The Resolution from the "Courageous" Movie

THE RESOLUTION 

I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children. 

I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home. 

I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me. 

I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength. 

I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly. 

I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy. 

I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion. 

I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family. 

I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged. 

I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God. 

I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will. 

I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.   

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. ---Joshua 24:15  

My Prayer for You

Ephesians 3:14-21

Pastor Miles

1. I pray that Christ may truly live in you.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, (Ephesians 3:14-17 ESV)

Imagine a life that is filled in Christ in every way, and the impact it would have on others.

2. I pray that you may really know the love of Christ.

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19 ESV)

• Paul uses gardening analogy to describe how our love in Christ can grow.
• The love of Christ is too great to be described by physical dimensions.
• To know Christ is to experience Him.
• His love gives us the capacity to love Him and others.
• We love because He first loved us.

3. I pray that God may be glorified in you.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20, 21 ESV)

God is able to do more in us but maybe we are asking selfishly, or asking for the wrong things. We should instead be asking that God may be glorified in us, the church/ body of Christ.

Daily Prayer

I kneel before you, Father, and ask that Christ may truly live in me today.

Help me to grasp how great your love is and to really know your love for me.

To you be all the glory.

Amen.

"Mystery Revealed"

Ephesians 3:1-13

Pastor Miles

1. The Gospel reveals a mystery. V 1-6

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Ephesians 3:1-6 ESV)

The Gospel of Jesus is for everyone.

2. You became a servant of the Gospel through God's grace. V7-9

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, (Ephesians 3:7-9 ESV)

We are made worthy through Christ. From a nobody to a somebody. God can use us for His purposes if we let Him.

3. This Mystery should be made known through us (the church, the Body of Christ). V10-13

so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. (Ephesians 3:10-13 ESV)

Our diversity shows His manifold wisdom, like the multidimensional facets of a sparkling diamond.

Daily Prayer

Thank you, Father, that through the Gospel, we are all members together of one body and heirs of your promises.

All of us can come to you with freedom and confidence through Christ.

May you manifest this mystery through us, your church.

Amen.

Remember the Good News

Ephesians 2:1-10

Pastor Miles

1. You were spiritually dead.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)

We are subjects of God's righteous wrath.
We are separated from the life of God.

2. God made you spiritually alive.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV)

Jesus died the death that we deserved: the physical & spiritual death.
As a result, we now have a new spiritual life in Christ.
He did this because of His incredible kindness to us.

3. You are saved by grace through faith.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)

This grace is a gift from God: a pardon (forgiveness) & a person (Jesus).
Requires faith: reaching out & trusting in God.
We are God's masterpiece, His work of art. We have been given unique abilities and calling to do good works for Him. We do good works to show our gratitude for Him.

Daily Prayer

Father, 

Thank you for saving me by Your grace through faith. 

Thank you that when I was dead in my sin, You made me alive in Christ when I put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior.

I want to follow Him as Lord of my life.

Help me to remember the Good News and share it with others.

Amen.

7 Decisions that Determine Personal Success

From "The Traveler's Gift"

1. The buck stops here (p 31): accept responsibility for your past; control your thoughts & emotions; you are responsible for your success.
2. Seek wisdom (p 48): choose your friends carefully; listen to the counsel of wise men; be a servant to others.
3. Be a person of action (p 68): be courageous; "an army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep!" "successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly". Seize the moment, choose now!
4. Have a decided heart (p 87): be passionate about your vision for the future; do not procrastinate.
5. Choose to be happy (p 107): I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
6. Greet each day with a forgiving spirit (p 137): I will forgive myself.
7. Persist without exception (p 166): faith is a sounder guide than reason; reason has limits, faith is limitless. Faith is believing the future that you do not see. And the reward of this faith is seeing the future that you believed. I am a person of great faith.