Sharpen Your Saw: Getting Your Edge Back On

Wednesday, February 23, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


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Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NJKV), If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom produces success.”

(NLT), Since a dull ax requires great strength, sharpen the blade. That's the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.

(NIV), If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success.

KEY WORDS

Ax (Saw) – The instrument of service; our lifestyle

Edge – The cutting edge; the action edge; What we actually do; our gifts and unique contribution to God’s purpose

Wisdom - Ability to make proper choices and reach proper conclusions and decisions; Shrewdly aware and subtly resourceful; Using the proper means and procedures in attaining an end; Knowing how to restore and maintain your edge.

Sharpen - Raising the level of your skill and effectiveness through RENEWAL

Tools for Sharpening 
• Doers of the Word: because slothfulness produces decay (Eccl. 10:18)
• Prayer & Worship: Individual, corporate, John 4:23
• Simplicity/Declutter Life: 2 Cor. 11:3
• Fellowship: (“Iron sharpens iron”) Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 John 2:7
• Personal Preparation: 2 Tim. 2:15, 1 Cor. 14:12
• Accountability: Heb. 13:7, 17
• Faith: 2 Cor. 5:7 (“He who observes the wind shall not sow...” Pr. 11:4)
• Teaching & Training: Sermons, Bible Study,
• Other…

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You Are A Masterpiece - Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute for February 23, 2022

Tuesday, February 22, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


  
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(“Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute” is a weekly encouragement sent by text on Wednesdays to supporters of New Covenant Church and Dr. Bryan Hudson.  Subscribe to this blog to get connected.)

Ephesians 2:10 NLT, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Did you know that you are a masterpiece?

A masterpiece is the greatest work of an artist, author, architect, composer, or other practitioner. Perhaps, you've heard about the The Last Supper painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, or the book Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, seen acting work by the late, great Sidney Poitier. There are masterpiece buildings like the Sidney Opera House in Australia.

You are God's masterpiece! People are God's greatest work. We are Imago Dei, which is a latin term meaning "The Image of God", which is what God said when He made the first person, Adam. That is something not said about any other created thing or animal. Not even angels are made in the image of God

A lot of forces in this world and sometimes your mind fight against the Imago Dei inside you. We live in a negative world, but you have a positive image inside you. And it is never too late to accept God's version of reality and His design for your life.

An oppressed man in Israel named Gideon was found threshing wheat in a wine press because he was hiding from his enemies. A wine press is for pressing grapes. In that place, God found Gideon hiding in that place and said, “I am with you, you mighty man of valor.” (Judges 6:12) God doesn't only see your circumstances, He sees you.

Is there anything out of place in your life because of negative circumstances? The answer and solution begins with believing what God said about you. You are HIs best work. 

You are a masterpiece...and God is with you!

God Bless and Be Encouraged!
~ Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min.

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Renewal: The Best Version of You - Part Two

Monday, February 21, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


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2 Corinthians 4:16, Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Renewed Defined

ἀνακαινόω (anakainoō)
“ana” to cause to grow up
“neos” to make new
New strength and vigor given
To be changed into a new kind of life as opposed to the former corrupt state
Renovate

How to Be Renewed

R - Rest & Repent
E - Experience Fullness
N - Never Cease Prayer
E - Endure: Cast Cares on the Lord
W - Wait on Exchange of Strength

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Are You At Rest? - Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute for February 16, 2022

Tuesday, February 15, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


  
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(“Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute” is a weekly encouragement sent by text on Wednesdays to supporters of New Covenant Church and Dr. Bryan Hudson.  Subscribe to this blog to get connected.)

Hebrews 4:9-10 reads, “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.”

Here is a good question: What does it mean to rest in the Lord?

The best answer comes from today’s Scripture, “He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” When God finished creation as described in the book of Genesis, He rested.

God did not rest because he was tired, He rested because He was finished!

In like manner, we rest when we finish something, or deem it as finished. Open ended and incomplete items in our lives prevent us from entering into a sense of rest. There are some matters you need to close so that you can experience rest.

Here's another perspective: To rest in the Lord is to use the power of another. If you wanted to go to a grocery store a mile away, you could walk or jog there. Or, you could allow someone to drive you there. The latter would be an example of using the “power of Another.”

We all value good effort, but sometimes we should rely on and use the power of the Lord. This is not the day to wear yourself down. This is the day to be energized and preserve your energy for tasks that fit your purpose.

Even with things we do, we should use the power of another, the grace of God, to make our efforts more fruitful and enjoyable.

God Bless and Be Encouraged!
~ Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min.

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RENEWED: The Best Version of You!

Monday, February 14, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


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2 Corinthians 4:16, Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Renewed Defined

ἀνακαινόω (anakainoō)
“ana” to cause to grow up
“neos” to make new
New strength and vigor given
To be changed into a new kind of life as opposed to the former corrupt state
Renovate

How to Be Renewed

R - Rest & Repent
E - Experience Fullness
N - Never Cease Prayer
E - Endure: Cast Cares on the Lord
W - Wait on Exchange of Strength

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Two Kinds of Joy - Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute for February 9, 2022

Tuesday, February 08, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


  
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(“Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute” is a weekly encouragement sent by text on Wednesdays to supporters of New Covenant Church and Dr. Bryan Hudson.  Subscribe to this blog to get connected.)

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”

Today's Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute has special significance.

On last Friday, February 4, for my wife and I, our third grandchild was born to our son and daughter-in-law. Baby and mother are doing very well. When we held our granddaughter, we experienced overwhelming joy at another miracle of life.

Two days later, we were standing around the hospital bed of my wife's 90 year old father, and my father-in-law. We were present with other family members. I had the privilege of praying over him as he transitioned into the presence of the Lord. 

It was a different kind of joy, mixed with a growing sorrow of soon missing a man who was such a significant father, husband, grandfather, brother, uncle, and much more to many. We shed tears, but make no mistake, we had the joy of knowing that we had experienced a loss, but also knowing that no one was lost---because we know where he went and where he is.

Joy is not one thing in one place. Joy is everything in every place because joy comes directly from the Lord. Joy is infused and diffused within those who know and love the Lord.

Do you know Jesus? Do you love God?

He is only source of true joy anytime and in any place.

God Bless and Be Encouraged!
~ Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min.









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Roads & Rivers: How God Carries You Forward - Part Five of "A Place Called Forward"

Sunday, February 06, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


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Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV, Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19 MSG, Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands

Isaiah 43:18 GNT, But the Lord says, "Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago.

Enduring Word Commentary:
As Isaiah wrote prophetically to Israel, they were mired in the desperate circumstances of captivity and exile. God wanted to put their eyes on the new work He would do, so He began with a reminder to not remember the former things. If they were stuck in the failure and sin and discouragement of the past, they would never go forward to the new thing God had for them.

“God wanted to put their eyes on the new work He would do…”

Often, when God makes a promise, we worry about the details or the obstacles for the fulfillment of the promise. God replies to us, “Don’t worry about it at all. I will even make a road in the wilderness. I have resources and plans you don’t know about. Leave those problems to Me.”

Moving forward and upward requires both natural and supernatural intervention

Roads speaks of the natural—Things you can do with God’s help.

Rivers speak of the supernatural — Things only God can do.

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Hope is a Choice. Choose Well! - Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute for February 2, 2022

Tuesday, February 01, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


  
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(“Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute” is a weekly encouragement sent by text on Wednesdays to supporters of New Covenant Church and Dr. Bryan Hudson.  Subscribe to this blog to get connected.)

We know the word hope. Having hope is a choice that we make.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:27, To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

J.B. Phillips translation reads: “...Christ in you, the hope of all glorious things to come.”

Hope with Christ and hope without Christ are not the same thing. The word glory has to do with fulfillment because of God’s presence. Every hope that God has put in your heart will have a glorious outcome, because of the presence of God in your hope.

The key to realizing the “hope of glory” is to know that Jesus lives inside of you and wants to express Himself in fulfillment of every hope. Hope is not based on circumstances, but on your interpretation of the outcome of circumstances.

For example, there was a story in the Book of Numbers Chapter 13 about Israel in which 12 leaders were instructed to go look at the land God had promised---He already told them it was “very good.”  Ten of the leaders lost hope because of their bad interpretation of the circumstance of giant beings in the land deemed as too big of an obstacle to overcome.

Either interpret the “giants” you encounter as stronger than yourself, or interpret that you are “well able to overcome,” (In Caleb’s words) with God's help, giant-sized obstacles. This is an example of  “Christ in you, the hope of all glorious things to come.”

Hope is a choice. Choose well!

God Bless and Be Encouraged!
~ Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min.









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Love is Light - Part Four of "A Place Called Forward"

Tuesday, February 01, 2022 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


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Psalms 18:28 NIV, You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

1 John 1:5, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Some Keys about Light and Darkness
• People spend too much time talking about and dealing with things of darkness.
• “Darkness is not a thing, it is a result.” ~ T.D. Jakes
• When you turn up the light you did not have to tell the darkness to leave.
• You cannot turn up darkness, you can only turn up light. Light is your superpower

Philippians 2:14, Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

1 John 2:9, He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

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