Marshall Mabry - Undignified Worshiper of Jesus Christ

Some worship thoughts for followers of Jesus Christ!

Month: November 2011

Grace, Love, Mercy, and Justice

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On November 22, 2011

In Praise and Worship

Our God never changes. He is the truth! While we are in Him, His truth always guides, directs, and corrects us.

He is our God of justice. He is our God of Mercy. He is our God of Grace. I have heard these 3 true characteristics of our God define this way:
Justice is defined as “getting what you deserve.” (i.e. “You shall reap what you sow in this life.” Death, Sodom and Gomorrah)
Mercy is defined as “we don’t get what we deserve.” “We deserve death, but Christ gave His life for our forgiveness that we may live in God’s sight.”
Grace is defined as “getting what we don’t deserve.” “Our reward for believing in Christ is Eternal life with Jesus, no more fear, death, pain, sorrow, and suffering – Hallelujah! Praise God!”

Since we should be constantly changing (evolving) into the likeness of Christ, these become part of our defining characteristics.

Are you an instrument of His grace? Do you show the fruit of the Holy Spirit when adverse conditions are applied to your life? Is Grace an attribute that describes you? Are you giving people what they don’t deserve? Mercy and Justice are easily given, but Grace is hard.

Some people are hard to love. Some situations make us hard to love. But we are commanded to love anyway. I am positive that we were hard to love as Jesus look at us when He hung from the cross and said “Father, Forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Be blessed in His justice, His mercy, His grace, but most of all, His great love!

Choices = Legacy

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On November 7, 2011

In Praise and Worship

What do we teach them?

Everything we do has consequences. Every choice we make impacts someone. Every word we say can lift another person’s life up or cause them to question their existence. Who has God allowed you to have influence over? Certainly your spouse, your children, and your friends. Yesterday, I witnessed a father loudly and overtly cursing at his wife in front of a local grocery store as he was pushing a shopping cart carrying their two year old child. Jesus said “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’ …” (Matthew 15:18-20, NIV)

Today our schools are filled with kids using language laced with cursing and profanity. Sadly, I believe the media has so desensitized them that it is becoming indoctrinated into their culture. This offense is far from Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” And is more liken to the warning God spoke to Ezekiel in verse 22:26 “Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”

Children are a gift from the Lord. We are charged with admonishing and teaching them in the way of our Lord. They are not our property! They are gifts. All things belong to God. And everything (all gifts, even our children) will return to the Father either invested or buried. Every action of love will endure forever, love will never fail. Everything else will burn like chaff, wood, and stubble. Let your actions, your words, and your desires speak of love. Your children, your spouse, your friends, even your enemies will be changed. You will leave a legacy that has the promise of God and it will last forever!

Good Parents

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On November 4, 2011

In Praise and Worship

Genesis 1:27 (NIV) So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God’s purpose for His creation of Man and Woman is found in the subsequent verse Genesis 1:28 (NIV);
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Father and Mother complete the image of God to our children. Not just a father or a single mother — both.

Every good parent wants the best for their children. They work diligently to provide a home, food and clothing. They, in turn, expect obedience and honor from their children. Good parents provide time for entertainment and recreation, for laughter, for bonding and for work. Good parents provide structure and stability for their children so that children know their responsibility, duty and limitations.

Everything we do should have boundaries. Anything (except Jesus!) done in excess is idol worship. I heard a pastor say that it is when “we take good things and make them godly things we create idols” in our life. The discipline set up by good parents should help their children flee the temptation to create idols. Satan knows that the best way to destroy the world is to divide what was meant to be Holy from the beginning, Man and Woman, Man and Wife, or parents. Divorce, broken homes, and homosexuality are steadily increasing. The image of God created in the beginning is being redefined by Satan, the world, and lost people. Especially, some men and women who call themselves “good parents.”

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