Monthly Archives: July 2013

Let’s Cause Trouble!

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upside-downI don’t want to be ordinary. I don’t want to live an ordinary life. I don’t want to just mark time until I pass into eternity.

I want to live! I want to do something! I want to make a difference! I want to see thing happen. I want to see lives changed, good done, things impacted.

I want to cause trouble for the world and the devil.

As I say at Asbury sometimes, I want to charge hell with a water pistol. I want to punch the devil in the face!  I want to give him a HUGE headache and make his life and his existence miserable!

Listen to what people said about Christians in Acts 17: 6-8:

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

I love that verse. These men who have turned the world upside down. Come on, now. That’s good stuff.

I want to turn the world upside down. I want to see the poor taken care of. I want to see widows and orphans cared for. I want to see no child forgotten. I want to see families healed. I want to see lives changes. I want to see things make right.

Sin has turned things wrong side up in the world. I don’t want that to be the case. I want to, and I want the church to, turn the world upside down.

Or perhaps, better put, turn the world right side up. Make things right. Make it like God intended. Make it be like it should.

I want to turn the world upside down. I want to make I difference today. I want to give the devil a headache today.

Who’s with me?

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

What We are Here For

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One of the questions that we are prone to ask a lot in life is this – why are we here? What is our purpose? What are we to do? Why does God have us where He has us?

What is our reason and our purpose in life?

Today, in Psalm 106: 6-8, David writes a little about what we are here for. Listen to what it says:

Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.

imagesThis Psalm is the story of Israel and God. It tells of their unfaithfulness and God’s faithfulness. And so, the question is raised, why is God so faithful to His people when they are so unfaithful?

Why does He save them when they wander away so far?

What does He restore and give grace when they fall so often?

Why does He save?

This is why. He saved them for His name’s sake. He saved them, that through them, His power and His might and His glory would be made known.

He saved them, in spite of their sin, because through them, He would be glorified, He would be lifted up, He would be worshiped.

Why are you here? What are we here for? Why are we saved? For God. For His purpose. For His glory. For His plan.

You purpose in life is not to have a job or get a house or a car or fame or status or anything like that. Your purpose is to know God. To worship and glorify Him. And to, through you, let His light shine out into the world.

That’s what you were created for. That’s what I was created for. That’s what all of us were created for. That’s what we are here for.

To glorify God. To live in His grace.

You have been saved, you have been forgiven, you have been loved so that you can give glory to God. So that you can worship Him. So that you can point others to Him.
Live in that, and find life. Live in Him and find life. Live in Him and find your purpose.

We were made for Him. May we live in His life today and always.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.