BE;OVED: GODS SPIRITUAL GOALS FOR YOUR LIFE (More than anything God wants close fellowship with you, to have you join Him in His kingdom work, and to make you the very best you can be - like Jesus.) 1. INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM: - Jesus is your 1st Love, your 1st Priority, your Lord, and your best friend - I Cor. 1:9 , Matthew 6:33 , Proverbs 21:21 , John 15:4-15, Revelation 2:1-4 2. COMPLETELY ONE WITH HIM: - You want and submit to His will , His plans, His priorities, His purposes, His timing,... - Luke 9:23, Luke 22:42 , John 14:21-24 , John 17:9-11, 20-23; Galatians 2:20 3. TRANSFORM YOU TO BE LIKE JESUS: - His character, His holiness and purity, His love & devotion for God, His love for people, and His desire to seek & save the lost, His peace & joy & patience & kindness & goodness & faithfulness & gentleness & self-control,... - Matthew 28:18-20 , Romans 12:1-2 , Romans 8:17-18, 28-29 , 2 Corinthians 3:18 , Galatians 5:22-25 TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS & INTIMACY WITH GOD (The tools that God will use in your life to reach His desired goals for you) 1. GODS WORD (A LOVE LETTER FROM GOD): - All Scripture is God-breathed (inspired by God) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (how to have an intimate right relationship with God), so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (be fruitful for God and His kingdom). - 2 Timothy 3:16-17 2. GODS DISCIPLINE - PUNISHMENT: - The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done - they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen (to Gods Word) or respond to discipline... (Israel was eventually conquered by the Babylonians as a result, but God eventually brought them back to Him) - Jeremiah 32:32-42 - My son, do not make light of the Lords discipline and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline: God is treating you as sons. ... God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. - Hebrews 12:5-11 - Deuteronomy 8:2-5 , John 15:1-2a 3. GODS DISCIPLINE - PURIFYING, MOLDING, RESHAPING, PRUNING: (Examples: Joseph - 13 years ; David - 17 years ; Abraham - 25 years; Moses - 40 years) (Each went through years of training and purifying and molding by God, often by trials and hardship, until they became the men of God that God had in mind) - Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. - I Peter 4:1-2 - Psalm 66:8-12 , Malachi 3:2-3 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete (like Christ), not lacking anything. - James 1:1-4 - I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ... while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful. - John 15:1,2b
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 08:35:02 +0000
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