Tuesday, December 18, 2012

OUR PLEDGE



Reminder: We are ambassadors for Christ/ representative of our Lord. This means people are watching us. We hold life and death in our hands. If by our acts/omission we represent Him badly we may drive people away from Him and this means death. Think about your privilege. Think about your duty.

To memorize 1 Corinthians 10:31
“Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatever ye do do all to the glory of God”

Our Pledge

1.     Let this (see below) be our pledge of allegiance to be repeated and internalized daily when rising and before bed.

2.   Jesus recognized this declaration to be central to true disciples of the one true God (Mark 12:28-31). Then one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together perceiving that He had answered them well ask Him “which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him “The first of all the commandment is “Hear O Israel , the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the first commandment”.

3.       The Declaration
What does it do?


(a)   Declares collective responsibility to obey as a community
(b)   Enjoying us to love and obey Him
(c)  Acknowledges God’s sovereignty is not limited to mere exercise mental but it is real today and forever.      


      A.      1st Declare Deuteronomy 6:4-9: -

“Hear Israel Adonai (the Lord) our God Adonai (the Lord) is one and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart all your being and all your resources. These words which I am ordering you today are to be on your heart and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are travelling on the road when you are down and when you get up. Tie them on your hand as a sign put them at the front to your headband around your forehead and write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates” 

B.What does it do?

(a)   Declares collective responsibility to obey as a community
(b)   Enjoying us to love and obey Him
(c)  Acknowledges God’s sovereignty is not limited to mere exercise mental but it is real today and forever.

2nd Declare Deuteronomy 11:13-21

“So if you listen carefully to my mitzvoth (mitzvah – commandment/ principle for living) which I am giving you today to love Adonai your God and serve Him with all your heart and all your being then (says Adonai). I will give your land its rain at the right seasons including the early fall rains and the late spring rains so that you can gather in your wheat new wine and olive oil and I will give you fields grass for you live stock with the result that you will eat and be satisfied. But be careful not to let yourself be seduced so that you turn aside, serving other gods and worshipping them. If you do the anger of Adonai will blaze up against you. He will shut up the sky so that there will be no rain. The ground will not yield its produce and you will quickly pass away from the good land Adonai is giving you. Therefore you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all you being tie them on your hand as a sign put them at the front of a headband around your forehead teach them carefully to your children, taking about them when you sit at home when you are traveling on the road when you lie down and when you get up and write them on door frames of your house and on your gates. So that you and your children will live long on the land Adonai swore to your ancestors that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth”

    C.   What does it do?

(a)   We are to be responsible to remember His Words

3rd Declare Numbers 15:47-41

“Adonai said to Moshe (Moses) (We are to be responsible to remember His Words). “Speak to the people of Israel instructing them to make, through all their generations tziziyot (tassels/ specially made fringes /worn on 4 corners of a man’s tallit (cloak/robe) on the corners of their garments and to put with the tzitzit (singular)on each corner of a blue thread. It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of Adonai’s mitzvoth (commandment) and obey them so that you won’t go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvoth and be holy for your God. I am Adonai your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to be your God. I am Adonai your God”


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

What Would Jesus Do?



I hope we all remember this gem of a classic (book)“In His Steps” by Charles M. Sheldon. It is truly inspiring to go back on this old classic and apply its message to our lives. In it are stories of how each individual pledges to ask themselves WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? before making a decision. In case we have forgotten, we should do the same. Get down on our knees and pray “Lord what would You do? What would You have us do? I especially like the list the character, Milton Wright, a businessman sets out. This is what he thinks Jesus would do as a businessman: 


  1. He would engage in the business first of all for the purpose of glorifying God, and not for the primary purpose of making money.
  2. All profit achieved He would not regard as His own, but as trust funds to be used for the good of humanity.
  3. His relationships with all employees would be loving and helpful. He would think of them in the light of souls to be saved. This thought would always be of greater importance than making money.
  4. He would never do a single dishonest or questionable act or try in any way to take advantage of anyone else.
  5. The principle of unselfishness and helpfulness in the business would direct all its details.
  6. Upon these principles He would shape the entire plan of His relationships to His employees, to His customers, and to the general business world with which He was connected.
 
Too idealistic? For those of us who already live in His Kingdom, we are simply following the practice of His Kingdom that we live in. Let us apply it in our businesses and our work.