The Motivation for Serving the Lord

In the Song of Solomon 7:12, the church, after invoking and inviting the Lord's presence, told him that in the vineyard was were she would give him her loves. The vineyard speaks of our place of service and it is there that she shows her love. Her movtivation for service is not DUTY but DEVOTION!! When we serve out of duty, we become weary of the work, we will then become critical and complain. But, when we serve out of love we don't notice the hardships but only think of our heart throb, that is the Savior.
Paul stated in II Cor. 5:14 that the love of Christ CONSTRAINETH him. This means to compel, to coerce, to even restrict the motions of. I challenge you today to look at your reason for serving the Lord. Could it be that you have become weary because the duty has become greater than the devotion?
The church spoke of her loves: her love for the Savior, his service, his scriptures, his saints, his sanctification, and His soon coming.
Oh, that we would love Him above all others and above all else that we have.

True Joy!

Well, I am back after several weeks of silence due to the heavy schedule we have been having. We have celebrated the 4th of July with Gordon and his family. In June, after going to the SBC, we had a couple of days with Cameron and his family up in Virginia. I even got to preach for him. Its a good thing he ask me to preach, I might not have driven the extra 175 miles if he hadn't. Ha! We really had a wonderful time, picking blue berries, eating, playing basketball and sleeping. I preached for Gordon in May for the dedication of their new church building. We had a Great time. These sure were happy times!
My wife, Brenda, soon to be 40 yrs of marriage, shared a thought with me. "Happiness is controlled by circumstances, but Joy controls the circumstances!" Now the Bible teaches that Joy is of the Lord, and is the second fruit of the Spirit in Galations 5. David cried in Ps. 51 for the Lord to restore unto him the Joy of the Lord's salvation. True Joy can only be found through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ! It is not circumstances that steal our joy, but rather our response to the circumstances. If we allow anger, bitterness, criticism, and a complaining spirit to take over, then we lose that Joy. The Psalmist expressed great Joy in the darkest moments of his life because he was remembering the goodness of God rather than drinking in the sorrows of the moment. Ask yourself the question, Do I let circumstances steal my Joy because I respond to them wrongly?
Bro. Ken

True Joy!

Well, I am back after several weeks of silence due to the heavy schedule we have been having. We have celebrated the 4th of July with Gordon and his family. In June, after going to the SBC, we had a couple of days with Cameron and his family up in Virginia. I even got to preach for him. Its a good thing he ask be to preach, I might not have driven the extra 175 miles if he hadn't. Ha!
We really had a wonderful time, picking blue berries, eating, playing basketball and sleeping.
I preached for Gordon in May for the dedication of their new church building. We had a Great time. These sure were happy times!
My wife, Brenda, soon to be 40 yrs of marriage, shared a thought with me. "Happiness is controlled by circumstances, but Joy controls the circumstances!" Now the Bible teaches that Joy is of the Lord, and is the second fruit of the Spirit in Galations 5. David cried in Ps. 51 for the Lord to restore unto him the Joy of the Lord's salvation. True Joy can only be found through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ! It is not circumstances that steal our joy, but rather our response to the circumstances. If we allow anger, bitterness, criticism, and a complaining spirit to take over, then we lose that Joy. The Psalmist expressed great Joy in the darkest moments of his life because he was remembering the goodness of God rather than drinking in the sorrows of the moment. Ask yourself the question, Do I let circumstances steal my Joy because I respond to them wrongly?
Bro. Ken