Does God Really Work?

The God Who Works?
I'm preaching on Phil 2:12-30 this Sunday. This morning I've been think about verse 13, about how it is God who works in us the 'will' and the 'to do' of His good pleasure. A personal maxim of mine is to always give God one more day to show His power. The reason this is a maxim of mine is that early in my life I was very impatient, and I thought much of what happened in my life was up to me. This often meant beating my head against the wall, or worse yet, getting disappointed because God wasn't blessing what I was doing. I thought problems should go away quickly if I was humble and contrite. Then someone told me that God has a MPP quotient. That's 'Miles Per Problem'. Most of the time God is working a goal in our life, and He is getting as many miles as He can out of that problem. His slowness to work is actually by design and with a firm goal in sight.

I understand that God works behind the scenes, but does He work in Me? That is the really important issue. That is what the people listening Sunday are going to be thinking.

I had lunch with a young man who early in life made a profession of faith in Christ. Even though he was 7 at the time and now he is in his 30's, the memories of his fear of dying and going to hell are so vivid that he still trembles. He remembers asking Christ into his heart. But today he says he is an atheist. All he has are a set of personal values and a desire to be the best person he can be. Once he dies it is all over. Has God been working in this young man? What happened to his early faith?
I had lunch with another young man who was aking a similar question, but from a different perspective. He was not very 'religious', and had been shot while driving his work truck. Six 40 caliber shots went into the cab of his rig, and one went through and through his stomach. He wonders how God was working through that.
As a young boy he remembers going to church all the time, but when he got older, it no longer mattered in his life. He is wondering what to do with his life. Could this be God calling Him to a personal relationship with Him? What happened to the other young man?
Does God work in our lives?
The question I must answer this Sunday is not only does He work, but how does He work the "will" and the "to do" of His good pleasure in each of us?

What is a Maxim?

I preached a sermon last week titled "Paul's Maxims to Live By". I discovered from Philippians 1:12-30 that Paul was revealing some ideas that guided his live. The word maxim popped into my little mind, and it seemed to click. Paul had maxim's that guided the decisions he made and the actions he took. But I discovered that none of the people listening knew what a Maxim was. I quoted my favorite definition (by Immanuel Kant no less) "a subjective principle or rule that the will of an individual uses in making a decision." It still didn't click.
Then I started listing some of my personal maxim's...

• Always give God one more day to show His power
• Never explain anything
• You are either a winner or a whiner
• You are either a Gainer or a Complainer
• Never take ANYTHING for granted
• If you can't do something with all your heart STAY HOME!

They still couldn't understand what a maxim is. Then I mentioned what I consider a maxim-"If it ain't broke-don't fix it".
The light went on! Oh Yeah, now we understand. Evidently most of them lived their life by the maxim of if it ain't broke-don't fix it! It made sense.

This blog will be about the maxim's that guide my life. Just for your curiosity about Paul, his three personal maxim's tat he revealed in Philippians were:

1. Live to Advance
   
2. Live to Die
3. Live to be Worthy

I don't think Paul lived by the maxim of "If it ain't broke don't fix it".