Teague Bible Church

TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPING INTO THE FUTURE

I was 28 when I pastored my first church. I was full of optimism. I assumed that the small group wanting to start this new church had carved out the time to do so. An older Christian, from back home, told me something I have never forgotten.
” If your people have not seen that sharing Christ, by making disciples, is the to be their focus in life, then they will have their lives jammed-packed with other things. These will normally be good things, but not the best things for them, and certainly not the best for those who are around them. Their life does not shine out for Christ. They never surrendered their time to the Lord. The Lord is not first in their life and their schedule shows it. They are preoccupied with the mechanics of daily life and the enemy will make them feel rushed all the time. Their good thoughts are that they will really serve the Lord as soon as they get all these personal things taken care of first.”
What an eye-opening experience to hear that! It is God’s creation, and our life belongs to Him. His incredible grace has saved us, and yet if we focus on,” fixing our problems first; then we will serve the Lord,” we find that day never comes. The life we could have had, the adventure we could have been a part of, in the Lord, passed us by as we were, “busy doing other things.”
As a kid I heard the old statement, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Of course that is not true, but it is good to be clean physically. Another false statement bought today by many Christians is, ” busyness is next to godliness.” Many draw their self-worth from this, instead of their walk with the Lord.
I pray we learn the deep things that come by putting the Lord first in all things. If you feel a time conflict, and wonder how this can be done, you will find that God will make a way for you because you put Him first. You also find that folks around you see the light of the Lord coming out of you and want to know what has happened to you! The powerful and dynamic life of Christ shines out now and you find yourself in the middle of making disciples.
There is nothing to compare with this. There is no substitute, in all the world, for this. Live a full, clear, intention life for Jesus. Be that infectious Christian, not the nice religious guy or girl who seems to be, always, ” preoccupied.”
Matthew 28: 16-20 JWP

PEPPA PIG
Have you seen this show for little kids? Love it. All British and all fun. I will always call a “mud puddle” a “muddy puddle” from now on.
My granddaughter is learning to crawl. I wanted to help out with this process and the most effective way is to hold a Peppa Pig stuffed family member, i.e. doll, in front of the aforementioned child. At first I was merely holding it a few feet ahead, while my granddaughter charged toward it. Then I got creative. Circles, back over the top, snake turns; you know, NASCAR stuff.
I so enjoyed the whole thing and knew she was getting great child-training out of it. Get ready here is the jump.
I have been gloriously stuck on Deuteronomy chapter 8 for days now. It not only states what God allows to happen, but also the why it needs to happen.
Deut. 8:5 states, ” Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining (child-training) you just as a man disciplines his son.” The key is to see that he is to humble you and test you. He wants you to see what is in your own heart. Obviously he already knows. Obviously we can improve the purity and quality of our heart by a dependence on the Lord.
If you ever wondered how much we are supposed to do and how much the Lord will do then Deut. 8 is the place to start. Life is not a series of random events. There is a reason for the twist and turns. I think we should enjoy the process, for I am sure the Lord enjoys it.
Such a clear passage and a calming one. I would ask you to read it several times and pick out 5 or 6 different aspects of what the Lord is doing in your life. Write your comments below and how this passage helps you. I have to go now because it looks like rain and I want to play in the “muddy puddles.” JWP