driving truth.

once again, Thursday service @ the dreamcenter was a refreshing midweek boost--the thought-provoking and challenging issue of motives and intentions. What's really driving the truth that we're pushing in our cart? Pastor Brad Reed speaks on Driving Truth.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Simply put: blessed are those who have no ulterior motives. 

Pastor Brad went on to touch on enlightened self-interest, especially in business. The intention to say that you have someone's best interests at heart and yet have another agenda behind it. Gap's (RED) products, Starbucks Shared Planet, Budweiser's Drink Responsibly campaigns... these are all true, but what's driving these truths? 

whatever you connect with emotionally, you support.

Matthew 6 ¹"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

 ²"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 

So everything we do must be motivated by the love of Jesus Christ. The point being: you can have Truth in your cart, but if the devil's pushing it, no one's going to receive it. What's pushing the agenda of your life right now?

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira and how they kept part of the proceeds of the sale of their land and not being honest about it. They wanted the 'perception' that they were giving all they had but they were really not. They could have told the apostles that they were keeping part of it etc, the point being that they weren't truthful. They had an agenda of their own, while parading the Truth in the cart they were pushing in front of them.

So what now? 

Hebrews 4:¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart

If we want to have pure intentions in whatever we do, we can't be doing it on our own. For the spirit might be willing but the flesh is weak. We need the Word of God to expose us for what we really are--the carnal nature that we possess.

James 1:²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 

So looking into the mirror on a daily basis, and asking God to show you what areas are lacking, respond. 

Get in the Word.

Pastor tells us that a simple gauge of your intentions is your dependence on God now versus your dependence on God when you first got saved. 

Paul's progression:

1st: he says he's the least of all the apostles

2nd: he says he's the least of all the saints (Christians)

3rd: he says he's a sinner in need of a Savior

at the end: He's a sinner of whom he's chief (the Chief of Sinners). 

wow. Staying broken and getting more broken for God. 

Gauge: if you sit consistently in church and think that the message is not for you all the time, do a heart check. 

Is giving God glory what's driving your life, or giving yourself glory? If you aren't, your life won't be as fulfilled as it can be. 

Blessed are the pure in heart.

the amazing part? God never expects you to change on your own. Just ask, and it shall be given.

Take all of me.

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Hillsong + Delirious? - Majesty (Here I Am)