I have been a little deficient in putting up the teaching MP3s over the past few weeks, but today they are completely updated!!! All teaching downloads are free and can be found in the column on the left.
Here are the updates:
Easter Sunday
John 20 & 21
John 21 (my wife, April did this teaching)
Introduction to Proverbs
The Heart, part 1
The Heart, part 2
This week I am looking at what the Proverbs say about enjoying life. It looks to be a fun study. God is the one who gave us the desire for pleasure. The scriptures say that we were created for "His pleasure." Just as well, our life with Him should be full of pleasure. You may be wondering how we will be able to encourage one another toward "pleasure" without falling into sin. So many people view the Christian faith as an unenjoyable one because they have only always considered it with legalistic eyes and a list of do's and don'ts. The fact is, the more we enjoy God the more we will enjoy our lives. When we focus on enjoying God, His will and our will synthesize. He places His desire and His will in our hearts, and His will becomes our will... and we can do whatever we want to do, because that's what God wants us to do. If you love God, then your desires will be fine and you will not need to worry about falling into sin. Jesus said as much in the New Testament when he said, "If you love me you will obey my commands."
I look forward to exploring this study with you this week.
I thought this past Sunday's teaching was life changing. It truly was. Every issue we face, every motive,every word we say, every thought we think, every action we take, is a HEART issue. "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is." Everything that is "in there" is eventually going to come out, in some way. This is the key. To spend time with God, and allow Him to make our heart pure. As David said, "create in me a clean heart oh God." That's where everything starts. Thanks Chris for allowing God to continually work in your heart, and mold you. As you said Sunday, we should not be the same as we were a few years ago, and hopefully 5 years from now, we won't be the same as we are now, if we allow God to shape us. Again, great teaching. I am looking forward to the rest of Proverbs...
Posted by: Des | May 18, 2004 at 08:28 AM
WOW! to think we'd be where we are today, it's amazing.
We MUST allow God to shape & mold us. What most people don't realize, shaping and molding CHANGES you! If you remain the same, never changing, there's a good chance you're not allowing God to shape and mold you into what HE wants you to be.
Looking forward to seeing you again next Sunday (30th) Chris. How about an outside gig (shelter in the park)?
Posted by: steve | May 18, 2004 at 10:08 AM
Thanks Des. Steve, I am totally up for an outdoor gig. I'll bring Chad with me again and we'll get jiggy with it. What chapter will we be on that night?
Posted by: chris | May 18, 2004 at 11:13 AM
That will be great.
Chapter 10 The Good Shepherd
Posted by: steve | May 18, 2004 at 04:37 PM