LIFE CHANGE AHEAD

EXPERIENCING GOD

God reveals himself, his purposes and his ways through scripture. Each week I will create a post to guide your TAG (Time Alone with God) to help you get to know and experience God on an intimate level. (Week Two will follow this important post) 

RESPONDING TO TRUTH
Before we begin this week, I want to teach you what I've learned about RESPONDING TO TRUTH. 

Understanding spiritual truth DOES NOT lead you to an encounter with God; it is the encounter with God.  You cannot understand God's purposes and ways UNLESS the Spirit of God teaches you.  If God has revealed spiritual truth to you through a passage of Scripture, you have encountered God Himself working in YOU!! 

Having said that....

I always approach the Scriptures with excited anticipation!  
Why? 
Because I know that the Spirit of Truth (the Holy Spirit) is the only person who knows the mind of God.  Because He knows what God wants to do in my life, He begins to open my understanding about God, His purposes and His ways.  I take that work seriously!  

Therefore when God reveals truth to me in His Word, I underline or highlight the passage of Scripture. Then I meditate on the passage, immersing myself in its meaning.  I adjust my life to the truth and thus to God.  I agree with God and take any action necessary to allow God to work in the way He has revealed.  Finally, I watch for ways God may use that truth in my life during the day.  

Here is an example of the way God may use His Word to speak to you.  Suppose you are reading Psalm 37.  Although you've read this a bazillion times before, you come to verse 21 and read, "The wicked borrow and do not repay." You are drawn back to that verse. You read it again. Then you remember someone you have failed to repay. You realize this Scripture applies to you. You feel the weight of your sin. You move to immediate action to repay your debt. 

The Holy Spirit has just spoken to you through that verse.  

You have encountered truth. 

 

Now you understand that those who borrow and do not repay are sinning in God's sight.  The Holy Spirit has called your attention to a specific instance in which the verse applies to you.  He is CONVICTING you of sin.  He is the only One who can do that.  God has spoken to you by the working of the Holy Spirit and through His Word.  God wants you to have no hindrance to a love relationship with Him in your life. 

Once God has spoken to you through His Word, your response is crucial.  You must adjust your life to the truth.  In this case the adjustment is this: 

• You must agree with the truth: those who borrow and do not repay are morally wicked in God's sight. 
• You must agree that the truth applies to you in the "particular instance" God has brought to your memory.  This is confession of sin. You agree with God about your sin. 

In this way you have adjusted your understanding to agree with Gods will in this matter.  To agree with God, you must change your understanding (heart and mind) to comply with His.  This requires an adjustment. Is that all you must do? NO! 

Agreeing with God in confession is not enough.  

Until you take immediate action, you have not repented of your sinful ways. This is where obedience comes in.  You obey God's will by making any necessary amends or steps in the "right"-eous direction.  After you respond, you are free to experience a more complete relationship with God.  This helps you grow in love with God.  Always connect revealed truth with your understanding of God and your relationship with Him. 

God is more interested what You become that in what you do. 

If you are not using a notebook during your TAG's or keeping a spiritual journal, you need to.  When God speaks to you through a verse of Scripture, write it down, what it means to you, and what you need to do to adjust your life to God so you can begin to experience Him relating to you this way. Add your prayer response, as well.  This helps you keep a record of the encounter with God that you have experienced, what He said, and the way you responded to Him.

One other thing before we bounce: TRUTH IS A PERSON
Truth is not just a "concept" to study.  Truth is a Person. Jesus did not say, "I will teach you the truth." EVER. He said, "I AM...the Truth!" (John 14:6)

God is the GOSPEL, when you come to Him, He gives you the gift of HIMSELF. (John 17:3) His Holy Spirit, who lives in you, reveals Truth. When the Holy Spirit reveals truth, He is not teaching you a concept to consider.  He is leading you to a relationship with a Person, Christ Jesus.  HE IS YOUR LIFE! When God gives you eternal life at conversion, He gives you a Person. He gives you HIMSELF. 


Which leads me to add one last thing about prayer.

Prayer is a relationship, not just a religious suggestion or activity.  Its purpose is to adjust you to God, not to align God with your thinking. In fact, God already knows what you're thinking and what you're going to say, before you say it.  Prayer is so God can work in and through your life, for His glory.  It goes something like this: 

(As you read note a key word in each statement.) 

1. . God takes the initiative by causing you to want or need to pray. (Yup, that's right, you've never prayed a genuine prayer God didn't give you to pray!)
2. The Holy Spirit takes the Scripture and reveals Truth to you. 
3. By the Spirit, you pray in agreement with God's will. 
4. You adjust your life to Truth. (God)
5. You look and listen for further directions from the bible, circumstances, etc... throughout the day.
6. You Obey.
7. God works in you and through you to accomplish His purposes.
8. You experience God. You grow in Faith, Hope and Love. (The greatest of these is LOVE.)

OK, I've said a mouthful.  Time to land this plane. 

If this has helped you PLEASE leave a comment below. To help me fight against getting weary in doing good.  Oftentimes, I'm challenged by feeling like I'm wasting time writing on a blog that no one benefits from. 

This cup of  "theoffee" is on house...of The Lord. 

With warm thanks, 
Robbs

WISE AS...SERPENTS?

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves (Matthew10:16, ESV).

SHEEP. WOLVES. SNAKES. DOVES. 

Know any people who are “wise as serpents” or, in some translations, “shrewd as snakes” (NIV)? Who comes to mind—a savvy business manager, a wily investor, a friend with an uncanny acumen? Those who are wise or shrewd often navigate business, and other affairs of life, adeptly and earn the respect of those around them. Jesus wants us to be shrewd.

Shrewd means astute, sharp, clever, discerning, rigorous in practical matters. Some Christians can be described as “so heavenly minded they are no earthly good.” In other words, we lack shrewdness. Jesus was noticeably worked up about this problem. “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” (Luke 16:8, ESV). He did not mean this as a compliment to His followers. He expects us to be wise and shrewd in our dealings with this world.

Jesus commands both shrewdness and innocence in our daily living. When you consider those two desired traits, how would you assess yourself? Are you a shrewd, wise-as-a-snake person who needs to work on your dove (love) trait? Or are you more of a loving, caring person who needs to work on your snake side (shrewdness)? Both are required.

Here is why....

The text goes on to say that the “wolves” will deliver the “sheep” to courts, and flog them, and drag them before governors, and have parents and children put to death, and hate them, and persecute them from town to town, and malign them, and kill them (Matthew 10:17-31). So it is clear that when Jesus says he is sending us as sheep in the midst of wolves, he means that we will be treated the way wolves treat sheep.

But, even though sheep are proverbially stupid—which, on the face of it, is what it looks like when they walk toward wolves and not away from them—Jesus counters that notion by saying “be wise as serpents.” So vulnerability, not stupidity, is the point of calling us sheep. Be like snakes, not sheep, when it comes to being smart. I take that to mean that snakes are quick to get out of the way. They go under rock. They are clever, calculating, and wise. 

So, yes, go among wolves and be vulnerable (especially as you preach the gospel), but when they lunge at you, step aside. When they open their mouths, don’t jump in. And not only that, be as innocent as doves. That is, don’t give them any legitimate reason to accuse you of injustice or immorality. Keep your reputation squeaky clean.

So both the snake-intelligence and the dove-innocence are both designed to keep the sheep on top of things.  He means: Risk your lives as vulnerable, non-combative, sheep-like, courageous christians, but try to find ways to conduct yourselves that do not bring down unnecessary persecution.

In essence Jesus was saying, “The majority of My kids are on the dove program—strong in the love thing. But I get tired of seeing them run over by people. I want them to step their shrewdness game way up.”

So how do we up our shrewdness? 

Jesus told us,“Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9,ESV). One practical, shrewd use of wealth (meaning your possessions, not just your currency) involves making friends. Utilize what God has given you. Don't hoard. Use what you have to help those around you and forge friendships.

Do you have a car? You might give a "Lyft" to a co-worker or casual friend who doesn't have a ride somewhere. Creative carpooling can be a first step in developing an influential relationship.

Do you have a house or apartment? Do you have extra space where you live? You might share your home with someone in need for a period of time. You could host a Bible study or prayer group. Opening your home and showing hospitality is a way to use what you have to benefit others and make forge friendships. 

Do your neighbors know they can borrow your things and ask for your help? Or would they describe you as isolated?

Whatever you have, use it for the Lord. Someday, you may meet some friends in heaven who will say, “I’ve been waiting for you to get here! You used what you had and it enriched my life. You’re part of the reason I’m here.” This isn't optional. Jesus expects us to be wise and shrewd stewards of everything we have, to help others and forge relationships—with His kingdom in mind.

Add some shrewdness to your love!! 

Tall Drip with cream and sugar. Keep it simple. 

Robbs

PRAYER IS FOR SINNERS!

 "Lord, teach us to pray.”   Luke 11:1-4

God answers the prayers of sinners, not those who think they do not sin. And you can become perfectly paralyzed in your praying if you do not focus on the cross and realize this.

I could show it from numerous Old Testament texts where God hears the cry of his sinful people, whose very sins had gotten them into the trouble from which they are crying for deliverance (for example, Psalm 38:4, 15; 40:12–13; 107:11–13). But let me show it from Luke 11 — in two ways:

In this version of the Lord's Prayer (verses 2–4) Jesus is answering His disciples who have asked Him to "teach" them how to pray.

Jesus says, “When you pray say” . . . and then in verse 4 he includes this petition, “and forgive us our sins.” So, if you connect the beginning of the prayer with the middle, what he says is, “Whenever you pray say . . . forgive us our sins.”

Why?!

I take this to mean that this should be as much a part of all our praying as “Hallowed be thy name.” Which means that Jesus assumes that we need to seek forgiveness every time we pray.
(ahem... which should be daily and without ceasing.... ..but that's another blog post.) 

In other words, we are always sinners. 

Nothing we do is perfect. As Martin Luther said, on his deathbed, “We are beggars, this is true.” It doesn't matter how obedient we have been before we pray. We always come to the Lord as sinners — all of us. And God does not turn away the prayers of sinners when they pray like this.

The second place I see this taught here is in verse 13: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Jesus calls his disciples “evil.” Pretty strong language. And he did not mean that they were out of fellowship with him. He did not mean that their prayers could not be answered.
He meant that as long as this fallen age lasts, even his own disciples will have an evil bent that pollutes everything we do, but that bent doesn't keep us from doing much good.  In fact, it keeps us clinging to the cross of Christ, crying out for forgiveness, being broken hearted about the darkness that remains in us, and begging for His grace to transform us by the Holy Spirit. 

We are simultaneously evil and redeemed. 

We are gradually overcoming our evil by the power of the Holy Spirit (through bible study and prayer ...ie the sword). But our native corruption is not obliterated by conversion, or "being made new."

We are sinners and we are beggars. And if we recognize this sin, fight it, and cling to the cross of Christ as our hope, then God will hear us and answer our prayers.

LORD, Teach Us To Pray!

Dark Roast No Cream. 
Robbs

CHECK YOURSELF, BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF

Churches today are filled with people who hold to a faith that does not save. 
James referred to this as a "dead faith"-meaning a mere empty profession (James 2:17,20, 26). Paul wrote to the people in the church at Corinth to test or examine themselves to see if they were truly in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). As important as it was in Paul's day, how much more important it is for people who claim to be disciples today to put their faith to the test and to make sure they have not been deceived.
But where do we start? 
By what criteria do we determine true from dead faith? 
What are the distinguishing marks of grace bestowed saving faith? 
Surprisingly, there are a number of popular standards or tests that really don't prove the genuineness of one's faith one way or the other. So before we look at the tests that prove genuine faith, let's take a look at some popular tests that neither prove nor disprove the genuineness of one's faith.
Here is a list of seven conditions that do not prove or disprove the genuineness of saving faith.
 One can be a Christian and possess these things or one may not be a Christian at all and still possess them. 
While they don't prove or disprove one's faith, they're important to know and understand so you will not be deceived.
Seven conditions that do not prove or disprove genuine saving faith.
1. Squeaky Clean, with no Caffeine
--Visible Morality
There are some people who just seem to be good people. They can be religious, moral, honest, and forthright [trustworthy] in their dealings with people. They may seem to be grateful, loving, kind and tenderhearted toward others. They have visible virtues and an external morality. The Pharisees of Jesus day rested on visible morality for their hope and yet some of Christ's harshest words were directed at them for this very thing.
Many who possess visible morality know nothing of sincere love for God. Whatever good works they appear to possess, they know nothing of serving the true God and living for His glory. Whatever the person does or leaves undone does not involve God. 
They're honest in their dealings with everyone-but God. They won't rob anyone-but God. They're thankful and loyal to everyone-but God.They speak contemptuously and reproachfully of no one-but God.They have good relationships with everyone- but God.
They are like the rich young ruler who said, "All these things [conditions] have I kept, what do I lack?" Their focus is on visible morality, but that visible morality doesn't necessarily mean salvation. Jesus told one of the Pharisees "you must be born again" (John 3:6), not "you must put on an external display of goodness." People can "clean up their act" by reformation rather than regeneration-so reformation in itself is not a mark of saving faith.
2. "Wow! He Really Knows His Word!"
-- Intellectual Biblical Knowledge
Another condition that can be misleading is intellectual biblical knowledge. People can possess an intellectual understanding and knowledge of the truth and yet not be saved. While the knowledge of the truth is necessary for salvation, and visible morality is a fruit of salvation, neither of these conditions by themselves translate into true saving faith. People can know all about God, all about Jesus, who He was, that He came into the world, that He died on the cross, that He rose again, that He's coming again, and even many details about the life of Christ-exegete a text and still turn their backs on Him.
That's what the writer of Hebrews was warning against in Hebrews 6:4-6. There were people in the church who knew all about God and understood gospel truths. They even had a measure of experience with gospel truth. They'd seen the ministry of the Holy Spirit at work in people's lives-and yet knowing all of that, they stood in grave danger of turning away and rejecting Christ.
In Hebrews 10 the writer warns this kind of man that he is treading underfoot the blood of Christ by not believing what he knows to be true. There are many "disciples" who know the Scriptures but are still under wrath.  A man cannot be saved without the knowledge of the truth, but possessing that knowledge alone does not save.
3. Sister Super-Christian 
-- Religious Involvement
Religious involvement is not necessarily a proof of true faith. According to Paul there are people who possess an outward form (a mere external appearance) of godliness but who have denied the power of it. They have an empty form of religion. 
Jesus illustrated this when He told of the virgins in Matthew 25. They waited and waited and waited for the coming of the bridegroom, who is Christ. And even though they waited a long time, when He came they didn't go in. They had everything together except the oil in their lamps. 
That which was most necessary was missing. 
The oil is probably emblematic of the new life; the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They weren't regenerate. They had religious involvement but not a new heart. New birth symbolizes a new life.  A person can be visibly moral, know the truth, be religiously involved, and yet not possess genuine saving faith.
4. "Follow the...LEADER?" 
-- Active Ministry
It is possible to have an active and even a public ministry, and yet not possess genuine saving faith.
• Balaam was a prophet who turned out to be false (Deuteronomy 23:3-6). 
•Saul of Tarsus (later becoming the apostle Paul) thought he was serving God by killing Christians. 
•Judas was a public preacher and one of the twelve disciples of Christ-but he was an apostate. 
•InMatthew 7:22-23 Jesus said, "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 who practice lawlessness!'" Those whom Jesus spoke of had been involved in active and public ministry-but Jesus said he never knew them. Sobering words indeed.
5. "I Was Cut to the Heart" 
-- Conviction of Sin
By itself, even conviction of sin is not a proof of salvation. Our world is filled with guilt-ridden people. Many even feel badly about their sin. Felix trembled under conviction at the preaching of the apostle Paul, but he never left his idols or turned to God (Acts 24:24-6). The Holy Spirit works to convict men of sin, righteousness, and of judgment, but many do not respond in true repentance. 
Some may confess their sins and even abandon the sins they feel guilty about. They say, "I don't like living this way. I want to change." They may amend their ways and yet fall short of genuine saving faith. That's external reformation, not internal regeneration. No degree of conviction of sin is conclusive evidence of saving faith. Even the demons are convicted of their sins-that's why they tremble-but they are not saved.
6. "I'm a 'Disciple,' that's Why!"
--The Feeling of Assurance
Feeling like you are saved is no guarantee you are indeed saved. Someone may say, "Well, I must be a Christian because I feel that I am. I think I am one." But that is faulty reasoning. If thinking one is a Christian, is all that's required then no one could be deceived. And then, by definition, it would not be possible to be a deceived non-Christian, and that doesn't square with the whole point of Satan's deception. He wants people who are not truly saved to think they are. 
Satan has deceived multiplied millions of committed church people into thinking they are saved even though they are not. They may say to themselves, "God won't condemn me. I feel really good about my salvation. I have assurance. I'm ok." But that doesn't necessarily mean a thing.
7. A Time of Decision
So often "disciples" say things like: "Well, I know I'm a Christian, because I remember when I studied the bible for 9 months, 6 years ago," or "I remember when I prayed a prayer," or "I remember when I walked the aisle" or "when I got baptized." 
A person may remember exactly when their baptism date is and when "it" happened and where they were when "it" happened, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. 
Our salvation is not verified by a past grace or past moment. Many people have studied a man made set of first principals and been baptized, or gone forward in church services, signed cards, gone into prayer rooms, been restored, and joined churches without ever experiencing genuine saving faith.
These are seven common conditions or tests that don't necessarily prove or disprove the existence of saving faith. 
What then are the marks of genuine saving faith? 
Are there some reliable tests from the Word of God that enable us to know for certain whether one's faith is real? 
Thankfully there are at least nine biblical criteria for examining the genuineness of saving faith.
Nine conditions that prove genuine saving faith.
1. Love for God
First of all a deep and abiding love for God is one of the supreme evidences of genuine saving faith. This gets to the heart of the issue. Romans 8:7 says "the carnal mind is enmity [hostility, hatred] against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." 
Thus, if a man's heart is at enmity with God there is no basis for assuming the presence of saving faith. Those who are truly saved love God, but those who are not truly saved resent God and His sovereignty. Internally they are rebellious toward God and His plan for their life. But the regenerate person is set to love the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. His delight is in the infinite excellencies of God. God is the first and highest affection of his renewed soul. God has become his chief happiness and source of satisfaction. He seeks after God and thirsts for the living God.
By the way, we must be careful to distinguish the difference between that kind of true love for God that seeks His glory from the kind of self-serving love that sees God primarily as a means of personal fulfillment and gain. 
True saving faith doesn't believe in Christ so that Christ will make one happy. The heart that truly loves God desires to please God and glorify Him.
Jesus taught that if someone loved their father and mother more than they loved Christ, they were not worthy of Him. In Matthew 10:37-39 Jesus put it like this: "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:37-39).
God is most glorified in us, when we find the most satisfaction in Him. 
The question then is this: 
Do you love God? Do you love His nature? Do you love His glory? Do you love His name? Do you love His kingdom? Do you love His holiness? Do you love His will? Is your heart lifted when you sing His praises-because you love Him? Supreme love for God is decisive evidence of true faith.
2. Joyful Repentance from Sin
A proper love for God necessarily involves a hatred for sin that leads to repentance. That should be obvious. 
Who wouldn't understand that? 
If we truly love someone we seek their best interests. Their well being is our greatest concern. If a man says to his wife, "I love you but I could care less what happens to you," we would rightly question his love for her. True love seeks the highest good of its object. If we say that we love God, then we will hate whatever is an offense to Him. 
•Sin blasphemes God. •Sin curses God. •Sin seeks to destroy God's work and His kingdom. •Sin killed His Son. So when someone says, "I love God, but I tolerate sin," then there is every reason to question the genuineness of his love for God. 
One cannot love God without hating that which is set to destroy Him. True love for God will therefore manifest itself through confession and repentance. The man who loves God will be grieved over his sin and will want to confess it to God and forsake it. (We confess our sins to one another for the purpose of "praying" for each other to heal!) James 5:16 
In examining our faith we should ask: 
"Do I have a settled conviction concerning the evil of all sin? 
Does sin appear to me as the evil and bitter thing that it really is? 
Does conviction of sin increase in me as I walk with Christ? 
Do I hate it not primarily because it is ruinous to my own soul or because it is an offense to the God I love? 
Does the sin itself grieve me or am I only grieved over the consequences of my sin. What grieves me most-my misfortune or my sin? 
Do my sins appear to me as many, frequent and aggravated? 
Do I find myself grieved over my own sin more than the sins of others?" 
Genuine saving faith loves God and hates what He hates, which is sin. That attitude results in real repentance.
3. Genuine Humility
Saving faith is manifested through genuine humility. Jesus said blessed are those who are poor in spirit, and those who mourn [their sin], and those who are meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:3-6)-all marks of humility. 
In Matthew 18 Jesus said that "unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). True saving faith comes as a little child-humble and dependent. It is not the man who is sharp and impressive and full of himself who is saved, but the man who denies himself, takes up his cross daily and follows Christ (Matthew 16:24).
In the Old Testament we see that the Lord receives those who come with a broken and contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18; 51:17; Isaiah 57:15; 66:2). James wrote: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). 
We must come as the prodigal son, broken and humble. Remember what he said to his father-"Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15:21). Those possessing genuine saving faith do not come boastfully to God with their religious achievements or spiritual accomplishments in hand. They come empty-handed in genuine humility.
4. Devotion to God's Glory
True saving faith is manifested by a devotion to God's glory. Whatever believers do, whether they eat or drink, their desire is to see God glorified. Christians do what they do because they want to bring glory to God.
Without question Christians fail in each of these areas, but the direction of a Christian's life is to love God, hate sin, to live in humility and self-denial, recognizing his unworthiness and being devoted to the glory of God. It is not the perfection of one's life but the direction of a life that provides evidence of regeneration.
5. Continual Prayer
Humble, submissive, believing prayer is mark of true faith. We cry "Abba, Father" because the Spirit within us prompts that cry. Jonathan Edwards once preached a sermon titled, "Hypocrites are Deficient in the Duty of Secret Prayer." It's true. Hypocrites may pray publicly, because that's what hypocrites want to do. Their desire is to impress people-but they are deficient in the duty of secret prayer. True believers have a personal and private prayer life with God. They regularly seek communion with God through prayer.
6. Selfless Love
An important characteristic of genuine saving faith is selfless love. James wrote, "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well" (James 2:8). John wrote, "Whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17).
If you love God you will not only hate what offends Him, but you will love those whom He loves. "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death" (1 John 3:14). And why do we love God and love others? Because this is the believer's response to His love for us. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Jesus said we will know that we are His disciples by our love for each other (John 13:35).
7. Separation from the World
Positively, believers are marked by a love for God and for fellow believers. Negatively, the Christian is characterized by the absence of love for the world. True believers are not those who are ruled by worldly affections, but their affection and devotion is toward God and His kingdom.
In 1 Corinthians 2:12 Paul wrote that "we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." 
In 1 John 2:15 we read: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15). True saving faith separates one from the pursuits of this world--not perfectly, as we all fail in these areas, but the direction of a believer's life is upward. He feels the pull of heaven on his soul. Christians are those whom God has delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of His Son. The believer is marked by the absence of love or enslavement to the satanically controlled world system (Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:13; James 4:4).
8. Spiritual Growth
True believers grow. When God begins a true work of salvation in a person, He finishes and perfects that work. Paul expressed that assurance when he wrote inPhilippians 1:6, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
If you are a true Christian, you are going to be growing-and that means you are going to be more and more like Christ. 
Life produces itself. 
If you're alive you are going to grow, there's no other way. You'll improve. You'll increase. The Spirit will move you from one level of glory to the next. So examine your life. Do you see spiritual growth? Do you see the decreasing frequency of sin? Is there an increasing pattern of righteousness and devotion to God?
9. Obedience
Obedient living is not one of the optional tracks given for believers to walk. All true believers are called to a life of obedience. Jesus taught that every branch that abides in Him bears fruit (John 15:1-8). Paul wrote that believers "are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). That speaks of obedience. We are saved unto the obedience of faith (see 1 Peter 1:2).
How can we know our faith is genuine? 
Examine your life in the light of God's Word. 
•Do you see these characteristics in your life? 
•Do you have a love for God, hatred for sin, humility, devotion to God's glory, a pattern of personal and private prayer, selfless love, separation from the world, the evidence of spiritual growth and obedience. 
These are the real evidences of genuine saving faith. Test or examine yourselves to see if you are truly in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). While there's still time...
All I can add after this is...
Grace be with you....!
This pot of coffee is on the house, you may want to be up all night or for a couple of days!
Robbs

PLEASURABLY DISAPPOINTED!

Sometimes we all feel like frauds. At times we feel like everyone else is experiencing something so wonderful while we are just putting on a show. Their relationships are so deep, their friendships are so real, their faith is so strong, their worship is so heartfelt, their marriage is so satisfying. But our relationships are so shallow, our friendships are so fake, our faith is so weak, our worship is so distracted, our marriage is so difficult.

That’s life under this sun. It’s a life of inadequacy, a life where we are never as fulfilled and satisfied as we want to be. For all the genuine joys this life brings, there is still and always the lingering sorrow of all that life is not and will never be.

Sometimes I like to sit and think about the books that push their way onto the lists of bestsellers. Almost by definition, each of the books that sells a half million or a million copies is addressing some kind of deep felt need. After all, why else would you buy it and why else would you recommend it to a friend except that it meets you where you’re at—it promises help in an area in which you feel incomplete or inadequate.

•Purpose Driven Life 

•Radical 

•Five Love Languages

•Your Best Life Now

•Every Mans Battle 

Every time a book hits the list of bestsellers, it is worth asking why it is there and what need it promises to address.

You know, most books make the list because we put them there as we try to find answers to our deepest needs. Some of the most popular authors are adept at writing to our needs, even if they don’t answer them in a compelling and satisfying way.

A year ago I wrote about this very topic and suggested that the solution is found in Ecclesiastes and the single word Vapor. This was the refuge of Solomon in his book of Ecclesiastes. He begins his book and he ends it with the same cry of discontent: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” All of the pursuits of this life are vanity, all of them are vapor, all of them are chasing after the wind, an impossible pursuit that never ends and never brings deep and lasting satisfaction.

Has anyone in all of literary history written words that are more poignant, more unflinchingly realistic, than these?

All things are full of weariness;

a man cannot utter it;

the eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

Has anyone ever written words than ring truer? 

We are dissatisfied because we must be dissatisfied. 

God has put eternity in our hearts (Ecc. 3:11) but we locked ourselves in a temporal world. God created us to find our highest joy and delight in him, but we chose to seek delight in the things he made. We worship the creation rather than the Creator. Even those of us who have been drawn back to the Creator still turn to this side and that, to this idol and that. We have even made our ministry or church an idol. 

We can cry out that we were made for more, that we were meant for more, from now until eternity. We will cry out from now until eternity. We will simply be expressing what Solomon told us so much more pointedly so many years ago. “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” This world cannot deliver all we want from it. This life cannot deliver all the satisfaction we long for.

This dissatisfaction is ugly when it paralyzes us with guilt or when it motivates us to act rashly out of guilt. It is unhelpful when it traps us in complacency and despair. Solomon did not advocate guilt, he did not cry out in complacency and hopelessness. Far from it. 

I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. 

This dissatisfaction is a gift when it motivates us to pursue the best and purest source of delight. God’s gift to us is that we find all the pleasure we can, all the pleasure there is, in the good things of this life. God’s gift is that we can pause and enjoy the rich scent of a rose in full bloom. 

We can watch the sunset until darkness has taken the sun’s last ray from the sky. These are pleasures to enjoy to the full and with God’s richest blessing. 

Even two thousand years ago Solomon could say, “Of making many books there is no end.” There is no end of books that expose our dissatisfaction and propose solutions. 

None of the solutions last. 

None of the solutions deliver all we want and all we long for. You could follow every application in every one of those books and you would still be discontent. We will all die dissatisfied, still longing for more. 

But those who die in Christ have the great promise that we will awake to all the pleasures, all the satisfaction we have ever longed for, and so much more besides.

Find pleasure in your toil. That pleasure is in God, seek ye first the Kingdom!  The value you desire is in Christ and eternity, attach God's promises and glory to them and trust "the process!" 

So remain hopeful  in your disappointments and stress and suffering, for there is joy in your toil, if you view it correctly!  

Tall Hot Mocha Latte,

Robbs

WHO PUTS A THIEF IN CHARGE OF MONEY?

Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag. Has that ever struck you as odd?

Remember Mary, who poured a year’s wages on Jesus’s feet, and Judas, who saw Mary’s worshipful act as a huge waste, because “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).

But this fact begs the question: Why was Judas carrying the moneybag in the first place?

Jesus could have given the moneybag to Nathaniel, “an Israelite indeed, in whom there [was] no deceit” (John1:47), or to John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), or to Levi, who had extensive financial experience (Luke 5:27). But he didn’t. Jesus chose Judas to be the treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit.

One is tempted to offer the Lord some consulting on good stewardship. Donors were supporting this ministry financially (Luke 8:3), and Jesus appointed the one guy he knew was a “devil” (John 6:70) to manage the money. But this was not poor judgment on Jesus’s part. It was deliberate; Jesus knew Judas was pilfering. Why did Jesus allow it?

Putting Jesus’s Money Where His Mouth Was

I believe Jesus was putting his money where his mouth was.

Jesus had said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where . . . thieves break in and steal” (Matthew6:19–20). In letting Judas carry the moneybag, Jesus showed us by example what he meant.

Jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew6:21). In Judas, Jesus showed us the heart-hardening, heart-blinding, heartbreaking end of treasuring the wrong thing.

And Jesus had said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). In Judas, Jesus showed us an alarming example of what loving money and hating God can look like.

What Is So Unnerving About Judas

Shockingly, for quite a while loving money and hating God can actually look to others like devotion to God. This is what is unnerving about Judas.

For a long time, Judas’s reputation was as a student and close companion of Jesus. Judas lived with Jesus and the other eleven disciples for the better part of three years. He traveled long, dusty roads with these missionary comrades. He ate with them, sat around evening fires with them talking about the kingdom of God, and he prayed with them. He heard more of Jesus’s sermons than almost anybody. He received personal instruction from Jesus. He witnessed Jesus’s incredible miracles and saw the Father provide for their needs over and over again.

All during the time Judas was part of the Twelve, he mostly said and outwardly performed the right things. It’s astonishing that none of Judas’s fellow disciples perceived his deceitfulness. Even when Jesus finally sent Judas off to carry out his betrayal, the others didn’t seem to suspect him (John 13:28–29). It was a stunning and grievous blow to them all when in the end he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15).

Judas’s masquerade is a lesson for us. Wolves can look and sound almost exactly like sheep. And sometimes Jesus, for his own reasons, allows the disguised wolves to live among the sheep for a long time and do great damage before their deception is exposed. When this happens, we must trust that the Lord knows what he’s doing. Judas reminds us that even ravaging wolves have a part to play in the drama of redemptive history.

What Not to Trust

But in knowingly giving dishonest Judas the moneybag, Jesus specifically modeled for us where not to put our trust: money. Jesus trusted his Father, not money, to provide everything he needed to fulfill his calling. He slept in peace every night, knowing that Judas was embezzling.

Judas, on the other hand, became the archetypal model of 1 Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” In Judas’s example, Jesus warns us that the love of money can be so deceptive that we can wander to the point where we are willing to sell eternal Treasure for a handful of coins. The seductive power of wealth must make us tremble.

Not all parts of this story have direct application for us. Jesus doesn’t intend for us to follow his example in appointing thieves as treasurers. Only God is wise enough to do that.

But Jesus does intend for us to follow his example in seeking the kingdom first, believing that all we need will be given to us by our Father (Matthew6:33). His word to us is “fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Our Father can easily out-give what any thief can steal.