November 20, 2018

November 20, 2018

Judy Hollaway

August 14

Running with Jesus  

Acts 2:44-47 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.  

     With the filling of the Holy Spirit entering and changing the lives of men we begin to see what church community life should look like.  They were together, shared and helped each other and met each other’s needs, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and materially.  They continue at this time to go to the temple, went house to house fellowshipping and the result was gladness and singleness of heart.  As a result of their loving and caring for each other they had favor with all people and the church grew.

     Eventually they were rejected at the temple and began to have church in homes and will begin to worship on Sunday instead of Saturday.

     When the body of Christ begins to use their gifts to minister to each other and demonstrate the love of Christ, the church becomes healthy and loving and the church will begin to grow. This will attract others to the church. 

     Sometimes many in the body will not see the need to attend baby showers or weddings and functions of the body, however, we can see that it is very important to the body that all of the body demonstrates their love to each other.  If you notice this verse says they had singleness of heart.  That means they had one heart. The heart is the seat of the mind, will, and emotions. The heart we should have is the same heart of Christ who loves and treats all with the same love, kindness, and respect. That is why God commands us to love him with all our heart, mind, and soul.

     Are you operating with a single mind?  I am afraid most of our minds are not on God and functioning out of His thoughts and cares.  Most of us are functioning out of personal wants and desires.  If we truly want our churches to grow we will mind our minds.  We will stop and refocus so we can be about the Father’s business.  Days are short friends and time is running out, the church needs to wake up and start dying to self and becoming alive to God so we can win the lost.

Father, forgive us for thinking selfishly and help us to become single hearted and remind us it is all about You and not about us.  We ask You to help us empty self today and show us someone who might have a need today.  Go before us and lead us to walk in Your Spirit as we run through this day.

Let’s go up and pray with Peter and John in the morning!

November 19, 2018

November 19, 2018

Judy Hollaway

August 13

Running with Jesus  

Acts 2:43-44 “And fear come upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. and all that believed were together, and had all things common.”

     These verses follow the steadfast verse and we can see how remaining steadfast in all the teachings helped form the first church of Christianity that is still impacting our world today centuries later.  If we intend to impact the world we live in, we must also remain steadfast.

     So often we wonder why we do not see more happening in our body.  I must ask how much fear of the Lord does the body of Christ have today?   We must examine our own lives this morning.  Revival can begin with one person.  Let us go back into our memory file, think about when you first accepted Christ this morning.  Just a few weeks ago Mike preached on the church of Laodicea in Revelation.  This church had lost its first love.  As I think about marriage I think about losing our first love.  Marriage will not be sustained by first love over a period of time.  We come to a point where all the goose bumps and tingles go away so how do we maintain our love.  First of all we have to realize love is a choice.  I must choose to keep loving.  Then we have to maintain our love by spending time together and creating an environment for love to grow.  I know my love for Mike is more precious now than ever before after forty-two and one half years.  We don’t question our love when we disagree we just love.  We are able to express our own opinions and move on.  We have deeper love and a lasting commitment.  The minute one of us were to stop being steadfast we would cease to be where we are.  So it is with our love with God and He knows we are in this for the long haul.  Fear of God and getting out of His will is what holds us all together and then we will begin to see miracles happen in the body.  Each person must examine their love life with Christ. 

     Are we truly in love with Christ?  Are we committed to His will and work?  Have we stopped maintaining our love life?  If you can’t answer yes to any of these then we must ask ourselves, “Am I the reason we don’t see more things happening in the body of believers I live among?”  Maybe today we need to renew our vows and commitment to God.

Father, we confess our lack of commitment to You and we come before You asking You to forgive us and help us to know and understand what it really means to love You.  Help us search for ways to serve You in the body of Christ and live like there was no tomorrow so we can see and leave an impact in this world while we are living here.  We want to love on You today.  Help us feel Your heart beat and let us move with Your beat. 

      Let’s spend some time doing our first dance with Jesus this morning.  Let’s remember that day we were united and rekindle the fire that was between us. 

Singleness of heart, in the morning, be sure and come back!

November 18, 2018

November 18, 2018

Judy Hollaway

August 12

Running with Jesus

Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

     Today we will examine the last part of this verse remaining steadfast in prayers.   We have heard prayer is like our breathing in the physical life, we inhale and exhale.  Spiritual praying is talking to God, exhaling, and listening to God is inhaling. Just like in the physical life, the moment we cease to pray we die. Prayer is our communicating with God and we do not want this to happen, trust me.

     We are to learn to live in the presence of God and we are to be in constant communication with Him.  All day long I talk to Him about everything.  I ask Him questions during the day I may not know how to do something so I ask for wisdom and guidance throughout the day. I worship Him and tell Him how awesome He is. It is important to keep in constant communication throughout the day.  I may be involved in much activity and work but in my heart it is me and Jesus running together.  He will let me know immediately when I say or do something wrong and I confess it as sin right then.  Prayer keeps my thoughts upon Him.

     It is during prayer we are able to seek His mind and will for our lives. This will help the body to stay in fellowship and promotes harmony.  We are able to function the way Christ did, living and doing His Father’s will not ours. Prayer is the key to living the abundant life Christ taught about.

     There is a little acrostic I was taught to help me know how to pray called the ACTS of prayer.  A is for adoration, we praise God. C is for confession, we examine our hearts for any sin of commission or omission.  T is for thanksgiving, thanking Him for hearing and answering prayers and all the blessings we have in this life. (This will help keep a positive attitude to begin your day.) Last is S it is for supplication, making your request know to God.  Starting with this little outline will prepare you to be in the attitude and in His presence all day long. This is pure spiritual oxygen and friend it will change your life.

Father, help us be steadfast in our praying. Let that one out there today searching for what to do about where they are in life run to pray and find out this is where life begins to be abundant.

November 17, 2018

November 17, 2018

Judy Hollaway

August 11

Running with Jesus

Acts 2:42 "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

     The Breaking of the Bread is the next thing we were told to remain steadfast in.  I couldn't help but remember what Jesus told His disciples the night of the last supper, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

      One of the best ways to remain steadfast, and not get off track is to remember exactly what Christ did for us. He shed his blood on the cross and gave His body to be broken for us.   I don't think we fully comprehend what He went through for us. Our culture is not use to seeing crucifixions, our culture will work hard to save an animal’s life and never contemplate a crucifixion. 

      When we look intently into the marred face of our Savior it will help us be more loving and forgiving. When we realize our own pardon, it will help us pardon others. We deserve eternal doom but Jesus loved us and gave His life to redeem us. We then enter into our own brokenness. Then love is poured out in our hearts setting us free no longer bound by unforgiveness and enter a personal relationship with God.   Once we experience forgiveness we are able to set others free, who have not been forgiven? We didn't deserve forgiveness, but by claiming it, we got it anyway. Remembering His broken body will help the body live together in harmony. 

      Breaking bread causes us to do a self examination of our own personal life and attitude toward God and others. Jesus said I am the bread of life and as physical bread nourishes the physical body, His broken body is our spiritual bread and as we partake of this spiritual bread it will sustain our spirit and the body of Christ will be healthy and our fellowship will be maintained.

Father search our hearts today, help us examine ourselves so we can live as free people. 

     Spend time searching and seeking for any sin in your heart that is hindering your run through life with Christ. Time to let it all go!

November 16, 2018

November 16, 2018

Judy Hollaway

August 10

Running with Jesus  

Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

     Yesterday we examined the first part of this verse about steadfast in the teaching of the word of the Apostles, today we will examine fellowship. They were to be steadfast in fellowship. Fellowship means to have joint participation and sharing something in common. In order to grow closer to Christ and learn to hear the Holy Spirit, it is very important to your health and life as a Christian to run with your brethren. Remember we are in this world but not of this world. We are to live separated lives. The body of Christ and individuals become weaker when we don't fellowship together. You must plug in someplace. I am not saying we are not to witness to others and help others in order to win them. I am saying when we separate ourselves from the body we will soon adopt unhealthy practices and beliefs that will lead us into sinful lifestyles. We must not allow the world to pull us into their activities that pull us from running the Godly path.  God desires to lead us on.

     When we don't fellowship with other believers, we walk in willful disobedience to His word and sin is crouching at our door. We forsake the assembling and He tells us not to! He knows us inside and out and He knows we need each other to help us stay on the path of righteousness, too lift us as life slams us down and to care for us when we are hurting and to keep us from growing week and giving into temptation!

      So, I ask runners whose path you are running on God's or the world? If you are not actively fellowshipping with the body, you are not fellowshipping with God, because the body is where He is running!  If so get back on His team and run with Him. Trust me that is where real happiness is found! Not out there drowning in life's sea!

Tomorrow: We will break the bread!