Edge 10-24-07 - " Taking up his Cross"

This past Wednesday we had another great EDGE meeting at the church. Joel challenged us to really think about Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

During our conversation we all talked about this statement being a struggle for all of us. Do we really deny ourselves and pick up the cross and follow our savior? What does this mean? If we declare Jesus is the son of God, died for our sins and were baptised is that enough? We all felt that in order to truly follow this verse we must look at Luke 9:23. Although this verse is only one word different, it changed the way we all thought about Matthew 16:24. What if I was to tell you you must follow Matthew 16:24 and make sure you follow it DAILY? Wow!

We as Men and Women of Christ can not only "Do Church" and Proclaim to be Christians when it is convenient to us. We must make it a way of life; a conscious effort to deny ourselves immediate gratification and choose the daily pleasures that can be found in walking in HIS footsteps. Although they are not ovious, I bet if you look back at each day you can find a way you have been blessed daily (This was Ryan's wisdom).

This is difficult to do and was a unanimous struggle for all of us. I know that I personally struggle to keep my stride. I do think that this has been a great week for me in my walk and I know it is because my edge was sharpened on Wednesday. I hope more of my brothers attend on Wednesdays so we can keep each other sharp.

Lane
An Ironman!

IM Service Opportunity

This is a message I got from Michael Thames yesterday:

Stacy, pray all is well! This is short notice, but we are seeking some folks to help us move garage sale items from our location to Southside church this Friday. Is this something you could email out to the Ironmen? We could use help anytime Friday for set-up and moving and possibly Saturday afternoon for clean-up and taking things back to Fortress.


Please let me know if you can help out and I will let Michael know. Thanks IronMen for all you do.

SHARPEN THE EDGE!

When we miss the target... by Max Lucado

Read the first verse of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus knew David’s ways. He witnessed the adultery, winced at the murders, and grieved at the dishonesty. But David’s failures didn’t change Jesus’ relation to David. The initial verse of the first chapter of the first gospel calls Christ “the son of David” (Matt. 1:1 KJV). The title contains no disclaimers, explanations, or asterisks. I’d have added a footnote: “This connection in no way offers tacit approval to David’s behavior.” No such words appear. David blew it. Jesus knew it. But he claimed David anyway.

He did for David what my father did for my brother and me.

Back in our elementary school days, my brother received a BB gun for Christmas. We immediately set up a firing range in the backyard and spent the afternoon shooting at an archery target. Growing bored with the ease of hitting the circle, my brother sent me to fetch a hand mirror. He placed the gun backward on his shoulder, spotted the archery bull’s-eye in the mirror, and did his best Buffalo Bill imitation. But he missed the target. He also missed the storehouse behind the target and the fence behind the storehouse. We had no idea where the BB pellet flew. Our neighbor across the alley knew, however. He soon appeared at the back fence, asking who had shot the BB gun and who was going to pay for his sliding-glass door.

At this point I disowned my brother. I changed my last name and claimed to be a holiday visitor from Canada. My father was more noble than I. Hearing the noise, he appeared in the backyard, freshly rousted from his Christmas Day nap, and talked with the neighbor.

Among his words were these:“Yes, they are my children.”“Yes, I’ll pay for their mistakes.”
Christ says the same about you. He knows you miss the target. He knows you can’t pay for your mistakes. But he can. “God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins” (Rom. 3:25 NLT).
Since he was sinless, he could.

Since he loves you, he did. “This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10 NLT).

He became one of us to redeem all of us. “Jesus, who makes people holy, and those who are made holy are from the same family. So he is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters” (Heb. 2:11 NCV).

He wasn’t ashamed of David. He isn’t ashamed of you. He calls you brother; he calls you sister.

The question is, doyou call him Savior?

From Facing Your Giants

God's Part, Our Part... Stacey Pearson

God is doing his part! Are we doing our part? Am I doing my part?

Jeremiah 29: 10-14 MSG
"I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out, plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.
When you come looking for me, you'll find me.
Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."

I know that God is doing his part, I just wonder if I am doing my part! God is so faithful that he gave Jesus to die for us and when this was written, it was much more difficult to pursue God. We have the HS in our hearts as a "deposit" and we can connect to that power anytime we want. Are we doing it, am i doing it? What does it take for me to "want it more than anything else"? Am I desperate for the Lord on a daily basis? Is my faith this real?

These are questions that come to my mind when I read this text and these questions pierce right through me. How about you?

In Pursuit,

STP, an IronMan