Duty Vs. Devotion

I read a blog post from a brother in Cape Girardeau named John Hawkins on Facebook today. He's a retired Navy man and is the Masters Commission director in Cape Girardeau, MO at Bethel Assembly of God Church where I attended for about 8 years. I found his writing thematically something that I find myself pondering often. Below are the thoughts of John Hawkins.

Occasionally I see fully devoted followers of Christ. Occasionally I am one. Sadly, it's just occasionally.

It’s not that I don’t read Scripture, pray, attend church services, give, serve others, and even preach and teach.

It’s that I don’t truly and totally love—not sufficiently, not consistently, not deeply, not unreservedly...at least not yet. And the more I learn about God, the more I realize that true love forms the foundation for true devotion.

I am very dutiful and it’s relatively easy to structure my life around duty. I’ve spent my lifetime working hard to meet the expectations of others. Whether it was my time in the Navy, or as a firefighter, or as an electrician, or in my current ministerial role, or in my marriage, I am overly committed and deeply dutiful to God, Country and Family!

But “fully devoted” and “deeply dutiful” reflect two different mindsets.

As Jesus faced the journey toward Calvary, He did so out of devotion...not duty. He faced His approaching death not from obligation to some divine plan that must be accomplished, no questions asked. Rather he faced His death because He loved us and the Father deeply. He did not endure the cross to fulfill His duty but to display His devotion.

All of our Christian rites, rituals and habits should have two goals; Love God and Love People...Totally and completely, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!!!

Disciplines done out of duty fail to touch the heart and inevitably collapse for most of us. When we do something out of true devotion, it has a much longer lasting impact on our lives

Devotion allows us to read Scripture not for information but transformation; not to get God’s attention but to lovingly give Him our attention. We fast (from television, food, Internet, or whatever) not to impress Him but to press into Him.

The Christian journey finds its fuel not in law but in love. Our faith comes alive not with teeth-gritting determination to "do our duty" but with loving devotion to God, and each other. We enter the deepest joy as we engage the heart, not just the mind.

Learning to truly love Christ, provides the transition from duty to devotion. As we enter 2009, let the Father continue to shape us and change us! May we each have more consistent, deep, and unreserved love for Him, and each other. May each of us truly be the Salt and the Light in a world that desperately needs Jesus!

Your brother in Christ...
S.E. Missouri Masters Commission

Water Baptism

To watch the latest water baptismal service click here.

Nancy and Rebecka get baptized!

Jubilee Family Church

Be Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 5:18b
be filled with the Spirit.
“be being filled” or “keep on being filled.” (present tense)
“be continually filled by the Spirit.” (passive voice)

What’s the Youngest age a Person Can be filled with the Holy Spirit?
John the Baptist
Luke 1:15
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.

How do you Receive the Holy Spirit?

Luke 11:13
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!“
Ask your Heavenly Father using the Biblical Pattern
How do we Ask?

Matthew 7:7,8 (Amplified Bible)
7Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. 8For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.

This method of asking exemplifies humble persistence.

The Human Element in Receiving the Holy Spirit
1. Having someone breathe on you (Jesus did this)
John 20:22
And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

2. Laying on of Hands
Acts 19:6
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

3. During preaching
Acts 10:44
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
Acts 11:15
"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.

What’s the beginning? I believe it’s Acts 2 where the early disciples first spoke in tongues.
The Effects of Being Filled

1. Prophecy
Luke 1:67
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
2 Peter 1:21
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2. Tongues
Acts 2:4
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

3. Open Air, Bold Preaching
Acts 4:8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people!
Acts 4:31
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

4. Rightly Judging situations, then making decrees that prompt redemption.
Acts 13:9-12
9Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10"You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

5. Joy
Acts 13:52
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

6. You’ll be given words to say in the clutch
Mark 13:11
Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.


7. The Ability to “see” Jesus
Simeon and Anna
Luke 2:25
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Anna
Luke 2:36-38
36There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.


8. Remind us of the words of Jesus
John 14:26
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 16:13-15
13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

9. We will receive Power
Acts 1:8
8But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.

Power for what?
To be my witnesses.
Ever struggle with courage or ability in the area of witnessing?
A component of the greek word for witnessing is martyrdom. Being able to lay down your life for your witness for Christ.

The Argument Against
1 Cor. 13:8
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Ceasassionists believe the perfection spoken of here is the printing of the Bible.
I believe it is when we’re in heaven with Jesus. We won’t need to prophecy because we can just ask him. Knowledge will pass away because we’ll know even as we are fully known. Knowledge hasn’t passed away yet.

The Importance
Jesus Died so we could have the Holy Spirit! This makes it very important. Listen to the scriptures.

John 12:23,24
23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

John 16:7-15
7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.

Functions of the Holy Spirit
Convict
The world of guilt in regard to
1. sin
2. righteousness
3. judgment
The Sin of unbelief is the biggest sin. It keeps people out of heaven.

Righteousness because we won’t be able to see Christ anymore and it will take faith to believe.

Judgment-Satan is now condemned thus condemning the world system that is patterned after him and everyone who is a part of loving the world.

Jesus sent the comforter to lead us into all truth. This didn’t happen until he left the earth. This means that Jesus is looking for us to carry on his ministry on the earth as his ambassadors fully filled with the Holy Spirit fulfilling the ministry of Jesus in his absence.

2 Corinthians 5:20
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Baptized in the Holy Spirit
Matthew 3:11
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Can you be a Christian With Out the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Acts 18
24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

Acts 8
14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, …

Do you get the Baptism in the Spirit when you get saved?
Acts 19:1-7
1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?"
They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?"
"John's baptism," they replied. 4Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.

In Conclusion, an Illustration
A Lost Person
An Old Testament Saint, righteous by faith in Messiah to come
A New Testament Saved Person, righteous by faith in the Messiah who has come.
A New Testament Believer who’s Baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Don’t you want all of God you can have for 2009, for the rest of your life?
Who knows what challenges you will face? Get all the resources available to you and not just survive but thrive in the coming years.
Ask for, receive and continue to receive more of the Holy Spirit today!


Jubilee Family Church

Hammack Family Christmas

Well, these videos somewhat resemble a shark feeding frenzy but I thought you might enjoy watching my children open their Christmas gifts this year. Brooke get's her eye put out (not really) and Malcom gives a couple good cries during the video. Other than the usual drama we had a very merry time. Jesus has truly blessed our family. Thank you to everyone who gave us gifts this Christmas season. Merry Christmas!

Part 1(Stockings)


Part 2(Around the Tree)


Jubilee Family Church

Faith Like a Child

Mark 10:13-16

The Little Children and Jesus
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Make sure you watch this short video. It's very powerful!

Jubilee Family Church