#3 in series: Create in me a clean heart.
BIBLE READINGS:
Isaiah 53:2-12
Mark 8:27-38
THEME
Pride. It’s a disease of the heart that presents itself in different forms and to differing degrees and is obvious to everyone but the person who has it. Yet the truth is, pride infects us all. The issue is not if pride exists in your heart; it’s where it exists and how it is being expressed in your life. It's something that we as Christians need to be particularly conscious of as it always leads to a broken heart and tears. Proverbs 16:18 tells us “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” James also reminds us: “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble” (James 4:6). Pride is a particularly dangerous sin - where other sins lead us further from God, pride attempts to elevate us above God. So today we discover how pride is more strongly rooted in our lives than we ever care to admit. We also discover how to find healing when we get ahead of ourselves and are heartbroken by pride.
THEME VERSE
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:34-35
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
Your worth and value will never be measured by what you do or achieve but by what Christ has done for you.
Jesus surrendered his life that you might have life
Jesus became a dis-grace that you may receive grace.
Jesus humbled himself that you might receive the greatest honour.
Because Jesus gave himself wholeheartedly for you, how can you not give up your own agenda, and give yourself wholeheartedly to him?
#2 in series: Create in me a clean heart
READINGS:
Isaiah 53:2-12
Mark 1:9-13
THEME
Auctions - many perceive them as highly stressful events that lead to spur of the moment decisions based on emotions rather than sensibility. As a Christian, every day of your life is spent in an auction yard, where there are constant, competing bids for your heart. Even if you pass in all the bids because you don't want to sell, there is always someone willing to negotiate and meet your price. The only problem is, you are not the vendor of your heart. So today in the second part of our series "Create in me a clean heart", we discover God's gracious gift of healing and strength when we are heartbroken by temptation.
THEME VERSE
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. Mark 1:12-13a
REMEMBER THIS WEEK
Every temptation seeks to encourage you to live outside the identity and toward a different destiny than God has planned for you; to believe that he is absent from your life. It will leave you heartbroken. Jesus gives you, what he has enjoyed from eternity - a relationship with the Father who loves you, is with you and delights in you…always. It's a gift paid for by his own blood that brings strength, healing and wholeness to every heart.