Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Life Change



It's very true that God's Word - the Bible will change your life...but you have to read it in order for it to help renew your mind and help you on the road to life change!

Let me ask you, are you spending time communing with God by picking up and spending time in His Word? 

If you are, great! Keep it up! 

If you're not, let me encourage you to make spending time in His Word a daily priority! If you need some new ideas for reading and studying The Word, here are a few useful links where you might find a plan that will recharge your time with the Lord as you read and seek to abide in Him!

http://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/,
http://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/more,
http://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-reading-plan/,
https://www.youversion.com/reading-plans

Blessings,

rlk


Monday, July 01, 2013

Our Independence Day!


















The Word:
Read: Psalm 146:7, Luke 4:18, John 8:31-32, 34-36

"Our Independence Day" by Randolph Koch

As I have been preparing to celebrate our nation's Independence Day, I started to remember how much we have to be thankful for. Independence didn't come cheap for the USA to become its own nation and many people fought and died to bring us this gift we know a freedom.

We have freedom to worship and attend church wherever we want, or we can choose not to do so. We can have our own Bibles. We can choose (for the most part) what our career will be. We can have our own vehicles. We can have children without government control if we choose to have children. We can have clean water to drink and for the most part we can have 3 meals (that we can choose) a day as well as many other freedoms that are truly unique to the USA. 

The list goes on and on regarding the freedom we have here but we so easily take them for granted!


Think about it for a moment: other countries don't have these freedoms and in some countries you could be killed or imprisoned for just being a follower of Christ. These and many other freedoms we tend to take for granted. 

We should remember to thank God for these things. We truly live in a land of much independence, beginning way back at the birth of this nation.

The fourth of July is a great time of celebration for the USA. But let us not forget the greatest Independence Day of all time that we can all celebrate no matter what country we call home. I'm talking about the day that we came to know salvation through Jesus Christ! On that day, Jesus set us free from the chains of our sin when He died for us, taking the penalty for our sin and making it His. We were slaves to our sin and through His power He has given us independence from our old sinful ways. We are no longer enslaved by our sin and will spend eternity with Him!!


Praise God that now as believer's we can truly celebrate, every day, our own Independence Day!


Thanks be to our God for loving us so much! We’ve now moved from dependence on sin and our old life to independence from sin and dependence on Him!!!

Questions To Get Started With:

-Have you experienced your own Independence Day?

-Are you thankful for the many blessings, freedoms and privileges you have?
-Are you living the way you were before you came to know Christ or is your life new or growing? Is there evidence of your own Independence Day?
-Are you secure in your walk with God knowing that the Lord has truly set you free?


 Application Idea:
-Consider making a list of the blessings, freedoms and privileges you have.
-Thank God for these things and seek to never take them for granted!

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!



In Him,


rlk

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Cast the first stone...

I'm not condoning what was said in the past but here are two observations or my thoughts from the lopsided un-tolerant treatment I see taking place toward the cooking celebrity Paula Deen: 
#1- I hope that the stupid stuff I said 30 years ago isn't dredged up and held against me like it has against her! I've grown a lot since then and it seems she has too! Plus in my case I was 13 and said I'm sure a lot of stupid stuff :-) 
and
 #2 - ..."he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7
Peace,
rlk

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Walk in Integrity


Here's wisdom from the Proverbs: Read Proverbs 28:6

Do you realize that your integrity, character, reputation is far greater than riches or any worldly gain especially as you are representing Christ in all you do.
So, today and each day - remember to walk in integrity!


Blessings,




rlk


Thursday, June 13, 2013

What happens when songs are too high (and too loud)

The author makes some great points about what happens when worship songs are too high. Check out the article here: http://tinyurl.com/kfog9gs 

Something to think about if you are a worship leader or worship pastor. Would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. 

I have to interject that it does seem that today's worship songs are purposely high and loud and there's no in-between. Worship leaders, let me encourage you to shepherd your congregations by encouraging them to sing to their God via songs that are in a range that you don't have to be a "bird" to sing. ;-) 

Yes, the songs are just one mode of worship but an important one and a huge part of the weekly services so, shepherd them supporting their need and responsibility to worship The Lord in song and do so in a fashion the focus doesn't shift to things related to what the author says in the article. 

This isn't Chris Tomlin's congregation (or any other well known worshiper/worship leader for that matter) it's your congregation that God has given you responsibility over, so don't take that for granted. 

Also, the fallacy that seems to exist today that the music has be super loud in order to be good or to "lead people" in worship....it's wrong. Many churches are actually making ear plugs available to the congregation and I have to wonder...if people have to use ear plugs in order to "worship" is that really leading them in worship or does it detract from worship? 

For the ear plug utilizers, I'd say it must detract from their worship so I'd say, worship leaders, be mindful of the audio levels...if you turn it up...just make sure it's not up there too much as it does detract from what everyone is there to do and with both of these issues (too high and too loud) it can detract from you properly feeding the flock through your roll as worship leader/pastor/shepherd... food for though and prayerful consideration.

Praying the Lord uses all of you mightily and helps you strike the right balance in all these things.

Would love to hear your thought on these topic so please leave a comment to this blog post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

rlk

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Let The Past Die!

Let's quit living in the past! Let's move forward as the new creation that He's made us to be! Replaying the past in your mind doesn't profit you unless to initially learn from it and then move on and if you continue to replay it in your mind it will paralyze you from progress!

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." -2 Corinthians 5:16-17

















Blessings,

rlk 

Monday, June 03, 2013

Ephesians 4:29 and Duct Tape


Here's a good one to chew on for your Monday, plus it displays yet another use for Duct Tape! :-)

May God through His Spirit help provide the "Spiritual Duct Tape" we need many times in order to live out Ephesians 4:29!





Blessings,

rlk