Closing prayer before communion service. Thankyou Lord that you saw in me what no one else could see! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Tag: boyd
Humility For Pride! John Chapter 13
During Jesus last 3 years of ministry He would sometimes say my time has not come yet! However in John Chapter 12 we see a change where Jesus says my time has now come! The word time means to honor! The word honor means to promote! Jesus promoted you from Hell to Heaven! Jesus promoted His Father! Jesus got promoted and is seated at the right hand of our Father today interceding for us in prayer! What is our response to Christians being beheaded around the world? How do we respond to violence? Jesus said those who live by the sword will die by the sword! Jesus was also living in violent times! Jesus life was just not hanging around shepherds anchored to green pastures! The Romans ruled through fear and violence! The same for the Middle East today! In Jesus day swords, spears and crosses ruled the day! The good Samaritan got beat up! Mr. Rogers could not have lived in this neighborhood! John 13:3-5 Why was this foot washing so offensive to Peter and the disciples? In the Jewish culture only gentiles could wash a Jews feet! A Jew could never wash another Jew’s feet! Jesus stepped on their pride! Never let your culture separate you from God! Jesus was never careless with His authority. He used it to draw people to God! Jesus shows us and His disciples that serving confronts our pride! Sometimes we have pride we are not even aware of! Pride hung on the religious and political rulers but could not cling to Jesus! Matthew 6:1-4 Jesus warned us not to let acts of kindness be seen of men. Give in secret! When was the last time you served in secret? There are 3 ways to serve. 1. Serve to be seen by others. 2. Serve in secret but to be proud of it! Self righteous! 3. Serve in secret as worship to God! Do we serve to impress God? Serve in pride? Do you think you are better than those you serve? John 13:34-35 Jesus gave us a new commandment! It covers the other ten! Love one another! I thought just my family and church members? Help those who cannot help you! Serving others is the most powerful witness to the world! The watching world will never agree with all our theology but are fascinated with our behavior of helping others! Serve the widow’s, orphans and the hurting! The one’s nearest us know us best! How do the one’s closest to you describe you? Do they call us servants? He who is greatest in the Kingdom of God is servant of all! Carl Marks had a philosophy but it was not a reality? He got his best friend’s wife pregnant and then sent the baby to an orphanage! Let Christ’s love categorize you! Be a servant at home first then to the church and then to the world! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Forgive! Why? When? Where? Matthew 18:21
Start your day everyday by saying, “I am forgiven!” Therefore, I forgive you! This truth needs to be reverberating around the world! Go into all the world and preach! Most things Jesus said we agree with. However, it is difficult to live out everyday! Forgive? Seven times? Seventy seven times? We are always forgiven! So why keep score every time you are offended? There are some misconceptions about forgiveness. Some pretend nothing has happened? It is called living on the Egyptian River of denial! Part of the healing process is talking about hurts and pains especially in marriage. Why bring up the past? Maybe so we can talk about it so it does not happen again! Not to shame us but remind us of our failures and need to forgive! Dynamite is compressed tightly together so you get a big bang with very little of it! If we compress our hurts inside of us one day we will explode! The explosion could destroy your marriage! The pain of not talking about it is far worse than everyone knowing about it! It is medicinal to talk about it. Years ago I had a Pastor who was very good from the pulpit but very different away from the pulpit! He was abusive to us and we thought about getting out of the ministry! We left the church and moved to Texas. Forgiving him was difficult and we were counseled to write a letter to him in detail and ask God to Bless his life and ministry! I did write the letter several times and tore the letter up and threw in the trash several times! As I wrote the letter several times the pain within me began to be released! After we forgive do we need to trust again? Violation of trust is a big deal! It is painful! It has harmed us and we want to retaliate! Forgiveness and trust is different. We wish the best for the offender but to trust again? Can trust be earned back? It is very difficult! To earn trust back we must do the right things for the right reasons for a very long time! Here is a visual example. Trust is earned one drop at a time but can be spilled out in one bucket. Don’t kick the bucket over! It takes a long time to fill again! We forgive and do not want bitterness towards someone. They do not owe us! The debt has been cancelled! We tore up the judgments! We do not expect an apology! We have torn up the bill of sale! Acts 7:59-60 Stephen was stoned! Since Colorado has legalized pot some young new members of our church got the wrong idea when I said stoned? I got nods and approval from them then realized the problem! I explained the stoned is a rock! Forgive us our debts and forgive our debtors. Father forgive them was one of those seven sayings Jesus said on the Cross. Stephen said forgive and receive my spirit! How could he say this? Stephen knew he was forgiven! Do not hold sin against others! They do not owe you anything! This is the beautiful explanation of the Remarkable Christian Faith! This sets Christianity apart from every other religion! No Jihad here! We express forgiveness! Christianity has broken through the dark clouds of war! If you forgive much much is forgiven! People who hold judgments forget they are forgiven! We can never forgive more than God does! They do not owe me anything but not an excuse for bad behavior! When we forgive then they do not own us! 1 Peter 2:23-24 Retaliation? They said something about us that was not true? When their ownership of you gets released you get free space in your brain! You now have more capacity! Fill up the spare room with the mind of Christ! Our response shows us whether we have forgiven or not? Deism is one of the oldest religions around. Deism says God exists but is not active in the earth. A big God is not interested in what is going on. So since God is inactive I must act and do His job for Him! God understands who I am and do not have to defend myself! No one owns me or owes me! Leave space for God! Let God set things right! Do you trust God to leave it to Him? If you wrestle with schemes in your mind to defend yourself then they own you! How do I know our dog belongs to us? When you call him by name he responds! If you are owned by someone then they push your buttons to get a response! If God has forgiven you then who can accuse you? Jesus did not retaliate! It is so hard to wait to be seated in a nice restaurant! They hand you this buzzer and you wait and watch people sip tea and enter into senseless conversations while you are starving! They came in the same door some enjoying the good food and others suffering waiting to be served! The same door that allows God’s forgiveness into our heart is the same door that allows un-forgiveness out! Do not be a hostage to un-forgiveness! The tables are filled with people you may not like! Accept the invitation from Jesus at His table as you share God’s mercy with others who are forgiven just like you! Spend the rest of your life serving others! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Prayer 1 John 5:11-15
Our relationship with God involves prayer! How would you describe your prayer life? Here are some possible answers to this question. 1. Unashamed begging-desperate 2. Loud and lengthy-convicted 3. Terrified whispers-uncertain 4. Sterile and formal-religious, distant and impersonal 5. Speechless-do not know what to say, wordless 6. Confident prayers. Some say prayer is just a conversation with God. No! First you need to know who God is and then teach our children who God is! If we know who God is we can pray confidently! If you do not know who God is then you will pray amiss! If you do not trust God then you will trust in the wrong things. How would you describe God? God is love! He has given us eternal life through His Son! What is eternal life? Eternal life includes past, present and future. He cleans all your files past, present and future! Life means an existence without end. Jesus gave us a sample when He raised the dead! He has promised to raise you one day from the dead! He has prepared a place for you! When I came to Christ a new life began in me! All things were made new! A new reality struck me like lightning! Born again! A blessed assurance of confidence entered my life! Fear and anger and hate were replaced by love, peace and joy! Now I know He loves me and it changed everything! He is more precious than silver and more costly than gold! When we find out who God is we can pray with confidence! The world will wear you down with it’s troubles and religion! We are talking about relationship here! When you come before the creator and ruler of the world and ask anything according to His will and purpose for your life you got it! God is unique in that He can hear all our prayers all at once! Like a mother who can hear all her screaming kids at once. God’s faithfulness is like a money back guarantee! After 25 years of marriage I have learned about non-verbal communication. With eye to eye contact I know the answer before I ask her! When we are intimate with God we know the answer before we ask Him! I know of some schools that give the students the answers before the test but that is cheating! With God you ask in prayer and He will give you an answer! Either yes, no or wait. We can approach God with confidence and know He is listening! He respects you and hears your prayers. Through the Holy Spirit it is like eye to eye contact with God! God is leaning into you! He is paying attention to you! He also wants your attention! We should ask for things He wants to give us! Revelation; Pray His promises to you! Reading and studying the Bible will lead to proper conversation and prayers to God! We already know the answers to our prayers if we pray His promises! God will bring good people into your life and lonely people to minister too! Just as in marriage intimate relationship with God leads to success! That is why Satan works overtime to break up relationships and marriages. We are going to tackle next year with a strong foundation for our families as provided to us in the Gospel of John Chapters 14, 15,16 and 17. Jesus said, “Ask in my name and I will do it!” If we remain in Him we will ask the right things! Marriage should be a picture of our relationship with God! We His church are His bride! In regards to prayer we can ask from those we know very well! Our promises from God are guaranteed! They are sure! Good as gold! Here is a sample of His promises to us from the Bible. 1. He gives us peace. John 14:27. 2. He wants to give us rest. Matthew 11:28. 3. He wants to give us courage. John 16:33. 4. He wants to give us wisdom. Luke 21:15. 5. He wants to give us a family. Psalm 68:5-6. The Bible says you have not because you ask not! Do you take time to ask or try to go it on your own? Pray God’s promises! It is so exciting to give God the Glory when He comes through! God loves to hear from you as you remind Him who He is! A father likes to hear from his children that he is their father! Prayer changes circumstances! One of the Greek words for prayer in the New Testament means to invert in a good sense! From poor to rich! From sad to joy! From lonely to relationships! From purposeless to purpose! From weakness to power! From hate to love! From hell to heaven! Try God and see He is good! Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Discernment Versus Deception 1 John 4: 1-4
Some will talk about Jesus but want you to follow them! Heresy is about self-promotion! Is Jesus at the center of our worship? Right worship should lead us to follow Jesus and not a personality. Some people want you to follow them and use Jesus to accomplish this. Some want to gather followers around themselves rather than lead people to be followers of Jesus! I am not cynical and do not see a devil behind every bush but let the Holy Spirit give you discernment to see deception even in a religious place! Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Warning to Gays and Lesbians! Romans 1:24, 26, 27, 32
Dear Pastor Brady Boyd, Paul in verse 32 says that those who do those things are worthy of death! Verse 31 says without natural affection which to me would mean a man attracted to a woman. It is interesting in verse 24, God gave them up to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. We often look at God delivering us from sin but it looks like here God is keeping us from sin! God is not just the medicine to treat the sin but He delivers us from the disease of sin! You mentioned Sunday that some gays have an attraction for each other but never perform the physical act! Jesus said that if I look on a woman with lust it is the same as committing the physical act!. It says in verse 18 of Romans, chapter one, that ungodly men attempt to restrain the truth through unrighteousness! The sin of gays and lesbians appears to be against creation itself! Greed is a sin no doubt but I have a problem lumping them together for Paul did not say greed was worthy of death! We appreciate our questions being addressed by you and presenting your answers on Sunday! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com