Godly Living VI: Attitude

Past. Melody vd Merwe

25 September 2011 (am)

Phil 2:5-8 (LB)

… Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, who, though He was God, did not demand and cling to His rights as God, but laid aside His mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men. And He humbled Himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross…

Your whole life depends on your attitude!

You can do the right thing, with the wrong attitude!! (Sitting on the outside, but on the inside I’m still standing up!!)

1 Cor 16:14 …let all that you do, be done with love.

Col 3:23 (NKJ) …and whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men…

LB… work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord…

Phil 2:14 (NKJ) …do all things without complaining (NIV-grumbling) and disputing (NIV-arguing)…

LB… in everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing…

Phil 4:5 (LB) … Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do.

Phil 2:12-16 (Mess). Command.

…What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing…

Jesus our Example

Phil 2:5-8 (MSG)… ^5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion…

Romans 12:3-21 (MSG)… ³I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

^4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

^6-8If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

^9-10Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

^11-13Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

^14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

^17-19Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

^20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Romans 13:8-14 …^8-10Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.

^11-14But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Romans 14:11-14 (MSG)

Read it for yourself in Scripture:
“As I live and breathe,” God says,
“every knee will bow before me;
Every tongue will tell the honest truth
that I and only I am God.”
So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

^13-14Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.

Romans 14:17 (MSG) … Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

Romans 14:19 (MSG) So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault…

Romans 14:23 (MSG) Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.

Romans 15:1-7 (MSG)…Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! …

• Don’t think more of yourself – Who and what you are is by grace.
• Love deeply – not selfish – me first
• Help others – Hospitable
• Bless – Share with happiness and sorrow of others
• Invite those who are humble (Luke 14:13)
• Look for the best in all.

Have Jesus’ attitude!!

Kind – blind man Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46) …what do you want me to do for you?

• Bending over backwards being what is needed.
• Woman issue of blood – woman caught in adultery.

Hospitable – feeds five thousand (Mark 6) + 4 Thousand (Mark 8 )

Generous – Charitable – Gave to the poor – gave life for us.

Compassionate – raise son of widow.

Friendly – Mark 10:13 …do not hinder little ones to come…

Worships God – as boy – early in the morning

Submission, Obedience – baptized – Gethsemane – no my will. Cross – Golgotha – death on cross.

Submit one to another – die to self.

Forgiving – 70 x 7 – on the cross.

Galatians 5:22-23 (MSG)… ^22-23But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

HAVE A GODLY ATTITUDE!

Godly Living IV: Put On

Past. Melody vd Merwe

04 September (am)

Eph 4:29-32

Intro: We have been born again / saved / called to living God’s way – died to self and now live for Him. God wants us to grow up and be like Christ in everything.

We are to take our lead from Christ, (Eph 4:14 Mess)

Watch what God does, and then you do it. (Eph 5:1 Mess)

Eph 4:29-32 NKJ

Put off

Eph 4:29-31 NKJ & Mess

Col 3:3-11 Mess

Put on

Eph  4:32 NKJ

Kind – Luke 6:35 WW* Matt 11:30

Kind – that which is useful, easy, pleasant, good, comfortable, suitable and serviceable. Does not chafe, well fitting.

Good – goodness Rom 2:4 …the goodness of God leads you to repentance.

Kindness WW* Gal 5:22. Goodness in action, sweetness of disposition, Gentleness in dealing with others.

The word describes the ability to act for the welfare of those taxing your patience.

The Holy Spirit removes abrasive qualities from the character of one under His control.

Gracious – WW * Mal 1:9

Tenderhearted

1 Pet 3:8+9 + Mess – tenderly compassionate (pity that moves you to action).

WW* Hos 2:23 have mercy.

Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37

Forgiving one another. WW* Col 3:13 + Mess…forgive as quickly and completely as the master forgave you.

Ps 103:12

Is 38:17

Is 43:25…and I will not remember your sins. (Mess…I don’t keep a list of your sins.)

Put off – Col 3:3-1 Mess

Put on – Col 3:12-17 (Mess) – The bond of perfection – (Maturity)

And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Men’s Bonding day

For the ‘manne’…

Friday 30 September 2011

More info to follow…

All cell groups get together for a joint celebration of fellowship and worship and testimony!!!

Woman’s Pamper day…

Saturday 6 August 2011

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR DETAILS…