The Be One Life

Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength together a one.

Peace

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Peace“I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
-Jesus (John 14:27 NLT)

It’s December, friends! We cannot believe that it has been a whole year of sharing God’s love letter with you. It is also that time of the year that many in our world focus on peace. We want to take the focus off of experiencing peace and instead focus on the Source of all peace.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, came to bring peace to all who believe in him. You see, true peace comes from a deep assurance and faith that it is well with your soul no matter what circumstances you face. We have peace in knowing that Jesus conquered sin on the cross and won the war over death when He rose from the grave. Jesus conquered sin and death–once and for all.

Did you read that slowly enough to absorb it? The war is won–that is Peace.

Yes, there are is all sorts of evil around us, but do not be discouraged. Knowing he was lost the war, Satan still battles, but he CANNOT win. Let us side with Jesus, on the side of grace and truth, and experience true peace from the Eternal Source.

We receive this gift of peace when we submit to the Eternal God and follow Jesus wholeheartedly. We become heirs along with Jesus to an eternal kingdom in heaven where there is no war, no sadness, no troubles, no hunger, no conflicts. Instead there is an abundance of joy, peace, love, and worship to God.

The assurance of heaven that we find in Christ Jesus gives peace to our souls.

This month as we explore more about the peace that Jesus gives we pray that each of us live out the words that Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And along with letting peace be with you, share the Prince of Peace.

We Are The Church

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churchDear friends,

Ready for some truth? This one will be hard to swallow and it is even harder for me to say but, well, it needs to be said.

You CANNOT love Jesus and reject HIS church.

The whole point of Jesus giving up his place in heaven to put on human skin, to be hated, spit on, rejected, tortured, and killed was for His church.

In our American, “it’s all about me”western way of thinking, we like to think that he died and rose again just for us, but that is sadly a lie from the evil one.

Real talk? Jesus died for His church. The church is his bride. That church includes those who call on His name, who accept Him as their Savior and who follow him wholeheartedly as disciples.

Can we be hurt by the institution of the church? Can we hate the hypocrisy? Can we feel left out? Can we feel like it is not relevant?

Of course we can.

The church is made up by a bunch of imperfect, broken people trying to walk in the way of the PERFECT one. We get it wrong all the time. But guess what? He knew we would; that’s why there is grace upon grace.

Remember that old saying: wherever you go, there you are? If you are a follower of Jesus, if you have put off your old self and put on the new, then wherever you go, you are the church. You cannot get away from it or separate from it.

Instead of writing the church off because we are disillusioned or hurt, we must remember how much Jesus went through to pay the price for the church.

He paid his life. God gave his Son.

So I challenge you and myself to BE the church that Jesus died for. Be the church you wish you had. Look at what he actually says about his church and what it means to follow him.

Love. Learn. Be. Follow. Obey. Love.

This is the journey of a disciple of Jesus, the journey of the members of His church.

Discipleship

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Discipleship“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison–our father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, even our own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” -Jesus (Luke 14:26-27 NLT)

In our “Jesus is only love” society, this is a hard pill to swallow, no? A difficult teaching to understand from a God/man who has been painted as a “we are the world”, hippie type. But let’s not forget that Jesus is God. He is man. He is the word. He is just. And He is love.

Because of His great love for us, Jesus came to earth to establish a kingdom where he will reign forever. Jesus graciously forgives and brings all who believe in Him and dedicate their lives to Him into His kingdom. This is where a disciple’s walk behind and towards Jesus begins. Imagine God’s kingdom as a circle. When we, as Jesus’s disciples, first step into the Kingdom of God, we are are on the fringe and Jesus sits on a throne in the center. Each day that we follow Jesus, study his word, and live by his teachings, the love in our hearts for Him and others grows. We begin to take baby steps closer to him. As we grow in faith and in our relationship with Jesus throughout our lives, the blurry image of him at a distance comes into focus, and the light of His glory shines brightly through us. Jesus extends this free gift of grace to all of us, but this grace came at a cost.

The grace that God extends to us through Jesus was not cheap. It cost Jesus his life. It cost Jesus His place in heaven for a time. It cost God his Son.

Grace is costly and we continuously cheapen it.

In the verses following our key verse, Jesus goes on to say that we must count the cost of following Him. Our relationships with our families are important, our lives are important, our jobs are important; but they all pale in comparison to WHO should have the place of ultimate importance in our lives. Before we become disciples of Christ, he asks us to count this cost.

He MUST come BEFORE everything else.

To be a disciple of Jesus, you must choose Christ. If the choice is between your mother and Jesus, you choose Jesus. There is no comparison in the life of a disciple, Jesus is always first.

Like I said, hard pill to swallow, Amen?

What does this look like on a daily basis? How do we count the cost and still choose Jesus over all things. How do we make him preeminent over all things? What does it look like to put Jesus first, for real and not just as advice to graduates and newlyweds?

This month, we will be exploring discipleship. We will be looking at what it truly means to be a disciple of Jesus, to follow him wholeheartedly as Lord of our lives. We will look at some common mistakes that we make, and how His word tells us to follow him. Most of all, we will be encouraging and challenging ourselves to follow him more fully, to more fully count the cost.

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Gentleness

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GentlenessGentleness is the spiritual gift of being mild mannered and implies humility and meekness. Our society equates traits like gentleness, humility, and meekness with weakness. In the kingdom of God, however, gentleness is an aspect of strength. Our perfect example of this is Jesus. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus approached teaching others with a humble and gentle heart, and at the same time he was strong enough to carry all of our burdens. We too are called to teach the word to the lost with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:25).
As husbands and wives, we need to show gentleness in our marriages for us to grow as one toward one another. This begins with opening up the lines of communication and listening to each another. One of the hardest things for a husband to do when he sees his wife suffering is listen and empathize. Naturally, he just wants to fix the problem. This is where gentleness comes in. Husbands, your wife does not need you to be her savior when she is going through difficult times; she already has One. She needs you to be her partner who helps and supports her with gentleness as Jesus brings her through whatever trial she is facing.
Wives are called to clothe themselves with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God (1Peter 3:4). That beauty of gentleness will speak volumes to your husbands, more than anything else you might wear.
Jesus is our example of a gentle spouse in His gentleness towards his bride, the Church. He has always loved her, and showed the church gentleness for her, flaws and all. Whenever we get off track, he gently corrects us and reconciles us with God (Colossians 1:15-20).

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to give us the gift of gentleness in our teaching and our marriages.

Faithfulness

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faithfulnessWhen we think about faithfulness, it is hard not to think about love as well. Faithfulness and love go hand in hand. Love produces faithfulness. We learned love from God, who in his loving kindness and infinite mercy personified love in the form of Jesus to save the world (John 1:14). God did not form this plan haphazardly; He laid out this plan before time began. God showed unending faithfulness and love for his creation (us) by sending his Son, Jesus, to the earth to redeem all humanity (John 3:16-17). In turn, Jesus was loving and faithful to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins (Romans 5:6-11). Because we are made in the image of God, we ought to reflect this love and faithfulness towards God and each other. (Mark 12:29-32; Mark 8:34-36).

Our love and faithfulness to God should overflow into our marriages and families. God gives us the example of a faithful spouse in his faithfulness to Israel (Hosea 2:19-20). Jesus gives us the example of the faithful spouse in his faithfulness to his bride, the church (Ephesians 5:25-33). As husbands and wives, God has called us to be one. An excellent way to do this is to practice faithfulness in though, word and deed, allowing nothing come between you.

As spouses, parents, children, and friends, let us show love and faithfulness with our relationships the way God shows love and faithfulness to us.

The Be One Life

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