As mentioned above, there is a definite way that is right. In order for us to set out and remain on that right road - we must "know" where we're headed. Agree? Ok read on.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;



Here we see that The Bible established our road map. "the fear of the LORD" is said to be the very beginning of knowledge. If we want to be sure we're on the right road -I submit that it is vitally important to have a healthy fear of the LORD.



Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom
Proverbs 14:2 Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD
Proverbs 16:6b by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.
Proverbs 28:14 Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always
Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. ***shout out to all my Proverbs 31 women - you can hit the wife at LadeeProverbs31@aim.com**


Many of you may be asking "What does it mean to fear the LORD"? Here it is defined:


Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.



Ask yourself - Do you hate evil? Do you abhor wrong doings? Do you detest wickedness? Do you loathe the sin in your life?

God does; and God's Word says that the fear of the LORD -which is... the way of the righteous, the blessed one's ways, the woman to be praised's attribute, etc- is hatred of evil.

Pray that the Lord would cause you to fear HIM and hate evil, after all this marks the starting point toward knowledge and wisdom -[The Right Road].

Ecclesiastes 12:13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

What if there were no more excuses?

"Powerful"