Fuel, no longer just Friday night!

With the diverse communities that make up Calvary Chapel Lake of the Ozarks, it was decided that Fuel should no longer be a Friday night only ministry that takes place at the church. It is now the name of our new community groups that meet in different locations throughout all the communities that make up the Lake of the Ozarks area. If you are interested in being a part of one of these groups, please contact the church office to see where the group in your community is meeting. For those of you in the Osage Beach area, there is still a group meeting at the church on Friday nights.

Tear Down the Alters to Your False gods

"And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built." (Judges 6:28 NKJV)"

The children of Israel had fallen into sin once again, and then cried out to the Lord because of the harsh oppression that they were experiencing. God being a faithful God found an unlikely man hiding in a wine-press threshing wheat. Gideon was asked by The Angel of the Lord to tear down his father's idols to Baal, and use the alter made to Baal as fire to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Gideon being faithful did this and was able to be victorious in later battles in the name and power of the Lord.

My question for us today is what idols and alters do we have set up in our homes that prevent us from being victorious in the battles for Christ? Is it that T.V. that you worship before for hours every night and morning, or is it that car in you garage that you spend time studying and researching to get it just right so that all others will envy and covet it? It might even be religion that you have set up as an idol. Making sure that you are seen at church in a place of authority, and attending all services and studies, having a fish bumper sticker and quoting scripture to all your friends just so they know that you are holy. How much time do you spend at the feet of Jesus worshiping though? How much time do you spend just hanging out and listening to your Holy Father?

Make God first in your life, and no, don't let other idols be second, destroy them and offer them up to our Creator. If it does not bring glory to God, then what good is it?

His Spirit Our Heart United

How does one know the moment when they are born again? Many will say a prayer often referred to as the sinners prayer when they feel moved to make a decision to follow Christ. My question is if we are born into a life of sin, and living a life of sin how can we come to a decision to follow a holy God? I would argue that God places in every one of us a longing for a relationship with Him. That longing for Him, and the moving in your deepest parts of your soul is what wants to be united with the Father. How then could I say His Spirit and our heart united? Our heart the Bible says is deceitfully wicked. It is that foundational moving in our souls that wants to come to Christ when we hear God's Word taught that have us scream out internally I want to follow You Lord!

Are we then united with His Spirit? His Spirit comes to indwell in us so that we can follow a holy God, and if we then seek to abide in Him we will become more like Him. All powerful and all knowing? No, loving and seeking to do His will, not our own. I pray that all would come to this relationship with God, but the truth is they won't. So, go, preach His Word every chance you get so that many or few can respond to the calling that He puts out through His Word. Jesus died so that all would have the chance to follow Him to eternal life, yet only some will. Thank God for those that do, and pray for those who have not yet.

Give It All To The Lord

Trials in life can be difficult, truthfully, just life can be dificult. Reading through Leviticus this morning I was reminded that we should be lifting up our prayers to the Lord with His fire burning in us constantly. It is not enough to pray to God with a lists of wants like He is a grantor of wishes though. You should mingle your prayers with oil, or as it represents in scripture, the Holy Spirit. Lift up your heart to God, being led by His Spirit so that the desires of your heart will be His Will.


In His Service

What Do You Live For?

I've been reading through the book of Judges preparing for the next time I teach. It strikes me as weird how the children of Israel could have enjoyed such great deliverance from God over and over again, but they repeatedly lived for their own selfish desires. Are we much different though? They cried out to God, but it was because they were in trouble. Are we crying out to Him in fear, or are we abiding in Him in glory? I read a quote the other day that stated, "you're either in the mission field or you are the mission field.". So, which are you? Are you abiding in Christ and sharing your faith with all you come in contact with, or are you living for your own selfish desires waiting to cry out to the Lord when times get fearfull?


In His Service

Man's Need for the Law

Looking at Exodus starting in chapter thirteen, we see how God takes His chosen people from captivity and begins to build a relationship with them. The first thing we see is that God does not have them take the easy route, but instead takes them into the wilderness so that they will not see the battle and be frightened back into captivity. Our lives as believers take on this same situation when we first come to Christ and want to go and fight the battles. If God allows us to do so and we are challenged and come out not victorious we can be scared and return to where it was "easier". As Israel wandered around the wilderness they often grumbled about wanting to go back to Egypt because they were not happy with what God was providing for them. Time and time again God delivered them and proved to them that He would provide.

God wanted more for Israel, and wants more for His believers than for us to just be delivered. He wants us to work toward His righteousness. In order for us to know what God views as righteousness He had to give the children of Israel commandments on how to live. Exodus twenty breaks down the law into ten commandments, but Christ broke them down into two areas only. The first four deal with how we are to relate to God, and the fifth through the tenth deal with how we are to deal with our neighbor. This covenant that God made with Israel was a conditional covenant that would promise blessings for them and each other if they would keep this law. That brings us to the second reason why the law was given, so that the children of Israel and we can see that we can see the character of God, but know that we can never attain to the character of God. The Law does not provide a way to salvation, nor make one righteous, it is only through faith that salvation comes and trying to keep the law is only an expression of a believers love for God.

God then in the last chapters of Exodus sets up a way that Israel could approach Him in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle being an illustration for the present time shows us that we too need a high priest to approach God due to our sin nature. That high priest is Jesus Christ which intercedes for us continually. Knowing what Christ has done for us, may we each live to glorify Him daily.

God Wishes To Bless You

Tonight on the first night of Fuel, 2010, we heard from pastor Cliff that God wishes to bless us. This is the ongoing theme of the Bible. In the first two chapters we looked at tonight, we saw how in the beginning God set everything up in order to bless man. He gave him a place to live, He gave him food, and animals, and a helper and mate. Yet in the next chapter, we will see the fall of man, and from this fall through the end of Revelation, we will see the plan that God put into place for a Saviour which is Christ. We have fallen, we have all sinned, but God still chooses to bless us if we will only choose to turn to Him, and accept the gift of salvation. Hope to see you all next week at Fuel as we further look to see how the story unfolds.