September 14, 2011

Attributes of God

God is Sovereign- The word sovereign means chief, highest or supreme.  When we say God is sovereign, we are saying that Hs is the number one ruler in the universe.

Psalms 103:19, 2 Samuel7:28, 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

1 Chronicles 29:10-13
10 Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said:

“ Blessed are You, LORD God ofIsrael, our Father, forever and ever.

11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD,
And You are exalted as head over all.

12 Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.

13 “Now therefore, our God,
We thank You
And praise Your glorious name.

 

God is Eternal-There has never been a time when God did not exist.  He has no beginning and has no end.

Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 1:8, 1 Timothy 1:17

Isaiah 44:6

6 “ Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:

‘ I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.

 

 

God is Omniscient- God possesses all the knowledge there is to have.  Nothing ever takes Him by surprise.

Hebrews 4:13, Job 42:2, Isaiah 40:12-14

Hebrews 4:13

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

 

God is Omnipresent- God is infinite and everywhere present through all time and space.

Jeremiah 23:24, Proverbs 15:3, Deuteronomy 31:6, Colossians 1:17

Jeremiah 23:24

24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the LORD;

“ Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

 

God is Omnipotent- God is all powerful, having more than enough strength to do the sum total of all things.

Philippians 3:20-21, Psalms 147:5, Ephesians 3:20

Ephesians 3:20

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

 

God is Immutable- God never changes in His nature of attributes.

Numbers23:19, Psalm 102:27, Hebrews 13:8

Hebrews 13:8

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

God is Righteous- It is impossible for Him to do or cause anything that is wrong.

Deuteronomy 32:4, Isaiah 45:20-25, Psalm 111:1-3, 2 Corinthians 5:21

Deuteronomy 32:4

New King James Version (NKJV)

4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.

Isaiah 45:20-25

New King James Version (NKJV)

20 “ Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together,
You who have escaped from the nations.
They have no knowledge,
Who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
21 Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the LORD?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.
22 “ Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall take an oath.
24 He shall say,

‘ Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.
To Him men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him.
25 In the LORD all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified, and shall glory.’”

Psalm 111:1-3

1 Praise the LORD!

I will praise the LORD with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

2 The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
3 His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.

2 Corinthians 5:21

New King James Version (NKJV)

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

God is Just- It is impossible for Him to do anything that is unfair, either to Himself or to man.

Revelation 15:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10, 2 Timothy 4:8

Revelation 15:3-4

3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“ Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.”

 

God is Love- God is perfect infinite love. His love is given freely and without any consideration of the loveliness or merit of the object.

John 3:16, Romans 8:37-39, 1 John 3:16

Romans 8:37-39

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

God is Veracity- He is absolute truth.

Psalm 33:4, Titus 1:2, John 8:32

Psalm 33:4

4 For the word of the LORD is right,
And all His work is done in truth.

Titus 1:2

2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,

John 8:32

32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

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April 18, 2011

Patience & Prayer

Yesterday we did a short devo @ C3 to finish our study in James we read James 5:7-19.  Our discussion was about patience and fervent prayer.  I don’t know about you, but it seems that we live in a society that is driven by results.  We want things fast and we want them now.  For example, think about what you have to do to get a cheeseburger.  Drive down the street and go through a “drive thru” and you got one in a minute.  Think about the slogans such as Burger King, “Have it your way”. Better yet, here in America you can have food delivered to your house!  What’s the point?  As Christians we tend to do the same thing with people!!!  We pray for people for a week, month, if you’re super spiritual a year!  When was the last time you or myself prayed for the same person for over one year?  We give up.  We stop because we don’t see results.  Let me encourage you to be resilient in your prayer life.  Let me encourage you to be resilient in serving the same people over and over again.  People are on different types of soils and sometimes they need help being transplanted!  I know God was patient with me, therefore, I need to be patient in serving His precious people.

Now prayer.  James 5:17 states that, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours”. Did you get that?  What is the difference between Elijah and us?  His nature was like you and me.  But it says that he prayed fervently!  Fervent means having or displaying a passionate intensity.  Hot, burning, or glowing.  Let me ask you a question?  Is your prayer life passionately intense?  Are you hot or on fire for God in prayer?  Elijah was and he prayed that the rain would stop and it did for 3 1/2 years.  Then he prayed that it would rain again, and it did.  What’s the point?  Be on fire for God and pray with passionate intensity!  Ask God for BIG things that you cannot do, but only He can do!  And do not give up!

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April 3, 2011

Radical Experiment

Radical Experiment
This year I felt that God was calling me to read more.  I am pretty picky on my reading so let me explain how I choose what I read.  First of all I like to read different books at the same time with four different categories.  Let me explain.  1) Personal Christian growth.  I enjoy reading books that challenge me to grow as a Christian.  2) Leadership.  Any book that can help me grow as a leader is valuable to me.  Currently I am reading 10 Things Every Minister Need To Know by Ronnie Floyd.  3) Church Growth.  I enjoy looking at different strategies, learning from others and checking out what others are doing for the Glory of God.  4) Devotional.  I love having an extra something as I start off my day in God’s Word.  I really enjoy learning from other people and their insight and wisdom in God’s Word.

Recently I finally finished a book called Radical by David Platt.  If you haven’t read it yet, please do so asap.  At the end of the book there is a 1 year challenge.  I am accepting the challenge and I am asking you for prayer as I start this challenge April 1, 2011.  In accepting the 1 year challenge, I am committing to:

1) I will pray for the entire world. http://operationworld.org
2) I will read through the entire Bible.
3) I will sacrifice my money for a specific purpose.
4) I will spend time in another context. (overseas mission trip)
5) I will commit my life to a multiplying community.

 

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June 4, 2010

How well do you Know God?

Last night at Collide we had a great discussion about knowing God.  We had asked, “On a scale of 1-10 (1 being very little and 10 being very well), how well would you say you know God?”

Think about how well or lack thereof you know God.  As you think about knowing God, I want to challenge you to set up parameters for knowing God.  One might say they know God as an 8 or 9 because they have ready the Bible and live by it.  Another might say God is infinite so I only know God as a 2.

Consider 1 John 2:3-5

3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

The reality of “knowing God” is this…. How well do I Obey God?

In His Mighty Grip,

Mark

http://marksalazar.org

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February 24, 2010

Woman at the Well John 4

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December 2, 2009

Go fly a kite!

Go fly a kite! Yes I know it sounds bad, even wrong.   But for reals,  some of you need to go fly a kite!  I did today.  With a  busy schedule and lots to do with alot coming up in the next few weeks with church, family and holidays I took the time today to go fly a kite with Shadrach, my 3 1/2 year old boy.  (Check out the pic below)

Go fly a kite!

I think it is so easy to get caught up in being busy with our “to do” list and work that we neglect out families.  Live opposite of the world.  You are always going to cheat someone of your time.  Do not cheat your family.  If you do, you will lose them.  I cannot tell you of how many families I know that are broken up or are going to be broken up because they need to “go fly a kite” !!!

Men….. love your wife!  I believe one of the best ways we can model Christ’s love for us is to love our wife.  Love her, cherish her, open doors for her, hook her up with flower (or gift certificate to happy nails… know her love language). etc.  Your kids will see what you do and do the same.  Shadrach likes to pick up little yellow flowers and give them to his mom… it is so cute and thoughtful.

Parents…. take time during your busy schedules and do something fun with your kids.  It was so fun flying a kite today with Shadrach.  I was reminded today how much that little guy looks up to me.  I was reminded that I need to love on him so much more.  He needs me to see show him how to do things in life and then to give him a chance at doing them.

Your kids will do what you do, not what you say!

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.  1 Corinthians 11:1

Good or bad, your kids do look up to you, they will even copy you.  Let us be imitators of Christ for our kids!  And lastly….GO FLY A KITE!

In His Mighty Grip,

Mark

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November 24, 2009

Dead to Sin?

Do you ever wonder why it is so hard sometimes as a Christian to “be” a Christian.  Well you might be asking, “what do you mean by Christian?”  I think a person who says they are a Christian is a person who follows Christ with their actions!  The word Christian means “little Christ” or “follower of Christ.”  Now are we going to be perfect?  No, but should we strive to be?  Yes.  So if you are seeking to follow Christ or are trying to be a little Christ this is for you!

We all go though different seasons of life; things are going great, super tired, financially impossible, worn out emotionally, etc.  Despite what season you are going through I think we can fall into a funk of going through the motions spiritually.  Yesterday I had a devotions that I put a bookmark in that I wanted to go back to.  It was Romans 6:11.  It says,

“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

It really spoke to my heart in a fresh way.  I asked myself,  ”Do I consider myself dead to sin and alive in Christ?”  I think that there are so many times we read the bible just to read but forget to ask God, “WHAT ABOUT ME?  HOW AM I DOING?  SEARCH ME GOD? SHOW ME WHERE I AM AT!”

I know that I have been forgiven and that my sins gone.  But I do think that we need to remember to consider ourselves through our daily living living in seeking to follow Christ to remember that we are dead to sin and Alive in Christ!.  I feel encouraged today knowing that, remembering that so that I may be ALIVE.

2By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?    Romans 6:2

So how do we get tripped up into being tired, depressed or just flat out forget about God?  I think it it because we forget we are dead to sin.  As I was encouraged today, I want to encourage you to remember what Christ has done for you daily.  Wake up thanking God for the life he has given you.  Thank Him for the Cross, thank Him for your salvation, thank Him that you are forgiven and free, thank Him for your family, thank Him for His goodness, Thank Him!

24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  1 Peter 2:24

Live to righteousness today!  He paid the price for our sins!  By His wounds we have been healed!   Be dead to sin today.  Let us not go back to any former ways but let us press on and go forward and live out our salvation.

In His Mighty Grip,

Mark

http://marksalazar.org

 

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November 12, 2009

Are You Free?

Tonight my wife and I were reading Galatians 5 together and a few things really stood out.

You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Galatians 5:7

How sad is that? Hey you were off to a great start but something happened, something hindered you. Did you know that God has a plan for our lives that are full of promise, blessing, a future and a hope? Sometimes we are in process to some of those things but we never finish to the end. Something hinders us. What are things that keep you and I from obeying the truth? Is it our insecurities? Past failures? Lack of Faith? Trust? Whatever it may have been, start over today and keep running!

It is amazing to think that you and I can live victoriously in Christ because He has set us FREE! He has given us liberty to walk in the Spirit. I had a conversation with a person a while ago about the freedom we have in Christ. We had talked about being free in Christ and what it meant. What it does not mean is this: because I am a Christian and Christ has set me free, then I can choose to do whatever I want. That is abusing the grace of God and this person is not truly free. You can always do whatever you want but that is not how Christ wants us to live. If we continue to make decisions with that mindset we then live in the flesh.

Galatians 5:19-21 says,

“19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, 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.”

Now if you truly are free, then you live for Christ and others ahead of yourself. Freedom costs! It may not cost you or I anything but it costs somebody something sometime and someplace. For Christians it cost Jesus Christ everything over 2000 years ago on a Cross. Because it is no longer I who lives but Christ in me, I live in that freedom. I live freely saved by grace. If I am free then I live in the Spirit, not the flesh.

Look here at what Galatians 5:22-26 says…

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 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. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Let me encourage you today to let go of the flesh and live in the Spirit! When you live in the sprit you are going to bear the fruit of the Spirit. If you go read Matthew chapter 7 you will see a theme repeating itself that I will outline for you.

* narrow gate is difficult but lead to life, wide gate is broad and leads to destruction
* good fruit, bad fruit
* house built on rock, house built on sand

There is so much to discuss on Matthew 7. Read it and lets discuss it together!

Until next time, let go and let God. Be FREE and walk in the Spirit!

In His Mighty Grip,

Mark

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November 11, 2009

NEW FAMILY PICS!!!

Kristi’s best friend Jackie aka Jax is an awesome photographer who took some pics of our family.  Check them out… more to come!

http://www.jackiewonders.com/blog/2009/11/10/mark-kristi-shad-moriah-just-because/

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November 4, 2009

Trials :)

So the plan for today was to have a really productive day.  I had a “to do list” and was off to a great start.  Ok, so now it’s lunch time and I need a car wash…. Costco!  $1.50 for a jumbo hot dog & a soda and $7.95 car wash.  As I am about to enter the car wash I got a phone call so I pulled over and took the call.  ”POP!”  My radiator cracked in my Jeep and it started smoking and leaking coolant like crazy.  I used to like my Jeep up until the last few months it has been acting up on me, plus we had a motor on one of the windows go out.

What did I do?

I honestly laughed and praised God for the fact that I do have a car to break down on me.  I thought of this verse in James…

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.   James 1:1-3

A moment of frustration was calmed by God’s Word as I was reminded to have JOY!  This trial is such a small outward circumstance.  There are so many other things going on in my life as well as in the lives of others that are so much bigger than this.  God is bigger than all these trials.  How will we respond to them?  God will allow us to be tested so that we prevail and draw closer to Him because He wants to build us up!  Satan will tempt you so that you will fail and feel separated form God.

God will test so that you prevail, Satan will tempt so that you fail.

Thank makes me think of John 10:10…. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Lastly, when my radiator cracked on me today I realized that God is in total control.  He knew that I had a lot to get done.  He knew that this would happen to me today.  Maybe God just wanted to get my attention so that this small trial could build me up.  As I was thinking and meditating on the Word I thought of Philippians 4:4 which says, ” Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”

Are you going through a trial right now?  if so, REJOICE!  Again I say REJOICE!  In this life we live today we are always walking into a storm, in the middle of a storm or coming out of a storm.  God is good ALL the time!

In His Mighty Grip,

Mark

 

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