A few days ago I received this email from a precious follower of Jesus in Australia, "I have been sharing some of your emails with my small group, it has been tremendous. We have been focusing on true faith, ie hearing from God, believing and obeying and it seems you have been speaking right into our discussion.... so where is the microphone hidden?" In this week's teaching from Jesus we learn about denying ourselves. Obviously she and her group are successful in denying themselves and being open to hearing from God's Spirit. For God's Spirit the distance from the USA and Australia, is like being right next to you. We serve an awesome God. I will remind you that what I share comes from God, so feel free to use it any way you believe God wants you to and there is no need to even mention me. The important ones to mention are God and Jesus. God has no copy writes. He gives to be shared. Also feel free to share our email address, if others want to be added to the list.

To refresh what you have learned in our Workshop or entice you to experience our Workshop

Why work on your marriage? 1. Most people want enjoyable, lasting marriages. 2. Jesus quoted (Matthew 19:5 TEV) God (Genesis 2:24) when He said "…two will become one…". Being one doesn't happen automatically, you have to work at being one and learning how to work together as a team. 3. God said in Malachi 2:16 (NIV) "I hate divorce…" Being obedient to God is important to your eternal life. Take no pleasure in getting divorced and then telling your ex they are going to hell. Recently, a high profile Christian who once shared with a group of pastors including me about what a strong Christian his wife was, made the news that they filed for divorce after over 30 years of marriage. My wife and I had been married over 30 years when we went through the marriage workshop together. In our first workshop we agreed that if we saw any one we knew we would just say we were learning how to help others. The truth is our marriage needed help and we benefited from the workshop. Subsequently I was trained to conduct workshops and I did learn how to help others. Today, I can tell you that our marriage is better than it has been in years and it continues to get better every week. Some people seem to have so much pride they would rather get divorced than work on their marriage.

Our workshop at Jesus Center is better than counseling because we help you learn how to work together as a team and resolve your own problems. Also it is good to know that from a study in 2009 of over 3 million households, 76 % have married only once. Over 19% have been married twice; and only 5% have been married three or more times.(7.25% in Oklahoma). Often to try to encourage people to work on their marriages people manipulate statistics to make people feel like everyone is divorced. Actually the exact opposite is true. Join the majority and stay married. Our workshop can help every marriage be better. We don't want you to say we have been married for 25 years and haven't talked to each other in 5 years. We want you to say that your marriage is better and more enjoyable every week.

The Better Half "When your partner won't support your efforts to make your marriage better" Without your spouse's support to improve your marriage, you can still pray daily for God's will to be done in each of your lives and your marriage ("all things are possible with God", Mark 10:27 NIV). Also you can treat your spouse like you want to be treated as Jesus teaches us to Luke 6:31 (TEV) "Do for others just what you want them to do for you."

A Psalm for reflection "The wicked shall be sent away to hell; this is the fate of all the nations forgetting the Lord" Ps 9:17 (TL)

Understanding the Teaching: What I share in the teaching is what I believe God wants me to share. All the direct quotes from God are highlighted in royal purple. Of course the words of Jesus are in red. Rather than follow some made up doctrine, remember that Jesus said that every thing He said (Jn 12:49) and everything He did (Jn 14:31) comes from God. All teachings and all opinions should be supported by what we learn from God or Jesus (see the scripture referred to in the footnote).

One of the hardest things to accomplish is when Jesus tells us that "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." The part about "take up his cross daily" was very relevant to His listeners, as the Roman government made a practice of crucifying people frequently for even minor offenses that we would call felonies and even for conflicts with local religious leaders. Part of the crucifixion involved the humiliation and public disgrace of having to drag your cross or part of your instrument of execution to the place you would be killed by hanging from the cross for hours until exhausted and then death. The statement Jesus made of "deny himself and take up his cross daily" would indicate such complete denial of self that you would be willing suffer the most unpleasant death imaginable. Another way to describe this would be as God said, "they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death"1. Complete denial of yourself or loving God more than your life, is difficult but very rewarding. When you deny yourself and follow Jesus you will discover that Jesus will lead you to follow what God wants, as He did when He told God, "not what I want, but what You want"2.

Recently, I read a very exciting one-page article in a ministry magazine. The person wrote an exciting story how God used her in the healing of many dozens of people who were terminally ill with a very contagious disease. I was excited and impressed like in my younger Christian groupie days but God was not impressed. I didn't understand why God wasn't excited, as God had to have done the healings. It is important to understand what God wants and likes, even when it is disappointing to our opinions. A couple of days later, when I would have normally thrown out the magazine, God told me to count the number of times the word "I" was used in the short story. I did and the word "I" was used thirty four times. Then I realized why God wasn't pleased with the story because the person bragging about the healings was promoting herself. Usually when Jesus did miracles people praised God4. Jesus teaches us to "deny" ourselves and mentions that some people, who are disobedient and are proud of the miracles in their ministry, will be rejected in the end with the statement "I never knew you. Away from me…"3. Healing miracles are a sign of God's power not necessarily an endorsement of the person God uses to perform the miracle. This experience of being misled by this self-promoting person may explain why at times I say I feel like a baby Christian. God's requirement is to obey God, which makes it mandatory to know what God wants.

Self wants and selfishness frequently plays a role when people are "angry" or commit "murder" and denying self can help. Self centered thoughts and selfish desires are often involved when people sin with thoughts of "lust" and especially when people commit "adultery". Usually selfishness is present when people "steal" and when people "covet" or want what someone else has5. Although these are just a few examples, it is safe to say that most thoughts of sin will be reduced when we "deny" ourselves.

Denying your self not only helps with overcoming sin but also helps with our walk with God. It was an awesome statement of self-denial when Jesus states, "The things I taught were not from Myself. The Father who sent Me told me what to say and what to teach". It would be wonderful to be able to make such a statement about myself however the best I can say is that God's Spirit helps me frequently. When I am preparing these teachings, often God's Spirit reminds me of things Jesus said, as Jesus tells us God's Spirit "will cause you to remember all the things I told you"6. Some times on Sunday morning during our 10am bible study, I will ask people who have concordances in their bible if they can help me find where certain words are located. Usually that is because God's spirit has reminded me of something Jesus said but I'm not sure where to find it. This Sunday during our closing prayer God gave me an example by reminding me that denying yourself is not just about overcoming sin but could also help us accomplish, "Do for other people what you want them to do for you"8.

How do you deny yourself so completely that God is more important than anything in your life? Most of us are so selfish or self centered that it is almost impossible without God's help to deny ourselves. A start can be to ask for God's help frequently. You may want to include this request in yourdaily prayers. Jesus said, "Continue to ask, and God will give to you". When the accuser tries to discourage you remember, "with God all things are possible"7.

Let's pray: "God help us to see the advantages of being obedient to Jesus and denying ourselves. Help us to over come all our selfish wants and desires and put You first in our lives. Thank You for helping us, in Jesus name, amen."

Weekly MINISTRY NOTES including a JESUS TEACHING

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