Cracked Pots

2 Corinthians 4:7-9
But this beautiful treasure is contained in us—cracked pots made of earth and clay—so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us.
We are cracked and chipped from our afflictions on all sides, but we are not crushed by them. We are bewildered at times, but we do not give in to despair.
We are persecuted, but we have not been abandoned. We have been knocked down, but we are not destroyed.


It can sometimes feel like LIFE is beating you up.  I bet you've felt like this at least once lately.  It has nothing to do with age, gender, marital status, position or even attitude.  We are earthen vessels and sometimes the choices we make in life or the directions we take can leave something damaged.  We can become broken by life, cracked by circumstances.  But in the hands of a master gardener a cracked pot can spring forth in beauty.  

Consider a tulip bulb?  It is nothing when it's planted, ugly, plain and seemingly dead when th gardener puts if into an earthen vessel.  Many months of cold lifelessness and it shows no signs of the beauty within.  The vessel its in can be chipped and cracked by the weathering of time, of life.  Yet at just the right moment, after just the correct amount of time the bulb sprouts with new life and the true beauty within becomes evident to all who see it!  

In the hands of our God the Master gardener, we contain a beautiful treasure waiting to spring up out of cracked earthen vessels to reveal the treasure God has planted inside each of us.  

Maybe it's time for you to seek out the Master, ask him to stir up the treasure inside your earthen vessel.  Don't be ashamed of how much damage you see, don't let the shame of how badly you think things appear to others keep you from finding out what your treasure is.  Just seek God.  Just give the Gardener what you have.  Just trust Him to bring out the beautiful treasure and reveal His glory in your life.

If you don't know him it's as easy as ABC.

Admit ....... That you've sinned and need forgiveness

Believe ..... That Jesus died on the cross and rose again for your sins to be forgiven.

Confess ...  Tell someone that you've asked Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour

Angry angry angry

     Anger.  How does allowing our flesh to get angry, hinder our Christian walk?  Is it ok for Christians to get angry and perhaps “get back at someone” for a wrongdoing?  The world says that if someone hurts us we have every right to retaliate and let him or her have what is coming to them.  What does the Bible say about anger?  Is it ok to get angry?  Let’s take a closer look at what the Bible says about anger.
     There are several scriptures that address the issue of anger but Ephesians 4: 26-31 explains what is expected of us when we get angry.  "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.  He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
     According to this scripture are we to be condemned for getting angry?  Are we no longer a “Good Christian” if we let our flesh get angry?  The world would look at us and say there is no way we are Christians if we allow ourselves to get angry.  But the Bible says we are not to sin in our anger.  What does that look like?  What does that mean for us?  Yes we are going to get angry and upset with others.  Jesus got angry at the tax collectors in temple but we are not to sin in our anger.  Ecclesiastes 7:9 says “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”  We are not to go around just looking for something to fight and argue about.    If you find yourself in the heat of anger and seem to not be able to control your temper just do what God did in 2 Kings 17:18  “So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence”.

Remove yourself from the situation.  That is what the Bible says we are to do.

I Know Where There's WATER

                                                           Lake Mead

      A friend recently visited Lake Mead and took a picture of it's beautiful cerulean waters.  Unfortunately, these waters are drying up due to a severe drought in the western United States.  Lake Mead is the main water supplier for the more populated cities in Southern California.  This lack of water has many concerned about what will happen if it drys up altogether?   

John 4:13-14 Jesus said, "Drink this water, and your thirst is quenched only for a moment. You must return to this well again and again. I offer water that will become a wellspring within you that gives life throughout eternity. You will never be thirsty again."

             Wellspring is defined as a source or supply of anything, inexhaustible.

Aren't you thirsty?  Thirsty for more of God?  The world says God is dead and we are our own god, BUT God says I AM the wellspring in this dry and thirsty land, come to me and I will give you living water!  The world is filled with fake "moisture", drugs, alcohol, pornography.  There are so many ways people strive to quench their thirst for ?something?   

God is ready for this generation to be truly THIRSTY for more of Him.  Stop living a dry barren life and drink deeply of the one true God.

If you don't know him it's as easy as ABC.

Admit ....... That you've sinned and need forgiveness

Believe ..... That Jesus died on the cross and rose again for your sins to be forgiven.

Confess ...  Tell someone that you've asked Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour

Drink deeply and find the Wellspring!    

#Perceptions--Seeing the world through God's eyes: Be a Light

#Perceptions--Seeing the world through God's eyes: Be a Light: (1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 My brothers and sisters, it will be different for you. You do not dwell in the darkness, so that day will not surpris...

Be a Light

(1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 My brothers and sisters, it will be different for you. You do not dwell in the darkness, so that day will not surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light. You are sons and daughters of the day. We are not created of night, nor are we owned by darkness. So then let’s not give in to sleep or wander around in a stupor as some do, but let’s stay awake and in control. You see, sleepers sleep through the night, and drunkards drink the night away; but since we belong to the day, we should stay sober and in control, covered with a breastplate of faith and love and a helmet of the hope of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:5).  

Did you ever have one of THOSE days?  

When you felt like you had missed it?  Even if you didn't know what IT was, you just knew somehow that you had passed by and not noticed IT laying in your path?  Maybe there was so much darkness surrounding you from the world you didn't feel like your light was bright enough to see it?  God sees things from a different perspective than we do!  Imagine sitting in a completely dark room. One so dark your eyes hurt straining to try and see something, you've probably done this a a kid?  Now imagine seeing a tiny speck of light in the distance.  What happened to the darkness around you?  

Even the smallest light is able to push back the darkness and stand out!  That's what God wants us to do.......stand out!  Everywhere we turn lately, darkness is staring back at us.

Isn't it about time we stood out as Christians?  For far too long Christians have taken a back seat to the things of the world, to the darkness.  We have been silent and covered our light so we won't offend others, but isn't it time to become the Children of the Light. 

Sometimes, it is hard to shine!  The good news is that we are not called to make our own light but simply to REFLECT the light of Jesus.  

SHINE for JESUS.

#Perceptions--Seeing the world through God's eyes: Integrity

#Perceptions--Seeing the world through God's eyes: Integrity:     Integrity Integrity - The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness, the state of being ...

Love

What's Love got to do with it?

 

 1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I ganin nothing 1Cor 13: 1-3

 

What are three ways you show someone you love them?

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What would it be like if people don't walk in God's perfect Love?

1. But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy. 3. heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good. 4.treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5. having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.  2Tim 3:1-5

  

How do you get real Love?

       Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world.  18 there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fewar.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  19 We love because he first loved us.  20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has been cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1John 4:16-20

 

 

What are some examples of false love?

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What kind of power comes with "real" love? 

17 And these signs will accomplany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons:  they will speak in new tongures; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." Mark 16: 17-18