Lord take me back, back to the beginning, when I was young, running through the fields with you…
“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:1-5)
I read Paul’s lament and heart breaking for his fellow Israelites who do not believe in Jesus as their Lord and have not received the salvation of His grace. Paul says he has, “great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart” (v.2) over his friends, neighbors, and the people in his community both that he knows personally and does not know who have not heard the Gospel, do not love Jesus, and will enter into an eternity absent from Christ. His heart breaking for, and love of the lost is what drives his ministry, orders his day, and is the motivation for his mission journeys to the Gentiles, the people who do not know Jesus. He is a missionary, and the definition I use for a missionary is a “A person who is willing to sacrifice everything except the Gospel, for the sake of the Gospel.”
When you and I accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and entered into salvation through and in His death and resurrection, we also were made missionaries. You and I were called to be a person who is willing to sacrifice everything except the Gospel for the sake of the Gospel. The word “missionary” is not even in the Bible. That is because all the authors who wrote all the books and letter contained in the New Testament assumed and intended “missionary” and “disciple” to be one and the same. Jesus said, “Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” (John 17:18). Christians are to be “sent ones” and “church” was designed to be a movement, not a location.
To claim you are a Christian is to claim you are a missionary. So when was the last time you grieved over your friends and co-workers that do not know Jesus? Can you remember the last time your heart ached over those in your community, those you know and those you do not know who are absent from Christ? Can you think of the last time you woke up with your heart breaking for the lost, planned your day and walked out of your door with reaching the lost with the Gospel as your main agenda for that day? You calendar for July is filled with reminders of important meetings, appointments and events for the month. How many days of the month do you have”share the Gospel” as the main event for that day? When was the last time you lived into your call to be a person who is willing to sacrifice everything except the Gospel for the sake of the Gospel? This is what we are called to do! This is what we were saved for! This is at the heart of calling ourselves a Christian. This is why Jesus birthed The Church.
Lord have mercy, Christ hove mercy, Lord have mercy.
We are challenged with re-launching our ministries and the ministries of our churches into being relevant outposts of the Kingdom of God in our communities.. We are called to drawing people back into the church, not so we can count them in our pewes, but so we can disciple them and send them back out as disciples, missionaries into thier communities, places of work, and schools. We will not succeed in this challenge unless we are prepared ourselves to recommit our purpose as Christians and conform our lives to imitate The Greatest Missionary, Jesus the Christ.
My family, I pray you will pray and ask the Holy Spirit to instill in you a heart that grieves and breaks for the lost, which is a heart after Jesus.’ I pray you will accept your call and responsibility, as one who was lost and saved by the grace of Jesus, to share the saving grace of Jesus with those who are lost. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and every moment of my day. ...
This morning I’m reflecting on the goodness of God and the closeness of His amazing love for me as Paul describes in Romans Chapter 8. Listen to The Message Version:
“So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us--who was raised to life for us!--is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us” (Romans 8:31-39 MSG).
Yes, Lord. With God on our side, how can we lose! “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” (Romans 8:37).
And that gives me courage. That gives me confidence. That fills my heart with joy, fills my eyes with tears, fills my heart with love, and fills my mouth with praise! In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My Family,, I pray you may be filled with love in your heart, tears of joy in your eyes, and the praises of God in your mouth, as you know God’s powerful, unending, unimagiginable love for you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the Comments Box below..
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. In our morning communion of prayer, let my spirit arise and soar into the heavenly realm of Your Presence. ...
"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.... But (we) are not in the flesh; (we) are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in (us)" (Romans 8:5-6).
You set before me the choice of life and peace every day. I can have it or not. In the freedom You allow in the sovereignty of Your will, You let me choose this day who I will serve and how I will live. And what determines the destiny of my day is my choice of where I will set my mind. According to Your Word, "to set (my) mind on the flesh is death, but to set (my) mind on the Spirit is life and peace" (v. 6).
So to have my days full of the life and peace You desire for me, I need to know how to "set (my) mind on the Spirit." In a way, it is the most important choice I'll make all day. And in the same way, it should be the first choice I make all day. Just as importantly, it should be a choice I keep making throughout the moments and all the decisions of my day.
So, Lord, teach me how to "set (my) mind on the Spirit." Show me how to do it; show me what it looks like. What does it really mean to "set (my) mind on the Spirit?"
As I listen in my heart and wait for Your leading, it seems I hear You saying: "My son, I am the Spirit of God within you. I am the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of the Living God, living in you. To set your mind on the Spirit is to set your mind on Me -- to seek first My kingdom and My righteousness, to give Me first place in your life, to allow Me to shape your thoughts and your desires as you choose to allow Me to guide your steps throughout the moments of your day. It is not an accidental attitude that just “happens” because you call yourself a Christian. It is not an attitude of passivity or complacency. It is an active attitude that flows out of a conscious choice, a deliberate decision to seek Me first and trust Me always with the leading and Lordship of your life -- each moment by moment and choice by choice in your life by the power of My grace."
My reply to you Lord is, “Yes, Lord. Let it be so, as You have said. By the power of Your grace, give me this attitude, give me the intentionality, give me the persistence, give me this desire -- the desire and the power to live my life in Your Spirit -- by seeking and setting my mind every moment by moment and choice by choice, every day of my life in Your Spirit. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray that by the power of the grace of God you will intentionally set aside time, consciously choose and deliberately decide this morning to set your mind on the Spirit and live your life in the Spirit today and every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!
Good morning Lord Jesus, kindle in me this morning the fire of your love…
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires.” (Romans 7:7-8)
Suppose you were having trouble breathing and are feeling so you go to a doctor. After examining you the doctor say’s he wants to test you for cancer. So he sends you to have a CAT Scan and other tests. The images of your lungs show you do have cancer tumors in your lungs. They do a biopsy of them and the tests come back it is cancer. The doctor calls you into his office to share with you the findings. He takes time to show you the images from the CAT scan and biopsy results. When he finishes he asks if you have Any questions. You tell him, I do not believe it. I do not the cancer, the machine that took the images is defective and is wrong and not reliable.
So you go to another doctor for a second opinion. They do the same imaging and tests that again show you have cancer. At the consultation, you again deny you have cancer, and claim the machine is wrong and un-reliable. So you go to doctor after doctor until you finally find some so called “doctor” who tells you, you do not have cancer. You listen to them, and instead of getting treatment, the cancer is slowly killing you.
Romans 7 speaks into this. Except the “cancer” in your is sin, the doctor is a faithful man or woman of God, and the CAT scan machine is The Word of God in your Bible. A person knows in their heart they are “sick.” Their heart is not right, their life is a struggle, they are depressed, have anxiety, and suffering from symptoms of the consequences of their sin. So they seek out consultation and advice from a Cristian friend or pastor. They sit them down and speak the truth of God found in scripture into their life and reveal their sin. The instead of admitting their sin, confessing, repenting, and beginning to heal, tells their friend, they do not believe they are sinning. That the Word of God in The Bible is wrong, unreliable, inaccurate, and outdated. So they seek out another Christian friend/pastor who again speaks the same truth of God over the sin in their life, and they again deny they are sinning, and claim it is the Bible that is wrong and inaccurate. So they keep seeking consultation and advice from others until he finds a “Christian” friend or pasture that tells them their actions, life style and choices, attitudes, or beliefs are not a sin, and they listen to them. And they continue on sick in their sin, living in the consequences of their sin.
Before you say “amen” and let your mind think of the spec in the eyes of others, remember the plank that is in yours. We Christians do this to different extents as well. We tell ourselves when we are dishonest filling out our taxes, when we are cohabitating with a member of the opposite sex outside of marriage, when we enter into gossip about someone, when we refrain from gathering with others in the body of Christ regularly, when we are hurtful in our political stances, when are attitudes towards our spouses or children is not one of humility. We claim that the truth of the Word of God does is inaccurate or does not really apply to “our sin.”
My family, before the Holy Spirit can be the Holy Comforter to you, He is always the Holy Confronter of your sin. I pray you will allow the Holy Spirit scan your life today with the truth of God’s Word to reveal areas in which sin is making you sick and preventing you to live a full healthy life, then honestly claim it, repent from it, and let God heal and restore you to health, by and in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Givs A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I surrender to Your name and Your nature. Come have Your way in me this day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
"What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves to sin have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness" (Romans 6:15-18).
I'm no longer a slave to sin. You've broken those chains and opened those bars to set me free. "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). It's not that I no longer sin anymore -- sadly, I still may miss the mark -- but it's that no I longer have to be in bondage to it, enslaved by it, bound up, locked up and left for dead in the dark of it. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set (me) free from the law of sin and death!" (Romans 8:2)
The word “odeience” is found 3 times in the passage above. That is because my freedom comes out of my obedience to Jesus and His teachings, those that are found in our Bibles. James 1:22 tell’s us, ‘But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves..” So Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, set me free to be obedient to You "from the heart" because You've changed my heart. It' not "from my head" or "from my will-power" or "from my trying so hard with all my might not to do the things I really wish I could do and get away with it if You weren't always with me." No, it's "from the heart." You've created in me a clean heart and renewed a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). And every day I keep opening my heart to You, You keep creating in me a clean heart and renewing a right spirit within me (Philippians 1:6).
Now every day, I'm free to live in obedience for righteousness instead of sinfulness -- not because You're making me do it but because I want to do it -- "from the heart." Your Spirit at work within me is giving me Your right desires to live in the might of Your power "from the heart" You've given me.
Jesus You know my heart. I know I have a long way to go. But I know I'm on the journey, as You keep changing my heart and my desires. As it turns out, the freedom You've given me to join with You on this journey of obedience is a very joyful journey. As You said long ago: "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. I have said these things to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:10-11). This is my joyful journey of obedience in You "from the heart" You've given me and keep giving me every step along the way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, as you walk out your door and begin the journey of another week, I pray you're filled with joy on your journey of obedience with Jesus, living from the clean heart and right spirit the Lord has created I you and is renewing in you every step along the way, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please take a 5 minutes now to listen to this song, “No Longer Slaves.” . When the song is over offer up to Jesus any sin in your life you want released from and burned to ashes.
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Givs A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Release the authority of Your name on my lips and grow the authenticity of Your character in my heart. Make me more like You today.
"Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.... We know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.... So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God" (Romans 5:1-11).
I'm made right in Your sight! I'm set free to be more like You! I'm a friend of the God who's a friend of sinners like me! I'm filled with the Spirit of the God who fills me with His love! I'm privileged to stand in the place of underserved privilege that I could never earn and that can never be taken away. And every day, I'm joyfully looking forward to embracing all You have for me because of all You are to me and all You've done for me.
My family, As we close out the work week and move into the weekend, I pray as things slow down you will spend time to reflect on, fully embrace, and live into the fullness of your inheritance as a child of God, joyfully embracing all the Lord has planned for you in your life and become deeply confident of the truth that you've been made right in God's sight, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Givs A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning Jesus, I begin my day resting in my faith of the hope and grace you have in place for me today.
“In hope against hope he believed… with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:18-25)
Scriptures tell us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrew 11:1). Faith in God and in our salvation from God through Jesus Christ is in itself a gift of God to us by His grace that flows from the throne room of God and covers us in the blood of Jesus. The righteousness, justification, sanctification and salvation made available to us when we received Christ initially into our lives and every day of our life since then including today is a complete gift from God we receive through faith in Jesus Christ.
So stop worrying yourself to DEATH if you are following or doing the right religious things, following the right church laws , customs, preferences or traditions made by man. Stop KILLING yourself by trying to “be good enough”, jump through the right “hoops”, gain or prove your salvation or righteousness through striving and working to earn these yourself. In Jesus, The Death, the Killing, the dying has already been done! “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:8-10)
By faith I know Jesus, God’s Son, was made flesh and He lived, and died for our salvation, rose again, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of the Father. By faith I know that the Holy Spirit is the giver of all spiritual life; of righteousness, peace, and joy to all of us. And in the Holy Spirit we receive holiness and happiness, by being restored into the image of God in which we are created. And for all of these things, faith is the evidence, the sole evidence to all the children of men.
If our salvation and entering into eternal life with God was based on doing the most simplest work, like lifting the lightest feather of a hummingbird over your head. Or If our righteousness before God was decided on being able to complete the simplest task like adding zero plus zero successfully, that would mean some of people would not be saved. Praise God that salvation is by faith, so that the child next door here in Huntsville Alabama, and the child in the middle of the devastation in the Ukraine are on equal ground before God, and when they fall their knees and call out the name of Jesus, they will be saved.
My family, I pray today you will simply sit quietly and as a child affirm your faith in Jesus as your Lord, and rest like a child in the arms of your Father, and receive as a child the love and joy of the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul wrote this chapter and what he would want you to do, In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections of Romans chapter 3 with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!
PLEASE GIVE TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Good morning Lord Jesus, I set aside this time this morning to listen to the plans you set for me today.
“For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.…Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded! By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith! For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3: 22,23,27)
When Paul states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” what does he mean? Wait for it…Wait for it…..he means ALL, every last human being on earth that ever existed, exists now, or will ever exist, including you and I! None of us in our flesh apart from the faith we receive from and in Christ is “higher up” or “better” than anyone else. We all have sinned and fallen. Those who call themselves Christians and live a “good” life in themselves are no better than an addict, prostitute, gang member, Craigs List scammer, child or wife abuser or fill the the blank with any other term we have for sinner.
There are 365 days in a year. Say you are a “good” person who for this sake of argument only sins the almost impossible small amount of 2-3 times a day. ( I say almost impossible as sin, is disobeying God, or missing the mark. Missing the mark by active sin; doing something you know you are not to do; or the omission sin; not doing what you know you should do. Like knowing a co-worker needs Jesus and you should share Jesus with them but you walk by him in the office and remain silent. You missed the mark.) By only sinning 2-3 time a day that would add up to approximately 1,000 times a year. Say then you live to be 80 years and you die. Standing before Jesus and all the saints are you going to raise your hands and being proudful shout “80,000 Baby! That’s right! In your face! I only sinned 80,000 times! What do you think about that Jesus! No, you would fall on your knees before Him and boast only in Him and for his grace and mercy in your salvation. Whether your number of sins is 80K, 500K, or a million or more, all have fallen short and have no place to boast.
All of us have sin tainting us. Say you were making two pans of brownies. You have on your counter two bowls of brownies batter for the two pans of brownies. You walk outside along your side walk and find an average piece of dog crap and you put it in one of the bowls of batter and blend it in. You then go back outside again, walk along the side walk and find a larger pile of fresh, warm dog crap. You bring it into the house, put it in the second bowl of batter and blend it in. You then pour the batters into the two pans and bake them. When the brownies are done, do you eat, share and enjoy the first pan because it only has an average amount of dog crap in it? No! Dog crap tainted brownies is dog crap tainted brownies no matter the size, texture, or freshness of the dog crap you put in them. All have fallen short.
And also whether you made $20k, $50k, $100k, $250k or more a year; the title of your job; the size and number of houses you own; cars you drive; the toys, cloths and other items you own will mean absolutely nothing and be worthless to boast about when you stand before Jesus. He will simply ask how generous were you with whatever wealth you had. (Read Mark 12:41-44). All have fallen short.
This also means that all are on level ground before the cross and all have equal access to the love and grace of Jesus. The house wife in Madison, Al and a prostitute in New York city; or the child raised in a “good” Christian home in Huntsville Al and the child born to a mother in ISIS in Damascus, Syria, when they fall on their knees and cry out for Jesus they will be received equally and with the same amount of rejoicing in heaven.
My family, I pray today you will reflect on the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, including you. I pray that you will reflect with extreme gratitude on the undeserved gift of grace, mercy, and forgiveness you have received through the cross. I pray then you walk out your door into today that is also a gift with complete gratitude in your heart and be generous and share with other this gift you have received, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections of Romans chapter 3 with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!
PLEASE GIVE TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Good morning Jesus, Lord I need you, I simply and complete need you.
“on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:16)
The most important first step in trying to improve, grow, and move forward in the future is an accurate assessment of the present. Romans 2 is a tool to use to help you accurately assess you walk as a Christian and obedience as a disciple of Jesus. It opens a mirror to the actual level of your faith and obedience, that you know to be true and God knows to be true as well.
Read through Romans Chapter 2.. Then read through it again slowly internalizing every word. From verse 17 unit the end of the chapter replace the word “Jew” with the word “Christian” as you read it. Read it through as many times as needed.
My family, I pray today’s reading will lead you to honest assessment of you walk with Christ; where you are being honest and where you are being fake; where you are being true-full to your self and others and where you are outright lying to yourself and others. Then in the Holy Spirit and before God openly and honestly confess where you are being fake and lying, and ask for real forgiveness and grace from our God who never lies. I pray you will ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to ask for forgiveness of others where needed, and the strength to turn from things you are doing that others do not see yet you know are not right in the sight of God and begin walking in honest obedience with Jesus, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!
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Good morning Lord Jesus, I seek your Spirit inside me to guide me throughout my day..
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “ But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)
I saw a documentary on The Church in China and how it is spreading like fire. The interviewer asked, a couple small house church leaders why they think it is spreading? One Chinese woman replied, “When we were being persecuted for our faith, our persecutors forbid the mention or sharing of the name of Jesus or the spreading of his Gospel. Now that we can share it, if we do not share it everyday, the days we don’t share Jesus's name we partner with those that persecuted us. The days we do not share the name of Jesus we are like those persecutors who will not share the name of Jesus. For if we go throughout our day and do not share Jesus with someone, how are we different from those who do not believe in Jesus, who hate Jesus and try to stop the spreading of the Gospel? Each day we we do not share Jesus with someone we are no different from our persecutors and join their side. We want to be on the side of Jesus every day, so we must share his name to at least one person every day.
If you look back on your past week, how many days this past week have you been on the side of Jesus and how many days have your been on the side of unbelievers who hate, persecute and try to silence the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus? We are almost half way through the year. Open up a calendar of 2023 and put a check in the days on your calendar you shared Jesus with someone. Now look at your calendar. Would your calendar confirm that you as a persecutor of Jesus or a presenter of Jesus? Remember that omission is a sin.
Below is a video of my daughter Milan when she was 17 years old and a senior at Bob Jones High School. In her English class they read the book “Beowulf.” Their teacher assigned the class to present a “Beowulf” speech; boasting on themselves, their greatness and their power. The video is of my daughters speech to her class. Without fear, (or maybe with fear) she shared the Gospel and name of Jesus to her class. When you watch it you may reply to yourself, that is amazing! However, this is not supposed to be amazing. It is supposed to be the norm of your daily walk, some thing you are doing on a daily basis. “People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:15). Jesus was not killed by the world and resurrected to give you light in your baptism for you keep to yourself and tuck the light away in a hidden box to pull out at your time of death to keep you from going to hell. The light was given to you to share and rescue others from their hell. Your personal knowledge and relationship with Jesus and the light you received has absolutely no impact on those around you and their darkness unless you share it.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). The salvation that is found in no one else but Jesus is only possible if the Name of Jesus is given among men, meaning shared by you with others. To the people the name of Jesus is not given, salvation does not occur.
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” 2Timothy 1:8-9
My family, I pray today as you begin a new week you will reflect on, “Who’s side you will be on today?” I pray by the leading of the Holy Spirit that at the end of this day you will be able to put and “X” on your calendar that you sided with Jesus and those who are not ashamed of the Gospel and shared it with someone. I pray that every morning of this week in your calendar, and everyday you are given the gift of awakening, from this morning until you leave this earth there will be an “x” marked that you sided with Jesus. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!
Good morning Lord Jesus, Yours is the Lordship I choose to obey as I begin my Day. Give me the strength through your Spirit to obey you only today.
“ Any weapon that is forged against you will not succeed, and any tongue that rises up with you, you will find guilty. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness from me, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 54: 17)
I love this powerful verse! Whoever attempts to use a weapon or tongue against the people of God will not succeed, as all things must eventually serve God’s purpose. They may be able to injure God’s people, and appear to destroy them, but they will never be able to do so. It appeared Babylon had destroyed Israel, but God delivered them. In modern times, it appeared the Nazis and their holocaust had destroyed Israel and Judaism. Yet the main final result of its horrific acts was the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel, which had not existed for 2,000 years.
This morning I watched on the news the sufferings of our Christian brothers and sisters in the Ukraine. I pray this verse over the country and people of the Ukraine “ Any weapon that is forged against you will not succeed, and any tongue that rises up with you, you will find guilty. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness from me, says the Lord.” V. 17. Lord Jesus, we pray a prayer of protection over the people of Ukraine against the attacks of Russia. Come to aid of those who are flooded out of their homes, without food and water, and had facing sever hardships because of the destroyed dam. Send your warring angels down to fight for them. Release your created forces of nature against them. Empower us watching this horrific event in comfort with the boldness to do the next right thing in support and assistance of our brothers and sisters in the church of Jesus Christ who are being persecuted and suffering as a result of Russia’s evil actions. Lord have mercy on them, Christ have mercy on them, Lord have mercy on them.
My family, This is verse is the inheritance of those in the family of God, those in Christ Jesus, this is the inheritance of you and me!!! You may find your self in a situation now that is destroying your joy. It may even be one as the result of your deliberate sin. Israel’s exile into Babylon was a result of their deliberate sin against God. But when you repent and turn back to God, turn back to Christ, the destruction stops and healing begins as your relationship to God is renewed. I pray this verse this morning over your lives as well, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and prayers for those in the Ukraine in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
“Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is: ʻListen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your “mind, and with all your strength.ʼ The second is: ʻLove your neighbor as yourself.ʼ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.” (Mark 12:28-34)
I am still pondering and reflecting on my post yesterday on Acts 29, the purpose if the church today, and the questions it contained. Why am I here? Why is our church here? What is our vision? As the book of Acts reminds us of the beginnings and visions of the early Church, I went back and read my notes and reflections I wrote on the early beginnings of planting this church to remind me of its beginnings and why it is here.
We had our first ODC gathering in my living room in March of 2013. Here are my journal entry reflections from December of 2012.
“We together must come to the realization that Christianity and discipleship is not about imitating religion and church structures, but imitating a person, namely Jesus Christ. We must also believe that if you start with trying to form a church, you do not always end up with community. But if you start with simply forming community, then a church will be formed. And lives will be transformed. Because of this, our hearts must not just be opened, but convicted and compelled to doing church "new” again. Which basically means in reality not forming a new expression of our faith, but returning to the "old school;" faith of churches and communities of faith we find in the New Testament and early church, communities that Love God, Love Neighbor, and Make Disciples.
A disciple I define as a committed apprentice of the Lord Jesus Christ who is growing in Love for God and others, sent out to make disciples, all through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our church must be a radical community of disciples, centered on the Lordship of Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that is organized and focused around relationally and missionally reaching out into our context of Madison, Huntsville and the surrounding areas.
Our Prayer: “Lord, send us the ones that no one else wants and give us the strength and grace to love them and even greater strength and grace to allow them to love us.”
Our Mission:We are relationally and compassionately reaching out to those society would label ”un-churched” by living out Jesus’ commandments to Love God, Love our Neighbor, and Make Disciples. (Mk 12:29-31;Mt28:18-20) We can only accomplish this by exhibiting Immediate Radical Costly Obedience.
Our vision: To plant churches that are missional communities from the start. Where Sunday mornings is not "church," but a “Koinonia,” a fellowship of the people of God, missionaries who are sent out into the context of their community, gather to celebrate what they have done as “the church” throughout their week. Churches that do not focus on, "How do we get to heaven?" but on, "How do we get heaven here? Churches who at their core is extraordinary prayer, the Word of God, Holy Spirit fire, a resurrected Christ, compassion for the lost, a desire to make disciples who make disciples, and have a heart breaking in love for its neighbors. Lord, may it be so! Lord, let it be so in me!”
My family, We have read the about the stories, mission, vision and prayers of the early church in Acts. What is your mission, vision, and prayers? What are the church you attend vision and mission statements? What is it’s pray and definition of disciples? Do you know them? How are you entering into, encouraging, supporting and fulfilling them in your day to day life? I pray you will do as I did, and go back and read and reflection why your church exists, and reflect and pray over your church and how your are to be a disciple, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
As I am in a season of reflection, I would love to hear your reflections on my posts by sharing them in the comment box below.
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Jesus, help me love you more this morning so I can love more those I meet today…
“King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.” vs. 27-29
Agrippa's question was an attempt to sidestep Paul's question to him. The king neatly avoided denying his belief in the prophets and accepting Paul's presentation of them, that Jesus is the Christ. Paul replied that whether it took a short time or long, he did indeed hope to make everyone as he was, a disciple of Christ. Those in attendance could not have failed to have been impressed with the bravery and wit of Paul in engaging a king in such lively conversation!
Aggripa's question and his attempt to avoid denying his belief in the prophets and accepting Christ I believe powerfully illustrates the the totality, depth, and all encompassing truth that comprises faith in Christ. We modern "Genitles" I believe fail to realize and embrace this. The Scriptures that Paul claimed were fulfilled and used to argue that Jesus is Lord and Christ were all Old Testament (OT) Scriptures. There was not yet written John 3:16, or a "Roman Road" or any other verse in the New Testament to use to lead someone to Christ.
The use of the OT to argue that Jesus is the Christ was a powerful argument for Paul because those who he was speaking to had the Torah, if not the whole OT memorized and knew it well. Most of those we witness to today do not know the OT well, and I believe most people in our pews really do not know and understand the over all mega narrative and prophesy of the OT as it relates to Christ. This may actually have made it more difficult for Jews to believe in Jesus as the Christ. For if a Jew believed in Christ, it effected everything they knew as a Jew. It affected their laws, culture, religion and understanding of God. The “great I Am” would now has a face and a name. And they would have to surrender and place everything they know and understand of Scripture in the truth that Jesus is Lord.
And we, those in church today, believers, and those sojourners seeking Christ do not grasp this. The lyrics to the song, "What if God was one of us" state, "If God had a face, what would it look like? And would you want to see it, if seeing meant believing in things like heaven and in hell, and the apostles, and in Jesus and the saints, and all the prophets." If God has a face, and you come to believe and see the truth that that face is Jesus, then you must accept all the other truths in all of Scripture: the prophets, saints, apostles, the new earth to come, hell, the patriarchs and the cross.
The Jews who came to belief in Jesus as the Christ were in awe and wonder of him because they understood the depth of who he is: He is the Son of man spoken of in Daniel; He is the suffering servant and the root of David spoken of in Isaiah; he is the desperate soul who cries out in Psalm 22; and the list goes on. Christians today are grafted into a tree by faith and most have little or no understanding of its roots. In this age of materialistic, entitlement, and prosperity gospel, Christians really do not understand that the tree they are grafting themselves into roots go deep. It is a tree in the shape of a cross.
My family, I pray you reflect on, “Who is Jesus to you?” Everything written in the OT was fulfilled in Jesus. How deep do your roots and understanding, and awe of him go? I pray that the Holy Spirit will instill in you a desire to go deeper in you understanding of who is Jesus. I pray that the Holy Spirit will instill in us as a community of faith who claims Jesus as our Lord, a desire to go encourage each other to deepen our understanding of Jesus and the totality of his Lordship. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections of Acts 26 with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
Holy Spirit help me die to my selfishness and embrace your generosity
“When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.” ( Acts 25:.18)
The Jewish Sanhedrin charged Paul with various charges. He violated the purity of the temple, he went against the law of Moses, and he was inciting the people to riot against Roman authorities. However, as Festus soon realized, their main hatred of Paul and charges against him centered on, “a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.” The real point at issue was the resurrection of Jesus. It always boils down to that.
We saw this earlier in Acts, “While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, angry because they were teaching the people and announcing in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” v. 4:2. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.”
The resurrection of Jesus is at the core of all attacks on our faith, because if the resurrection of Jesus, is proved a lie, then Christianity crumbles. As Paul states,
“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God…For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.” 1 Cor 15:12, 19
Paul says, “My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3:10 This needs to be our aim as well if we want to have any hope at all of our individual lives and the life of our church to bear any meaningful fruit. However, as Paul says, to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection in ourselves, we must first completely die to ourselves. To enterter into the resurrection of Jesus, we first must enter into the death of Jesus.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come an die.”
The context of his quote is this. “The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over ourlives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. (The Cost of Discipleship)
Take time to read 1Corinthians chapter 15 today. It is a chapter devoted completed to the resurrection of Jesus.
My family, I pray you reflect today, “about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.” (v.18). Do you truly believe this? Then claim this belief again over your life and the life of our church. Claim you are willing to answer Christ’s call to come and die so you can experience the power of his resurrection. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same over me. God bless you my friends!
Say out loud and claim this prayer over your life and your domain:
“Jesus, I also sincerely receive you as my Life, and I receive all the work and triumph in your resurrection, through which you have conquered sin, death, judgment, and the evil one. Death has no power over you, nor does any foul thing. And I have been raised with you to a new life, to live your life—dead to sin and alive to God. I take my place now in your resurrection and in your life, and I give my life to you to live your life. I am saved by your life. I reign in life through your life. I receive your hope, love, faith, joy, your goodness, trueness, wisdom, power, and strength. Apply to me all the work and triumph in your resurrection; I receive it with thanks and I give it total claim to my spirit, soul, and body, my heart, mind, and will.
I bring the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ over my life today, over my home, my family, my household, my vehicles, finances, over all my kingdom and domain. I bring the resurrection and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ against Satan, against his kingdom, against every foul and unclean spirit, every foul power and black art, against every witch, and against every human being and their spirit, their warfare, and household. I bring the resurrection and the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ to the borders of my kingdom and domain, and I stake it there in Jesus’ name.” (portion of John Eldridge’s “Daily Prayer Of Freedom”)
Please share your reflections with us on the resurrection of Christ in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
Good morning Father, I rest here in your arms and embrace of love.
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” v. 24
Paul was ready to surrender his freedom and, if needed, his life itself for the sake of Christ and his service. Self-preservation and comfort were not a motive which he sought after. His main concern was to fulfill the course which Christ had marked for him to run, sharing in the Spirit’s power the good news of God’s free grace in Christ. Life or death was not the issue that mattered: what mattered most was, as he told the church gathered, that Christ should be magnified in his body and life.
The leaders of the church gathered around Paul and he laid on them a weighty responsibility. The Holy Spirit had entrusted them with the charge of the people of God and the church in Ephesus. They now were charged with the sharing of the gospel to the city and caring for its people as shepherds care for their flock. Their responsibility was great in that the flock which they were commissioned to was the church of God which he himself had purchased for himself with nothing less than the life-blood of his beloved Son.
Paul then looks forward to their future and the prospects for the Ephesian church was not completely promising. He tells them the sheep will have to be guarded with unceasing vigilance, for ferocious wolves will try to force their way among them and ravage them. As in Jesus’ parable of the good shepherd, it is the leaders of the church who are now called to be the good shepherds of their flock. They are called protect the church from false teachers, here described as wolves, because of the spiritual death and havoc they cause. They need to protect the church not only from wolves that will try to intrude the church from the outside, but that false teachings will come out of their own ranks and arise to try to seduce their followers away from the fold. Later in John’s writings in Revelations, the Ephesian church is chastised for abandoning her first love. Foreseeing these happenings, Paul urges the church leaders to be vigilant and follow his example: He urges them to maintain their course God has set them to run; to share the good new of God’s free grace; to shepherd and show compassion and concern on new converts; to be ready to surrender freedom and life; as all that mattered was that Christ should be glorified in their body.
My family, as you read chapter 23 and my reflection, I pray you understand that each of you in your baptism and receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit are now one of the leaders of the church today and Paul is speaking to you.. I pray you realize you are now called to be the good shepherds over the flock in your city and the church that God purchased with the blood of his Son. You are now called to keep the wolves out. And together as leaders, we are called to maintain our course God has set us to run; to share the good new of God’s free grace; to shepherd and show compassion and concern on new converts; to be ready to surrender freedom and life; as all that matters is that Christ should be glorified in our bodies, in Jesus’s name, Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections on Chapter 18 with myself and others in the comments box. My purpose for writing the daily reflections is to encourage your own reflections and prayers. I would love to hear what God is revealing to you.
Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You! Thank You!
Good morning Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to guide my life today
Acts 18 is a chapter on discipleship. In this chapter we meet Aquila and Priscilla. A couple that took Paul in and were discipled by him for 1 1/2 -2 years in Corinth. And where did Paul’s discipleship training take place? In a church classroom? In a lecture hall? No, At work! “Because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade” (v.3). Paul discipled them at his workplace. The result was that that when Paul left Corinth for Ephesus, it was not Timothy or Silas that accompanied him on his trip, but Aquila and Priscilla.
While Paul was in Ephesus, God led him to witness in his neighborhood. “Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.” (v,7-8). Paul walked next door, walked around his neighborhood, and made disciples of his neighbors. Paul’s discipleship training also took place in his neighborhood. Aquila and Priscilla went with Paul as he talked to his neighbors, watching him, learning from him, being discipled themselves. The results of this was that after Paul spent time in Ephesus, he left but Aqulla and Pricilla stayed behind, continuing to make disciples there and helped plant and birth the church in Ephesus.
We see later in chapter 18, how Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos into their house, and discipled him for a time, then sent him out to Achia to plant grow the church. “But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” (v. 26). Discipleship changes individual(s) to go out and change the world and to go out and make disciples who make disciples.
The Lord spoke to Paul, ”Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." (vs. 9-10). The Lord said there were many in his city that were “his people”, people who the soil of their hearts was good and ready to receive the seed of the gospel if Paul would just go and sow it in them. The Lord is speaking the same to you and I. Put your name and city in that verse, “Do not be afraid Gary, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in Madison, Toney, and Huntsville who are my people."
So who are you discipling now? In your workplace? In your neighborhood? All the years you have attended church and and walked with God, all your personal knowledge of Jesus and love for Jesus has absolutely no impact or any benefit at all to those around you, brings absolutely no light to the darkness around you, is a “light hid under a basket,” unless you personally share it with others. You are not called to your church. You attend your church, just like Paul attended the synagogue. However if all Paul did was attend his synogague once a week, you and I may not be going to church on Sundays. You are called to your work place and your neighborhood. You attend your church, however it is the front door of your home that you are called to open and invite people into. Who are your Aquilas and Pricillas your co-workers; who are the Crispus your neighbors, that you are pouring into and giving them real access to your lives so they can watch you, learn from you, read the Bible with you, pray with you, and grow as disciples? Real access does not happen in a hour church service or by sending text messages or FB posts. Real access requires a personal involvement and an investment of real time. We are called to be a church with discipleship making at our core. Discipleship requires investing personal and intimate time with other individuals.
Memorial Day is coming up when we remember the thousands of men and women who gave their lives to grant us and give us the freedom, hope, comfort and privileges we now live in as citizens of the USA. As a citizen of the USA, you have won the lottery with all the resources available to you.
We also remember we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. You have had thousands of saints of God and Christ himself who were martyred and died to grant you the position you are in now as citizens of heaven and to receive all the resources, power, grace, joy, mercy, forgiveness that has been bestowed upon you. You add those two together and we are blessed and equipped to share the gospel and disciple others greater than any other people on this earth!
You have won the two biggest lotteries available to you in the world! You and I had thousands of men and women give their lives to grant you and give you the freedom and privileges you now live in as citizens of the USA. You and I had thousands of men and women give their lives, and God himself gave His Son and Jesus willingly gave his life to grant you and give you the freedom and privileges you now live in as citizens, sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God..
What are you doing with it all? How is your life honoring those that died to give you the position of these two citizenships? You have won two lotteries, one from heaven and one from earth, how are you using those resources given to you at the cost of the lives of others? You and I have more resources than anybody else in the world to share the Gospel and bring people to Christ? How, where, to whom are you using your resources to bring people to Christ?
Prayers:
Discipleship flows out of us individually investing more personal and intimate time with God. Pray this morning that God will strengthen your resolve to invest time in Him by daily reading our chapter in the New Testament and reflecting on it. By, fasting day a week in prayer, spending at least one solid hour a week in prayer, and meeting weekly in a group for accountability.
Pray that our church, your church will finally awaken and move out of individual lives of isolation and move forward so we will invest more in each other, that true discipleship among us will occur. Pray for unity among us.
Pray as we move forward we will invest more in others by opening out homes to our neighbors and starting Bible studies and house churches, Band groups, and increased fruits into and of those you are discipling now.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you two or three people you know who need discipling in their life right now. Pray that God will give you the love to step into their life. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections on Chapter 18 with myself and others in the comments box. My purpose for writing the daily reflections is to encourage your own reflections and prayers. I would love to hear what God is revealing to you.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Discipleship Training.
One of my passions is helping churches or small groups understand and embrace their call to be disciples of Jesus out in their community. I offer and lead discipleship trainings in person and on-line. If you or your church are interested I would love to help you and talk to you bout it. Email me at garyl@onedirection.community.
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You! Thank You!
I love Acts 17. It is a chapter of proclamation! It is a chapter on overthrow of idols and false gods and implementing the revolution of Jesus Christ! It is a chapter on the spreading of the Gospel and the claiming people and places as part of God’s Kingdom on earth!
“These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too, and Jason has welcomed them as guests! They are all acting against Caesars decrees, saying there is another king named Jesus!” v. 7
“This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” v.3
"Paul had also proclaimed the word of God" v.13
"because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.”v.18
We too are called to join in today and proclaim there is another King named Jesus! "For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, For we too are his offspring."(17:28) If this is true, then our very lives should be proclamations of our King Jesus, and as his subjects, declaring that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The people were accusing Paul, Silas, Jason and other of proclaiming “Throughout the world.” Jesus is king. (v. 6) Those present in Thessalonica had knowledge of what had happened elsewhere in the world. Word about Paul and his companions and their message was spreading. The gospel was turning the world upside down! Paul says, ““He now commands all people everywhere to repent” v.30. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded. This includes all of Huntsville, Madison, Toney, and Harvest, Al; Cleveland and Northfield, Oh where I am writing this now; your city, your neighbors, your family, and yourself.
John Wesley said, “Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God; such alone will shake the gates of hell.” We are called to join in shaking the gates of hell!
We are called to radically join in this revolution! We are called to stir up trouble, up-set the world, and turn the world upside down and declare in the face of all the idolatry in our cities,” There is another king named Jesus!” v.7. Everywhere Paul preached in Acts 17 he was driven out of town. John Wesley once said that if after sharing the Gospel he wasn’t driven out of town he feared he did not share it well enough. The gospel is radical message. C.S Lewis said, “A man who first tried to guess 'what the public wants,' and then preached that as Christianity because the public wants it, would be a pretty mixture of fool and knave”
My family, I pray over you that you will intentionally plan for, write down dates in your calendar and participate in nothing short of a revolution::
"Nothing great happens when you hold back." Pray that God will remove from you today anything that is "holding you back" from proclaiming Jesus is King.
“If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” Martin Luther said, “Delay is the sharpest arrow in the enemies quiver.” Pray over your immediate Radical Costly Obedience to share the Gospel.
Pray right now that the Holy Spirit will lead and put in your path today the un-avoidable and obvious opportunity to share the gospel with one person today. Pray over this with sincerity and expectancy, and then walk out your door expecting and searching for it to happen and be prepared to share when it does.
Pray that your life today will boldly and joyfully proclaim Jesus is the King!
Pray for those you know: friends, family members, co-workers, who as Paul refers to in Athens, that are worshipping an unknown god or gods. Pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to them the existence of the one true God.
Pray for the cities of Madison, Huntsville, Toney, Cleveland, Northfield, your city and your neighborhood, that the proclamation that Jesus is Lord will be the chorus heard through out it!
Pray all of these in Jesus’ name! And please pray the same over me. God bless you my
Please share your thoughts and reflections on Chapter 17 with myself and others in the comments box. My purpose for writing the daily reflections is to encourage your own reflections and prayers. I would love to hear what God is revealing to you.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
Help Me Share The Gospel!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You! Thank You!
This morning instead of continuing on with our journey through The Book of Acts, my reflection flows out of my experience serving in prison the last four days.
I spent the last four days in St. Clair Prison as part of a Kairos team of remarkable men who went into the prison to share the Gospel of love and grace of Jesus with inmates. It was a n amazing weekend. In the conversations around the tables with team member and inmates was not heard any of the common replies of “I’m fine.” The conversations and exchanges were raw and real. All allowed themselves to become vulnerable, sharing real struggles and failures, weaknesses and hurts, and “fakeness” and hypocrisy in in life,. Both team members and inmates confessed sins, shared deep remorse, asked for forgiveness, repented, shed many tears, many deep embraces, and cried out to Jesus. The prayers shared that came from the broken, humble hearts of strong men were spontaneous, emotional, struggling to get the right words out as they bared their souls before God. The forgiveness, grace and love that outpoured was tangible and thick. The smiles through the tears of joy of those who received and accepted forgiveness was beautiful. The worship! Oh my God! The worship was a sold-out offering of their complete selves to God in praise and thanksgiving. It brought chills to the skin, life back to dry bones, freedom to the soul, and brought heaven down to earth.
To sum it all up: for 4 days we had church. We experienced the power of the church. We were the church.
And I guarantee that yesterday on Sunday morning, any of the men on the team besides the fact they were away from their spouses and family, would rather be sitting in a chair inside prison, than in a pew outside in a church. I still have allot to process from the four days.
My family, I pray this morning as we step out into the beginning of another week of work and routines, we seek in desperation to be raw and real before God. We seek to find ways to enter into conversations with others where we and they can be vulnerable, be real with life, real before God, really love each other, and really be The Church. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts on this reflection pin the comments box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You! Thank You! .
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