February 17, 2019 | Ben Lester
Passage: 1 Samuel 15:22
Commitment to God and His Word
The Core - Part 3
Practicing Good Posture
The ‘CORE’ is the center, the foundation, the essential. Our core, who we really are at the center of our being, is what drives us to do, and be who we are. It is our compass for life, according to Matthew 22:37 - Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
1 Timothy 4:8 “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
What are you committed to? Your job, your family, your school, your social network, your looks, your wealth, your health, your now, your later?
Manifestations of a believer – Matthew 7:17 - “Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
What about God? Where do you make room for Him? How is that lived out in your day to day life?
The characteristics of a follower of Jesus Christ can be found in their POSTURE:
P = ______________ - Psalm 13 “I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
O = ______________ - 1 Peter 2:5 “…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
S = ______________ - 1 Corinthians 6:11 “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
T = ______________ - Revelation 12:11 “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
U = _____________ – JONAH 3:7-9 “This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
R = _____________ – JAMES 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
E = _____________ BY THE HOLY SPIRIT -MARK 13:11 “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
Our core is strengthened when we align our lives, our word, our practices, our thought life – with the Word of God – we can withstand anything the world throws at us
“I will always come for you…”