Might - On Fire For God

"Whatever your hand finds to do, 

do it with all your might;"

-Ecclesiastes 9:10a

[italics added for emphasis]

I've been meditating on Ecclesiastes 9:10 and Colossians 3:23 quite a bit over the last few years, and there are 2 lessons that God has been teaching me through those passages;

1. How To Do Things 
2. What To Do


1. How To Do Things

First off here's a thought provoking question: what inspires you?
Is it...
The drive of Gold Medal athletes?
The passion of public speakers?
The discipline of top professional musicians?
The determination of the greatest inventors?
The enthusiasm of a coach?
The courage of a commander?
The faith of a child?
The preparation of a preacher?
The gratitude of a 3rd world immigrant?
The compassion of an evangelist?
The peacefulness of an experienced parent?

Being inspired helps our BELIEF, our STANDARD, and what we picture to be normal to be raised to the next level.

We are inspired when we hear not just WHAT people do, but HOW they do them.
For example...
I could play the piano (the WHAT), but if I don't play either well, with my might, or a combination of both, (the HOW),
it probably won't inspire others.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 talks about one way of HOW we are to do things. (
"With all your might.'
You may ask "What does 'might' really mean?"
Well in Greek, the word for "might" according to Biblos.com is koach, and here are a few different synonyms.

Ability, Force, Power, Strength

So that's really HOW we are to do things. (I also believe that another "how to" at least in reference to music is that we are to "play skillfully" as in Psalm 33:3)

2. What To Do
This verse in Colossians 3:23 really specifies for what purpose we do things with all our might.

"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."

 " ...Heartily, as to the Lord" really means that along with pouring all our strength into whatever we're doing, we need to MAKE SURE that WHAT we're doing is actually WORTH doing heartily in God's perspective.

Whether playing sports,
doing chores,
going to work,
studying at school,
making lunch,
listening to a preacher at church,
attending seminars,
reading books,
listening to music,
watching movies,
playing instruments,
spending time with friends,
and having certain conversations with associates,

We need to ask ourselves:
Should I [do this] with all my might?
And can I [do it] for the glory of God?

Prayer
Lord, I pray that we will be inspired by men and women on FIRE for Your glory,
who are not only willing to do the things that honor You,
but are willing to do them with ALL their might.
And I also pray that we will BE those that inspire others to serve You with all their might.
Show us where You can grow us,
In Jesus name, Amen.

Are you on fire for God? 

Challenge
Do you work for God with all of your might?

God bless you all this week,
Your brother in Christ,
Landon

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

-Jim Elliot

No Fear in Love

There is no fear in love; 
but perfect love casteth out fear: 
because fear hath torment. 
He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

-1 John 4:18

Have you EVER had fear?
If you're like 100% of people that I know of, you probably have.

Why do you think that is?

I've been meditating on that passage every day for about a week now, and have been amazed by how many daily decisions are affected by fear. 

It influences many big decisions that we have, as well as the subconscious decisions that we don't even think abou.

Just taking that first phrase: "There is no fear in love..."

You can find amazing things just from 2 words Fear and Love.

What is fear?

What is love?

Fear is φόβος which is called "phobos" in English.

Definition is: "panic flight, fear, the causing of fear, terror"

Love is ἀγάπῃ which is called "agape" in English. Sound familiar?

Definition is: "love, goodwill"

In your mind, what do you think some synonyms are for the word "fear"?
I think of words like: doubt, unbelief, timidity, distrust, stress, anxiety.

What are some of the effects of fear?

Fear is what stops you from leading a new activity. Your fear tells you: "You don't need to do that. Someone else can do that. You're not any good at that." Fear stops you from witnessing to a person. "What will they think of you? Someone else will talk to him. Just talk about other things." Fear is what keeps you from speaking up for an unjustly treated person. 
Fear shuts your mouth from defending the truth.
Fear keeps you from starting a new endeavor.
Fear holds you down when you want to stand up and give a testimony in church.
Fear causes you to laugh at idle words, and crude jokes.

Most people are more motivated by fear of loss, 

Than the possibility of gain. 

Are you?
Are you more motivated by the fear of disapproval from this world,
than the possibility of gaining the approval of the Creator, Savior, and Lord of the Universe?





I got an amazing thing to share with you...

there's no reason, ever, to have to be afraid of any of those things! 
 
You NEVER need to fear him who can kill your body,
Because our God has the power to do that and destroy the soul!
He's the one to fear! :)

What a comfort to know, that there is no fear in love, and that perfect love casteth out fear.
And that THROUGH Christ, we can overcome EVERY one of those fears, and EVERY other one.
So whenever we have fear, we can always remember THIS passage, which is an INCREDIBLE promise of God:

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: 

be not dismayed; for I am thy God: 

I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; 

yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Isaiah 41:10

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
What are you thankful for?

I thank God for saving me from death and hell, and giving me life and heaven,

for His Word - and the incredibly powerful and encouraging promises available, 

and for His people.

I thank Him for my family, 

for yummy Red tea, 

for heating in a cold season,

for being around godly Christian leaders who are willing to give counsel and instruction,

and last but not least,

I'm thankful for everybody,

And I'm thankful for everything.

God is so good. Amen?

God bless you all this week,

Have a blessed thanksgiving, and make sure to share about the BEST thing that ever happened to you when you were saved from the "Train of Death"

There is NO fear in Love.

Your brother in Christ,

Landon

Hot Or Cold - Building Bomb

Revelation 3:15-16

¹⁵ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: 

I would thou wert cold or hot.

¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

After going to the ICHE Young Adult conference last Saturday, and hearing Pastor Kirk Smith with a short message, and Mr. Carl Kirby (rforh.com) with the majority of the conference, I came away with a new perspective on many things.

One of the key tips Pastor Smith said was:
"Learn to think critically,
without being critical."

In other words, learn how to test what people say, learn how to think. That's Biblical too. (Prv 14:15 "the simple [Greek: pĕthiy, is basically: naivete, or foolish] believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going.")
Have you ever realized that the world by default typically teaches you what to think,
and not how to think?

A staggering statistic that Mr. Kerby shared was that about 50-88% of 18 year olds that have been raised in a Christian home and called themselves Christians, are walking away from the faith.

Fifty to eighty-eight percent.

What does that mean?

Did they just backslide?

Let's see what we find from the Word of God, when Jesus talks to the Laodicean church....

Revelation 3:15-16

¹⁵ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: 

I would thou wert cold or hot.

¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Spue? Strong word huh?

I heard this passage in a message by Mark Cahill called "Lukewarm No More" (Recommendation)  in September of 2011, and God used this to change me life drastically.

Basically, that's the person who is living with one foot in the earthly world, and one foot in the church world, trying to have the BEST of both worlds. 

Well, I believe Mr. Ray Comfort describes a backslider very well:
"A backslider never slid forward in the first place."

If that statistic is true, then that's means the majority of the young generation that claim to be Christians are really not saved.

So really, if they were never saved in the first place, the question comes down to this:

What should Christians do?

Well continuing in the passage in Rev 3, verse 19.

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Notice that Jesus commands the congregation to "repent."
We need to love people so much, that we actually "rebuke and chasten" them, even if it hurts them or us.

The Bible doesn't say to tell a person who has made a profession of faith: "Congratulations on going to heaven."

^{2 Corinthians 13:5}

⁵ Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; 

prove your own selves. 

Know ye not your own selves, 

how that Jesus Christ is in you, 

except ye be reprobates?

2 Peter 1:10

¹⁰ Wherefore the rather, brethren, 

give diligence to make your calling and election sure: 

for if ye do these things, 

ye shall never fall:

What are "these things" that Peter is talking about? 
They are found in the previous verses (5-7)
This really is colossal information.
This is what you do, so that you know you "SHALL NEVER fall"...

⁵ And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

⁶ And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

⁷ And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

Imagine 
What would you do if you were walking down the sidewalk of downtown Chicago, and then you saw a box in front of the Willis tower labeled: "Building Bomb: Caution, Do Not Touch, Extremely Dangerous, explodes a 1000 foot radius to smithereens. Exploding in: 10 minutes, 12 seconds" ?
YOu're the only one who seemed to notice, but then you go back to your normal daily life, because you think: "Well if it really was a Building Bomb, someone else would've stopped him. So it must not be an Building bomb.
Even if there was just a 1/1,000,000 chance that it was true, shouldn't you do your part to stop it?

How much more, if we see a person who could be possibly not walking with the Lord, should we love them enough to speak the truth in love?

If you thought there was a 1/1,000,000 chance that I could be headed for Hell, I know I'd appreciate it if you told me exactly what I'm doing so with God's help I could change it.

What does it look like to actually chasten someone? I believe it could be questions like:
"How is your walk with the Lord?"
"Do you think that [insert whatever] is pleasing to the Lord?"
"Why are you doing it?"

I thank God for all of you!

God bless you all with grace and peace!
Your brother in Christ,
Landon Thompson

Fellowship

 "But if we walk in the light,

as he is in the light,

we have fellowship [boldness added] one with another,

and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

-The first Epistle of John

 1 John 1:7

If you're like me, you've probably heard some phrases and words of which you have no clue what they mean. You may even say them, and never even think twice about it.

Being raised in a Christian home, I not only heard the word fellowship many times, but said it many times, as my church is named Christ Fellowship Church of Aurora. (CFCAurora.org if you'd like to get some of our amazing sermons. )

So, you may ask: "What exactly is fellowship?"

I'm glad you asked. ;)

At first glance most people including myself thought of things like socializing, talking, conversing, and discussing.

According to Dr. Jerry Benjamin, who preached a powerful sermon at our church Oct 21 there's a difference between socializing and fellowship.

Socializing is: Sharing common interests

Fellowship is: Sharing the Lord in common.

The Greek word for fellowship is koinōnia 

And you can check it out here.

Also, my Recommendation of the Week

is a website i just found called http://greattreasures.org/. Good site for Greek words.

Essentially, it means communion, communication or distribution, or participation.

Apparently the word koinōnia is used 20 times in the Bible, which I found out from that site. :)

I believe that Christian fellowship is nearly gone in our day and age.
It's hard to imagine what it would look like if that was what Christians were doing whenever they saw each other.

Just sharing testimonies of the Lord, sharing each others burdens through prayer.
Whether it's sharing what God has done in your life recently,
Sharing how awesome His Word, His Biblical principles, His love, His truth, and His Spirit are.
Or asking questions and learning about God's ways from those more experienced in certain areas. 

If we're walking with in the light as God is, we will have fellowship with each other.
Let's make sure that we keep on learning from the godly examples that are around us, encouraging the ones who look up to us, and being an example of all believers in word, conversation, charity, spirit, faith and purity.

Testimony
It was incredible last Sunday to share tracts, Bibles, and the gospel in Naperville with a group from our congregation, and then to share TONS of stories afterwards of what God did in 45 minutes.
Praise the Lord that my group was able to talk to about 7 people with various ages, backgrounds, and religions, but they each got the Word of God. :) Plus we handed out many more tracts for those who didn't have time to talk.
Looking forward to next time too, and hopefully you all can come too!

"Iron sharpeneth iron,

so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

-Proverbs 27:17

I thank God for all of you.
Praise the Lord for fellowship!

Times may be getting a lot tougher for us Christians very soon, as of yesterday, but what's great about the tribulations that are coming is not only do we have the Lord on our side, but tribulations result in more courage. I pray we continue to impact our country one person at a time for God's glory. :)

God bless you all this week!
With the love of Christ,
Landon

"Don't Judge Me"

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

-Jesus, in Matthew 7:1-2

So here's a general scenario:
John does, says, wears, or somehow conveys something that could be cause someone to stumble and sin.
Peter knows that John calls himself a Christian, and he lovingly takes John aside and simply asks a humble question about why John did that particular thing.
John responds, "why not??"
"Because it causes some people to stumble. And basically, could damage your Christian testimony."
"Whoa, hang on man. Remember the Bible says in Matthew 7:1-2 not to judge me!"

What does Peter do?
So he may say: "Listen John, the reason I bring this up is because I want what's best for you, and for anyone else it may affect." And he may  ask another loving question, such as, "Do you know what the rest of that passage says in Matthew 7?"

Well just in case you didn't memorize it, look it up, or google it already, ;) here's the rest of the passage i Matthew 7:

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

⁵ Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to [do what??...] cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

John 7:24
"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

That's the difference.

Righteous judgement.

It's lack of righteous judgement and church discipline that results in people like Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll and many others, teaching false doctrine and leading people astray.

That's why I appreciate it when people like John Macarthur actually jump in and lovingly say something about people like Mark Driscoll's ministry being unedifying to the body.
Or Eric Ludy pointing out Rob Bell's "flexible truth" doctrine in Ludy's book, The Bravehearted Gospel.
Or Kevin DeYoung addressing Jeff Bethke's youtube video "Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus."

What each of these 3 examples did with the advice is up to them.
But the main lesson, is:

We need to be people who speak the truth in love.

I appreciate the anaology that Mr. Bill Gothard gives, that we need to be more like surgeons, not judges.
"Surgical procedures such as this should be motivated by a desire to bring healing to another, whereas the responsibility of a judge is to determine the guilt of another person and enforce the consequences of the law."

Recommendation: 
Great resource! http://iblp.org/iblp/discipleship/dailysuccess/enroll/

God bless you all this week!
Ambassador in bonds for Christ,
Landon