What I learned today at church

Claude & I went with my brother to his church this morning and I have to say that I am so glad we did.  The pastor spoke on Luke 23:50 - 24:12.  Here's what I learned:

He said that God doesn't promise adventure without risk, success without sacrifice, and joy without pain.  

This last couple of weeks have been painful and there has been/will be sacrifices made.  But, I am so glad to know that joy will come and we will be successful over satan in the war.  He may win small battles, but if we are Christians, we have a guaranteed victory of the war!  I tend to forget that when things happen that hurt or when I don't see how something is going to turn out OK.  I am so glad that all I have to do is trust Him and know that He will remember me and bring me through.

  

Something else that the pastor did was used visual aids in his message!  I love this because it helps me remember the points!  

#1 TV - this represents our beliefs/lives.  We watch TV to "live vicariously" through something/someone else.  They may be doing something that we long to do and just don't want to make the effort to try.  We are robbing ourselves of the dreams/beliefs that we could have if we would allow Christ to write our script and follow it!  

#2 HOURGLASS - this represents our values/priorities.  We file things away in our memories that are important to us.  When we were younger, we would file away Bible verses and Bible stories because they were important.  As we got older, our values/priorities changed and we stop placing as much importance on knowing Christ.  Other things cloud our minds & memories.  That's why children have such simple faith.  There isn't as much to distract them from the simple truth of Christ.

#3 LIGHTSABER - this represents our mortality (or what we thought impossible that is actually possible!)  He used the movie "The Highlander" as his example.  Because of his immortality, he became more heroic throughout the movie.  The point, if we really thought about it, we ARE immortal!  We have the God of everything as our source of power.  When we really see ourselves as "immortal", we will become more bold/heroic in our efforts for Christ. 

I want to be more bold in my efforts for Christ.  God help me to believe in the source of my power.  YOU ARE OMNISCIENT!