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Mark 11:15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
What would you do if you had set aside a place for little children to play in and a crowd of adults came to drink and party there instead? Would you allow them to carry on whilst children were trying to look for a safe place to play or would you stop and get them to leave?
The temple was set aside as a place where people should have been able to come to worship God at without the world bullying its way in. Jesus was quite rightly upset with the local people for what they had done.
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Psalm 69:9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
How often have you been really offended by what someone has done to someone else; I mean as offended as if it were done to you directly and not to someone else?
When we take on board something or someone else we should be standing up for that thing or that person as we would stand up for ourselves.
So when we say that we are Christians we need to stand up for Christianity just as strongly as we stand up for ourselves and our own ways. God wants us to be fully committed to Him and His will.
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Romans 15:3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’
We have to remember that Christ came into this world to make sure that He ultimately went to the cross to die for our sins. That is the reason why God sent Him.
When we look at all the work He did and all He was able to achieve before He took to the cross we should stand in awe!
But the result was that Christ came to take on our sin debt, to take on all the blame and all the punishment. Don’t continue to try and accept the punishment that Christ has already taken. Accept what He has done and work for Him instead!
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1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
No matter how you look at life you learn things from others and you learn to do things by imitating others.
If we surround ourselves by horrible people then we are most likely to turn out the same way because we will imitate them.
These words were written down to remind us that we have to set an example for others because others will imitate us. Paul tried to imitate Christ in all his ways. He did not get it right all the time, but others were able to see how he was behaving and they were able to try to do the same.
Christ set the example for us to follow. The Apostles tried to set the example for others to follow. We need to try to set the example for our friends to follow so that one day they can set the example for others to follow them.
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1 Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Don’t let people get you down just because you are young or because you have only just become a Christian (a young Christian). God wants each of us, no matter what age, to share our love for Him by acting appropriately.
That means acting in truth, showing others we mean it, showing others we believe the truth and uphold the truth in all walks of our lives.
The way we talk, the way we love, the way we are, the way we depend on others, and the chastity of our own bodies are all parts of Christians life that need to be displayed to others to encourage them. Do it properly!
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1 Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
When we do read God’s Word and take that truth into our hearts we do find that God continually teaches us to love others; although it is a commandment in some places, here it is a consequence of us following His Word and being led by the Spirit.
If we are willing to listen to God and to obey His Gospel as it has been given to us, then we should by inference continue to love other people and to lift them up as we do ourselves.
It should not be under duress but through the love that He gives us to share with others that we do this. God loved us in the beginning and that love needs to come out of us toward others.
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2 Peter 3:1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
We must not forget that our bibles are actually written by human hands and that some of them are letters written by people to other people as words of encouragement and guidance.
Because they are so important they have been included in what we call our bibles because the people that wrote them were guided by God to write them. God wants us to think along His lines and not to be swayed by worldly ways.
Reading our bibles will help us to remember His ways and help us to think more along His lines that of worldly ways where we could quite easily get lost in our own devices.
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Hebrews 2:1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
Have you ever sat down to try and work out how important instructions are in a project? Have you ever thought about how important God’s instructions to us are?
God gave us the bible so that we would know His Word, His instructions, His wishes, His rules and His ways. They are a very important part of our lives and one that too many people cast aside as being unimportant.
If we wonder why things go wrong we should also wonder if we are in fact listening to God when we should be – if we are not then we may well drift far away from God and the truth…
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Proverbs 3:1 My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;
God’s Word is important; just how important it is is not something that can be measured easily or by simple words. It is only after you have brought it into your life that you realise how much you need it.
Keeping the gospel in the forefront of your mind is just as important as keeping your own personal safety in constant thought. Just as your safety will only truly be found out when something breaks through, so too will it be too late after finding out that it was important after all!
God wants us safe and secure and not just waiting for something bad to happen before we realise we should have tried earlier…
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John 4:34 ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
We enjoy eating food when we feel hungry. We enjoy drinking something if we are thirsty. By the same token we should enjoy working for God when we feel the need to do so.
Jesus was always ready and willing to go the extra mile to work for His Father and that is our example to work for God as well. He wants us to be willing workers so that others will see not just how enjoyable it can be but also how much Joy God wants to bring into our lives.
Jesus did not give up after showing He was willing but continued right up until His work was finished. We should too.
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Matthew 3:15 Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then John consented.
Sometimes we forget just how ‘human’ Jesus was. Let us never forget that He lowered Himself into the form of a man so that He could join us bodily and ultimately pay the perfect price.
When Jesus knew it was time to be baptised, He came to John the Baptist in the desert and asked John to baptise Him. There was no reason why He should do so other than as a demonstration for us to follow in His footsteps.
Christ showed us God’s ways and God’s will during His time on earth; let us follow Him with everything.
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Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
When Satan had given up the fight to tempt Jesus, our Lord went out to preach! When we get down and feel like everything is against us we may find it hard to get up and say good things about God; but all it takes is a foot hold or a helping hand to bring your confidence back again.
God will always give you a helping hand when we need it. It may not be at the time when we want it because God wants us to realise that He is God and that we always need Him.
Our first step must be to repent so that we can draw closer to Him and He can tell us what we need.
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Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Though forgiveness of sin could never be bought by either repentance or by baptism, Peter lists these because of their significance. It is the fact that Jesus purchased our sin debt with his blood that is important.
We are the ones that have to show that we know what it means, and what it meant. When we repent we are showing that we do trust Christ to forgive us and when we come forward to be baptised we are showing others that we acknowledge what Christ did for us.
We need to show God and others that we do trust in Him.
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Luke 1:77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
Do you think it strange that so many people do not preach about Jesus as our Saviour in church? I may wonder how those churches could survive when they are not telling us the truth about Jesus Christ but I know why some of them succeed.
There are people out there talking up a storm about how great God is and how God is going to make your life so wonderful and blessed if you will only go ahead and do something for Him or for the church group or for the pastor.
This is not about any building, any group of people, any religion or any other fad; this is about loving our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, for all He has done for us and the gift He gives us…
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John 1:23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.”’
Being able to show others that we are who we are because God has deemed it so or possible has got to be the only honest answer we can give. If we try to build ourselves up into something we are not we fool ourselves alone.
If we talk as if we are nothing, we make out God to be a liar. We are His creation and a temple for the Holy Spirit. If that is not enough to get you started then you have to start thinking again!
Get out there and obey God. He has already asked you to go… What are you waiting for?
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John 1:21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
What sort of position do you hold in society? Let’s face it, society has never forgotten that we all hold positions and each position holds other positions in very different ways, some look down at others whilst others lift them up.
God would rather that we look at each other for what we are – all His creation. Yes we will be able to work our way up or down the chains in society, be born into different positions and lead very different lives, but when it comes down to it in the end, each of us is a human being, created by God.
We should be able to accept each other the way we are and praise God for our differences!
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2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
The Gospel is God’s Word! If we do not see it as God’s Word but see it as a tool to reach others with then we have lost sight on the importance of the gospel!
We need to be out there showing others the Gospel, God’s Word, ad not trying to be as politically correct as we can be and certainly not preaching about how great we have become even if we think God has done it!
This is all about glorifying God. Glorify Him alone!
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Matthew 20:27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave
Whilst it may be politically incorrect to use the term slave nowadays this verse should cause most people to stop and think!
Who would you say would be most qualified to lead your church? Who would you pick to be your church leader if you could pick.
We would probably pick some charismatic person who looked like they could lead us – God wants us to pick someone who is willing to be a servant or slave for everyone. God wants us to be more like servants, willing to do His work for others no matter what!
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Matthew 18:4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
When we are young babes without much of a care in the world, we are very trusting and follow those who try to tell us where we go. If we do have good parents and guardians then we grow up to know what is good and right.
God wants us to be in that sort of position toward Him so that we accept the truth and righteousness and trust in it, growing up in it as being the core of our lives.
When we take on God’s ways and live by them, we grow to be much stronger Christians who can help and support others in their walk toward God as well.
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1 Corinthians 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
How many times have you turned round and said that something could not be done because everyone else said that it could not be done? Sometimes we give in before we start because we think that we know better.
It takes a wise person to fix some things that go wrong, but it takes a bigger person to admit that they are not wise enough and stop to learn more.
Christ wants us to put aside the worldly ways and to learn more of His ways so that we can move forward with Him continually.