![]() Have you ever cheated?…Have you ever cheated? I mean on anything? A test, a quiz, book report? Today cheating well it is not looked so down upon. Why ‘cause everyone seems to be finding ways to do it. People are sharing test questions and answers. People are allowing others to copy their work, and well just looking for ways to get around the system. Whoa, doesn’t sound so bad when you put it that way, just getting around the system. It’s just like when someone gives you music or movies that you have not payed for and you rip them into your computer. It’s cheating but others just like to call it file sharing. We all cheat, cause we have all lied. Cheating is just another way to lie, it is not the truth, it is hiding something, it is going around the right way of doing something. So let’s talk about cheating and what we are to do about it in our own lives. So when was the last time that you cheated? What did you cheat on? You don’t have to shout it out you need only to think about it and ask yourself this question, do you have a cheating problem? If you do, don’t get discouraged cause there is help to get you out of the cheating cycle. So here is the question that we need to process, Why do you cheat? You may have never ever cheated it might not be a problem for you. But the question that we need to answer is why? Why do people cheat? Think about it hard and process this. Do you think people cheat because they are just not happy with what they have, and who they are? I mean if you did not study for a test, and then you were tempted to cheat, you might say that it has nothing to do with who you are and what you have. Really think about it. Other people studied because they have self disciple, and they follow through with what they were suppose to do. Others well they are just smart and they don’t need to study. Then the person who is thinking about cheating wants what the others have. Either more self disciple or the ability to just be smart and not have to study. When we don’t like who we are and we want to be someone else we spend more time chasing things that will never happen instead of working on us. We nee to be who we are and do what it takes for us to succeed in life. Take a look at Leviticus 19:1 ‘Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. We have to stop stealing and lying and deceiving ourselves. We all know that cheating does not pay off cause you will one day get caught. We have to work on character, and know what we need to do so that we will not be put in a place where we will be tempted to cheat.
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![]() Who's Fooling Who? Who’s fooling Who? When we lie who are we fooling? Are we fooling the person that we are lying to or are we really fooling ourselves? Yea that is a big question to chew on, but I think that it is an important one. Cause I never ever want to fool myself. I would also hate it if any of you my friends were in the practice of fooling yourself. Lying is a funny thing, because it always sets us up for failure, and drama. But at the time that we are in the process of lying it seems like the smart thing to do and it seems like it is full proof. But it never is. S why do we lie, in the last article I explained that we lie because we don’t truly like who we are. This problem comes form us not having a deep relationship with God. As we draw closer to God we learn who we are and we love the us we are and we find less reasons to lie. In this article I want to break it down more and look at the fact that we all lie because that is who we were before we allowed God to enter into our life. So you might say that it is our old fashion and our old operating system. This is how the Bible puts it. In Colossians 3:8-10 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these:anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. So in our life before God entered we would lie to better ourself, it was the only way we could better ourselves. But as we mature and grow a deeper relationship with God we are losing and getting rid of the old operating system. The more we move into the new the less we need to lie. The new is better than the lies that we would make up to make us feel better about ourself. Think of it as getting continual updates for your life. The more time you spend getting to know God the more updates you get to your life. Things that were habits before don’t come in the new update, so you can walk away from them easily. So look at it this way as you trust God more you do what He says. You get busted by your parents for something that you were not suppose to do. Before you would lie to try to get out of it. But now as your life has been updated, you trust God and you own up to the thing you did. Your still busted but the way that you handle it is completely different. You are learning to put on your new self. You are growing with God into a person who does not need to lie! That’s awesome. ![]() So Many Lies Tell the Truth Always… Do you tell the truth, always tell the truth? That is a tough question for some people because of the word always. Always defines character and character defines who we are when we know that we won’t get caught. Character has also been defined like this. It is the person you are when you know that no one is looking. Which is true, but I think there is more truth in the statement it is who we are when we know we will not get caught. What do people lie about? Well that is easy everything, people lie about everything! But what about you? What do you lie about? After you answer that question the next thing to process is why do you lie about that? Here are the the top 10 Reasons people lie:
but he delights in men who are truthful. God really, really has a problem with lies. So what is it about lies or lying that attracts us to lie? I think when you look to the very root of a lie, it has a lot to do with how we feel about ourselves. It also has a lot to say about our relationship with God. We lie to change things or cover up things that we don’t like about ourselves. So the root is how do we see ourselves. How do you see yourself? Think about everything that you do, why do you do you do those things? What drives you to do them? It sounds complicated but really it is all rooted in how do you feel about yourself. If you were to define yourself what would you say about you? Would you lie in your definition, or could you define yourself with only the truth. Lying is a problem and if you have ever been lied to then you know first hand that it is not a good thing. So then why do we do it, and why do others do it. There is the top 10 list, but I think that it is a problem with how well do we like ourselves and how well do we like others for who they are. God delights in men who are truthful! God delights in people who know who they are happy with who they are. These people don’t need to lie. ![]() Are you going to be in a bad mood or a good mood? Believe it or not it is a decisions more than it is an emotion. We all have decisions to make every single day that we live. What we deiced can determine how we answer the first question. Good mood or bad mood? Yah you are probably still thinking that it is an emotion and not a decision. It’s okay I use to think the same way! But over time I learned that emotions are decisions just like everything else. Look at it this way if you will. If you are making good decisions about everything else in your life, then life can be pretty sweet. If you just started with good decisions and smart wise choices then everything else tends to work itself out pretty well! If I made good choices about what I eat, and how much I eat then my health is better and I make better decisions about everything else in my life. If I am making good decisions then when it comes time to deiced what mood I will be in then it is easy to make the decision to be in a good mood. Now today, well today there has not been one good decision that I have made. I am in a bad mood because I choose to be in a bad mood. It is that simple. Everything else in my life is not going good and so when it was time to deiced what mood I was going to be in I chose the mood that best fits with all of my other decisions. So our emotions can revolve around the decisions that we make, and they our emotions are decisions as well. What can we do? What can I do? Well of course make better decisions for starters and then I will have a better time with my mood. The Bible puts it this way. Galatians 6:7-9 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. That’s me today a person who has become weary in doing good. So I have made one mistake after another and it has caused me to choose to be in a bad mood. I must start following the first part of this verse and live from the Spirit and make good decisions. When I start doing this I will have a better chance at making the decision to be in a good mood. It starts and ends with God. I have to make decisions from His wisdom and from His Spirit and well lets face it I will choose to be in a good mood. ![]() How many decisions do you have to make every day? What do you allow to guide you in making those decisions? From the moment you wake up to the end of the day you might make around the 612 decisions a day. This equals to 4,900 decisions in a week and 254,800 in a year. That is a lot of decisions for sure! Whew, how do we go about making those decisions? For many of them we don’t really need a ton of wisdom to make the decision, like what to eat for breakfast, do you or do you not brush your teeth before you leave the house, what you will wear for the day. I mean some of these decisions just happen, because they are the same decisions that we make everyday. But there are those decisions that come to you at times, where you need wisdom on your side! You will need to put on your thinking cap and be ready to make the decision with all the right answers. Have you ever had one of those decisions come your way? The one that you need to think about, the one that tempts you, the one that puts peer pressure on you. You know the decisions that I am talking about they might not come your way everyday, but when they come, you need wisdom on your side. To have wisdom on your side you need to have a history using wisdom and having conversations with wisdom. The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom. The book of Proverbs is the book of wisdom in the Bible. But I think of the whole book as a conversation with God and that conversation leads me to be wise in the decisions that I have to make. The Bible says this about wisdom: James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Sign me up I lack wisdom every day for sure! God is so awesome, and so cool. He will give wisdom to anyone who ask and he will not try to find reasons to not give you wisdom he just gives it out. I mean God knows that if we have wisdom on our side then we will choose Him and will will go the way He longs for us to go. Wisdom can only steer us to make decisions that God will find pleasing. Making decisions that make God pleased is the key to a wonderful and worth living. So you don’t need any experience, you don’t need to be the best of the best you just have to ask the best of the betsy and God will grant you wisdom! ![]() Who do you say Jesus is? A simple question at the surface, but when you really think about it how would you answer this question. How we define Jesus says a lot about us and it will define you. So who do you say Jesus is? For most of us it is an answer that we have answered before, but for most of us we have many different answers. You see on any given day I could say that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, my King, my Best Friend, my Guide, my Comfort, and my Strength. You get the point. The only thing about my answer to this question is this it changes day by day and minute depending on my emotional state. Jesus and how I define Him too much of the time depends upon my emotional state. If I am happy and having a great day, Jesus is my Best Friend, if I am having a crappy day, well I my call Him my Savior, and well if I am getting into things that I know He would not approve of, well I just forget that I have any relationship with Him. Until conviction comes and then, He becomes my Lord. As crazy as it sounds I allow my emotional state which is never all that balanced to be the defining factor of who Jesus is. Jesus becomes the thing that I turn to depending on how my day, week, month, or year is going. The Bible says this about Jesus. Colossians 1:15-16 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. When you look at that description of Jesus it really seems silly that I would allow my emotions to be the thing that defines Jesus. If I took this section Colossians 1:13-23 and developed my answer of who is Jesus, I would have an answer that defines my emotions, and my life. Instead of my emotions and my life defining who I say Jesus is I would allow all that He is to define my emotions and life. I hope you can see the difference and why it is important. Take five minuets and read Colossians 1:13-23 and ask yourself who do you say Jesus is? When we define Jesus as the person that He is instead of what we need Him to be our lives will be a reflection of Him, instead of our emotional state. When we live with the proper view of Jesus we can live up to our full potential. What Make A Hero? " A hero has Friends Tight Friends" XGT Experience Lesson for the week...8/26/2013 ![]() Who do you share everything with, from the good times to the bad times. Who understands you and will put up with all the crap that you do? Who will listen and listen, wanting to hear all that is going on inside of you. Who can you spend time with and never speak a word. But still feel close to them? Your best friend, the one who you do everything with! We all need a close friend that we can spend time with and just be us with. We need someone who will watch our back and will call us out when we are not acting right. It is the deep friendships that we build our lives on. We all need that type of friend in our lives, and we all need to be investing into someone for our lives to be as awesome as they can be. Many people think that heroes run on their own without any support, but that is never the case, every hero has the running mate who walks with them in everything the good, bad and ugly. Having a friend who will stick by you through everything is one of the most awesome things that we can experience as we go through life! You are a hero, inside each of us there is a hero and we have to believe that at all cost! We need to bring the hero out and take on the world and live a life that is worth living. But we can not do that unless we have friends, tight friends around us. God’s word puts it this way in Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Wow did you catch that, a friend who sticks closer than a brother (or sister)! That is the type of friend that I want to be and that is the kind of friend i want around me. Let’s face it if we are going to be heroes we will need some support and there is no better support than a tight friend! What kind of friends do you have in your live? What kind of a friend are you to your friends? You supporting your friend can cause someone to become a hero! Jesus put it this way to his closest friends. In John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. We need to believe this and make it a point to have tight friendships so that we can support each other as we strive to be heroes. ![]() What is your vision and what is your goal? if you don’t know where you are going you most likely will never get there. In our discipline we have to have vision, and purpose. It is way cool to be a disciplined person, but if you are just disciplined and you don’t have a vision or a goal, well then why are you disciplined? Think about it like this, we have been talking a lot about your purpose in life, and the focus that the Gospel should play in your focus. Have you ever thought about the Gospel being the goal for your life? I want you to understand the Gospel is not just something that we share with other people but it is how we live. Our lives are suppose to be the Gospel lived out each day! If we are lacking discipline in our lives I can tell you from experience that it is impossible for you to live out the Gospel with your life! I have tried it and it only turns into a big mess. We have to stay connected to the source, to do that we must have discipline. Staying connected to the source and discipline go hand in hand. The source gives us power to do all the things that discipline sets us up to do! When we stay connected we live life out of the Spirit. Life by the Spirit is exactly what leads us to a disciplined life with vision. Check this out Galatians 5:16-18 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. I hope that makes sense to each and everyone of you, because there is a battle for us to live by the Spirit, and in that battle we have to know that it will take discipline to truly live out our purpose and to live out the Gospel each and every day. Why is this so important you might ask? Why should we seek to live out the Gospel? Because it is what you were made for. You will never live up to your fullest potential until you live out the Gospel everyday. It is a tall order and it cost a great deal, ` believe me it is worth it. Living a life with purpose, vision and a goal is the only way to live. Living life for what you were made for is the best adventure that you will ever have! So lets dig in and start this journey together! ![]() Want to be a hero? Want to press on and fight on! Do you want to finish the race and see the finish line! If you do then that is great! Let me introduce you to your new best friend, Discipline is his name. It is a character trait that every hero needs so that they might finish the race! Discipline keeps us on track and keeps us focused on the end goal that is before us. Think about it this way, have you ever had so many things going on that you lost track of all the things that were going on. You did not know what you needed to do and life just seemed a little crazy? Chances are you did not have discipline as a friend during that moment of you life. Dictionary.com defines discipline this way: 1. training to act in accordance with rules; drill: military discipline. 2. activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training. Discipline keeps you on target and on track with the things that you have going on in your life! What are your disciplines? What are the things that you do every day no matter what. It is just what you do, no matter what. These things are the starting point of discipline. From there we need to add things that are tied directly to your end goal, and help you develop the skills you need for your end goal. The book of Hebrews 12: 1-2 puts it this way: It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running-- and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus. In our race we need discipline to keep running! We need focus to stay the course. We need to strip down and get rid of anything that does not allow our eyes to stay focused on Jesus. We need to press into Him. Without discipline we quickly believe that we are doing great and we believe that we have everything under control, but it is only an illusion. Before we know it we have junk hanging on us thoughts that slow us down. We are not running as fast as we could be running, we are only walking and we think we are running. Discipline allows us to stay focused and in tune with all that is before us. Before we know it we are fat with stuff that we think brings us closer to God, but really it is just wasted time, and we allow stupid sin to hang onto us. Discipline makes us the heroes that we all long to be because everyday is used to run the race and to fight for the kingdom! What are your disciplines? How fast are you running? |
Cover Articles from Extreme Faith MagazineWritten and Posted by The XGT Experience Team of leaders Archives
October 2015
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