Why We Deceive: The Anatomy and Consequences of A Lying Tongue

Some of us have created a false profile of ourselves for every day living and on the internet. We are deceiving people, making them think we are someone else, older than what we are or different from what is really true. Some of us have been victims of lies and deception. We entered into relationships with people who had a certain presentation of themselves the first few months and then they flipped the script on us. Now we are trying to recover. Some of us are trying to find our true and authentic selves. Others are trying to reclaim trust in dealing with people. Why do we deceive? How can we recover? What does the Bible say about deception and lying? Post your experiences and scriptures.

Scriptures to read: Proverbs 14:8, 25; 19:5, 9; Psalm 10:7; 34:13; 109:2

YDOC BIble Study: "Now Grow"

This week, think about the areas in your life where you are spiritual weak like prayer, reading your Bible, and witnessing. God expects us to grow spiritual. As we are nurtured by sermons, worship, counseling and encouragement from our believers, God is looking for us to grow up in Him. Anything that stays the same is dead. Water that never moves, still water, creates bacterial. God wants you to be full of life! "Now Grow!"
Its time for you to join God's Spiritual Growth Gym. This week, take your weak areas and exercise them. Be intentional about picking a time to pray, read your word and witness then do it!!! If you like, make journal entries of your progress and from time to time reflect on your entries and see how your spiritual muscles have developed!

Maximizing Your Experience With God,

Rev. Max

Good Posture for Good Reception

Read Exodus 3:1-10

What do you do when your cellular phone is experiencing bad reception? Some move to another area, walk around in circles, and wave their phone side to side, and some try to even position themselves in a better area if they are in a building. Well, that is similar to our reception and communication with God. We must place ourselves in a spiritual posture that will allow us to have good reception, so that God can speak and we may hear Him. We have too many things in our lives that hinder our reception. Some of our friends, activities we participate in and certain lifestyles hinder our reception with God. We have to remove some of these obstacles and posture ourselves in prayer, reading God's word, fasting, scripture mediation, holiness and worship, so we might hear from God. God wants to speak to us. God wants to reveal who He is, His heart, His Will and His plan and purpose for us. Take time this week and strive to posture yourself to hear from God!

"Playing House: Why It Hurts So Bad"~ YDOC Tuesday Night Bible Study Highlight

OOOUUCCHHH!!! Tears falling down your face, it’s not physical; it’s an inner pain you feel inside. Torn, cut, broken, dismembered, sliced, severed, and tattered you sit and cry, cry, cry, cry… you see no blood but you’re experiencing internal bleeding. Lost, feeling like you are out of reach of healing… OOOOUUCCHH!!!! They said, “It’s over!” OOOUUCCHH!!! They said, “I never want to speak to you again!” OOOUUUCCHH!!! They said, “You’re not the one!” OOOUUCH!!! They said, “We’re done!” This is the break ups we experience, but it deeper than a break up. This is the feeling of relationships that have chosen to engage in premarital sex and now that relationship is over. “Why does it hurt so bad”? It’s not your normal experience of a break up because there are spiritual events that take place when you engage in premarital sex. 1 Cor. 6:15-16- Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” The sexual experience is two becoming one flesh. A relationship lead by God, to transition to marriage to be kept by God, finds itself on the safe operating table of becoming one flesh. Our premarital sexual experience is not God lead thus we find ourselves in a painful bloody mess.
We are in a society that enjoys playing house. We have male and females engaging in sex, which is what married couples are supposed to engage and as a result, many people find themselves hurt. You may not be with a prostitute, but the principle is this, when you have sex, you become ONE with that person. Marriages that are God centered (theo-centeric) will be kept by God and the two that became ONE will remain ONE in God. God does not keep as one, relationships that engage in premarital sex. God keeps God centered marriages. It hurts when you break up with your boy friend or girl friend you had sex because it feels like flesh is tearing and being cut. You both became one and because your union was not based upon God’s principles you find yourself bleeding from torn flesh (spiritually speaking). Let’s stop playing house. I know you want to be loved, but love does not have to experience that type of damage. God took that experience by loving you to the cross, taking your nails, cross, thorn and spear, bleeding for you. God chose to bleed for you to keep you from bleeding. Become one with God by following His Word and resist sexual immorality because it will only hurt you in the end. “There is a way which seems right unto a man but in the end there of is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25).

Highlight from this week's YDOC Bible Study "This is why I'm Hot"

This past Tuesday, we realized that we were on our way to hell singing, "This is why I'm hot, this is I'm hot!", but God in His demonstration of His OWN love towards us, sent His ONLY Son Jesus Christ to die FOR us! He saved us from His wrath!! If you are a believer, you have been saved and God has given you a new life and a new song, "Amazing Grace!!"

God demonstrated His OWN love towards us. He didn't need persuasion or assistance; He possessed His own natural love towards us to save us. In fact, it would take His own love to decide to take our place, "Christ died FOR US" (Substitutionary Death).

Since Jesus died for you, why don't you live for Him? Galatians 2:20- “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Live for Christ...

Rev. Max