{"id":2755,"date":"2016-04-22T07:52:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T11:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/voh\/?p=2755"},"modified":"2016-04-17T10:15:35","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T14:15:35","slug":"faith-church-member-covenant-keeping-christ-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/voh\/2016\/04\/22\/faith-church-member-covenant-keeping-christ-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith Church Member Covenant: Keeping Christ First"},"content":{"rendered":"

How awesome it has been so far to be reminded of many truths through the Faith Church Membership Covenant! Let\u2019s continue to dig into this document today.<\/p>\n

I also purpose to maintain family and private devotions<\/strong>; to train my children according to the Word of God; to seek the salvation of my relatives, friends, neighbors and acquaintances<\/strong>; to walk carefully and cautiously in the world<\/strong>; to be just in my dealings, faithful in my engagements<\/strong>, and exemplary in my conduct; to avoid all gossip, backbiting, and unrighteous anger<\/strong>; to abstain from all forms of activity that dishonor our Lord Jesus Christ, cause stumbling to a fellow believer, or hinder the winning of a soul to Christ; to be zealous in my efforts to advance the cause of Christ, and to give Him preeminence in all things<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The last point in this section of the document that we will look into is the concept of giving \u201cHim [Christ] preeminence in all things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colossians 1:15-18 says of Christ, \u201c<\/strong>He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.<\/strong> For by Him all things were created, both<\/em> in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.\u201d <\/strong>Wow. How can we not be moved to rejoice simply in who Christ is after a speech like that! In our everyday lives, it is vital that we remind ourselves of the God we serve. He is eternal, all-powerful, just, loving, pure, holy, truth, perfect in every way, and the list could go on forever. He is greater than all else and is the only one worthy of having first place (preeminence) in all things.<\/p>\n

One big goal that we have for the ladies in our program is to teach them who our God is. Some ladies come to us having much knowledge about God and His characteristics, and some come with little to no knowledge of Him at all. But whatever their level of understanding, there is always more to learn about our infinite God. And not only that, but learning to not settle with simply storing up knowledge of Him, but allowing that knowledge and truth to impact our hearts and lives is so important for every believer.<\/p>\n

For our ladies, they often come to us in a position of great struggle at least partly because they have placed other things in first place in their hearts. We were never created to find satisfaction or lasting joy in worshipping anything or anyone above our God, and our lives become a wreck inwardly and often outwardly when we do. Learning who God is and then responding by truly being convinced that only He is worthy of taking first place in our lives is a concept that will impact every area of our lives and set us free from bondage to sin.<\/p>\n

Please pray for us as we seek to help our ladies place Christ in first place above all else in their hearts and desires, and pray for our ladies \u2013 that they will desire to keep Christ where only He is worthy to be!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How awesome it has been so far to be reminded of many truths through the Faith Church Membership Covenant! Let\u2019s continue to dig into this document today. I also purpose to maintain family and private devotions; to train my children according to the Word of God; to seek the salvation of my relatives, friends, neighbors… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":2756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[5162,8656],"yoast_head":"\nFaith Church Member Covenant: Keeping Christ First - Vision of Hope<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/voh\/2016\/04\/22\/faith-church-member-covenant-keeping-christ-first\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faith Church Member Covenant: Keeping Christ First - Vision of Hope\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How awesome it has been so far to be reminded of many truths through the Faith Church Membership Covenant! 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