Make sure you are in Youth Group Tonight! We are going to have a great time! And We have something for most of you devotioneers! :)
We bought a new domain name to make it easier for you to get to your devotions. Just type http://www.doyourdevotions.com/
A Few Thoughts from Yesterday:
Jackieee: I hope you are not sick today! What is going on today that you said "you cant wait for"
Gaby: Great Devotions Yesterday!!! I am proud of you!
Jessica: Thanks for the song!!
Philippians 4:8-9
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
I gave you guys just two verses today because there is so much GREAT content in them. Paul is writing to us telling us to only think on things that are true, noble, just, PURE, lovely, of a good reputation, virtuous, and praiseworthy.
I was watching TV last night, and Katie and I were disgusted with some of the disgusting things that is being put on the normal prime time television shows. It may sound crazy for me to tell you "maybe you should give up evening television". But the truth is, These verses should be a conviction about what you are watching, and what you are thinking about.
I guarantee that the TV shows on last night were NOT True, PURE, Virtuous, and all of the other attributes. If they are the opposite of what God tells us to think about, then we DEFINITELY should not fill our mind with those things on TV.
So many TV shows just glamourize Sin, and the Bible tells us that fools make a Mock at sin!
Do you entertain yourself by watching other people sin? In real life? On TV? If so, the Bible says that you are making foolish decisions.
I know that this is something I need to work on, when I get into a show and then half way through it, it shows something wrong, I dont want to turn it off (because I want to see the end) but I must understand that when the TV show crosses my boundaries, Then I MUST TURN IT OFF!
This does not only apply to TV but to everything that influences our thoughts. We must guard our Hearts! And we do that by guarding our mind!
Finally, Paul tells everyone: Hey, everything that you see me doing: That is what you should be doing! Wow! Could I say that? I dont think so! I should strive to live so that I can tell the people around me: Hey! Everything that you see me doing, You should Do it!
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21 comments:
The tv is probably the worst place to find unworthy things that are not right, just, and defeintly not pure. I could list so many tv programs and shows that have not Godly things in them. In everyday life we stuggle on having the traits listed in the text (pure, honest, just, good report.) because we are bombarded with bad tv shows and magazines everyday of our lives we have to focus on what God whats us do like and not ourselves. I have to follow God's path of rightousness and not the devils path of deceit. The world itself has followed the path of deceit and is slowly getting worse. But we (Christians should not worry because the return of Christ is soon.
This passage is pretty self explanatory, so I am just going to get right to the application, because there is a lot of it! A big thing that jumped out to me from this passage is something that most girls struggle with. How often do we sit and compare ourselves to others around us. When we do this we are not thinking on this list. It is dangerous to compare ourselves, because we start thinking about only ourselves. We often perceive things about ourselves that are not even true. I know this is something that I struggle with. We need to keep our mind on the right things, and we will struggle with this a lot less!
Pastor Lee is right. There is a whole lot of content in these two verses. We could spend a whole lot of time dishin' on examples of what is "true" and what is "noble...just...pure...
lovely...of good report" But let's cut to a couple of general principles here.
One principle is that some things are true and some things aren't. Some things are pure and some things aren't, etc. And we don't get to decide: God does!
Another thought is that getting true and noble and pure and lovely, etc. things into our numb skulls is a matter of what we do (getting in the Word...Have you heard?) and what we don't do (Some of you have mentioned TV, but we could add friends, computers, etc.)
In verse 9 Paul tells the Philippian Christians that they have learned and received and heard and saw the Word of God lived out in his life. We have all had the privilege of learning and receiving and hearing and seeing the Word of God lived out before us in some awesome Christians' lives. What is left?
A command: Just do it! Also a promise: "The God of peace will be with you."
Peace out!
P-Dawg
Oh, well. Last comment not so Anonynmous. My total bad!
P-Dawg
Hi This is Amanda, I will post more later, but right now I just want to say that PASTOR LEE!!!!!!: YOU ARE THE COOLEST PASTOR ON THE PLANET!!! I LOVE THIS AMAZING YOUTH GROUP!
WOW! Its saying that whatever is good and godly that we should focus on it and not get attetion somewhere else just like pastor lee uses that illastration when he preaches that if you focus on the # 7 you wont thing about the # 8 and also at the end of the passage it says that when you do these things God will bring a peace to you that everything will be fine and if you make it a habit to not think of those sins then you can relax and be pure and not have to think about it anymore.It takes 28 days to make a habit(wow im a loser lol).
Jonathan Massey
P.S. we should do something some time.:-)
what i got from this was that we need to do things that are noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. also we need to do things that are rignt when no one is looking, and like Pastor Lee said when he was watching tv, we need to change the channel if something bad pops up and crosses our boundry. it is hard to do that these days because everyone else is doing it and we want to do it to, to either look cool or hang in with the crowd. he also says the things you saw and heard in me you should do also because it is honoring God and i want to horor God.
I agree with pretty much everybody on this page... The world God has pictured for us, and told us to live..is far from what you see today. People struggle everyday to fit in...and thats the opposite from what we need to be doing. We need to be doing pure, lovely, and noble things.. and God will bring peace to you.
Like when you drink a Monster..you feel so rejuvenated, so pure, lovely, and noble. =)
ahhhh once again my devotions!! O how I love them so!!! :)
For today’s passages Paul is simply saying to meditate on only things that are pure and Godly but wait, maybe this isn't as "simple" as we think.
Pastor Leonard J you talked about how when you watch TV sometimes that you can't just turn off the TV because it is just so interesting. Aren’t we all victims of this? I can honestly say that I struggle with this. Especially in our world today the media is crammed with things of the enemy and what he wants our little eyes and ears to see and hear. But by taking control of our thinking in a positive way we can change our lives in a incredible way.
It is interesting because this tags along with what Pastor "Lee" talked about tonight in youth... if you were there if you weren't than we need to have a little chat hahaha
We don't naturally think Godly thoughts. We have to work at it! Obviously the place to start is with the Word of God. We need to do more than simply read the Bible; we must know the Bible. I also know that we must meditate on God's truth and apply His values and direction to our life. So what can I do to make this work?
Our minds are a perfect battlefield or target for Satan. His main strategy is to take control of our mind. And if he can control how we think and what we watch, and listen to, and indulge in, than he can control US. If he can get us to believe a lie, then he can get us to behave in a way with the lie we have believed.
Okay I'm done! I'll be back on tomorrow I know everyone is excited about that okay JK Goodnight!
Jess
ok so i just wrote a long thing but it deleted it when i tried to post it ugh
so p.lee can you just count this as my devotion lol
because i really wanna go to bed haha
i think tv is getting worse these days. eerything on tv is bad or ungodly. i watch the christian channel a lot(good music) because everything is filth. its amazing to see how everyone(even Christians) are alowing this filth to control there mind or even enter there thoughts. us christians needto be the example and maybe if others c we dont watch the trash maybe they wont want to ether
God wants us to keep our mind clean and pure. Weather we know it or not, the things we listen to, watch, and read effects us. If we fill our heads with bad things, we will live a life that is not pleasing to God. But if we fill our heads with things that are good, we will please God with the way we live.
lol amanda :]
thats just called a sugar high.
ughhh
my devotions get deleted half the time i post themm! >:/
well anyways,
i know exactly what you are saying with the tv thing since ive been stuck home from school i watch a lot of it!
sometimes i see myself finding cartoons the best things to watch, lol, it sounds funny but its literally the only innocent thing on there; and sometimes theyre cute :]
haha, back to the passage;
sometimes i will watch a show and think "its alright to watch it if i dont take it in and let it affect me, ill just watch it for entertainment" but the thuth is, it will stick in my head most, likely and whether i realize it or not, it will affect me.
the things you entertain yourself with are the things you spend a lot of your time on and when they are unholy, you are putting yourself somewheres where your focus is on something totally unGodly and tainting what should be your pure mind.
I seriously need to be careful with my tv watching, because unless you really stop to think, you end up watching something, disregarding how its really not a God pleasing way to spend your time.
i know theres a billion forms of entertainment and if its music you listen to, or movies you see, or wherever you go to hangout, it should be a place you could take Jesus with you. lol, another dumb 'rachel thing' that sounds funny but fer reall!; he knows just what you are doing anyways, and is always with you in a sense; so we should picture Him as that friend we do everything with :]
there are some things i dont have problems with turning off or staying away from but there are also a lot i do, so my application is to make everything i do and entertain myself with pleasing to God.
so paul just basically lists a bunch of stuff that is in all things good. Then he asks us to reflect upon those things. The reason for this is so that we may realize what we need to work on. Then he asks us to look at his life and use him as an example and to follow him since he is following god.
yeah there's ALOTA stuff out there that isnt good even the SLIGHTEST bit!
I got grounded 4 doin sumthin that was wrong & i CLEARLY knew it...& i didnt have the ability 2say no & walk away...
Pastor Lee says it ALL the time, what seems fun NOW, u look at later on down the road & go WHAT DID I DO THAT 4??? & it RUINS ur future=[
i made a few bad choices & im being punished now...ive got all my privlages taken away & other things=[It SURE wasnt worth it=[
(like the story pastor lee preached last night)
If u have 2 question wether something is write or wrong...itz most likely WRONG!If there's that chance it MIGHT b...DONT take it...
i WISH i hadnt done the things i did, cuz now i cant really participate in youth activities or anything, & i REALLY dissapointed my parents...not 2 mention god himelf...
our lives r a t.v show if u think about it...when we reach that point in the show where things can go wrong...instead of turning it off...change it...let ur life be a show where ur being faced w/issues & u being STRONG ENOUGH 2 turn away...god's watching...live ur life like hes watchin ur life as a sitcom...
do u want him 2 "change the chaannel???" & watch sumthin else?or do u wanna have him keep watching cuz itz good?dont make him turn away...
ur the director of UR life...dont let society controll what goes on...
u'll pay later=[trust me...I KNOW=[ =[ =[ =[ =[ =[ =[ =[ =[ =[ =[ =[
WWJD???
Oh man and it is one of those happiest feelings in the world when you know you've done something right. To know that your actions have pleased the father is just like pleasing a biological father. He takes pride in you. We lose sight sometimes of why we need to act the way we ought to.
This passage is short sweet and to the point. It says to think about the qualities listed in verse 8 and to practice them. It says if you follow these things than God will be with you always because if you are these qualities than it is imposible to sin. Of corse you cant be like this all of the time but you should strive to get as close as possible to that goal.
paul is telling us to focus on the things that are are true, noble, just,pure , lovely, of a good reputation, virtuous, and praiseworthy. We should focus on these because God wants us to and he will reward later if we do. Its hard practicing these things for example the pastor Lee was talking about T.V. Its hard to not watch sinful because we have been brainwashed by the world to be entertianed by sin and thats wrong. If we are being enertianed by sin we are making a fool out of ourselfs. We need to stay away from evil things and live by the glory of God and his teachings.
so basically this passage is saying that our lives should be surrounded by these things...things that are true noble just PURE lovely, you get the point. if there are things or people in our lives that are not these things that we should cut them out like pastor lee said about evening television. I know this may seem ridiculous or even really hard but in the end your life will be much better.
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