Join us every 2nd Sunday of the month for our monthly Men's fellowship meeting from 9 AM to 10 AM in rooms 5 & 6!

 

March 15, 2009 Lesson (4):

 

LIFESTYLE OF THE BORN AGAIN

 

How you live your day-to-day life is of great importance to God. He cares about your:

 

1.   HABITS = Your example as a Christian. (Romans 14:21)

Basically, giving up your rights for the sake of the kingdom.

Years ago the communist government in China commissioned an author to write a biography of Hudson Taylor with the purpose of distorting the facts and presenting him in a bad light. They wanted to discredit the name of this consecrated missionary of the gospel. As the author was doing his research, he was increasingly impressed by Taylor's saintly character and godly life, and he found it extremely difficult to carry out his assigned task with a clear conscience. Eventually, at the risk of losing his life, he laid aside his pen, renounced his atheism, and received Jesus as his personal Savior. Whether we realize it or not, our example leaves an impression on others.

 

2.   HEARTBEAT = Your attitude as a Christian. (Philippians 2:1-5) A chaplain was speaking to a soldier on a cot in a hospital. "You have lost an arm in the great cause," he said. "No," said the soldier with a smile. "I didn't lose it--I gave it." In that same way, Jesus did not lose His life. He gave it purposefully.

 

3.   HOPE CHEST = Your priority as a Christian. (Matthew 22:37)

 

Priority 1 = God

 

Priority 2 = Family Relationships are God's gift to us. But when we elevate any relationship—even a spouse or a child—above our relationship with God, we begin serving a master other than our true Lord and King.

 

Priority 3 = Ministry

In recent years a head coach divorced his wife of 26 years when he left coaching a college team to become head coach in the National Football League. He said he needed a wife while coaching on the college level for social functions and to show families that he would be looking out for their sons. In pro football, however, she was an unnecessary accouterment and a distraction to winning. He said winning football was his number one priority and his two sons second. How tragic!

In contrast to this, Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas cowboys said, "The thrill of knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that ever happened to me ... I think God has put me in a very special place, and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do ... whether coaching football or talking to the press, I'm always a Christian ... Christ is first, family second and football third."

YOUR PERSONAL PRIORITY “QUICK CHECK”

Your calendar (time) Where do you spend your time? How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren't home? Sound absurd? According to one time management study, that's how much time the average person spends trying to return calls to people who never seem to be in. Not only that, we spend 6 months waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months reading junk mail. These unusual statistics should cause us to do time-use evaluation. Once we recognize that simple "life maintenance" can chip away at our time in such huge blocks, we will see how vital it is that we don't busy ourselves "in vain" (Ps 39:6).

Psalm 39 gives us some perspective. In David's complaint to God, he said, "You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You" (V. 5). He meant that to an eternal God our time on earth is brief. And He doesn't want us to waste it. When we do, we throw away one of the most precious commodities He gives us. Each minute is an irretrievable gift--and unredeemable slice of eternity. Sure, we have to make the phone calls, and we must wait at the light. But what about the rest of our time? Are we using it to advance the cause of Christ and to enhance our relationship with Him? Is our time well spent?

Your check book (money) Where do spend your money? One day a certain old, rich man of a miserable disposition visited a rabbi, who took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window. "Look out there," he said. The rich man looked into the street. "What do you see?" asked the rabbi. "I see men, women, and children," answered the rich man. Again the rabbi took him by the hand and this time led him to a mirror. "Now what do you see?" "Now I see myself," the rich man replied.

Then the rabbi said, "Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver, and no sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others, but you see only yourself."

THREE GOALS OF AN LCF MEMBER:

 

1.   To be holy (Spiritual growth) (I Peter 1:14-16)

 

2.   To be healthy (Socially uplifting) (Colossians 3:12-14) (not physical sense) Reach up, build up the congregation.

 

3.   To be humble (Submissive to God) (James 4:10) What do you think is the meaning of humility?  It is not thinking less of yourself. It is the freedom to think about yourself. Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get