God’s Great Blessing Was Upon Them … God’s Great Blessing Can Be On Us Too!

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Exodus 21,22; Psalms 12; Acts 4

God’s Great Blessing Was Upon Them …

God’s Great Blessing Can Be On Us Too!

Scripture

Acts 4

 ³² All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. ³³ The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. ³⁴ There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them ³⁵ and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

 Observation

This is the very First church, 5,000 men strong operating like a church should operate. We don’t know how long First church was able to enjoy that special moment. We don’t know if it lasted for several weeks or maybe even for several months but we do know that by Acts chapter 5 people began to mess it up. But we don’t read about that until tomorrow!

Prayer Rallies like our church had this past Wednesday help unite believers in heart and mind.

I would love to be part of any church that comes close to modeling what we find described in Acts 4! Our church is getting there … how about yours?

Application

I will pray for our church asking God to move it to be more and more like First church, the church we read about in Acts 4.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your great blessing would be on our church. I pray that our people would be united in one heart and mind. Help us to be as generous as those folks that made up this very First church. Amen.

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REPENT … One Of The Most Positive Words In The Bible

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Exodus 17,18,19,20; Acts 3

REPENT … One Of The Most Positive Words In The Bible

Don’t Believe Me … Just Take a Minute To Read And Find Out Why

Scripture

Acts 3

¹⁹ Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

Observation

You might have thought that the word “repent” was a negative term. You may have seen someone with a sign at a busy intersection with the word REPENT in big letters, or maybe someone at a football game in the end zone with a sign telling everyone to REPENT. They are using saying to the crowd or to the passing traffic, “Turn or Burn!” 

These are well-meaning individuals and God may use their signs to get a sinners attention. But I think you and I will be better off explaining to people that the word “repent” is one of the most positive words in the Bible. In fact unless you come to understand the word “repent” you will never be able to enter into the kingdom of God. 

A good definition that I can understand for the word repent is this: changing of your mind/heart that causes you to turn from selfish living and turn to God. It is a changing of your heart about God and who He is. When you make that change and you turn the direction of your life in God’s direction it is easy for you to trust God through the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of all your sins. 

Everyone person on the face of this planet is a sinner. You are either a forgiven sinner or an un-forgiven sinner. The difference depends on whether you have heard the Gospel, whether you have had a change of mind/heart, and whether you have turned to God for salvation. 

Salvation is a totally free gift. You can’t earn it. You can’t feel sorry enough for your sins to merit it ... Only God saves! 

Have all your sins been wiped away? Have you changed your mind/heart from selfish living and turned to God and trusted in Him for your salvation? 

 Application

When I share the Gospel I will be sure to explain the term “repent” so people understand what it means.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I would have like to have been there when Peter preached this message to the people. What a response to Your Gospel! I pray that we would see the same thing happen here in Tampa. I pray that people would understand the Gospel and that they would have a change of mind/heart and turn to You and trust You for their salvation. I know that only You save. I pray that You would use our church to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to thousands in 2012.  

Acts 4:4

“But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of believers now totaled about 5,000 men, not counting women and children.”

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Your Church Can Be This Exciting … Honest It Can!

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Exodus 14,15,16; Acts 2

Scripture

Your Church Can Be This Exciting …

Honest It Can!

Acts 2

 ⁴¹ Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. 

 ⁴² All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 

 ⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 

⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.  

Observation

I love reading Acts chapter two. It might be the most exciting passage in the New Testament next to the resurrection of Jesus! 

How much is your church like the first church, the one we read about in Acts 2? Do you feel the excitement when you walk into your auditorium’s foyer? Is there fellowship? Are people being saved every week? Are you praying together?

Can you imagine a church growing by 3,000 in one day? Then by chapter four of Acts the church has grown to 5,000! Wow!

Church should be like what we read about in Acts chapter two. Don’t settle for anything less. If your church has lost its vision and excitement to reach people for Jesus then you need to be the one to change that!

What are you doing to make sure that when people come on your campus they feel loved and accepted? Are you being intentional about how you treat first time guest.

I love what we are doing at Christ Fellowship!  

We want people to know that we care about them and it is our goal to make sure they know that just as soon as they arrive in the parking lot. Our teenagers greet people every Sunday the moment they turn into our parking lot. In fact, our students greet people every Sunday as they drive by our campus letting them know that Christ Fellowship is a very special place. 

When people drive on to our campus they are met with an army of smiling greeters in orange shirts. Their first impression of our church is so important to us because we want them to feel accepted and loved so they will want to come back. 

We experience a little of what the first Christians experienced at Pentecost every Sunday morning at Christ Fellowship! I am amazed at what God is doing! I am delighted to be a small part of this movement. 

 Application

I am going to make sure that I do my part to make people feel loved and accepted at our church. How about you?  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, may Your Hand continue to stay on our church. Don’t let us lose the excitement of seeing people saved each week. Help us to do our very best at making people feel loved and accepted about our church. Give us Your heart for our city. I pray that You will continue to receive the Glory and the Honor for everything that is happening at Christ Fellowship! 

Exodus 15:18 “The LORD will reign forever and ever!”

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Prayer Rallies … It Is The Early Church Started Out!

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Exodus 12,13; Psalms 21; Acts 1

Prayer Rallies … It Is How The Early Church Started Out!

Don’t Miss The Joy and Excitement Of Being A Part Of The Next Prayer Rally

Scripture

Acts 1

 ⁸But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 

 ⁹And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 

 ¹⁰And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 

 ¹¹Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

 ¹²Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. 

 ¹³And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 

 ¹⁴These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. 

Observation

Our Pastor, Bruce Moore issued a special appeal for our church to come together for a Prayer Rally and that happened tonight at 7pm. I normally would have read my Bible and had my quiet time this morning but I wasn’t able to do that because I spent the night in the hospital. It turned out to be nothing. I was having chest pain but after lots of tests they ruled out that it had any thing to do with my heart. So I am a little late writing my blog. 

There was excitement tonight at the Prayer Rally. Our youth came to pray. Our children came to pray. Everyone came together to ask God to do mighty things in our church and transform the lives of those that attend. 

As I read this passage I couldn’t help but think that this was first Prayer Rally of the early church. God gives birth to the first church in Acts chapter two, but in chapter one of Acts we can feel the excitement of the disciples as they gathered to pray. Can you imagine what it must have been like to watch Jesus ascend into Heaven? As they gathered together for prayer it must have been a glorious event. I left church tonight anticipating the movement of God this Sunday because the church gathered together to pray. 

In Acts 1:8 we read that we have been given dynamite power through the Person of God’s Holy Spirit. The Bible says that we have received the same power that brought Jesus back to life.

God’s Power resides in us. 

The church is so powerful. When we come together and pray God will work and God will bless. I am so looking forward to see what God does this Sunday. I hope that you are just as excited about what God is going to do in your church as we our in ours!

Preparation for a powerful Sunday begins with us. We need to be praying together and asking God to work!

Application

I will participate in every Prayer Rally that our Pastor calls and I will do it with great joy and excitement. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I enjoyed praying tonight to You with a group of friends. Now we anticipate great things for this Sunday. We will anticipate miracles. We will rejoice over those whose lives are transformed. I pray for people to be saved this Sunday.

I pray for many people to make commitments to serve in our church. You are the Great Healer. I pray for those that are sick that need Your healing touch. I especially pray for Jene Williams who is in the VA hospital that You heal him.

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The Most Powerful People On The Face Of The Earth … Believers in The Lord Jesus Christ

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Exodus 9,10,11; Luke 24

The Most Powerful People On The Face Of The Earth …

Believers in The Lord Jesus Christ

Scripture 

Luke 24

⁴⁷ and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Observation

Have you been clothed with power from on high? Do you know what Jesus is talking about when He makes this statement to His disciples right before He ascends in to Heaven?

When you and I accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior something very significant happens to us. God Himself comes to live within us! That’s right God’s Holy Spirit comes to reside in us. He sets up house right inside our heart. 

He has given us the task of being His Hands and His feet to reach this world for Christ. And to make sure we can accomplish that task He comes to live inside every Christ follower to make sure that we are successful.

You don’t believe me? You don’t have to believe me but you do have to believe the Word of God. Here are just a few verses to show you that you and I are capable of accomplishing some very big assignments:

    But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

    And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 1 John 4:13  

    And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world's spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 1 Corinthians 2:12

    And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26

    For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

    I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

    The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you. Romans 8:11

    … And he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment of everything he will give us. 2 Corinthians 1:22

    Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

Application

Because God Himself lives within me I can do anything that God places on my heart to accomplish. How about you?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I know that You want to use us to take Your Gospel message to every people group on this earth. You live within us. We have no excuse. Help me to be the witness that You want me to be. Give me Your Heart for people. Help me to have Your compassion for those around me that don’t know You. We have been empowered by Your Holy Spirit to do great things. Use our church to be a light to the Nations. Use our church to reach the Tampa Bay area. Thank You for taking up residence inside of me. 

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Salvation Is More Than A Prayer!

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Exodus 6; Exodus 7; Exodus 8; Luke 23 

Salvation Is More Than A Prayer!

Scripture

Luke 23 

³⁸ There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
 ³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 

 ⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 

 ⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
 ⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 

Observation

Don’t think that by mumbling, saying, or repeating a certain prayer that you will be saved. The words you say or repeat do not save you.

You must be born again.

The criminal on the cross did not use our standard salvation prayer that we commonly have people repeat today, but in that moment on the cross that criminal passed from death unto life. Jesus told him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

So if it is not the words that you say to God that saves you then how is a person saved?

Romans 10:9-10; 13

    For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. For "Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

John 3:3 

    Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God."

As we preach the Gospel we invite people to express what has happened in their hearts. We do that by encouraging them to pray what we call the sinner’s prayer. If they have not believed, or more accurately, if they have not by faith trusted in their hearts that Jesus is the Son of God, if they have not repented (turned from sin and self and turned to God) of their sins, then they are not born again.

How do we know if someone has truly been saved? We don’t. Should we stop extending an invitation at the end of our worship services … absolutely not! We share the Gospel … then we ask people to respond ... Only God saves!

If all the people that make decisions at the end of the service are not saved then why do we extend an invitation. For some that come forward during the invitation it is the first step towards God. We have the opportunity to counsel with them so they can better understand the Gospel and move even closer to God. It may be a month, year, or several years before that person truly understands the Gospel message and is saved.

God pursues us. God saves us.

The one thief on the cross died and went to Hell. The other thief trusted in Christ for his salvation and will spend eternity in Paradise with Jesus. Both heard Jesus’ words while they hung on the cross, one repented and trusted in the Messiah and the other did not.

It is our job to make the Gospel message as clear as possible. It is God’s job to save those that hear the Gospel message.  

Application

I will continue to share the Gospel. I know that those that turn from their sins and trust in Christ for their salvation will be saved.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I pray for a movement of Your Holy Spirit like happened at Pentecost for our church. I pray that many will be saved. I pray that they would follow their decisions with baptism and I pray that they would grow in Christ and find a place to serve. I pray that You would move in a Mighty way in the life of our church. I pray that Your Hand would remain on our church and that it would continue to reach our city for Christ. Amen.

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Moses…”What Is That In Your Hand?” How God Can Use Us To Do “God Size” Task!

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Exodus 3,4,5; Luke 22

Moses…”What Is That In Your Hand?” How God Can Use Us To Do “God Size” Task!

Scripture 

Exodus 4

¹ Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” 

 ² Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
   “A staff,” he replied. 

 ³ The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” 

   Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

 ⁵ “This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” 

Observation

Moses had plenty of excuses why he could not do what God told him to do. It is so easy to think that we can’t do what God has asked us to do. It is easy to make excuses. 

Everyone one of us have talents and abilities that God wants to use. The truth is though that none of us can do what God wants us to do in our own strength. God showed Moses that all he had to do was to allow God to work through him and he could accomplish this God size task!

Moses was a shepherd. His staff was used for many purposes. He was probably skilled at using it to protect the sheep. When he put what was in his hand (his staff) into God’s hand it became an unbelievable force. 

What is in your hand? Are you a skilled musician? Maybe you are a good administrator or successful in business? Some of you are very good at construction and some of you are very good with children, or with youth, or with preschoolers. 

Here is what has to happen before God can use you to accomplish a “God Size” task -you have to take that skill or talent out of your own hands and give it to the Lord. 

God has made you a 10 in some area! You excel in some area and God wants to use that talent/skill to further His Kingdom. Think about it. Don’t make excuses. Give your talents, abilities, and skills to the Lord and watch what happens. 

He will use you to complete a “God Size” task!

Application

I will take my abilities, skills, and my talents out of my hands and give them to God. How about you?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I love the story of Moses. It helps me realize that You can use any of us that are willing to give You what is in our hands and let You use us to further Your Kingdom. I pray that You would help me not make excuses for why I cannot serve You. I have no excuse. You can and You will do incredible things through me as long as I am yielded to You. 

I pray for Pastor Bruce today. Use Him to further Your Kingdom. May Your words penetrate hearts as He shares them and I pray that people would be saved today! Amen.

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