Text: You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and
bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee
everywhere.Why did you spill the coffee?
“Well, because someone bumped into me, of course!”
Wrong answer – you spilled your coffee because there was coffee in your cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.
“Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.”
Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out.
It’s easy to fake it, until you get rattled.
“So, we ask ourselves…., “What’s inside my cup?”
When life gets tough, what spills over?
Joy, gratefulness, peace, and humility?
Or, anger, bitterness, harsh words, and reactions.
You choose!Today, let’s work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation, kindness, gentleness, and love for others!
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…
Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:4-6)
I want to thank Val for sharing this story, this morning, about the spilt coffee…
It’s so right on, and so I’m going to expand upon it a little, because this is something we ALL struggle with.
Being a Christian requires, as an act of our will (by faith), that we immerse ourselves in Christ 24/7.
Matthew 12:34
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.Galatians 5:16-25
Walking in the Spirit
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: [a]adultery, [b]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, [c]murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 [d]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
This is why we have to abide in Christ and maintain that connection 24/7; a branch cannot bear fruit unless it is attached to the Vine.
Being a Christian is not a spectator sport, and the church is not where we go to be entertained, rather it’s our team meeting.
The pastor should be like the coach of a football team and the church is where we go to learn how to play the game, to take the Gospel out into the highways and byways of this world, starting in our local communities.
The church is also like a hospital where people go when they recognize that they need help. No hospital will ever tell you get well and then come see us because that’s what they’re there for, to help you get well.
1 John 2:6
Berean Literal Translation
The one claiming to abide in Him (Jesus) ought also walk just as in the same way that He walked.
This is why we walk by faith because none of us can do this perfectly and fortunately for us, because of Jesus’ propitious sacrifice on calvary’s Cross, He already has won this race for us, as we are told in Ephesians 2:8-9, “…that we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves it’s the gift of God.”
Come join the Adventure!
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SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 