MISSIONS UPDATE: Yesterday the Missions team purchased groceries, cleaning supplies, and hygienic supplies for the Roseau Infirmary (a home for the elderly with about 92 residents), the Grotto (a home for the homeless), and to create bags for the elderly and children in Bense and Paixbouche.
Here is a link to some of the pictures from yesterday: https://goo.gl/KynCwx.
A special thanks, once again, to all our partners and supporters. To those who would like to donate, please do so via: http://ripministries.org/donate.
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Missions page on the website: http://ripministries.org/missions/missions.
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Now let’s get into the Word.
This morning we continue our series entitled, “Refined Focus”, by continuing with our new mini-series entitled, “Focusing on Dying To Self”. Yesterday I shared with you several scriptures that drove home the fact that God lives INSIDE of you. I won’t go through all of them today, but I will circle back on one.
Jesus said, “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 14:19, 20).
So what does this mean to you today? I will discuss this verse under the theme: “From salvation to evangelism”.
- Salvation is about receiving Jesus as Lord and then accepting the fact that you are IN Christ. Evangelism is about accepting the fact that you are forgiven of sin and embracing the reality that Christ is IN YOU!
- Once you know you are IN Christ you know you are not going to hell. Once you know Christ is IN YOU, you are in position to make a difference in the earth. Not by your power, but by His grace. Not by trying, but by dying to self and allowing Christ to live through you.
- Jesus did not just die so you could have “fire insurance”. Once you are Born-Again and you know you are not going to hell, what are you doing to do with the remainder of your life? Your goal should be to decrease, so Christ can increase IN, WITH and THROUGH you!
- The power of God comes TO you in salvation, but it flow THROUGH you in evangelism.
- If all God wanted for you was salvation, and you have already accepted Jesus as Lord, then you would have died already and gone on to heaven. If you are still living, if air is still flowing through your lungs, if blood is still flowing through your veins, it is because God is not through with you. Your assignment is not complete. Your purpose is not fulfilled. Your potential is not tapped. You are still in the earth because God wants to use you to leave a mark in this world. The only way to do it is by dying to self. As you die He will live. As you yield, He will flow. As You cooperate, He will operate. As You decrease, He will increase in and through you. Here’s the big question: will you allow God to work through you? If you will, you will experience a life of NO LIMITS, because there is nothing God cannot do!
Closing Confession: Father, this is a season of refined focus for me. I bring my life into focus in 2016 by dying to self. You saved me from sin, hell and the grave. You delivered me from the power and the fear of death. When my body dies, I will not die. I will simply MOVE from earth to glory, from time to eternity, from mortal to immortality. So since my salvation is secure in Christ, my focus now is evangelism. I am IN Christ, but Christ is also IN ME! Me being IN Christ was for me. Christ being IN ME is for others. I live my life with a focus on dying to self and allowing Christ to live through me. The world will see Jesus IN me, because I yield to You Father every day. I will not die because I am sick. I will not die because I am old. I will not die because of some freak accident. I will only die when I’m done; when Your assignment for my life is complete! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
