COMMITTED TO JESUS CHRIST
PART TWO
Scripture: Malachi 3:7-12
IV. Father, help me to dress like a Christian:
By not attracting attention to myself for being too fashionable
or too casual; and help me to show by my appearance,
that I want people to know me for what I am inside myself.
BEING OSTENTACIOUS.
Now up here in the North Country of New York we don’t see what I call the “dingle-farb” people. You might be wondering … “what in the world are the dingle-farb people?” These are the people who are decked out in gaudy chromium chains. We had a dingle-farb person in Seminary. He was a pastor. I thought to myself, “Why does he dress like that?” I can’t even remember his name all I can think of is “Dingle-Farb.” He was in one of my classes.
Sometimes men dress in such a way that they stand out from the crowd as being “Super Masculine” or a Super stud. Ladies watch out! All that stuff is the camouflage of a shallow immature playboy that needs to draw attention to himself and is not a reliable, trustworthy person.
Women who dress immodestly do not have a wholesome perspective on their sexuality. They thrive on men’s ogling eyes. Some of them take great joy in catching the ogling eyes of their male prey and reprimand their prey by saying something like, “Hey, mister, I’m up here.”
When I was growing up, we had a neighbor who was a very sweet, middle-aged woman, a devout Christian woman who reeked of poor body hygiene and cheap perfume. She loved to chat face to face. No one had the courage to tell her to take a bath. We just tolerated her odiferous personality, because we loved her. I remember also that she was always itching. Men are more apt to be that way than women are.
If you are standing close to someone and they sub-consciously touch their nose with their finger, you probably have an offensive odor. Brush your teeth, or take a bath, or both.
We want people to listen to our witness of Jesus Christ, not to be turned off by our foul smell or weirdness or the immodesty of our wardrobe.
V. Father, help me to sleep like a Christian:
at peace with myself because sin is forgiven;
and at peace because I do not allow my anger to last
through a day. Now, we all have restless nights once in a while, which can be due to physical duress, but often it is not.
REALY TRUSTING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
ASKING THE LORD HELP YOU RESOLVE PROBLEMS
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does
(James 1:1-7).
VI. Father, help me to eat like a Christian:
to eat healthily, to eat moderately, to eat gratefully,
giving thanks to You who provide my food, and for the one
who prepares my food. THANKFULNESS TO SPOUSE.
IN LIGHT OF
WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN TO DO? GLUTTONY IS A SCOURGE OF THE AMERICAN
practical areas of life. Be with me when I am alone, and when I shed my inhibitions, lest in those moments I cancel out all that I seem to
be when I’m on my best behavior.
If what I am doing when I think no one is looking, is different than how I behave in church I am practicing hypocrisy, straighten up and fly right. You are being a stumbling block.
“being so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good”
Do not look in the mirror, you will not like what you see
· LEGALISM, rooty toot toot we are the boys from the institute
· JUDGMENTAL PRIDE I Cor “So, if you think you stand, be careful, that you do not fall.”
Luke 18:18:9-14 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get,’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
· HARSHLY HOLY, (minced oaths) “O, darn,” “ son of a gun”
· AFRAID TO DIRTY OUR HANDS IN REACHING OUT TO SOMEONE IN NEED going into bars to reach men for Christ
· IF YOU STOP COMING TO OUR CHURCH,
· Being in the world, but not of the world. The world= the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life
guilty of the slightest wrong-doing,
(Heb. 4: 12-16) For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.
and who always showed His love in the small details of living.
Amen.
