Don't miss Carmine!

If you know, Carmine then you know not to miss a chance to hear this man of God speak! Well, he is speaking to our group this Thursday night. Come and be blessed!

August 13: Let's keep each other sharp!

Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

This verse really has two different messages to give us.

1) We have the ability to sharpen each other. We can encourage one another. We can keep each other accountable. We can also admonish each other when we start moving away from the spiritual goals that we aspire to. When God gives us the ability to do something, we should really see it as a responsibility to do something. It is our responsibility to keep each other sharp.

2) If iron sharpens iron, then iron can dull iron as well. If two blades strike each other they will dull. Keep in mind: One of the best ways to stay sharp is to have a partner you can go to when you need encouragement, prayer, and help. Someone who you can help to stay accountable, and who can to keep you accountable as well.

First Week: What is coming out of your mouth?

When something goes wrong, what is the first thing that comes out of your mouth? When problems happen, the first thing we say is like a knee-jerk reaction. I often find myself saying, “Ah Crap!”, or “FAIL-Chuck”, or “I am so finished” ... and it gets much more colorful from there. When you find yourself in an ugly situation, do your first words define your defeat, or display your faith?

When I was in elementary school I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain with a few friends from school. Three of us paid to go on a ride called Dive Devil. (They have it at most amusement parks.) They strap you and two friends into a harness which is tethered to a tall archway. You are then lifted to a secondary structure, where you are released to dive, then swing through the arches. As a sixth grader, it was terrifying. Everyone on the ground knew how terrified I was as I flew above the crowd, screaming, in one long breath, something obscene. Had my mother been there, she would have been mortified and very angry! Now, as a child I never cussed. But that was my knee-jerk reaction. I wondered for a long time where it came from. The bible gives a good explanation for this...

So this passage explains that whatever we have allowed into our hearts will eventually come out. So we can try to be super church-y, and on our best behavior in front of others, but it doesn’t matter because when trouble comes and we need to rely on our faith, the first thing to come out of us is defeat

Let me give you one more example: It comes from a rather long story so I’ll cut-to-the-chase. One night, I was with some friends in a place I shouldn't have been, acting like an idiot. I found myself in an extremely frightening situation. Upon being startled by a demonic presence, the first thing to come out of my mouth was. “Jesus!” It was at that moment the presence was gone. The Bible tells us why this happened.

So it is what is in our hearts that comes out of our mouths, and what comes out of our mouths makes a big difference. So how do we change what’s in our hearts? We read God's Word, we focus on the things of God, we get into worship, and we spend time in prayer. If we can fill our hearts with God’s Word, then our knee-jerk reactions will be words of faith, strength, and power.