Motive

The subheading over 1 Corinthians 13 in my Bible says, "The Way of Love". That's a good description of the way Jesus lived, and the way we hope to live, but often get caught up in the how and what of life, forgetting the why.


1 Corithians 13:1-3 says,

"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing."


Motive is everything. If I do not love others, I have missed the point completely.
That changes everything...

If you busy yourself with serving, ministry, giving, and even become a martyr, but have no love for those you are doing it for-it is really worthless. That is what Paul is saying. You should ask yourself why you are doing it. Make sure that your motives are centered around your love for the individual or group you are serving. If not love, what?

Paul listed some characteristics of love in verses 4-7, that will give you a clue to where your motives lie.

1 Corithians 13:4-7,

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."

After viewing that I saw that I needed to reflect and make some changes. Maybe you feel the same. A few thoughts to consider:

*Begin to rethink your activities. Stop those that are not motivated by pure love, or if possible, change your motivation.

*Ask God to help you to love others as He does; love for what you are doing;love for Him.

*Begin something new that is fueled solely by your love. It doesn't have to be big, but it does have to be personal to you.

"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." -Johann Wolfgang

Outside of God's Holiness, I do not think anything comes closer to God's heart than pure love...

"Apart from Me... Nothing."

"Apart from Me... Nothing."
-Austin Pryor, Sound Mind Investing


Jesus was man as God intended. He not only showed us what God is like, but what man is supposed to be like. He showed us the kind of life God had in mind for us when He created man — a life of worshipful dependence.

In John 5, Jesus said He was hard at work: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working" (v. 17). But it turned out that His working was quite unlike the self-sufficient, self-motivated kind with which we are familiar in ourselves and others.

He went on to explain the secret of His working: "Jesus gave them this answer: 'I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does'" (v. 19). "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear..." (v. 30). "I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me" (8:28a). (Emphasis has been added in Bible quotations throughout.)

The key to understanding Christ's sinless perfection, then, is not to focus primarily on the way He avoided doing what was wrong, but rather on His positively accomplishing what was right — He lived a life of total dependence on the Father.

And then he made us this stunning promise: If you will depend on me the way I've depended on the Father, then I will be to you what my Father has been to me. Your power source. Your wisdom. Your holiness. Your motivation for self-sacrifice. "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13).

This is wonderful news! It means we don't have to keep trying (and failing) to make ourselves "good" Christians. We can't do it. He never said we could. But He can. The God who invited you into the Christian life is also the God who wants to live it out through you. "The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24).

And so Jesus could say in John 15: "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (vv. 4-5).

Fruit-bearing is the result of being filled with the Spirit, yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to empower you with the adequacy of Christ.

How adequate is He, anyway? Would Christ be adequate as a spouse? A parent? As an employee? Or, turning to the financial realm, how about as a household money manager? Would He be able to live within a budget, save for the future, and give generously? Yes, of course! He would be without peer in all of these roles and thousands of others.

So, as you consider how to maximize your family life, your work life, your financial life, and your ministry life this year, ask yourself these questions: How much can I do apart from Christ? Nothing of value. But how much can Christ do through me? Everything of value. He is limited only by the measure of our being available to His Spirit.

In The Saving Life of Christ, Major Ian Thomas expressed it this way:

The Lord Jesus Christ claims the use of your body, your whole being, your complete personality, so that as you give yourself to Him through the eternal Spirit, He may give Himself to you through the eternal Spirit, that all your activity as a human being on earth may be His activity in and through you; that every step you take, every word you speak, everything you do, everything you are, may be an expression of Christ, in you as man....

That is what Paul meant when he said 'For me to live is Christ.'... It is for you to be — it is for Him to do. Restfully available to the Saving Life of Christ, enjoying the richest measure of the Divine Presence, a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself, instantly obedient to the heavenly impulse — this is your vocation, and this is your victory!"

"I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father. And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son (John 14:12-13, Amplified).

http://www.crosswalk.com/careers/11600315, March 4, 2009

30 Hour Famine

This past month our church took part in World Vision's fundraiser, "The 30 Hour Famine". Our students and congregation fasted for 30 hours to raise money and awareness for hungry children in developing countries.

it was inspiring to see the concern, prayer, and commitment in our youth group. They grew closer and felt more driven towards a common purpose. In total they raised over $5000.00 to send to World Vision.

"When you have done it for the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me."

Top 10 Hunger Stories in the Bible

Top 10 “Hunger” Stories in the Bible


For each of these 10 stories, discuss the following questions in one large group, ponder them in quiet conversations in small groups, or allow individuals to mull over them silently. (Of course, not every question will always apply to every Bible passage.)

• What exactly was the hungry person hungering for?
• How did the hungry person respond to his hunger?
• Did anyone else respond to the needy person’s hunger?
• Whom did the hungry person ask for nourishment?
• What was the upshot of the hungry person finally getting fed?
• Was there a “point” to the story—or was the fact that a hungry child of God simply got enough food for a change point enough?


10 Esau’s birthright: Esau sells his birthright because he is hungry. (Genesis 25:29-34)

One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home exhausted and hungry from a hunt. Esau said to Jacob, "I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew you've made." (This was how Esau got his other name, Edom—"Red.")
Jacob replied, "All right, but trade me your birthright for it."
"Look, I'm dying of starvation!" said Esau. "What good is my birthright to me now?"
So Jacob insisted, "Well then, swear to me right now that it is mine." So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his younger brother.
Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the fact that he had given up his birthright.


9 Israel in Egypt: Famine and hunger in Canaan drive Joseph’s brothers to Egypt—where they end up staying for 400 years. (Genesis 41:53 to 42:7; and 46:1-6)


8 Manna and quail: Israelites get more food in the desert than they bargain for. (Exodus 16 and Numbers 11)


7 David and the consecrated bread: He actually ate the holy bread! (1 Samuel 21:1-6 and Mark 2:23-27)

David went to the city of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. "Why are you alone?" he asked. "Why is no one with you?"
"The king has sent me on a private matter," David said. "He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have."
"We don't have any regular bread," the priest replied. "But there is the holy bread, which I guess you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently."
"Don't worry," David replied. "I never allow my men to be with women when they are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!"
So, since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread.


One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of wheat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “They shouldn't be doing that! It's against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.”
But Jesus replied, "Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest), ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone, and then gave some to his companions. That was breaking the law, too." Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath.


6 Elijah and the widow: What we all wish would happen in our kitchens. (1 Kings 17:7-16)

But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.
Then the Lord said to Elijah, "Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. There is a widow there who will feed you. I have given her my instructions."
So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, "Would you please bring me a cup of water?" As she was going to get it, he called to her, "Bring me a bite of bread, too."
But she said, "I swear by the Lord your God that I don't have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die."
But Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid! Go ahead and cook that ‘last meal,’ but bake me a little loaf of bread first. Afterward there will still be enough food for you and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!"
So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil for many days. For no matter how much they used, there was always enough left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.


5 Jesus in the desert: The devil tried to get to him through his (empty) stomach. (Matthew 4:1-4)

Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil. For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry. Then the Devil came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread."
But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say, ‘People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.’”


4 The miraculous feeding of thousands: On two occasions Jesus fed a whole lot of hungry people with only a few loaves and a handful of fish: Matthew 14:13-21 and Matthew 15:29-39. Here’s the latter story:

Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought him the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others with physical difficulties, and they laid them before Jesus. And he healed them all. The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking around, and those who had been blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the road.”
The disciples replied, “And where would we get enough food out here in the wilderness for all of them to eat?”
Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
They replied, “Seven, and a few small fish.” So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.
They all ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up, there were seven large baskets of food left over! There were four thousand men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.


3 Lazarus and the rich man: Sooner or later, the tables turn. (Luke 16:19-25)

There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed and who lived each day in luxury. At his door lay a diseased beggar named Lazarus. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. Finally, the beggar died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Lazarus in the far distance with Abraham.
The rich man shouted, “Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in these flames.”
But Abraham said to him, “Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish.”


2 James’ definition of true faith: Not exactly a story, this teaching nonetheless lays out in stark terms what your attitude and actions toward the poor and the hungry tell you and others about yourself. (James 2:14-17)

Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can’t save anyone. Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well”-—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.


. . . and the number-one “hunger” story in the Bible:

1 Feeding Jesus: You never know who that hungry person you’re feeding may be. (Matthew 25:35-45)
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“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”
Then these righteous ones will reply, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?” And the King will tell them, “I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”
Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, “Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his demons! For I was hungry, and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn't give me anything to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn't invite me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me no clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn't visit me.”
Then they will reply, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?” And he will answer, “I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.”


-What exactly was the hungry person hungering for?
• How did the hungry person respond to his hunger?
-Did I respond to the needy person’s hunger?
• Whom did the hungry person ask for nourishment?
-What was the catalyst of the hungry person finally getting fed?
• Was there a “point” to the story—or was the fact that a hungry child of God simply got enough food for a change point enough?

(provided by World Vision using The Holy Bible, New Living Translation)

Famine February

This February will be Famine month at Lake Havasu Baptist Church. We will journey through the lives of those who cannot feed themselves, and answer the call that God gives to each of us to care for those in need. To begin the month we will be promoting World Vision and its event 30 Hour Famine. World Vision is a Christian Aid organization dedicated to feeding children in the neediest areas of our world.

The 30 Hour Famine event is a time for students to fast for 30 hours while raising funds for starving children around the world. Every $30 raised in another month to live for some children. This year the US Government has promised a multiple match to 5 times the amount raised. That means that what we raise will be multiplied by 5.

Please join us as we pray, fast, and work towards making hunger a thing of the past!

Peace be with You...

When I am bogged down with “stuff” and the Christian life is not looking like what I had envisioned it, I tend to get a little discouraged. I ask questions like, “Am I doing what God asked of me? Or “Did I do something wrong to have this happen?”
It is in those times that God brings His encouragement and peace, and points me again towards His mission.
In John Chapter 20, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, The Disciples, and then again to Thomas. The chapter starts with Mary at the tomb, searching frantically for the body of her dead savior. Jesus asks her what she is doing and she fails to see that it is Him. The Disciples hear from Mary that Jesus is alive, and they fail to believe her. Thomas hears from the Disciples and refuses to believe unless he has proof.
In each of these Jesus appears and addresses the disbelief of each person. The first thing He says is,
“Peace be with you.”
When we truly encounter Christ, he brings His peace into our situation. He wants us to know that He has everything under His control, and ease our hearts. It is only then that we can hear what He has to say. Jesus said what each person needed to hear. Each situation was specific. Mary needed to hear her Savior call her by name once again. The Disciples needed reassurance and guidance as they followed His directives, and Thomas needed some amount of calculated proof that Jesus was truly alive again.
I received a call for a visit to a woman with terminal cancer. The woman had been given a few weeks to live. I knew that I should go, but was afraid that I would be ineffectual at comforting her or answering her questions about life and death. John wrote and lived for the express purpose of making Jesus known. As I hung up the phone and finished reading chapter 20 in the book of John, the last verse rung out the meaning of Jesus’ encouragement.
“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31
In those moments Jesus said to me, “Peace be with you.” He was doing for me what he did for Mary, His Disciples, and yes, even Thomas. All that they did and all that we do must amount to this one last verse.
When uncertain struggles challenge our faith and paralyze us with fear, we must remember that Jesus will sustain us. He calms us by His presence and lets us see things through His eyes. When He does, it shows to our family and friends, glorifying Him. It is then that we realize that the purpose of our lives is,
“That you may believe…”