Its All About Him

But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

When Jesus said "above all," He didn't mean only when it is convenient. He also didn't mean above most or a few things. He said above ALL things. All things is everything, all things is ALL things. We all have wants and desires. We all have what we think are needs and stuff that we think we have to have. But Jesus negated all of those wants and needs by saying pursue Him. "But Kent, you don't know whats going on in my life, I have things that have to get done, I have to pay my mortgage, put food on the table, take the kids to soccer practice. I have this and that." You know, we must think God is stupid. We must think that God doesn't now whats going on in our lives. You say, "How dare He say seek Him first, doesn't He know all the things I have to deal with." In the verses preceding verse 33, Jesus is telling us that He knows all our needs, He is fully aware of whats going on in our lives. That's why in verse 33 He says if you pursue Jesus (His kingdom), all those things, the needs and etc will be given to you...but you MUST pursue Him first! When you do that, the way He fulfills your needs is so much better than if you do it yourself...AND there is no worry and stress involved in it. To pursue Jesus and His kingdom is to pursue everything that Jesus is. That means you pursue joy, peace, patience, kindness, and you put down your selfish desires. It means that when someone wrongs you, you don't turn around and wrong them. It means that when someone is rude to you, you show them love. It means that when you see someone who is in need of something, you go over and help them and not turn and look the other way. This is pursuing Him and His kingdom!

Take Away...if you will seek Jesus first in your life and put down your wants and needs, He will take care of everything! Start pursuing Him today, let it be a day that is all about Jesus and not about you!

Worship Song of the Week...

Take A Moment by Will Reagon

What Do You Really Believe?

For she kept saying to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Matthew 9:21

What do you really believe about Jesus? If your back was against the wall, what would you believe that God could do to help you? If you were facing a giant of a problem, what would be your response to God? I think we would all like to think that we would say "God, You're awesome! God, You're almighty! God, You can do anything!" But what would our actions be right after we said that? The woman who had been bleeding for years believed that Jesus could heal her. She had absolutely no doubt about this, and she believed that Jesus could heal her so much that she thought that if only she'd touch His clothes, that would be enough for Him to heal her. I have faced many giants in my life, many brick walls, obstacles if you will, that seemed to just swallow me up if I let them. I have to admit there were times I would look at a situation in front of me and say, God I know You are almighty, but I just can't do this! Then, when I would find myself right back at that situation (and that will always happen), I would call out to God again and say "God, I know this situation is bigger than I am. I know this situation goes well beyond what I can do, but I know You are bigger than anything. You are the One Who parted the Red Sea, You are the One Who brought down the walls of Jericho, You are the One Who raised Jesus from the dead, and if you can do all of those things and more, then you can bring down this wall thats in front of me." Sometimes it took many times saying that, but I did not give up, I kept at it and in the end, God WAS and IS almighty! We think that if we don't get the result we want right away, that God wasn't there helping us. In reality He was, it is just that He knew where our faith was, it was us who just didn't know...but we found out!

Take Away: what you do, your actions, will reveal where your faith is. If you find you are lacking in faith, ask God to strengthen your faith, ask Him to reveal more of Himself to you. If you ask, He will respond!

Worship Song of the Week...

Take a Moment by Will Reagan

God is Holy, really?

but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct

1 Peter 1:15

We sing it, we repeat, we read it, but in all the singing, repeating and reading, do we really understand what it means when we say God is Holy? I think if we really knew what "God is Holy" means, our whole behavior would change. Each day we go about our business, making decisions, thinking thoughts, acting a certain way, responding to situations without giving one thought to God being Holy. What does "God being Holy" mean? It means that He can not stand sin in His presence, it means that He is pure, it means He is perfect in every way. In essence, it means that He demands respect for who He is. Now remember that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19), so the Holy One is living inside of you. Knowing this, how are you going to start thinking about what you are thinking about? How are you going to start conducting your life and the way you respond to situations? You're probably saying "Kent, this is a real downer?" Sometimes we need a wake up call because we get complacent about who God is in our lives. We've got to remember we have the Holy One living in us, and that He is Holy. When we really understand this, we will start conducting ourselves in a manner that is in line with the word of God. For example, knowing that the Holy One is living in you and that He is Holy, how are you going to respond the next time someone cuts you off in traffic, or the next time someone is rude to you on the phone, or one of your children has been screaming for the past hour? When we respect God for who He is in our lives, we can start living the life He wants us to live.

Take Away: Knowing that God IS Holy and that He is living in you, you can conduct yourselves in a manner that is in line with the Word of God and living the life that God has for you.

Worship Song of the Week...

Take A Moment by Will Regan

People Can Change

But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem

Acts 9:13 (NET)

The Apostle Paul, before he was Apostle Paul, was Saul who had a loathing for people that followed Jesus. However on the road to Damascus, Saul had an encounter with Jesus that changed his life forever. In fact after this encounter, he was called Paul and went on to write nearly two thirds of the New Testament. Why am I writing this? Look at what Ananias said to God. Ananias heard about Saul's reputation, but fortunately for Ananias, Ananias believed God could change people. Ananias believed people can change. I hear a lot of people commenting about others that "oh, they'll never change" or "people don't change." Well, if I believed that, then I wouldn't believe in what Jesus could and did do in my own life. Jesus changed me, and if you are reading this, Jesus has changed you as well. So if Jesus can change me and if He can change you, don't you think He can change others? Jesus is STILL changing me, He is renewing my mind, and He is changing my behavior. I am not the same person I was 20 years ago, 10 years ago, even 1 year ago because the changing continues. The same goes for others. Just because someone acted a certain way 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even yesterday, doesn't mean they can't change. Now you can't change that person, no more than I or anyone else can change a person, but God can! Give people the benefit of change and give them a second, third, forth chance. God has given you and I many chances, we need to extend that grace to others.

Take Away: just because someone acted a certain way years ago, believe the God can change them, and then give them another chance!

Worship Song of the Week...

Take a Moment - Will Reagan

Things Are Always What They Seem

But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Matthew 14:30 (NET)

We would all like to say we see every thing the way it really is. What I mean by that is that when we are looking at a situation, we think we are seeing the whole story through God's perspective. But what usually happens is that we see a situation through our perspective which is tainted with hurts from the past, experiences we have been through and a method of thinking that our brain uses. This twists the situation whereby we come out looking like we are right, and everyone else is wrong...or we are the victim and everyone should apologize to us. This has happened to me many times because of my own insecurities. I would walk into a situation where I would think the whole world is against me and that I am the victim. God finally got a hold on me and said "look Kent, you are looking through your own insecurities and not through My eyes." What really had happened is that I got my eyes off of Jesus and on to my circumstances. You see, circumstances will try to dictate reality, but in essence you are only seeing part of what is really going on. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we let go of our insecurities and our hurts, and let Him deal with the situation. Now He may tell you that your thinking is wrong (which many times is the case for me), and in that case you have to change your way of thinking. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and look at reality through His eyes and not our own. Circumstances may try to get your eyes off of Jesus, but don't let this happen. Keep your eyes fixed on Him.

Take Away: whatever the circumstances may seem to dictate, stop looking at your circumstances, and look to Jesus. He will take care of your hurts and pain.

Worship Song of the Week...