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It's important to READ the Word of God, the Bible.
Whether you're SPEAKING the word of God out loud in your home, at your office, or traveling and staying in a hotel room, it sets the tone in the room. This isn't a public place, but this is your home, or a place where you are living. Make a declaration to God of His word.
For example, YOU COULD READ OUT LOUD GOD’S WORD into your house. John 3:16-17 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. Right now... speak GOD'S WORD OUT LOUD! You can also make it personal! TRY IT… GOD’S WORD OUT LOUD IS POWERFUL!
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As we go through this passage, it's very important to understand that every “I” represents God.
God is dealing with Israel as they are scattered among the different nations. Going through Israel’s history, there are reasons like battles, wars, and their direction is more important than following God! These moments pushed them away from Israel, their home. The horrible thing is that they need to be cleaned and made new! Because so many things we do are wrong. They were not representing the Kingdom of God well, and neither do we. This is why God sends us Jesus and gives us the grace and hope that we desperately need. This is FORGIVENESS! The other important part is showing that the Holy Spirit is very clear in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. God realizes the people of Israel could not follow Him without the Spirit of God being in them. That is the same today! We need the spirit of God in us! To Clean us from sin! To remember how amazing God always is, by giving us His Spirit to live in a way that honors God. Ezekiel 36: 22-27 reveals this truth to us! 22 “Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations.
23 I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord.
24 For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
God never gives up on us… BECAUSE WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN! 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. God gives us a new heart. Seriously, this is unbelievable. He doesn't leave us where we are, and in this state we have become; He makes us new and set apart for a Holy Purpose. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
This is salvation! 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
We don't follow God because He's forcing us to take these steps. We follow God because God loves us! All of the "I's" are God! How will God help us in our ups and our downs?
John 14:15-18 “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. We all have moments that change us for a few minutes or even a lifetime. Sometimes we get into an accident with our car, and that's a lot of cost. We also have times when things break, like the refrigerator, washing machine, and water heater, all at a cost. When we have someone close to us who has the disease, it is dealing with that process, which could be the rest of your life. Something simple could be breaking a bone, and one would need to wear a cast for several weeks. “I believe I was 11 or 12 years old. The next week, we were going to Disney World for the first time. Currently, I was playing baseball and got into a pickle. I was running between second and third base back and forth, as they kept throwing the ball back and forth as well. One of the turns, my foot stayed, and the rest of my body turned around! Crack! I was devastated at that moment. This would need to be in a cast for seven weeks! When we got to Disney, instead of my leg holding up our Disney trip back, we got to go to the front of the line with my crutches.” This leads us to another question: what do we do when we encounter a moment that changes our lives? I found out yesterday that I need to have a hip replacement in my right leg.
That is where John 14 comes into play! If I trust God, I not only have Jesus who looks after me, knows me, inside and out. I now have a second advocate who helps me make decisions in life. Advocates can be…
From a Biblical perspective, an advocate knows us, loves us, and leads us. The Holy Spirit and Jesus are both our advocates. The Holy Spirit is in us and challenges us to do what is right or wrong. Something that we used to go to for compensation, the Holy Spirit tells us we don't need that now. When we do something right, the Holy Spirit rejoices with us. "Years ago, my wife and I were doing street ministry. You met with a 20-something lady who was waiting for her man to get out of prison. Her path and life for compensation were that she drank a lot, and she got through life. As we talked to her about Jesus, we introduced her to a whole new way of thinking. She was very interested in our conversation. We invited her to church, where she genuinely accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. My wife began meeting with her weekly to help her learn how to follow God. One time, she came crying. She explained to my wife that when she went to grab one of the beers, she instantly started crying. And she didn't know why. My wife explained to her the power of the Holy Spirit, who convicts us in doing something that won't help her." We hadn't even talked about the Holy Spirit yet. She experienced God through the Holy Spirit! Whatever your moment or decision, you have two advocates: Jesus & The Holy Spirit! You are never an orphan; God is always there! John 14:15-18 “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. This post is not refined. Lol
It’s off the cuff… Written as being inspired by the entire chapter of Romans 14. Please, be patient with it. But let it stir you looking at and studying Romans, 14 ———-- Romans 14 is such a powerful chapter for those who believe Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior. The principles of this chapter is still present and causing division even today, 2026.
Romans 14:23 NLT “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.” Romans 14:3 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.14.3.NIV We may have differences, the differences are not bad.
“Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God. For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.” Romans 14:1-3, 5-9 NLT ——-- This passage, Romans, 14, should challenge us, and the way we think, process, and view faith and how we Live our lives of faith. Romans 14 is a crazy chapter! Which good are you?
What does God say? Romans 4:2-3 NLT “Good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”” https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.4.2-3.NLT Many of us believe, “If I'm a good person, I'll be right with God.” Some of us were raised with this concept OR this idea is foreign to us. The people and choices around us, define our future. As kids, we would copy and mimic the actions of people around us. As a kid, freckles and all, I would copy those things around me.
God's Culture takes us past all of that! Question. Are we defining ourselves by how good we are or by faith? Faith is trusting in God vs. mimicking the people and life around us. Our passage to consider… Romans 4:2-3 NLT “Good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”” https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.4.2-3.NLT Wow! This passage is very clear. If we believe we can create salvation through good deeds or mimicking what's around us, we're wrong. God has so much more for us. As scripture clearly says, if we could build it, they will come. Wait, I apologize, that's a reference from a movie called Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner. As scripture clearly says, finding Faith is the key to being righteous before God. Righteousness is acting with God's heart, by living with faith. God tells us... Proverbs #:5-6 NLT Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek God's will in all you do, and God will show you which path to take. What do we believe? Do we need to live life our way or God's way? Romans 8:38 NLT
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