The One Thing - United Faith Church Podcast

Ecclesiastes 7:4 "A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time." True WisdomHello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. What does it mean to be wise? Now, wisdom can mean a lot of different things - and a lot of good things. But, one thing I would like to share with you today is something dear to my own heart, and it's a Word that I want to share from Ecclesiastes; but before I get there, I want to talk about foolishness. What does the Bible consider to be foolishness before the eyes of God? What does it mean to be a foolish person? One thing that I've realized in this Scripture is that the most foolish thing that we can do, or the most foolish way that we can live our lives, is to not realize that one day our lives will end. What do I mean by that? "...there will be a day that we close our eyes to never wake up again to now meet our Maker..." Today, when we think about the youth or we think about many adults even, and the message that is portrayed through media or just through many people who are teaching their ideas, you know ‘live how you want to live today - do what you want to do,’ and many say, ‘you know what, forget about God, you can get into God later, but you are younger - you need to live your life, you need to do what you need to do, and tomorrow we got to make the best of the day.’ And why is this foolishness? Because the reality is the Bible makes very clear that we are not promised tomorrow. We are not even promised tonight; I'm not even promised the very next hour. You see, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, we can be taken in a car accident or a disease or whatever it may be - there's a million different ways - but bottom line, our lives are fragile; bottom line, there will be a day that we close our eyes to never wake up again to now meet our Maker and to then be accountable for the way that we have chosen to live our lives. Why is it foolish not to realize this? Why is it foolish not to think about it? Because we can go on, we can decide to go our own way and to do our own thing - but it will end one day. See, the Bible says that the rich and the poor have one thing in common: that one day we will lie on our deathbed. Now is this something that should stir us up just to be full of fear? No, but it is something to truly think about, because it's as though we're all thinking we're gonna live forever, we could just do what we want - but the reality is there's a day of reckoning for every man and for every woman. "...let me love my family as God has called me to love..." So today as I'm speaking about wisdom, we understand what foolishness is, but now let's talk about the wisdom of the Word in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 4. It says (and I'm reading from the NLT), “a wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.” Now, what is wisdom? It's saying that a wise person thinks a lot about death. Now is it saying that we're obsessed with death? Is it saying that you know that's all that we think about? No, what it is saying is that those who are wise realize that they're not going to be here forever - that those who are wise, those who are in Christ, those who are following Him realize that at any moment He can call us home; any moment He can require of us our lives - and what are we doing with what we have? Are we assuming that we're going to have tomorrow to say “I love you” to our children again? Are we assuming that tonight we're going to get home and all is well and we're gonna have another chance to maybe seek God? We cannot assume these things, but the way that God is calling us to live is that this moment may be our last moment - so you know what? Let me seek the Lord with all of my heart. This may be my last day; let me love my family as God has called me to love; let me love my brothers and my sisters; let me not be caught in temptations and in the thing...

Proverbs 7:21-23 "With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life."Hello and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. Today I'd like to ask you the question: What entices you? See, one thing I've learned in life is that every single day there's always something tugging and pulling for our attention, for our hearts, for our minds - there's always something. We live in a world, and we know that the world - the Bible says the spirit of the world is in opposition to the Spirit of God. So we know that living in this world - the spirit of the world is always looking to draw us away - away from who? Away from God. Vice versa, the Spirit of the Lord is always speaking and always looking to draw God's people to Himself. "People...can be caught or enticed or pulled away if we're not on guard and not looking to what God wants to speak through His Word in order to keep us pure, to keep us with Himself." Why is this important? Well one thing is if you look through the Scriptures, you can look through Kings and Chronicles - Israel had an issue many times, and what does the Bible say in numerous occasions? The Israelites were enticed or drawn away, seduced by neighboring people who worshipped foreign gods and they were literally enticed even by some of the women, and they got into immorality and all sorts of things. But bottom line we know that that same thing still happens today. Many times, people who are looking to maybe follow God or maybe to, you know, to walk in purity, can be caught or enticed or pulled away if we're not on guard and not looking to what God wants to speak through His Word in order to keep us pure, to keep us with Himself. Now, looking in Proverbs chapter 7 one of my favorite chapters in Proverbs - if you look at the title many of the titles that you may have may say ‘The Immoral Woman,’ it's talking about this woman. Now it's not literally talking about just a physical woman, but it's talking about that spirit - it's a seducing, enticing spirit. It’s the spirit of the world that looks to pull away. Now, let's look at verse 21. And you can read the whole chapter but I’m just gonna do a couple bits and pieces here. But this woman is now seducing a young man. It's a kind of a short story here but it says in verse 21 - it says, “So she seduced him with her pretty speech and enticed him with her flattery. He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter. He was like a stag caught in a trap, awaiting the arrow that would pierce his heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life.” How sad to see that this young man was seduced by this woman. By her what? Her pretty speech. She enticed him, it says, with her flattery and what? It says that he went literally like an animal, and just got caught into this trap, and what happened in the end? It says that it cost him his life. "Right now, what is consuming our minds, and what is consuming our heart?" There is a seriousness in the Word of the Lord today. We have to ask and say, ‘Are we enticed in the same way?’ Has the world enticed us, has the world overtaken our mind - what entices us what draws our attention every single day? Right now, what is consuming our minds, and what is consuming our heart? See, think about the world for a moment. The world is very sensual. When we look at every television ad, it is so easy to be enticed to even purchase things that we don't need. When we’re watching different movies or different television shows, and I have nothing against TV but we just really have to think - when we get caught three or four hours watching television we look at our watch and we go, ‘Wow, how did that even happen?

Psalm 33:5 "The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love." Psalm 6:4 "Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love." Psalm 13:5 "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation."Hello and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. I wanted to share just something so incredible that the Lord was impressing on my heart this day. The word that I was really beginning to understand is His unfailing love. I started to think about all throughout the Scriptures and there's numerous Scriptures - I can't list them all but I'm going to list a few - that speak about God's unfailing love. Psalm 33:5 says “The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love.” Psalm 6:4 says “Turn Lord and deliver me, save me because of Your unfailing love.” Psalm 13:5 “but I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.” "What's so spectacular about God's unfailing love is that this love is powerful to deliver us!" What's so spectacular about God's unfailing love is that this love is powerful to deliver us! When we read about the psalmist saying ‘Lord deliver me, save me because of Your unfailing love,’ he's not saying ‘save me because of my own righteousness, save me because I'm a good person’ or because ‘I've earned my way,’ but, ‘God, see me through the eyes of Your unfailing love and have mercy this day to deliver me from sin, to deliver me from this sickness, to deliver me from evil, to be able to walk and live in Your Kingdom.’ With all the craziness that's happening right now in this world and in our nation - with the coronavirus, with the unsaid future of our economy - many people are wondering what they're going to do with themselves - what they're going to do. But we as those in Christ, we trust in the Lord's unfailing love! His unfailing love will be what delivers us, His unfailing love will be what keeps us safe and carries us through any disease, any sickness, and through any darkness. "...but those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ: you will see His unfailing love carry you through!" What's incredible is that for those who fear Him - the Bible makes clear that if we fear Him - that if we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, that if we don't trust in our money, we're not trusting in our gadgets and our things, we're not even trusting in what the government's going to be able to do or not able to do. But those who look to God, who trust not in horses and chariots but trust in the Lord their God, who trust in the Lord Jesus - those who don't trust in what they have in the stocks; those who don't trust for what they've built for themselves - but those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ: you will see His unfailing love carry you through! "The Lord Jesus can come in and bring life on the inside" Psalm 31:16, another Scripture here and as I said there's so many Scriptures but I love some of these I'm reading: “Let Your face shine on Your servant; save me in Your unfailing love.” One thing I've truly recognized, and I pray that you would also recognize today, is that the unfailing love of God has come in the form of a man, in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of the Lord Jesus is this: God looked down upon the earth and He saw those who He would call to Himself, who were at one time dead in their transgressions and sins, and He sent His unfailing love in the form of His Son that we would awaken this day! I pray that we would awaken through His unfailing love to the great glory of Jesus; that we awaken to the hope of the gospel that the Lord Jesus can come in and bring life on the inside - life that cannot be defeated by any virus, life that cannot be taken over by a loss of money or food or anything else - but life that is sustained by God Himself.

Psalm 91:1 "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." "Is the Lord your dwelling? Is the Lord your shelter?" Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast! Today I would like to share a very beautiful psalm, and it is Psalm 91! We're gonna begin with the first verse, but even as we begin I would like to ask the question today: Is the Lord your dwelling? Is the Lord your shelter? Now, verse one it says, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” And I love this because we're in a time right now in which we know that things like the coronavirus, things like the flu, and all sorts of sicknesses seem to be growing at such a rapid pace. It's grown to a point where kids are not in school, where businesses are closing and it's not just in our nation, but it's literally a worldwide thing. And what is happening right now? The government, people, everybody's looking for a safe dwelling. Nobody wants to be infected, you don't want to be in the wrong store at the wrong time, you don't want to be next to somebody that's sick and so everybody right now is looking to be basically on a lockdown. You know, maybe in their homes, maybe trying to just keep away from everybody and everything -- and the reality is, we're looking for a dwelling place. "Father, you are the dwelling place that no fire can consume, you are the dwelling place that no germ can overtake, you are the dwelling place that no man can ever destroy" But when I want to really share from this Word -- it says that “whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High”, what I love about God.. see when you dwell in Him, when you make the Lord your focus for every single day, when you look and you seek His face saying ‘Father, you are the dwelling place that no fire can consume, you are the dwelling place that no germ can overtake, you are the dwelling place that no man can ever destroy’, see, the Word of the Lord says that we are able to find rest. It is a rest not just for our physical bodies, but God is saying that if you dwell in me, if you dwell and you seek my face and you make the Lord the one that you are after, if you seek me with all of your heart-- you will find a rest that no man can give, that no medicine can give. You see we're not just gonna find a rest from all the havoc of the world of viruses and sickness, but there is a rest that God brings to our soul. Is He your dwelling today? Is He your shelter? If not, I'm praying that you will begin to seek Him even now saying, ‘Father, I want to know you. Father, I want to be close to you. And as things are going crazy, Father, I will find a rest-- a rest that can only be found in the shadow of the Almighty.’ "His shadow is a shadow of rest and peace" Inside God's Dwelling PlaceNow as I read this, I'm thinking it says that we're gonna rest in His shadow; now there's another point in the Bible, and many of us may be familiar with it, that talks about a shadow -- and what is it? It's “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..” Now that's not a good shadow to be in. When I think of the ‘valley of the shadow of death’, I think of the turmoil of the world, I think of it as a place of deep dark sin, of a place of darkness that looks to consume us and to keep us from God, it's a scary place, it's not a joyful place. In the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ when we really look at it -- is to walk without the Lord, Jesus Christ. It's when our mind is always in worry and in fear because we seem to be in this dark place, this dark valley. It's when our hearts seem to faint left and right -- we're worried about money, we’re worried about sickness, we’re worried about all sorts of things and there just seems to be no rest. But I want to say today that there is rest in the shadow of the Almighty God because His shadow is not a darkened shadow of evil, His shadow is a shadow of rest and peace; the rest an...

Romans 8:12-13 "Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."Hello welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. Today I would like to share with you 2 verses from Romans chapter 8 and looking at verses 12 and 13 it says “Therefore brothers and sisters we have an obligation but it is not to the flesh to live according to it for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live.” Very interesting we read all throughout the New Testament about overcoming the flesh and how the power of Jesus gives us victory to overcome and to overcome by the Spirit of God but what are we overcoming?The Flesh and the Spirit"The flesh is anything that is separate from God."See it says that we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh to live according to it. We can overcome the flesh but what is the flesh? See the flesh can be numerous things but sometimes you know people think that the flesh is only something really bad that's obvious maybe smoking or drinking or going to bad places but it is so much bigger than that. You see the flesh is anything that is separate from God. It's when our mind sets are so caught up on just going our own way, maybe just doing our own thing apart from God and enjoying our luxuries and our rests and everything else but disregarding God's will, disregarding what God wants. It's okay to enjoy things in life but see the flesh goes further. It not only wants to enjoy things it wants to have things greater than Christ. It wants, and has a desire to have everything else to be everywhere else but where God is, and to come close to Him…that's the flesh. "The natural inclination of man is to walk away from God."And He says if we live according to the flesh, if we live according to our sinful nature it produces death. But we have no obligation to it, see those in Christ those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ we receive the Spirit of the living God. We receive the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit that now helps us to overcome. We don't have to live according to our sinful nature but we can put to death the misdeeds of the body the misdeeds that seem to wander away from God. That natural inclination of man to walk away from Him. The Spirit now over comes and causes us to live as Jesus lived. Our obligation is no longer to the flesh but now we can be those who are after God. "Have you overcome today? - call upon the Savior"Those who have received Christ, who carry the Spirit that causes us to move, causes us to move where? To move closer to the Father. The Spirit of God that brings us back to God, the Spirit of God that causes us to love, to desire, to obey, and to be looking and seeking for what His will is in our life because it's growing on the inside. So we don't have an obligation to live in the old, we don't have to live according to our flesh, but by the power of the Spirit of God we can come into Christ and we can live for Him. Have you overcome today? If not, if that old flesh, if that old darkness within is still driving away from the Lord will you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus? Will you call upon the Savior who can save us from even the flesh to be filled with the Spirit. Now living for God, now thinking on the Father, now looking to be close to Him and be closer as never before. Every day growing in the goodness and the will of our God. I'm praying today that the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ would touch you that as you call upon His name you would believe this day and in the name of His wonderful Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."Hello welcome back to the One Thing podcast. The Word of the Lord says in Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." "The only way to please God begins with faith"The fact here that's very clear from the Word is that unless we have faith we cannot please God.  It doesn't say if we do good things, if we try to be good people or anything else for that matter, but the entrance to God the only way to please God begins with faith.  We must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. "What are we seeking Him for?"He's not saying He rewards those who seek Him here and there who kind of think about Him, but He says those who earnestly seek Him.  What are we seeking Him for, what is it that we really are putting our faith in?  It is in the promise that God has made through the Lord Jesus Christ.  You see our faith is placed in the One who is pure, our faith is placed in the One who was good alone and His name is the lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is that when we look to Him, when we turn from our sins, when we turn to Him and truly believe in the son of God that the promise of God comes forth.  That the Lord Jesus would come in and dwell inside of us. "It's God pleasing God...God in us"You see we can try again to do many different things. We can try to keep the Word of the Lord we can try to pray really hard, we could try to do a lot of different things but nothing happens in our lives apart from the Lord Jesus.  He is our hope, He is our hope of God coming in in living within us. And with God in us when He lives inside of us this is what becomes pleasing.  It's  God pleasing God, it's Jesus living in me, it's Jesus living in you, it's His spirit coming in.  And now the Spirit living and breathing once again as He did in Jesus on this earth. "May we examine our lives to see if we be in the faith"So without faith it is impossible to please God.  I'm praying today that faith would arise.  I'm praying that God would open up our eyes and that He would touch us by the power of the Holy Spirit to come deeper into faith. So may we examine our lives, to see if we be in the faith to see if we're trusting in our own works, if we're trusting in the fact that we're doing good today in comparison to yesterday which has nothing to do with what God is calling us into. I pray today that we would realize true faith is in Jesus and Jesus alone so may we come to Him today.  May we look at our lives and examine to see you know as Paul says to test the faith, to really see if our faith be true.   To see if our faith truly be in Him and in Him alone. and I'm praying today that we would awaken to faith that we would come to God and that we would be a people pleasing to Him. We thank you God for sending your Son.  Thank you for making a way that is only through faith by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ...in Jesus name.

Psalm 46:10 "...be still and know that I am God."be still and wait on the lordHello, and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. I would like to wish everybody a very Happy New Year as we begin this new season and this new time. "God calls us... to stop, to be still, and know that He is God." One of the scriptures that had come to mind, that I believe is so important, even for this new year to grasp is Psalm 46 verse 10 and it says to, “...be still, and know that I am God”. And as we enter into this new year, you know, we live in a culture, we live in a time where there are so many different distractions that are so easy to distract us from God. Maybe so many different voices going through our hearts and mind; whether it be television, whether it be media, whether it be the worries of this world, whatever it may be - God calls us to himself this time, this season, this day to stop, to be still, and know that He is God. "And in this new time and new season, walk with me in a new way, that I would be King" It takes a discipline, it takes a moment to stop, in order to come into a place of stillness with God. It requires us for maybe some of us to put the cell phone away. Maybe it requires for us to put the remote down for a day or for a week or for a time. But God is saying to stop, be still and know that I am God. Let me consume your mind. Let me consume your heart. And in this new time and new season, walk with me in a new way, that I would be King, that I would be the one to guide you every step, that I would be the one to empower you to do the work of my kingdom. As we begin this new year... may we first of all be still and wait on the Lord. So let us stop, let us as we begin this new year, before we begin to make our plans, before we decide what we're going to do, may we first of all be still, and know that God is God. That he reigns eternally, that he is the King, and that those who trust in him, those who follow him, find life and light. Happy new year once again! And may we walk in the stillness of the Lord Jesus Christ this day as he guides us and as he leads us through.

1 Peter 2:24-25 “'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by his wounds you have been healed.' For 'you were like sheep going astray,' but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."Welcome back to the One Thing Podcast, the word of the Lord says in first Peter chapter 2 verse 24 and 25 it says “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness by His wounds you have been healed for you were like sheep going astray but now you have returned to the Shepherd and overseer of your souls. And this makes me think truly about faith, which faith really is you see when we come into faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we realize first of all that He Himself had laid His life down. He bore all of our sins in His body on the cross. Why? So that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. Is there a move in our hearts?We can we stop and we begin to examine our faith. One real sign is that in our hearts - there is a shifting, there is a change. Where, no longer do we want to live in our sinfulness, no longer do we want to live for this world for our own purposes but those in the faith those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ something begins to draw you nearer to Him. You desire to be close. Is there a desire in our hearts today, is there a desire to come close to Him to follow Him to seek His face to come out of sin and come closer into righteousness? Is there a move in our hearts? If not today may we stop and recognize Him who bore our sins in His body on the cross. The one who laid it all down, that we would trust in Him and come into a full serving, to come into the kingdom of God. We're like sheep now inside His gates! And Furthermore the scripture says “you were like sheep going astray”. See man in man's heart apart from God apart from Jesus, we are like sheep that go astray…going about our own business doing our own thing following our own will the will of this world, the will of the devil. But hallelujah today, it can be broken! It can be broken by coming into the Lord Jesus Christ, returning to the shepherd and the overseer of our souls. See when we are in Christ, no longer are we going astray but by the power of the Holy Spirit we are drawn to follow Him. We're like sheep now inside of His gates inside of His pastures. Is He your shepherd today?And I love how this scripture says we return to the shepherd and overseer of our souls. You see Jesus Christ the Lord is not only the author but He's the finisher of our faith. We can trust Him as the great shepherd that as we look to Him and as we follow Him, that not only would He initiate faith in our life but He will be sure to see it through to the end. He who began a great work in each one of us will be sure to bring it to completion. Is He our shepherd today? Is He the overseer of our souls? Have we trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have we truly come into the faith? The faith that causes us to come out of sin, to come out of living for ourselves and to have a heart for the Lord Jesus to have a heart for God looking to do His will looking to produce His fruitfulness and to live in His kingdom. I pray today that we would return to the great shepherd and overseer of our soul.

Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." "...yet he walked that road in faith and in trust of his Father." Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. I’d like to share a scripture from Isaiah chapter 53 today. And it's a scripture that is really foretelling Jesus and the sacrifice that he would make for each of us, for his people, for his children. And verse 7 is one that I wanted to specifically read, it says that “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” And we think of, you know, the road that Jesus had taken; he had taken the road that the Father had laid for him and although it would be a difficult road, although it would be a road where he would be betrayed and the whole world would seemingly all come against him all at once on the road to Calvary; yet he walked that road in faith and in trust of his Father. It says that he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he didn't open his mouth; think about that... in this crucial time, in a time where people were beating him and coming against him, he kept his mouth shut. Why? How can a man do that? Because he was trusting in the voice of his Father that was leading him through. "As we think about his amazing sacrifice" It also says again, “he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” In these moments, many would maybe be in this same position and begin to shout out against people; begin to declare that this is wrong, you know, you don't have a right to do this. But Jesus, he simply knew that he had one right, which was to follow the Father. This day as we think about his amazing sacrifice and the depths of his love and how he loves his father so much and how he loved us so much that he would give his life... that he would not go by the rights of this world or by the rights that he felt that he had, but simply go by the will of God. As we reflect on these things, may we too, come in thanksgiving. Thanking the Father, for his Son. Thanking God for his great sacrifice, but also beginning to say, ‘Lord, let me also reflect this love in obedience, in great faith in the Father, just as our Savior, just as the Lord Jesus has done’. "Even though it may be a difficult time, even though there may be obstacles that we seemingly face, may we trust in the Lord Jesus." May we, too, rise in the spirit of Jesus to bring glory to God. May the only thing that we begin to speak is glory. May the only thing that we begin to utter, be things of faith. May every action be wrapped in trust and in faith to God as we walk the road that He has called us to walk. Even though it may be a difficult time, even though there may be obstacles that we seemingly face, may we trust in the Lord Jesus. Even in times of joy when the road seems to be marked with joy and victory, may we also be praising God and all together say, ‘Father, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ as we follow our Great Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for your sacrifice. Thank you for what you've done. May it also reflect in our lives this day.

Psalm 22:3 "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel."Welcome to the One Thing Podcast, we know that this is a special week this week as many of us are preparing for Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving we know is a time of enjoying food together with family for some people is traveling for some people are looking forward to the shopping but we today want to be reminded of one of the greatest things that a Christian can do. The greatest thing which is to thank God, to be thankful in our hearts not just for one day but to literally live a life of thankfulness. But we can reflect on this this week.  We can really think about all the wonderful things that God has done and know what's so incredible is that for the Christian we yes we thank God for the great things that He does.   We thank Him for you know when things are going well but even more powerful is the Christian who even in the best of circumstance even some of the worst situations that we can still look up and give God glory and praise and thank Him even for the bad things that may occur in life. "A big part of praise is giving thanks to God."This is powerful, this is powerful because God looks at one who appreciates who he is and what he does regardless of what's happening in their lives.   And so on that note I'd like to share a scripture today, It's Psalms 22 verse 3 and I really like the King James version of this which says but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.  And it's really simply saying that God inhabits the praises of his people and a big part of praise is giving thanks to God. "God is found in a place of thankfulness."Think about that, you know God is found in a place of thankfulness when we are... maybe a car accident just happened and our car is ruined and maybe the car is not starting today.  Maybe we don't know what to do it all the bills maybe we just seem to have a flustering of mind and and the darkness seems to be in our faces.  You know we can seek for the presence of God, and one of the best entrances the greatest way that God has provided is that we would begin to thank Him.   That we would begin to worship him and we know that this Scripture says that he inhabits, that he dwells.  In other words he makes his presence known in a place of thankfulness. "We live in a culture that forgets what God has done."Father just thinking you regardless of what's happening your God and I just think you that you called me by name.   Father yes all is well right now but God I also just want to thank you for your great mercy and your great compassion.   And it's in these moments and it's with such a heart that God can pour out his presence in our lives.   We live in a culture that you know forgets so many times you know what God is done and it easily goes from one thing to the other without stopping to think about how fortunate we are to maybe have food on the table that we can open the refrigerator in and enjoy you know something to drink as we please or something to eat as we as we want. And these small things which are really great things you know are easily overlooked because we live in a culture that just goes on from one things to the next.  It's nonstop, you know get the new shoes get the new phone you know you don't have enough.  But for us we are stopped today and to thank God I just want to thank you for everything that I have.  I want to thank you and begin walking in thankfulness as never before because following your presence is everything and you inhabit the praises of your people. You come along those who are thankful and grateful you pour out your glory your presence so that the world would know that you are God.  So that we ourselves would carry your presence wherever we go because we know that you are with us as we were walking in thankfulness and in gratefulness. So may we be thinking all this week as we're preparing for Thanksgiving is for cooking as ...

Psalm 34:9-10 "Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." "To fear God means this, that we worship Him with more than just song, but with our lives." Hello and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast! Today I'd like to share with you Psalm 34 verses 9 through 10 it says, “fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” God is instructing us, He says, “my holy people” you his holy people, fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord, we know, is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of understanding God and knowing Him. To fear God means this, that we worship Him with more than just song, but with our lives. It's where we revere God as the God who spoke from the very beginning. He said, “let there be light” and there was light in all of the universe! He is God who gives and takes away. He is God, who is able to sustain us by the very word and by the very Spirit that comes from what only He can provide, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. "You see, when we fear God we are taken care of, we find that we are satisfied in Him. We are thankful today, for those who fear the Lord, there is such a reward for those who fear Him, lack nothing! How is that possible? You see, when we fear God we are taken care of, we find that we are satisfied in Him. What a man or woman is truly satisfied in the Lord, they lack nothing. They may not have $1,000,000, they may not be totally poor, but wherever or whatever circumstance or situation they have or where they are in life, they lack nothing because they do not lack the presence of God, they do not lack the Lord Jesus. It says “the lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” "Let a Spirit of the fear of the Lord enter my heart so that I shall not lack any good thing." What is that good thing? The good thing is God himself! For those who fear Him, who choose to fear God, rather than to fear man or to fear the world or anything else that Satan tries to throw into our life when we fear God above all, “we shall not lack any good thing.” We shall not lack the presence of God, we shall not lack His blessing, we shall not lack His glory that brings us into this life that carries us through to do his work. That empowers us in order to bring glory to His kingdom, we shall not lack any good thing! “Fear of the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear Him lack nothing.” Will you fear the Lord today? Will we call out to the Lord and pray, Father, let a Spirit of the fear of the Lord enter my heart so that I shall not lack any good thing. I shall lack nothing, but carry your presence in your glory and bring others into your kingdom. Thank you God, that you have called us for such a glorious time, and to fear your mighty name.!

John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day." "My Father must be the one to draw you to myself...to come into the new life." Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast! Today I would like to share with you a verse from John 6:44. It says, ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.’ This verse is incredible! The very words of Jesus Himself saying “listen, nobody can come to me unless my Father allows it to be so. My Father must be the one to draw you to myself; to draw you to come to know me; to come into salvation, to come into truth, and to come into the new life, the new birth that only I can bring.” "Come closer to God." As you think about this verse for a moment, it should get us thinking: ‘So what do we do if it's God alone that can draw us to the Son? What part do we play? If it's not by our own effort; if it's only even initiated by the power and the mercy and the grace of God, what is it that we do as those who are waiting - maybe to be drawn today, maybe to come closer to God? Some may think: maybe we just wait, maybe there is nothing to do, maybe we kind of just sit aside with our hands folded, only hoping and waiting that God would draw us to Himself. But here goes the thing: God is calling us! He's saying that if you hear my voice today - that if you hear this Scripture and it's bubbling in your heart, that you must be drawn to the Son, that you've got to find Him and that you want to hear the voice of God drawing you in - then God says: today if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts - don't walk away, don't step only to the side - but bow before the Lord of all. "Draw me to Yourself." Bow before the Lord Jesus Christ even now and look to Him, pleading, saying: Lord Jesus, open my heart, open my ears. Father in Heaven, I come to You in the name of the Lord Jesus, open up the heavens on my life today, draw me to Yourself. Have mercy God, let Your grace open my eyes that I would turn from darkness and turn to the light. There is hope today! There is hope that the Father would draw us in. Our duty, our hope is found in bowing before the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, pleading with the Father saying: Father, have your way this day. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” I'm praying today that the Father would draw you in today. I'm praying that right now if you're listening, and your heart is moving, and your mind is beginning to get flooded with this Word, with the truth of God, I pray today that the Father would draw you in and that you would find the life that is offered only by the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that I will raise them up at the last day; that one day we will close our eyes, only to open to see Him in all of His glory; that one day He may return and we would be ready, as those who have already been drawn to His great glory and power. May the Father draw you in today and may you be blessed!

Psalm 128 "Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours." "All I know is that the greatest thing you could do is fear the Lord." Hello, and welcome to the One Thing Podcast. It's very interesting this morning, I was thinking about the book of Ecclesiastes and when you read that book it's from Solomon, a man who had experienced all the riches of the world, he experienced travel and in all the gold, all the silver, everything; and yet his conclusion at everything that he learned as being one of the wisest man to ever lived, was in the ending of that book he says, all I know is that the greatest thing you could do is fear the Lord.obedience to god brings blessingsAnd I was really thinking about that and so I was brought to the Psalm 128 verses 1 and 2. And it says, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.” And so what is God calling his people to do? What is the greatest thing that we can do? We are to fear the Lord. What does it mean to fear the Lord? It means that we walk with Him, we obey, we follow because we know that he is worthy, that he is King. We know that if God blesses us, we are blessed; if we are cursed, we are also cursed. We know that all things are in God's hands. We know that God can cause life or he can cause things to be destroyed; He is God, He is mighty, He is powerful. And He is calling us to fear the Lord. "As we walk and as we fear the Lord, we will eat the fruit of our labor." For those who fear the Lord, we don't lack anything that is good. Those who fear the Lord also come to know God, to love him and to love the Lord your God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. And the part of this verse that also goes right along with it, he says, “You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.” To eat the fruit of our labor. As we labor in this world and in our prayers and as we begin to work toward the kingdom of God and to follow in faith and then to seek Him in all that we do - to let God be the priority of our lives and our day, to let God be our lifeline, to be everything, as we walk and as we fear the Lord, we will eat the fruit of our labor. And the fruit of our labor will be bright blessings and prosperity. We will prosper in the love of God, we will prosper in the goodness and in the power of God. We will be blessed in everything that we do; blessed in our homes, blessed in our jobs, blessed in our families, simply because of the fear of the Lord. God looks to bless those who fear him because those who fear him will lack nothing. The world will see that God is alive. The world will see that God is powerful and that he is just and also compassionate and merciful to those who fear him and walk in his ways. "The blessings and the prosperity of God will be found in our lives as we fear the Lord." Will you fear the Lord today? Will you ask God to touch your heart and say, ‘Father, let me have the spirit of the fear of the Lord.’ And we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to all of it. It says in Isaiah that there was going to be One with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, all the aspects of the spirit were gonna be upon Jesus and one being, the spirit of the fear of the Lord. The Lord Jesus is the answer. As we trust in Him, as we look in Him - He feared and loved his Father and He did it in a pure and righteous way. And when Christ is in us, when we trust in Him, we too, will fear the Lord and the blessings and the prosperity of God will be found in our lives as we fear the Lord and walk in his powerful ways. May you be blessed today. May you seek His face in this precious, wonderful time, and may you find the Lord as never before.

John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day."Hello and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. We're in such an incredible time, an incredible season for the Church of the Lord Jesus. I'm not just talking about one specific church or a couple churches, I'm speaking about the Church of Jesus worldwide. The Church that is joined in faith together, that is joined in our belief in the Lord Jesus who is King and Savior. "He’s drawing His people to come close to Him..." And what's awesome is in this time, God is drawing His people to Himself. As never before, God is going to draw His church, He's drawing the mothers, the fathers, the sons, the daughters by the power of His Spirit. He's drawing His people to come close to Him, to come back to be strong in the word of the Lord. To come back into moving and living in the Spirit that He's given, for these last days to truly demonstrate His kingdom. "...anything good that comes that draws us to God, is all initiated by the Father." Now, when we think about this, we know that the Lord has given us instruction. He says to seek me with all of your heart. He says to ask, seek, and knock and the door will be open. He gives us the idea, the instruction on seeking Him and how important it is. We know that Jesus saw His Father and His will in everything that He did. But also, there's one important thing that I would like to share with each one of you today. Jesus said in John 6:44 that; “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws Him.” What a wonderful hope that we have! That we have our own effort, we begin to seek God as He puts that desire in our hearts. But that is exactly what it is. Every bit of our seeking, every bit of our desire to pray, anything good that comes that draws us to God, is all initiated by the Father. It's all a work by our great and merciful God. So what does that mean for us today? It means that we pray for God's mercy upon His church. May we pray today for our families, that God's mercy would begin to draw our brothers, our sisters in, our sons, our daughters. That God, you would even in my own heart, begin to draw me in as never before. This is a great work of God, that He calls his children home to his heart. He calls us back to Him, to live our lives, to come into the power that He’s called us to live in. To come into the strength of the word that we as Christians were meant to have in our lives. "Can you feel the presense of His power calling you to himself…?" Do you hear God drawing you in? Can you feel the presence of His power calling you to himself and drawing you in? If not, may we come to the Father today saying, Father have mercy, open my deafened ears. Have mercy. Open my blind eyes that I would see, that I would hear, and come home and be to the place that you have called me to be. We have been called to do the will of the father and now is the time. Come home he says, come back to me. Come to the rock from which you were brought from. So, may you be blessed today. May we come into the mercy of God in this time of returning. May the Father draw each one of His children near and may the church rise to do all that the Father has called us to do.

Philippians 2:13 "...for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing podcast! Today we're reading from the book of Philippians. today chapter 2 verse 13 and it says for it is God who is effectively at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. "The work that God does is a work that comes through faith..."And I love this verse because as Christians we have to understand the work of God in our lives.   You see the work that God does is a work that comes through faith and because of our trust in Him, because of the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus something even happens in our physical bodies. It causes us to move. It causes us to work and to do the things that God has called us to do.  But one thing that's so important to remember, this scripture is saying that God is doing His work, He's bringing about His will in our lives not because we deserve it not because of anything good or bad that we've done but simply for His good pleasure. And that's something important to remember. * Why does God do things in our life? * Why does He call us out to follow Him? * Why has He chosen us? * Why has He called us by name? The Bible says that even in our mother's womb He spoke to us and He already knew the plans that He would have for our lives. But why? The answer is very simple... because of His own good pleasure. And so may we stop today may we begin to think on this to meditate on the the truth of God's Word.   That everything that He does, all of His desire is because of His own good pleasure.   He took pleasure in calling us by name.   He took pleasure in calling us to serve in a mighty kingdom to do His will on this earth and to one day also live with Him in eternity forever enjoying His presence. "God is taking pleasure in seeing us break through."If we simply allow this to enter our minds to have this mind set everything in our life changes.  The reason that we do things the reason that we you know that we look to do the work of the Lord.   And it changes our perspective because we see everything rooted in God's pleasure whether it's a bad circumstance or good we can trust that throughout the day throughout everything some how some way God is going to lead us to Himself and He's taking pleasure at revealing Himself in our lives even in the tough situations and circumstances God is taking pleasure in seeing us break through. He's taking pleasure in seeing us hold on and demonstrate the power of His love the power of His word in our life. "...all things in our life are about God's good pleasure..."And so you know as we look at this we know that it is not our own strength but God who is doing the work in us.  Now does that mean that we sit back and do nothing? No, but it does mean that we can look for God's will in our lives.   We can look for where to move.  We can find what to do by calling on Him by seeking Him by not stopping until He reveals Himself in us, by not seizing to pray not seizing to look for the move that He's calling us to do, or maybe the moves He's not calling us to do. But it all comes simply by trusting in the Lord and knowing that this is all about His good pleasure.  So may we recognize today that God is looking to bring about His will and His work in our lives.  He is our strength the Lord Jesus is our energy.  He's the one that even creates the longing in us and gives us the ability to see Him and to seek His face this day. So may we really grasp the will of God for our lives today.  May we stop and find that everything and all things in our life are about God's good pleasure being unfolded in each and every one of us.