What is first

What one thing would you ask of God if you knew absolutely that it would not be refused?  Would it be to save your marriage? To grant you a job? for healing for yourself or a family or friend? Perhaps you would want to be rich, to the gift of prophesy or healing etc... One of my favorite stories in the bible is King Solomon and his desire to for fill the perfect will of God. "Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours" (I Kings 3:9)?
Solomon was asking for wisdom to be a good king. The Bible says; "The speech pleased the Lord was because Solomon was seeking to find the heart of God ?  Have you ever thought about what our heavenly Father wants from you?  Are you like the rich man who was focused on building up treasure here on earth and never had time  for God's will in his life, when he stands before the Lord and our Father as him to give an account of what he did for God, shall the rich man speak of his building and wealth?  If you were standing before the Lord what would you say, that you have done for him?  Would he tell you depart from me for I knew you not.  Let us seek his heart, let us, "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).

Which Jesus do you serve

Yes your right this one is a repeat and it I will continue to repeat this till i know that each of us has answered this question for ourselves. This for me is probably the most important question that  I could ever answer for myself.  Father help me to be a earthly representation of Christ my Lord and Savior, I want to be more like Jesus and less like me. I want to ready willing to lay my life down for my wife as Christ did for the Church, not for just for a bullet but daily that she would know that I love her like Christ loved the church. I want to love my children like Christ love the little one's. I want to be a true brother to my brothers, by putting them first and even be willing to be servant to them. As Christ washed the feet of his disciples. That is the Jesus I want to serve what about you!!!!

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

 The call to imitate God is a call to separate ourselves from the world though we may be in but not of it  (Ephesians 4:17-19) and how we have been made new (Ephesians 4:20-24) and then gave us specific ways to do that (Ephesians4:25-32).

Our call is to live with the same love that Christ has demonstrated.  Jesus laying down his life for us, was first of all an expression of his love for his Father. Jesus did it, not only because of his love for us, but because first of all he loved the Father and this was  the Father’s will. This ‘life of love’ is not to be something we do to make ourselves feel good or appear good, it is to come out of and be an expression of our love for God Himself.  When John says, “We love because he first loved us,” (1 John 4:19). The first thing we need to do in the Christian life is become utterly convinced of God’s love.

On Sunday they raise their hands to heaven and declare that it is Jesus that they serve.
Then why do we look so much like the world?
Did you know that the wheat and the tare, the world can't tell which is which and quite frankly neither can I. So I pose the question again, which Jesus do you serve?

My Savior bleed and suffered and died and rose again for a sinner like me. My Savior, was a friend to friendless, He remembers the forgotten ones among us, Which Jesus do you follow?
 Which Jesus do you serve?
Is it this picture of the American dream that you chase after? Is the prince of this world who you serve or did you miss that part when you decided you want fortune and power?
If Jesus was here would you walk right by him or cross over to the other side of the street?
Would you even recognize him or have time to speak to him?
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a white complexion Michael Angelo version of Jesus ,is that the Jesus you serve? My Savior was battered and bruised for my sins, did you miss that part? Sometimes I ponder do we really understand what the price he paid for us?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they understand and they know My Savior. So which Jesus do we serve. is it the one whom we pray to bless us with great wealth? Or the Jesus who said
blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness?
 So who do you serve? The one whose promises are like shifting sand?
Marine says it God , then country and the marine Corp, what comes first for you?
My Jesus would he be accepted in your churches today? All bloody and bruised with no shoes on his feet, would we want him sitting next to us?  He was not rich he didn't have a pillow to lay his head upon. Today my Jesus would look like a homeless man or perhaps we would see him  as mentally insane.
He spent His time with criminals and those that are considered the least among us. Did you know he had a heart for the poor, so which place would  He come to eat Sabbath meal at your house or among those that were forgotten by society?
Its time we decide which Jesus do we serve but I'm not sure we understand what that means to be like Christ,
Jesus said to live like HIM, love like HIM but then does that mean we must be willing to die for HIM as he died for you and I???
Can we be Imitators of Christ? Can we live like our Savior?  Which one do you want to be ? I turned on the TV set today and heard a man preaching Jesus wants to make you rich and that he never intended for us to be poor.  Is that the Jesus your seeking??? Heard a pastor say that his Jesus says that we should never be sad. Yet my Jesus wept when heard his good friend was dead. So which Jesus do you serve?  I know that I want to be more like my Savior and less like me.  I want to be an imitator of my Savior what about you????

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." (Isaiah 32:17)

 According to our text, this "assurance for ever," together with true peace of soul and quietness of spirit, are products of the "work of righteousness."

The New Testament exposition of genuine righteousness makes it clear that we who have received Christ's work of righteousness by faith have been made the righteousness of God in him . To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Thus, salvation is the priceless possession of those to whom Christ's work of righteousness has been imputed, through faith. On the other hand, the assurance of salvation, accompanied by quietness and peace of heart, is "experienced" only by saved believers who practice the work of righteousness in their daily walk with the Lord. If we truly have salvation, then we ought to manifest the "things that accompany salvation.

"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." (John 15:11)

The word "fun" is never mentioned in the Bible, and "entertain" is used only in reference to being hospitable. Such activities as "reveling" and "playing" receive nothing except condemnation in the Scriptures (with the exception of little children at play).

Yet there is growing emphasis today in many churches and parachurch organizations on providing "entertainment" and "fun times" for their members--especially for teenagers and young adults. This is the way to reach them and keep them for the Lord, so they say. Perhaps so, but one wonders why neither the Lord nor the apostles nor the prophets ever told us so. Is this a program kept in reserve by the Lord just for the young people of this generation?

Actually, Christians can have something far better, more effective, and more lasting than fun and entertainment. In Christ, they can have heavenly joy! "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine," the Bible says, where the word for "merry" is more commonly translated as "joyful" or "rejoicing."

While the Bible never mentions "fun," it has many references to "joy" and "rejoicing." Here are just a few. "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts"

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." (Philippians 4:11)

The English word "content" can bring up thoughts of indifference and mild temperament. Modern usage tends to give "content" a negative connotation, as though such an attitude has little ambition or drive.

Not so of the Greek term that the Holy Spirit chose for this passage. It is composed of the pronoun for "self" and the noun for "sufficiency." Both in Scripture and in secular Greek literature, the word demands an ability to conquer whatever circumstances that may oppose one's purpose or goal and to continue through in spite of difficulties.

The context of our text is a prime example. Paul had experienced hunger and satisfaction. He knew what it meant to be obscure and to be a celebrity. There were times when he had more than enough resources to accomplish what he understood God had called him to do, and other times when resources were very scarce. In whatever state he found himself, Paul had learned to be self-sufficient.

Our problem is that we often are looking only at the physical and circumstantial issues and have not learned that our Lord Jesus provides grace that "is sufficient for thee

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." (Hebrews 10:19)

In the ancient tabernacle only the High Priest was allowed to enter the "holy of holies" to commune with God, and that only once a year, on the great day of atonement. This most holy place was separated from the rest by a very heavy veil. When Christ died, however, as the one final and perfect sacrifice, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom".

This miraculous rending of the veil was intended by the Lord to symbolize the wonderful truth that we now have open access to come into the very presence of God, "By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh". Thus, as our text says, we no longer must go by way of priests and sacrifices to come to God. We can enter directly "into the holiest by the blood of Jesus."

Because of what Christ has done for us, we can come boldly (not arrogantly or presumptuously, however) into God's presence in prayer. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need"

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9)

The term "Godhead" occurs three times in the King James translation. Each time it translates a slightly different Greek noun, all being slight modifications of the Greek word for "God" (theos, from which we derive such English words as "theology"). It essentially means the nature, or "structure," of God, as He has revealed Himself in His Word.

We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. Men have been guilty throughout the ages of trying to model" the Godhead, but this leads quickly to idolatry, whether that model is a graven image of wood or stone or a philosophical construct of the human mind.

What man cannot do, however, God has done, in the very structure of His creation. "The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. His tri-universe (space, matter, and time, with each component unique in definition and function, yet permeating and comprising the whole) perfectly "models" His triune nature (Father, Son, Holy Spirit--each distinct, yet each the whole).

This analogy can be carried much further, for this remarkable triunity pervades all reality. The tri-universe is not God (that would be pantheism), but it does clearly reflect and reveal the triune nature of His Godhead.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13)

This little verse gets quoted out of context a lot. It is used to justify bizzare plans and dreams, as well as to suggest that every Christian should be rich and healthly all the time. Not only are such applications without any support in Scripture, they are completely out of the context of this passage.

In the previous verses, Paul lists a variety of circumstances that he had faced, from proverty to wealth, learning to be "content" in each of these developments. Then he notes that he "can do all things" through the strength that the Lord provides during conflicting circumstances.

The "do" of this text is the prevailing of the power of God in which and by which we minister. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament.

The early church experienced a stunning growth in converts as it preached and testified of the resurrected Christ. This result, however, is due to the fact that the Word of God grew "mightily .

Our fight is not a physical one. We wrestle against the great spiritual powers of wickedness that have their source in the heavenlies.

"But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." (Luke 19:14)

In this parable, the nobleman who had gone into a far country to receive his kingdom is a picture of Christ in the interim between His first and second comings. The "citizens" of His kingdom, however, refuse His Kingship. Nevertheless, He is the King, and when He returns, those "enemies, which would not that I should reign over them" (v. 27) will be slain. How much better to accept Him now!

The first title ascribed to Him was King of the Jews. Long before that, however, He was King of creation. "For God is the King of all the earth, a great King above all gods.The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land..

He is also King of redemption, providing salvation for the world He created. For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. The Father hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

He is not only King of all the worlds, but also King of all the ages.

"And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." (Genesis 7:12)

There are nine forty-day periods in Scripture, but on only five of these the notation "and forty nights" is added. On the other four occasions (the spies in Canaan, Goliath's challenges, Jonah in Nineveh, and the post-resurrection ministry of Christ) we can assume that the activity ceased at night. But on these five it continued unabated.

The first of these was the great Flood. The most intense rains ever experienced on the earth poured torrentially, night and day. One can visualize the stress-filled nights for Noah's family, with the cries of the dying outside, and no light of the sun or moon to pierce the outer darkness. But, of course, they were all safe in God's specially designed Ark.

Many years later, Moses twice spent forty days and forty nights in the awful presence of God on Mount Sinai, receiving the divinely-inscribed tablets, with the Ten Commandments and all the laws of God. The mountain was intermittently quaking and breathing fire and smoke while he was there, and the nights were surely more awesome even than the days, but God was there!

Elijah spent forty days and forty nights traveling back from Beersheba to Sinai, even though this relatively short journey would not normally require forty days. Evidently Elijah experienced great hardships and obstacles along the way and many sleepless nights, but God met him again at Sinai, and it was worth it all.