Excel In Showing Honor

Romans 12 provides us with one of scripture’s clearest pictures of practical Christ-like living. We see scripture’s exhortation to live a life marked with action. I believe a healthy understanding and practice of these things help us “put to death” the old self and actively “put on” the new self, helps us in the practice of “setting our minds on things above”, helps our transformation by the “renewing of our minds”, helps us to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”.

Here is what scripture teaches us in Romans 12:9-13:
• Allow love to be genuine
• Utterly detest evil and hold on to what is good
• Love the body with brotherly affection
• Excel in showing honor
• Activate zeal and show intensity in spirit in service to God
• Rejoice in hope, patient in tribulation, constant in prayer
• Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek opportunities for hospitality

To “outdo one another in showing honor” means that we prefer to honor rather than to be honored. Perhaps above any other definition of this command, is the distinction that excellence in showing honor, preference in showing honor, insistence on showing honor is the perfected definition of living a life of true humility.

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Rush Of Fools - "Grace Found Me"

These are genuinely great guys with an incredible story to tell.  Their hearts for God and their passion for great music is evident in their music.  Their lives are an extension of their lyrics and reveal an awesome God at work through all of life's experiences and difficulties.   I love these men because of who God has molded them into and I'm so grateful that He uses them to invest into my family's life.



Rush Of Fools' song, "Grace Found Me" from their album "We Once Were."
Be sure to "share" and "like" this video on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Buy the song at www.iTunes.com/RushOfFools

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Love the Body with Brotherly Affection

Romans 12 provides us with one of scripture’s clearest pictures of practical Christ-like living. We see scripture’s exhortation to live a life marked with action. I believe a healthy understanding and practice of these things help us “put to death” the old self and actively “put on” the new self, helps us in the practice of “setting our minds on things above”, helps our transformation by the “renewing of our minds”, helps us to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”.

Here is what scripture teaches us in Romans 12:9-13:
  • Allow love to be genuine
  • Utterly detest evil and hold on to what is good
  • Love the body with brotherly affection
  • Excel in showing honor
  • Activate zeal and show intensity in spirit in service to God
  • Rejoice in hope, patient in tribulation, constant in prayer
  • Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek opportunities for hospitality

In a recent sermon from our Community Pastor at Christ City Church, Johnny Grimes spoke about the significance of gospel community and how vital a healthy understanding and lifestyle of true gospel community is to our daily walk of faith.  Within these identities of gospel community is ingrained the reality that we as believers are family.

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2011 SBC Message by Pastor David Platt

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Detest Evil, Hold on to Good

Romans 12 provides us with one of scripture’s clearest pictures of practical Christ-like living. We see scripture’s exhortation to live a life marked with action. I believe a healthy understanding and practice of these things help us “put to death” the old self and actively “put on” the new self, helps us in the practice of “setting our minds on things above”, helps our transformation by the “renewing of our minds”, helps us to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”.

Here is what scripture teaches us in Romans 12:9-13:
  • Allow love to be genuine
  • Utterly detest evil and hold on to what is good
  • Love the body with brotherly affection
  • Excel in showing honor
  • Activate zeal and show intensity in spirit in service to God
  • Rejoice in hope, patient in tribulation, constant in prayer
  • Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek opportunities for hospitality

It's the Saturday of Holy Week and I'm wondering why it's taken so long to come up with this next entry in our blog series.  Thinking about the historic events of this week, I think I understand why now is the time for this thought.

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Let Love Be Genuine

Romans 12 provides us with one of scripture’s clearest pictures of practical Christ-like living. We see scripture’s exhortation to live a life marked with action. I believe a healthy understanding and practice of these things help us “put to death” the old self and actively “put on” the new self, helps us in the practice of “setting our minds on things above”, helps our transformation by the “renewing of our minds”, helps us to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”.

Here is what scripture teaches us in Romans 12:9-13:
  • Allow love to be genuine
  • Utterly detest evil and hold on to what is good
  • Love the body with brotherly affection
  • Excel in showing honor
  • Activate zeal and show intensity in spirit in service to God
  • Rejoice in hope, patient in tribulation, constant in prayer
  • Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek opportunities for hospitality

I'm convinced as I read Romans that Paul's call to "let love be genuine" has everything to do with the vertical, that is our condition of love toward God.

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Word and Deed and Tozer

"We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.  This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church.  Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him, or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God."

The Knowledge of the Holy

A.W. Tozer

The question that explodes through my head and every fiber of my being as I read this one paragraph of Tozer is this - "What has my life left unsaid?" ... not an easy question for self-analysis.

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Solidarity of Purpose

As I read of great men of faith throughout history, I'm often entertained by the diversity of their experiences while equally encouraged by the singularity of their core purpose.  I'm amazed at how often I find the common thread of their existence, their soul's purpose always seems to be this - to glorify God.

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Valuable Grace

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." -- 2 Corinthians 9:8 [ESV]

How valuable is God's grace?  Value is normally defined in terms relative to supply vs demand.  But we're not talking about finite terms of business, we're talking about infinite measures of value.  So let me propose that we - for the purpose of this brief post - define value as the usefulness of an object and the uniqueness of it's source provider.

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Sufficient Grace

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." -- 2 Corinthians 9:8 [ESV]

Ever wonder about the supply of God's grace?  God's grace is inexhaustible.  It knows no limits in ability or purpose.

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Purposeful Grace

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." -- 2 Corinthians 9:8 [ESV]

Ever wonder how God is able to work out his abundantly rich plan?  The key to the mystery isn't found in God's ability but rather in His purposes.

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