To Gird Up

“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”

1 Peter 1:13 KJV

In ancient times men would wear long robes.  This could be a problem if you needed to move fast, through difficult terrain or were going into combat.  So, the first thing they had to do was gird up there loin.  Literally tie up the loose ends.  

Over and over in the Bible we see analogies of the Christian life being a race.  We are told to wear armor as we are in a battle.  So if here in 1 Peter we are told to tie up the loose ends of our mind what is he talking about?  

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Romans 12:2 KJV

Our minds must be brought under control of the Spirit.  We must disentangle ourselves from the ways of this would.  Just as a thicket of thorn bushes would tangle up the loose ends of a robe we must free ourselves from the world’s sinful hindrances.

We are to pull in the thoughts of our mind and tie them up.  Think about that for a moment.  It’s a powerful statement.  I would dare say that the must unconfessed sin our lives is the sins of our thought life.  Yet we our told to transform our minds and to tie up those thoughts.  We must be prepared for the battle and cannot let the cares of this world tangle us up.  We cannot be tired down by thoughts not under submission to our Lord. So Gird up your mind.  Bring your thought life under control.  It is in the mind where the greatest battle is fought.

It is such a great battle because it’s so easy to hide, or so we think.  How we feel safe in the hidden parts of our mind.  Comfortable that no one knows what we are thinking.  

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.”

Proverbs 23:7 KJV

You see what you allow your mind to think will be the direction you take.  You cannot harbor evil thoughts without them coming out in some way. So, one last time, take control of your thoughts.  Bind up those loose ends so you can run the race unencumbered. And run the race with great joy knowing the glory that awaits at the finish.

Why are we Saved?

“But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;”

Galatians 1:15-16 ESV

Yes although it is hard to understand, we are set apart (chosen) before we are born.  At some point in our life, God reveals, through the Holy Spirit, His Son.  It is this call that we answer when we surrender our lives to serve Him.  But, Why does He call us.

He calls us to serve, “in order that I might preach him”.  Our calling is not just some, insurance policy against hell.  Although that is what we are saved from.  No, it is so much more, it is adoption into a family.  It is an external inheritance as a child of the King.  It is an invitation to work in the kingdom.  A job offer from the King Himself, preach the good news.  That is what we are called to do.  As long as there is breath in our bodies we are to live to preach the gospel and glorify our Lord.  Dear brothers and sisters, it is so easy for us to forget our true calling.  The cares of life are designed to bog us down.  To wear on our very spirits.  To so distract us that we forget out purpose.  Don’t let the system of this world get you off track.  Keep your eyes focused on the King and His Kingdom.

Not From Men

“For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Galatians 1:11-12 ESV

 Often when we get into discussions with people there are topics we tend to avoid.  Politics and religion would probably be high on the list.  I can see the avoidance of politics, as the details quickly come down to my beliefs as opposed to your beliefs.  None of us has a superior claim to truth when it involves our opinions.  

Yet when it comes to religion is it our beliefs?  And does it even matter what we believe?  The answer to both questions is, “No”. Paul is very clear that what he preaches does not come from man.  Paul states that the gospel comes from Jesus Christ, the words Paul writes are Devine inspiration.  

So when I speak of religion (I am not a fan of the word, as what I have is a relationship, not a religion) I am not expressing my beliefs as much as I am sharing God’s revelation. If I keep my opinion out of it then it is just God’s Word.  We as Christians are not following some clever made-up fable but the very word of God.  People rejecting this then are not rejecting us, as it’s not my opinion, but are rejecting God.

The other day I had a conversation with someone and they did not like what I was saying and keep complaining that they did not agree with what I was saying.  I stopped them and said, “I am not saying this, it is what God’s Word is saying”. You see the reason they wanted to point to me, is that it’s a lot easier to disregard what a person says and a lot harder to disregard God.  

People love to bring the conversation down to well that’s what you think or believe.  Stop them right there, if God’s Word has said something then it’s not my opinion or belief.  What any person believes has no impact on the facts of God’s Word.  Make it clear that what you are saying comes from the Bible and not from any man.  Many people will reject the truth.

“But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.”

2 Corinthians 3:14-16 ESV

For us the call is to share, Jesus is the one that lifts the veil and reveals the truth.  Don’t get weary doing good, don’t ever give up doing what is right.  Preach the good news in season and out.  Then let the Spirit work. Run harder for the finish line grows near. 

What is Truth

It’s an old question and yet so relevant today.  I have a friend that’s deathly allergic to peanuts.  He ended up in the emergency room on one occasion.  Doctors told him to avoid peanuts in all forms as he could die if he ever came even into contact with them.  

The other day we were talking and he told me that he believes he is not allergic to peanuts anymore. He said that if he just added green food coloring to peanut butter it would look different and he would not be allergic to it. I asked him, “Why?” He felt that way and he explained that he just really felt it inside.  He truly believed it in his heart and was sure that it would be, Ok.  He said that he believed that if a person felt and believed something, and held this belief from deep within their person it had to be, True. I tried to explain that just feeling or believing it did not change a medical diagnosis.  He claimed that I did not understand that I was not very loving.  

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—”

Galatians 1:6 ESV

Yes, the truth may not feel loving, but it’s still the truth!  So what’s going on?  Some people just don’t know the truth.  Others have been taught the truth and have rejected it.  And some have known the truth and yet by subtle persuasion have turned away.  Many are afraid to speak the truth because someone may call them, “unloving” or even worse names than that. 

“and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

2 Timothy 4:4 ESV

Today unfortunately most people don’t want the truth.  They have turned away, they have followed after a myth, fable, or fiction.  This brings me back to the allergic reaction.  If you ever want to see someone have a reaction just tell them the truth.  Show them that they have followed a myth, that they are believing in fiction.  Here is one to try.

Tell the world that there are only two sex’s and you don’t get to pick.  No matter how much you may believe or feel inside it does not change.  Even if you change what the outside looks like (food color) it does not change the inside.  It’s not about what you believe or feel but is a medical/scientific fact.  You are either born with X’s or Y’s and that cannot be changed.

“Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.”

Genesis 5:2 ESV

This is a particularly unpopular truth in our world today yet just like my friend that is allergic to peanuts if I don’t tell him the truth there is a very good chance he could die.  The same is true with the world, if we do not tell them the truth they will die!  Are we willing to be called bigots or homophobic?  Will we risk being called unloving to love people in the truth? The answer unfortunately for most churches is, “No”. On the contrary, many churches are embracing the lie.  They have departed from the gospel of grace that they were first called to. How can they claim to follow Jesus and in the same breath reject the very gospel they declare to represent. They have been subverted from the truth and have led millions astray. 

“Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”

Jeremiah 17:5-6 ESV

Men will turn away from God, their hearts will go astray.  Men turn to other men for the truth and all like blind leading the blind will end up in a desolate wilderness.  The place Jeremiah describes is a place where man can not live.  It is a desert filled only with death.

We have the truth, it’s time to stand firm and tell the world the truth.  Do it in love. Do it with love. Do it for love.

God’s Will

What’s God’s will for my life?  Where should I go to school, who should I marry or what job should I seek?  These are all questions we have thought about and heard from others.  The best answer I have is found in Matt. 6:33.  Beyond that, I don’t have an answer.  But on some topics, the Bible is quite clear about God’s will.

“who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

Galatians 1:4 ESV

It was God’s will that His Son should die for our sins.  But it is more than just this, He “gave himself” this was done because of love, John 3:16. The Son because of His love and obedience died for us.  Yet so much more, it was the good pleasure of the Son to come and die.  Think on that for a moment, at some time in eternity past, the Trinity agreed that the Son would come and die for the sins of the world and this plan pleased God. Because of His love and compassion, we can be rescued. 

This was the will of the Father, each and every one of us rescued believers is saved by God’s sovereign will.  

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

John 1:12-13 ESV

So if you ask me what is God’s will for your life, I will tell you that it is to be like His Son.  

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV

Walk like Jesus, give till it hurts, and then give some more.  Give of your time, talents, treasures, and life for this will be an except-able offering to our God.  

Search and Rescue

During my career, there were times when I was involved in a search and rescue missions.  Often this involved missing children.  Most times with happy results but not always.

“who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

Galatians 1:4 ESV

Jesus was also part of a search and rescue mission, He came searching for the lost (He did not have to look far).  And by His death the rescue was complete. The word here, “Deliver” in the Greek carries the meaning of, “rescuing from danger.”  We were lost and in great danger, Jesus came on the greatest search and rescue mission in history.  He rescued us from this, “present evil age” and it seems to grow eviler each day if such a thing is even possible.  This’ “evil age” is not referring to a time period so much as a system.  It is a transitory satanic world system.  We live in a fallen world that is dominated by evil.  

But take heart, we are rescued.  At the moment of salvation, we are no longer a part of this present evil age. 

“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”

John 17:16 ESV

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”

Philippians 3:20 ESV

Although we live in this world, until death or rapture, we are no longer of this world.  Our citizenship is in heaven! We are nowhere on a search and rescue mission.  The searching is easy, for the lost are all around us.  Our mission then is to live the faithful Christian life and lead the lost around us to the cross. 

Grace and Peace

Grace and peace, the first being the source of our salvation the second is the result of our salvation.  How blessed we are to possess these two gifts.

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

Galatians 1:3-4 ESV

Grace represents our position and peace is the practical application.  Peace that flows from our Father. Peace that guides us through the storm. A peace that the world does not know and can never understand.

Think for a moment of just how special we are, of all the religions in the world only Christians have grace and peace.

All others work from a system of rules (the law) these systems have no grace and can never give peace.  False teachers will always fall back on a system of works.  

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,”

Romans 4:4-5 ESV

Works are not grace! Works can never bring peace, for one never knows if his works are sufficient.  Thank our Lord that our peace is not from our works but from His grace.  

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV

So to you my brothers and sisters let this greeting be our chorus, Grace and Peace.  The gift that flows eternal from our Father. 

Justice, Mercy and Grace

We look around the world and we see a lot of things happening that we innately know are wrong. Injustices that are never righted. We see these things and we know its wrong. We long for justice, even the Bible agrees with this longing.

14  Justice is turned back,

and righteousness stands far away;

for truth has stumbled in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter.

15  Truth is lacking,

and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

that … Isaiah 59:14-15

15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. Lev. 19:15

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! Rom. 9:14

God is a God of justice yet thankfully He is so much more. He is a God of mercy and grace.

Lets give a quick and simple definition for these terms.

Justice – getting what you deserve 

Mercy – not getting what you deserve 

Grace – getting what you definitely don’t deserve (something good)

God is a God of all three but it is His mercy that brings us salvation.  God’s mercy is an extension of His love.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:14, 16-19 NIV

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV

“he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

Ephesians 1:5-6 NIV

God’s love is a mystery and surpasses our knowledge, but it is clear that His Love and Grace are linked.  Grace is an outflow of God’s love.  He has given us His grace because He loves us. We deserve God’s justice, even asking for mercy would be a stretch.  But God goes above and beyond, does He judge us guilty? No instead He has mercy of us and pays for our guilt.  He does not stop there, He then gives us Grace.  He adopts us and we become the children of the King.  He gives us life, and all spiritual blessings. We are entitled as sons and daughters to all that our Father has. We are joint heirs with our Lord.  So how does this affect us every day?

Well we see how our Father has loved us and the mercy He has shown us.  We are told to love as He has loved us.  Now here comes the sticky part.  Our innate sense of right and wrong.  The need to see justice done is never stronger than when we are the one offended.  Here is the issue, how often does someone in our family hurt us?  How do we respond?  And how should we respond?  Why we want justice! And if feeling especially spiritual on that day we may forgive and provide mercy to the offending brother or sister.  We think we have done well.  I have forgiven and cleared the account.  Yet that’s not were God’s Love stopped, the love of our Father goes beyond mercy.  How often do we stop at mercy and feel like we have done what’s right?  We have not.  God’s love demands, Grace!  We must go beyond Mercy and give Grace.  We must repay the wrong done to us by giving the offended what they do not deserve.  We must repay good for evil!

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

1 Peter 3:9 NIV

It’s not an option, if we are to Love as God loves than we must give Grace as God gives.  God is generous and never with folds any good thing from His children.  So we also must give blessings in a generous way. Yes even to those who mistreat us, and of all places let it start in our homes.

Feeling Alone

I think it can be said that all of us go through times when we feel alone.  During COVID many people were not going to work or anywhere for that matter and they felt and in fact were alone.  For others the feeling of loneliness can come even when with other people.  Sometimes we can be with family and friends yet still feel alone.  The truth is we were made to be with others, never alone. God made Adam and said it was not good for him to be alone.  God created us to be in relationship with others.  

Even more  important than just our human relations we were made to be in relation with God.  We were created to walk and talk with God as we go through this life.  Of all the loneliness’ that one can have being separated from God is by far the worst.  We come into this world separated from God by sin. Yet God longs to walk with us and talk with us as a friend.  God provided a way to restore the relationship so that we would never be alone.  

I think it would be safe to say that most of us know that our sin affects our relationship with God.  But did you know that our sin can affect other peoples relationship with God? 

“that the LORD spake unto me, saying,”

Deuteronomy 2:17 KJV

Rashi the leading Jewish Middle age Rabbi has this to say on about Deut. 2:17

“But from when the spies were sent forth until now, the word וידבר is not mentioned in this section, but ויאמר, to teach you that during these entire thirty eight years during which the Israelites were lying under God’s censure, the Divine speech was not directed towards him (Moses) in an expression of affection, face to face, and with tranquility of mind”

It seems as if the sin of the people affected the Shepard of the people. 

Now I know this is an Old Testament example, but so is Adam and that one still affects us all. Do we then think for one moment that if a church has sin with in the body this does not affect the church.(I Cor. 12:12-27) Would this not then affect the Shepard (Pastor) of that flock? Sin always has consequences (Rom. 6:23) So then, if we have sin in our lives would it not then be logical that it would have consequences not just in our lives but in the lives of those around us.

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Isaiah 59:2 NIV

In those we should be influencing for good. Could it be that our sin then has affects on our families relationship with God? Do we by our sin damage the closeness with God of others? We know that sin changes us, so why would we think that those changes in us don’t affect people around us? And if it does do you think it affects them for the good? It would not.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Matthew 18:6 NIV

I think it is easy then to draw an obvious conclusion.  Sin separated Moses from God and it was the sin of the people.(I Cor. 12)  Sin in our lives causes us to walk with a damaged relationship with God and man.  Our sin affects those around us and causes them to feel alone.  At the same time the sin makes us feel alone. Separated from God and man by sin. Although I am not sure how it works there seems to be an affect of our sin on the relationship of those around us and the Father. We are one body, what affects any part of the body affect the whole. So if we want the body to be well let us start with the part of the body that is ours. The best place I can think of is I John 1:9. Lets get our relationship with God right and this will help our relationship with others.  No longer will we feel alone. We will walk face to face with our God. We will walk in the right relationships with those we love. We will know that we are not alone. Our God is the God of restoration, He restores relationships, first with Him then with others.  He created us not to be alone but to be in loving relationships forever. 

A Gift for the future Spouses of My Children

If you are like me and have children you probably think about their future.  I wonder what my kids will do when they grow?  Will they go to college and where will they live?  Most important is what kind of people will they become?  

I have started to pray for who they will marry and although I do not know these people?? Maybe I do? I love them already. In my love for them, I want what’s best for them. I mean they are going to marry my kids. So, I want to give them something. And the best thing I can give them is my child. The best child I can raise with God’s help.

So, this is for my kids.  When that days come and you meet that special someone I want you to be ready. How do you do that? Well, first I want you to start by loving them right now.  I know that may sound funny, how can you love someone you don’t even know?  Well, you can, not with worldly love but with God’s love.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 ESV

First God’s love is not about getting but giving.  “He gave”. And God did not give just anything He gave, “His only Son”.  This was the very best that God had.  So when that day comes to marry I want you to give to your spouse the very best that you have.  If you love them, and I know you will, you will want for them what is best.  So then start loving them now, save yourself for that special someone, so that on that wedding day you can give them the best.  

Until that day know that any person that tries to take from you what you are saving does not love you and does not have your best at heart. Prepare in your heart starting today to love that someone and to save for them the best that you have. Until that day comes grow in the Lord and prepare for that exciting adventure that awaits.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”

Psalms 84:5 NIV

Shame

I must admit that often times I find myself embarrassed.  You see at times I would like to invite friends over, but then think about my house.  Perhaps the dishes were not done. Or maybe the floors are somewhat dirty.  So I pass on the opportunity to have people over.  Today I was reading in I John and read this,

“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.”

1 John 4:15 NIV

If this body is but a tent (house) in which I dwell and God has been invited (asked into my life) to come to my home.  Why am I not more embarrassed by the dirt that is to be found in my home?  Why don’t I break down and fall on my knees and beg for forgiveness? Yet I am a new man living in the old mans tent.  I do things I don’t want and its at times as if I am powerless.  Yet it is not I that live but Christ that lives in me. The truth is that I cant clean out my house.  I can never make it a fit place for the King.  Yet He is willing to clean it for me.  How’s that for a house guest, one that not only comes over to live with you but will at the same time clean you whole house from top to bottom.  Mind you the Lord is a polite resident of the home and would never clean up with out our consent.  You see if He is our Lord then we must give up everything to Him.  We claim Him as Lord and Savior and at the same time try to hold on to just a little bit.  Let it all go, let Him sit on the throne of your life, let Him truly be Lord.  Give up the pride and fear that holds us back. Leap into His loving arms and let Him change your house into one truly fitting a King.  Until that blessed day when we have our new bodies let Him transform you more and more each day. 

Providence

Providence – God’s care and control.  How often do we think about such things?  Every day and at every moment God is at work.  If not for the providential care of the Lord we would not last even one day.  How often we forget that our adversary roams the earth seeking those he can devour.  He does not seek the lost for they are his already.  No, he seeks the children of the King.  He would drown us like a flood if not for the care and control of our God.

“The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”

Psalms 121:8 NLT

It should never leave our minds how the Lord protects us.  We should think on and rejoice in the fact that he is protecting us.  It should cause us great pleasure and delight to ponder the providence of God.  Let us worship and praise our Lord.  Let us remember His works with thanksgiving.

“How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them.”

Psalms 111:2 NLT

FAITH, HOPE, LOVE

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

I have been thinking about love. It is love that is the greatest, but why? I can think of a few reasons but the one that struck me was this, love is the only one that lasts forever.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1 KJV

In heaven what will there be for us to hope for?  What would we be lacking or need? Nothing, so then there is nothing to hope for.  And what will we need faith for?  We have faith in promises, and in things we have not seen.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV

We will see our Lord face to face, no longer will we need faith for things will be revealed. Our God will walk with us and fellowship with us daily.

So then all that is left is love. 

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT

So here it is, we have no idea how great God’s love is. Each day for all of eternity we will experience God’s love. Each day His love will pour day like a refreshing rain. It will fill us to overflowing love, just when we think we can take no more the next wave of love will sweep over us. When completely filled He will give us even more. For all of eternity, we will moment by moment experience His love greater and greater, and yet we will never experience the end of His love. Though we will have love as never before, in ways that we can not even imagine still each day will bring new overflowing love. Think of it for a moment just when we think we could experience no more He will shower love on us beyond what we could understand. God’s love is too great for us to understand and will last for all of eternity. And for all that time we will live filled beyond overflowing with His love.

Repentance and Confession

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9 KJV

Origen, called confession the vomit of the soul.  When a person has ingested something rotten or even poisonous they will frequently vomit.  This is the body’s way of getting it out.  So also the rotten poison of sin must be rid from the body.  Confession is the process by which this is accomplished.  After such confession when we have vomited up the sin we must not return as a dog would to its vomit. 

“Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.”

Isaiah 1:16 NIV

What sweet joy it is to come before the throne freshly washed. It is with peaceful rest that the clear conscious sleeps there is nothing better.  Dear children live your life with a clean conscious, there is nothing finer to be had. 

“Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.”

Isaiah 57:2 NIV

Not Repentance (PT3)

In my life, I’ve come across a lot of repentant people.  I’ve seen a copious amount of tears.  I have seen people pleading and promising to never do it again.  Begging for a mercy, asking for another chance.  Yet the truth was none of these people were truly repentant.  Oh, there were all sorry that they had been caught.  They were afraid of the punishment for their crime.  Yet given a chance each would return to the trough from which they had come.  

A sinner terrified of his just punishment is one thing and yet a truly repentant person is quite another.  If pain and suffering were all it took for true repentance then would not the damned in hell be most penitent?  Repentance requires a change of heart.

“Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.” 

Thomas Watson

True repentance comes when we see sin for what it truly is, an affront against God.  

“Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.”

Psalms 51:4 NLT

Here David sees the true light, yes his sin had hurt others.  David had killed a man, and yet he says his sin is against God alone.  You see the greatest affront is our sin when viewed by a Holy God.  All else pales in comparison.  The closer we come to Jesus the more we see the horror of our sin.  At the end of his life, Paul declares that he is the worst of all sinners.  Not because he was so bad but because he had glimpsed the perfection of God.

“But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”

1 Timothy 1:16 NIV

The Beginning of Repentance

The other day while on a road trip I parked the car in a no parking zone.  At the time I parked I did not know that I was doing wrong.  But as soon as I found out I moved the car.  In a sense I repented.  So where does repentance begin? It starts with the Word.  

“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 2:37-38 NIV

The first step is hearing the truth. God’s Word cuts to the heart of a matter.  Spiritual instruction brings knowledge.  For the lost it brings knowledge of our fallen state.  For the child of God it brings knowledge of divine things.

“and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

Colossians 3:10 NIV

“It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.”

John 6:45 NIV

God’s Word is the hammer that breaks a hard heart.  But if we do not share the Word how will a person ever come to repentance?  WE are the instruments that God uses to share His knowledge.  It is the Holy Spirit moving through us that makes our words alive. The Spirit breathing in us is what makes our words effectual. At this time in the world I believe the harvest is riper then it has ever been before.  I pray that each of us would productive in helping bring in the harvest. 

“But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”

1 John 2:20 ESV

Check-Up

Well, it’s been a year. It was April of last year when I completed my cancer treatment. I went for my one-year check-up and received a good report from the Doctor. My scan and tests all came back clear.

My family and I would like to thank all the people who have been praying for me.  I firmly believe that it is God who has healed me.  In this case, He has chosen to use Dr’s to accomplish His work.  But it is only by His power and the faithful prayer of many that I am clear of cancer today.

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”

Proverbs 15:29 NIV

I covet your continued prayers that I will remain cancer-free in the future. I will continue to have regular follow-up checkups for the next few years.  I know that the Lord hears the prayers of His people.  And He answers those prayers!  Thank you for your love and support. 

Repentance (PT 1)

It is with great sorrow that I must admit that there are many things in my life I wish I had not done.  Yes, I have repented and know that God has forgiven. Yet, still, if I could go back, I would like to think I would do things differently.  Oh, what pain and suffering I could avoid.  If I could show my children one thing it would be the needless troubles I brought on myself.  And the joy of serving God. If I could only say one thing to my kids it would be this, follow the Lord with all your heart.  

The wonderful thing is God knows what we need most.

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Matthew 4:17 NIV

Matthew tells us that Jesus began His preaching with this very message.  John cried out in the wilderness, “Repent” Matt. 3:2.  In His mercy, our Father looked down on us and saw our greatest need.  Repentance is pure gospel grace. Repentance is the road to freedom.  The repentant sinner is purchased by Christ’s blood.  And yet even the act of our repentance is a mercy of God. One of the last things Jesus told His disciples before His ascension into heaven is this,

“and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Luke 24:47 NIV

So, if Jesus started and finished His ministry with, ‘repentance’ as the message then maybe there is something to see in this word.  For us to be repentant we need a clear understanding of what it means. 

And for my kids, this last parting thought.  If I could do it all over again I would give everything I had for Christ.  And I would lose nothing.  So as I can not do it over, I pray that God gives me the strength from today to give everything I am, to Him.  For you my children I pray the same. Don’t waste your life but live it for something that will last. 

Time Out

So one of my daughters took some time off from all social media.  I think she just needed to getaway.  Social media is not bad but some aspects of it can be troubling.  You see people on vacation at exotic locations.  You see there new cars, boats, and houses.  You see that their kid just got excepted to Yale and your child is just struggling to get into Community College.  These things can make a person envious.  Have you ever compared your life or situation to someone else?  I mean why does God make my life so hard and someone else appears to be so blessed? 

Do you want the answer?  Well, the Bible says it’s none of your business.  Wait, what?  Does the Bible say that?

“Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

John 21:22 NIV

Yea the Bible says that.  Jesus had just given some hard news to Peter and Peter’s question was, “Well what about John.  Is he going to have a hard life?” The answer to the question was, “what is that to you?” Or, it’s not your business.  You are to live the life God has given you.  For each of us, God has a different plan.  We are not to go around looking at others at think, “Wow I sure like their plan better than mine.”  The truth is when we are discontent with our lives or envious of what someone else has, we are saying, “God I am not happy with what you have provided.”  For all good things come from God and nothing comes into our lives without God’s allowing it.  In effect, we are just like the people of Israel, grumbling and complaining.  That’s not how we are to live.  We are to live a life marked by thankfulness. Maybe it’s time to take a time out and instead of questioning God, why not just rest in His mercy and love. Instead of discontent, be filled with joy for what you have, whether a little or a lot. Thank you, Lord, for all your blessing.

For a Reason

“If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”

Psalms 130:3-4 NIV

It is the love of God that we experience at the moment of salvation. At the same time, a mystery unfolds. For when we are saved our sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. This is not so mysterious as Christ died once, to pay for our sin. What is kind of interesting is that although we are dead to sin yet our flesh continues in sin. We battle with it all the days of our lives. Even though our sins are forgiven we are to confess our sins. We are told to forgive others or God will not forgive us. (Matt. 6:14-15) And here in the Psalms, we see that God does not keep a record of our transgressions. Yet we know that God does not forget. God does forgive us. He washes us clean with the blood of His Son. Jesus who we remember on this Easter weekend. The lamb of God who took our punishment and bore our pain. You see the price for our sin was an eternity in hell. Only the infinite and eternal Son of God could pay that price. Let us not forget that He did this not just so we could be saved. But so that we can serve. We are born into new life to serve our Lord and King. What an honor it is to live a new life. To know that heaven waits for us and an eternity with our Savior. Today remember the risen Christ.

Sin is Love?!

I know it’s a funny statement.  We think of love as being the opposite of sin.  Yet what is sin?  What would be the opposite of sin?

Ok, I agree that sin and love are opposites.  And yet the problem with the question is the word, “love’.  We have only one word and we use it for everything.  For example, “I love my spouse and kids” “I Love God” “I love ice cream” and “I love my dog” obviously I don’t mean the same thing with each of these statements.  So first off when we think of love let me say there are two broad categories. God’s love and man’s love. 

Many of us think that obedience to God is the antithesis of sin. And it is, but what is the greatest command?

“Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 22:37-39 NIV

It is for us to love.  To be obedient we must love.  Not just worldly love but God’s kind of love. And you may ask what does that look like?

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 15:12-13 NIV

See also John 3:16

We are to love the world the way God loves the world.  If we did that then there would be no sin in us.  If we put others before ourselves, if we died to ourselves each day then we would not sin.  There is no darkness in God because He is Love.  We being born again continue to live in darkness because we do not live in God’s love.  

You see the devil is a great counterfeiter.  God is love so Satan has a counterfeit love.  It is this love that is the root of sin.  It is the love of self.  Anytime you are sinning it is because at that moment you love yourself more than God.  

Sin is love, it is a counterfeit self-focused love.  It is me sitting on the throne of my life instead of God.  I will be lord over this moment.  I will attempt to satisfy my desire.  What I want, desire, or even tell myself I need is more important.  I am willing to sin against God because I love what I want.  I am willing to hurt people around me because I love myself more than I love them.  

When I make myself lord of my life, I will always hurt someone else.  And at that moment I am saying I don’t care. I don’t care if I hurt you because I am more important than you.  I love “Me” more than I love God. 

It all comes back to, “Love” which kind will you have controlling your life?

There is the love of this world.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but the world.”

1 John 2:15-16 NIV

But true love looks totally different.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”

1 John 4:7-9 NIV

God’s love is giving and meets the needs of others.  And so we also should live lives.  Giving ourselves, first to God.  And then we should give sacrificially to help meet the needs of others.  We must put others before ourselves.  If I may say, this should start at home and then spread beyond, even to the whole world.  This was the mission that God has called us to.  We His children are to love as He has loved.

Is this a Cult?

I was told the other day that Christians did not have exclusivity on truth.  That I did not have a right to believe that my religion was the, “Only way.”  Well they are right. I don’t have an exclusive lock on truth, but I know who does.  For if Christ is not the truth then I am a member of a cult.  Why do I say this?  Well lets look at it real quick.  Jesus makes the following claims, He is truth, He is the Son of God, He is God, He is the Christ, the Messiah and He is the only way to the Father.

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6 NIV

If these thing are not true then Jesus was a liar.  He misled His followers, convinced them to give up their belongings and even families. He told them they were to obey His commands. Told them He was the only way to salvation. Told them the world would hate them and persecute them for their belief in Him.  Had them so brainwashed that they even died for Him. 

So I went to the CARM web site and here is a list of some of the characteristic of a cult.

Submission – complete unquestioned trust of the leader.

Exclusivity – this is the only way

Persecution complex – the worlds out to get you

Control – the leader is to control the thoughts and actions of the followers

Love Bombing – love one another

Indoctrination – teaching of group are shared with new members 

Salvation – must stay within the group 

The list goes on but I will stop there.  I think you see the point.  It’s either Jesus is a liar and the leader of a cult.  Or He is the Son of God, who came to take away the sins of the world.  There is no other option.  So then each of us must make a decision.  As for me, I have decided to follow Jesus. 

All You Can Eat

I like going out to eat. Of all the restaurants perhaps buffets may be my favorite. And why not? You can pick all of your favorites foods and forget the rest. What else could you ask for in a restaurant?

Unfortunately, I think many people see God the same way. We walk down the line and pick the parts of God we like and forget the rest. God of love, yes I’ll take one of those. Mercy, grace and save me from hell, yes, please. God that answers prayers and gives to His children like the best dessert, give me two. Yes, all these things are true about our God; yet, we often overlook other things.

God of truth, justice, jealousy, wrath, and Holy.  But perhaps the one we overlook most is, “Lord”.  We say the sinners’ prayer and invite Him to be Lord and savior.  But for most of us, the savior part is of prime importance and need.

“As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.”

Psalms 123:2 NIV

Yes, if He is to be our savior He must be our Lord. What all that means would take forever to discuss. So, let’s just look at one small part. If He is Lord then I am His slave. As a slave, I am to always be looking to Him. A slave looks to their master for direction. The master merely looks and the slave goes and does. Yet, if the slave does not focus on the master how can he know the will of the master. For too many of us, we focus on ourselves. Our eyes are on this world and our brief life. Oh yes, we are much more than slaves, children, ambassadors, joint-heirs. We must start with His Lordship over our lives. We can never fully be what He designed us to be until we become servants. Until He is Lord over everything in our lives we cannot be all He has made us to be. If you are one of His children then He is not just your savior, He is first and foremost your Lord. Let us live with our eyes focused on Him.

The Truth

“Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.””

John 8:47 NIV

I was talking with my wife the other day and we started talking about people. Well, people and the truth. It seems that so many people cant see the truth even when its right before their eyes. Nowadays it’s hard to know what the truth is. Just the other day I see how the government tells us that inflation is under two percent. Yet, I go to the store to buy groceries and something does not seem right. Have any of you gone to Home Depot and tried to buy lumber? So how do we know the truth and why do some people not see the truth when it seems so clear. The answer is simple, we who know and see Truth because our Father is the giver of Truth. Those who can not see the truth are blind because their father is the father of lies. When a person rejects God they are rejecting the truth. You see to accept the truth requires accountability. If I refuse to be accountable then I must reject truth. How do people do this? When we chose our way and dismiss God’s way we are saying that I will be lord of my life and thus I get to determine what is true for me. And so we make truth subjective and “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25 Each person can then have their own truth and then are only accountable to themselves.

When we make Jesus Lord of our life we give up subjective truth. And embrace objective truth, this truth come from outside of ourselves and brings an accountability. The more you look the more you will see, those who believe the lie. They are blind to the truth, but we should not be surprised. The reason they cannot hear the truth is because they do not belong to God. When you see these people it is time to pray. Some of these people even confess to be Christians. Yet if you do not hear it is because you do not belong. In these days let us pray fervently for the lost for the time is short yet the harvest is plentiful. Pray and then get to harvesting. Come Lord Jesus.

Do You Wear Glasses?

“On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.”

John 6:60-63 NIV

We all wear rose colored glasses.  They color the way we see the world.  To often we see temporal when we should see spiritual.  We see earthly when we should be looking to the heavenly.  This is exactly what had just happened.  Jesus had told them that He was the bread of life. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.””

John 6:51 NIV

This was a hard thing for them to understand especially because they had their temporal glasses on, while He was speaking spiritual. They could not see beyond the here and now.  Oh, how often do we do the same thing? While we live in a world we can see we act as if the unseen does not even exist.  Lord I pray that you open our eyes that we may see.  Take off the glasses and see the truth.  

We must eat the Word of Life.  For in this bread we find eternal life. 

Psalms (PT 15)

“I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.”

Psalms 119:125 NIV

If you think about it all major heresies come from a misunderstanding of God’s word.  Some even go so far as to tell their followers not to study the Bible on their own. (Jehovahs Witness). Many believe that God’s Word is not understandable to the layman.  I would disagree.

Although one can misunderstand and we should be care full to rightly divide the Bible.  It is well within the grasp of any who would take the time.  One of the keys is to start your study by asking the Spirit to guide you and lead as you study. As the psalmist we too should ask the Holy Spirit for discernment and understanding. 

My Time

“In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.”

1 Kings 6:38 NIV

It took seven years for Solomon to complete the construction of the Temple. It was time and energy well spent. When we spend our time serving the Lord it is never in vain. Is there any more productive way to spend our time?

Think about all the things we do…only what is done for God will last. Unfortunately, most of us are like Solomon.

For in the very next verse what do we see. 

“It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.”

1 Kings 7:1 NIV

The key word here is, “however” in the KJV it says, “But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years,”

You see the “however” is the fact that Solomon spent twice as much time and energy on his own house. No it was not wrong for Solomon to build a house. But lets be honest, we spend our time based upon priorities. In this case his own pursuits were a higher priority. So then I guess the question is, what are our priorities? If we are unsure all we have to do is look at how we spend our time.

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Will I Remember?

“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.””

Revelation 21:4 NIV

A question came up at the house the other day.  In heaven will we remember our lives on earth?  When you get to thinking about this its not so clear cut.  So, here are my thoughts on the topic. (The Bible does not give a clear cut answer.) Again I say these are just my ideas and are subject to change as I grow and learn God’s Word.  

Ok so here is how I answered the question. First we know from Revelations that we will not have and sorrow or mourning in Heaven. No more tears.  The verse also tells us the old things have passed away, does that include our memories?

I don’t think so and I will give two reasons.  First, we know that Jesus resurrected body bore the scars of His death. (John 20:27). Why would Jesus still carry the scars?  The scars are there so that we remember what Jesus did for us.  So that through all eternity we will glorify the Lamb that was slain. Who’s blood took away the sins of the world.  Yet how much gratitude would we have if we did not recall the great sacrifice.  And without the memory of my sin how could the sacrifice have meaning?  How could I remember just how far I had missed the mark.  With out the memories then the sacrifice would have less meaning.  I praise God the more because as I grow I see just how undeserving I was. For this very reason we will praise God for His gift that we did not deserve. And only by recalling that past can I fully see the magnitude of the gift.

The second reason I believe we will remember our lives is because of all the Saint in the Bible.  We are told that God’s word will never pass away.  His word will be remembered through all eternity. (Matt. 24:35, 1 Peter 1:25, Isa. 40:8) Well if God’s word last forever and what if your story was included in His word.  Look at the stories of all the Old and New Testament saints. Then the stories of your life and failings would be remembered in His word forever.  King David is a great example, although a man after God’s own heart. The Bible records his life and some of his moral failures. So, how could David ever forget his life, if the record of his deeds last forever?  

These thing will be remembered. 

So then if we remember our lives how can that not bring us sadness and crying? Well were do the sadness and sorrow come from?  Do they not come from sin?  Is not death, pain suffering, sadness, and tears all apart of the curse of sin.  Then would it not be true that with sin defeated then the consensus of sin would be no more.  With out sin the is no death, no sadness or sorrow.  Although I believe we will remember the details of our lives here on earth.  The pain from our sin will be gone.  Is this not what true forgiveness is all about? (1 John 1:9) In heaven we will remember God’s great love and forgivenesses.  Our past will no longer be under the curse of sin and will not cause us pain.  Instead we will rejoice and glorify our Lord for His great work.  It is our memories of what He has done for us that give His work personal meaning.  It is through a flood of thanks giving that my heart will praise for eternity. 

Well, these are just my thought on the topic, from my research into God’s word.  Let me know what you think. May God protect and bless you in the coming week. 

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Psalms

After the other day’s post, some of you may be thinking… If God is so far beyond us why even spend time thinking about it? Well, I can think of a couple of reasons to ponder the wonders of God.

“How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails.”

Psalms 111:2-3 NLT

First, we are told that we should ponder the works and deeds of our God. It is good for us to get our focus off ourselves and onto something bigger than us. We spend too much of our lives thinking about “the old number one.” This world is designed to get us to think about ourselves. You see this in so many ways, people who are all puffed up with pride. People are obsessed with worldly pursuits. And on the other end of the spectrum, we have people who are depressed and even suicidal. Yet, is not even this an obsession with ourselves? Instead, we are told to think about God and His deeds. Second, we should be mindful of the fact that all God has done, is doing, and will do is designed to bring glory to our Lord. Even our own lives are to bring glory to God. When we reflect on all that He has done we glorify Him with our thoughts. Some day we will join with all of creation and together glorify our God. Why wait? …you can start today. Glorify our Lord with your thoughts and actions. Glorify Him by reflecting on the marvelous things He has done.

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Psalms (PT 13)

When I think about God, I stop and wonder. Many people have doubts about God because there are things they do not understand. And as they cannot understand the mysteries of God then they deny the truths of God. I on the other hand stand amazed that we can know anything about God at all.

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalms 103:11-12 NIV

This God whose ways are so high above ours that we cannot comprehend them. This very same God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. In His word we find God using human words and ideas to describe Himself to us. Yet, even here our human understanding falls short. When God says His love for us is as high as the heavens are above the earth it is God’s use of human language. Yet this still falls short of adequately explaining His love. Some day in eternity we will have been there for millions of years and we will realize that God is still showing His great love for us. Eternity itself will fall short of the full revelation of God’s love.

That I was a human can even attempt to understand or describe this one attribute of our God is only due to His love.  We will see that day and better understand that not only does God’s love go beyond understanding.  But all of the attributes of God go beyond human comprehension.  When people reject God because they cannot understand some truth about Him.  We should ask, how is it that we can know anything about Him at all, except for His revelation. And even this is as tho thru a mirror darkly. May your heart join with mine and long for the day we see face to face. 

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How or Who

Let me ask you a question.  Suppose you are at work one day and you and all your coworkers are called into a large conference room.  The room is filled and in walk a group of people that you know only because you have seen their pictures on the wall.  These men and women are the leaders of your company.  Then begin to explain that the company is going to go thru a time of massive change and restructuring.  These changes will affect everyone in the company.  In the days to come, everyone called into the room will have their position change.  Some might even have to move to other cities.  But whatever happens, everyone will be affected in major ways by the corporate changes.  Then the bosses explain that due to the limited amount of time they can only do one of two things.  They can give you details on how the changes will happen, including how it might affect different departments within the company. Along with some details about timelines and how the changes are to be implemented.  Or they can introduce the man they have chosen to lead the company thru this difficult time and tell you a little about his background and experience.  They can then explain why they believe he is the best person to lead the company into the future.  Given these two options which one would, you chose?

I think that for most of us the answer is obvious.  we want to know, “how” how is this going to affect me.  How soon will this happen?  How will it be implemented? How in the world will we accomplish the goals. 

Now let us say that someone in the room knows the new CEO of the company.  This person is a very close personal friend.  They have known this man for years.  They know he is a remarkable leader, a man of vision.  A man is known for his dedication to the company and a man known to genuinely care for each employee.  They tell you not to worry because the new CEO is the best man for the job.  And that he will take care of everyone in the company and in the end, we will all be better off than we are today.  They then tell you that if you will just get to know the new CEO you will feel a lot better.  If this were true would it change how you thought?

Well as Christians this is how we live our lives.  God tells us to go and we say, “How”.  We want all the details.  And that’s not the answer.  The answer is you just need to know the CEO better.  If you trust the leader to do the right thing and take care of you then the details are not as important.  Let me be brutally honest for a moment.  Our need to have the answers, rather than walk by faith is an indication that we don’t know the CEO as well as we should.  There I said it.  When you follow a great leader you don’t worry about the details because you trust He has them already worked out. 

Lord let me know you more each day. When I call you Lord teach me the true meaning of what I have said. (He is Lord means that I am but His slave) Let me trust you (Prov. 3:5-6)

“He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.”

Isaiah 40:11 NLT

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Psalms

““The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.””

Psalms 102:19-20 NIV

I think I would be more mindful of the things I do if I keep this verse in mind. God is watching all of us here on earth. That part of this passage can be a scary thought. Yet at the same time the next verse tells us of His mercy and love. He hears our groans even when we were dead in our sins. He provides a way of escape from our death. It’s funny to think about it but so many people are trying to live there life. One way or the other they seek to get all that they can; wealth, fame, sex, drugs an endless futile search for happiness. Yet this is just the movements of dead people. How happy can you be when you do not have real life? Thank you Lord that you sent your Son that we might have life and have it abundantly.

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Feb. 10 2021

Psalms

“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalms 100:5 NIV

The other day my daughter asked me why the same stories are repeated in the Bible.  I told her the answer was simple, we as humans forget all to easily.  We all know that God loves us and that He is always working for what’s best for His children.  Yet how often we seem to forget.  As soon as a little trouble comes along.  Or we get ourselves into a jam, we start to doubt.  (I wont even get into the part about our troubles usually being self inflected.)  We wonder does God really care?  Yes, He does and so that we never forget the Bible tells us over and over, just how much He loves us.  Not only does He love us but His love will never end. God can be trusted to the end of time He will never let us down.  So remember this, “His love endures forever”.  No matter the trial or tribulation God’s love will never let us go. 

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Psalms 

“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,”

Psalms 95:6-7 KJV

There is nothing more beautiful then a call to worship.  Our hearts should long to praise our King.  If we are His people then let us fall on our faces before our God.  Let our voices ring out with praise.  After my cancer treatment I was left with a paralyzed vocal cord.  This has affected my speech. Yet, I long to sing praises to my God.  Often times the sounds that come out are off pitch and just plane weird.  Some times hearing myself makes me cry. Yet, I know the day will come when I will sing with the angels.  My voice will melodiously blend with the Heavenly chorus. Until that day I will praise my Lord with whatever voice He gives me.

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Psalms

“The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.”

Psalms 93:1 NIV

Often times I look around  and see the turmoil of the world.  Just this week I learned that a friend of mine and also one of my cousins have cancer.  It is times like this that we must remember.  Our God is armed with strength.  Indeed the very universe is held by His will.  All creation continues because our God holds it together.  If He is strong enough to hold all of that then I guess He’s strong enough to hold me.

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Legacy – Remember Me.

Meditations in Psalms

Do people remember you?  I mean if we went back to say, your High School would people remember you?  If so what would they say?  When you die how will you be remembered?  I started thinking about these things after the resent death of a very prominent Christian apologist. After his death a number of people came forward with stories that discredited him. 

“You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. Lord, the Lord Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me.”

Psalms 69:5-6 NIV

Psalm 96 is filled with prophetic references to the life of Jesus.  But in the middle of this Psalm we find these verses.  Read them one more time.  Here the Psalmist is crying out to the Lord.  He prays that his legacy will not bring discredit to our God.  Although we are to always keep our focus on Jesus the fact is people will watch other people.  So if anyone knows that you are a Christian, and they should.  Then someone is watching your life.  What do they see?  I pray that we live our lives in such a way that we never dishonor the Lord.  No, we are not perfect, yet it is to be our goal.  Our lives are to be lived in such a way, that when we leave this world people will only be able to say such things as bring glory to our King. 

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Meditations in Psalms

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.”

Psalms 62:5-6 NIV

Without a doubt we all can attest to the fact that the world we live in is full of twists and turns. Where I am today is not where I had planned to be. Yet, even when life throws us a curve ball we can stand firm. My hope is in the Lord, it is there that my soul finds rest. My feet will stand upon the rock of my salvation and I will not be moved. Not only will I not be moved but the storm will not even shake me. You see when we rest in the peace that passes understanding we can know true peace. Yes, life is hard and full of twists but our Lord has us in His mighty hands. If He can control the storm and we know He can. If He holds us in His hands and we know He does. And that He will not lose even one that God has given Him. Then what is there to worry about? God is my fortress, there is none greater.

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Meditations in Psalms

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.”

Psalms 62:5-6 NIV

With out a doubt we all can attest to the fact that the world we live in is full of twists and turns.  Where I am today is not where I had planned to be.  Yet even when life throws us a curve ball we can stand firm.  My hope is in the Lord, it is there that my soul finds rest.  My feet will stand upon the rock of my salvation and I will not be moved.  Not only will I not be moved but the storm will not even shake me.  You see when we rest in the peace that passes understanding we can know true peace.  Yes life is hard and full of twist but our Lord has us in His hands.  If He can control the storm and we know He can. And if He holds us in His hands and we know He does. And that He will not lose even one that God has given Him. Then what is there to worry about? God is my fortress, there is no greater. 

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Feels Like Today

Dec. 28th

“Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly? No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land.”

Psalms 58:1-2 NLT

I was talking with a friend who has questions about the Bible.  The topic of relevance came up.  Is the Bible relevant to our world today?  I think it is. Not only is it relevant but it’s more relevant today than it’s been in two thousand years.  Two thousand years ago a baby was born and prophecies were fulfilled.

Today once again people are living in a time when prophecy is being fulfilled. Yet, two thousand years ago most people missed the signs. So also today most people are missing the signs. Here the Psalmist is talking about the times he was living in yet, today we see justice misused. We see the world going crazy. People who commit crimes are released and those who try to protect themselves from criminals and are arrested. We see lawlessness proclaiming justice and men of the law decried as evil. For those of you that have not picked up on it, this is a sign.

“Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.

For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.”

2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7 NLT

You cannot have a man of lawlessness without an increase of Lawlessness. We are living in a day when there is a great rebellion against God. If I dare say this rebellion has its very roots in our church. Our churches are filled with people who say they believe in God and the Bible yet at the same time live a life opposed to God’s Word. And we within the church are afraid to offend anyone and have looked the other way. If the church has lost its saltiness why are we surprised when the world grows darker. In this time, we watched the events unfold before we let ourselves shine our light into the world more brightly than ever before. It’s time to get our own house straight. And when I say that I mean first your own life, second help your family, third your church, and then shine into the world. Brothers and sisters do not be surprised by the things you see. Know that they must happen. If you, like me, have cheated and read the end of the Book, then it’s time to be ready. It’s time to help get as many others ready as possible. As a sailor looking at the sky sees the storm coming…we also as Christians could be able to look at the events and see the storm. Today is the day of salvation. Share the gospel the time is growing shorter each day.

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Christmas

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”

Luke 2:6-7 NIV

It is the season when we celebrate Christmas. For me, it’s a time to enjoy my family. My daughters are loud and funny. My son is something of the opposite, he’s more like his dad. I am so blessed by God. Another Christmas, to recall the work of our God. Think about it for a moment. The God that created the universe. The God that cannot be contained within the universe took upon himself the form of a man. He made himself a single cell that grows into a man. This is a great miracle in and of its self. Yet at this time, a season of miracles. A time when Bible prophecies were fulfilled, it is only the forerunner of what was to come. You see this birth was the result of an ancient plan, it was a birth that would lead to the greatest miracle of all time. Thirty-three years later a perfect man would lay down His life. This act would appease a righteous and holy God. Only by this act of self-sacrifice could we be redeemed. The holy Lamb of God would die to pay for my sins. This payment is the reason for the season. For without His sinless death and payment for sin there would be no reason to remember His birth. Yes, His birth was miraculous. His life was filled with wonderful works and teachings. Yet none of these things was what the world needed. He came to give us the one thing we did not have. He came to provide for us the thing we lacked. It is only through His atoning work that we can have life. For you see the thing we lack is life. We are dead in our sins, yet we can be made alive through Christ. So, when you think of the baby born and laid in a manger. Remember that was only the beginning. At this time of the year let us remember why that baby was born. When we talk about this birth let us not forget the death, that would bring us life.

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It is Written

So I have to admit, it is hard at times to live a Christian life.  I often feel like Paul. The things I want to do I don’t do and the things I don’t want to do I find myself doing.  At times I become very frustrated with myself.  The worst part of the whole thing is I seem to fall for the same temptations over and over.  Temptation comes to all of us. It comes in many different forms, but to each it will come.  

So what are we to do?  We must respond to temptations as Jesus did.

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ””

Matthew 4:4 NIV

Each time He was tempted He quoted scripture. And so in the same way we must not try to take on our temptation empty handed. Unfortunately, for many of us we have no weapons to use. You see if you have not memorized God’s word you are pretty helpless when attacked.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

Psalms 119:11 NIV

God’s word is the only weapon we have and if you don’t know it you are walking around unarmed. Think of it this way. If a soldier was getting ready for the enemy to attack and right before the attack we saw the soldier leaving with out his gun we would stop him. Would we not ask, what are you doing? The enemy is out there and will attack at any moment take your gun. In the same way if we have not memorized God’s Word we are just like that soldier. We are about to be attacked and have no weapons. If you have not spent time, to not just read but memorize (hid in your heart) the Bible you are an unarmed soldier. In such case do not be surprised that when the temptation comes you fail. You fail because you have no weapons. If we are to be like Jesus, then we must use God’s word when temptation comes. Time spent learning the Bible is time invested in eternity. If you want to have any chance of withstanding the attacks that come at you then you must spend regular time memorizing God’s Word.

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Goulash makes Me Cry.

It was right about this time one year ago that my Dr. told me I had cancer.  This last year has been something! Yet, time and time again my God has shown himself strong.  When we got the diagnosis we did not know what to expect, but my God did.  He has held me in his arms, He will never let me go.

Last night I was making goulash for the family and my daughter told me how much she liked it and had missed it. At that moment it occurred to me that the last time I had made goulash was over a year ago. It was before I got sick. I stopped to thank God that I could cook it again for my family. God had given me another year and for that I thanked Him. As these thoughts came through my mind I started to cry. I was alive, God had made me strong enough to cook food for my family. None of us know how long we have left to live. Yet, so often we take our time for granted. When was the last time you cried while making food for your family? Why did I cry? Because I will not take the little things for granted. I will live each day thankful to God for the gift He has given. For me to live is Christ. Yet, when I die I know I will gain. So for each day that I have I must live for Christ thankful for His love. Thankful for His mighty right hand that holds me. Thankful for the very breath of life within me.

“Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?”

Ecclesiastes 8:7 NIV

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Proverbs 27:1 NIV

Tomorrow and all of my future is in God’s hands.  Only He knows what is to come.  Therefore, I will trust in the Lord and rest easy. 

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Meditations in Psalms

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Psalms 40:1-2 NIV

Sometimes the hardest part of life is the waiting. Most of the time we find ourselves just stuck in the mud and waiting to be pulled out.

Never ever for a moment think that God does not hear you when you call. He always hears us but sometimes we must wait for Him. The waiting is not supposed to be wasted time. In fact, the waiting is time for us to be still and know that He is God. It is to be quiet time to draw nearer to our Lord. Yet, often we waste the waiting time with worry, fear and anxiety. In due season He will pull us out of the muck we have become stuck in. How sad it must be that, like a pig, we often return to the mud as soon as we can.

Instead of returning to the muck of sin and self-gratification let us stand. We are planted with our feet on the Rock. Let us rise above this world and always remain standing firmly upon the Rock of our salvation. He is our firm foundation all other ground is sinking sand(mud and mire).

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Loved and Pleased.

Dec. 8th 2020

“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.””

Matthew 3:16-17 NIV

It feels good to be loved. One thing I really appreciate is being with my family. Part of the reason is because I love them and I can feel their love for me. It’s wonderful to be in such a relationship. As a part of this relationship I think its important to express our love for one another. Here in Matthew God verbally expresses His love for Jesus. God goes even a step beyond. Here God not only shows His love but also the fact that Jesus pleases Him. God was pleased by the fact that Jesus had chosen to live a life of obedience. Jesus was also going to be the perfect lamb, a sacrifice that would be sufficient to take away the sins of the world. This was the Son of God.

It is with the very same love that God has for Jesus that He loves us.

“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 1:7 NIV

God loves us just as He loved His Son. Unfortunately, we are not perfect as His Son. Yet we are. Yes, God is well pleased with us, just as He was with His Son. Jesus was the perfect lamb of God. When God looked upon Jesus He saw perfect submission and obedience. And when God looks at us what does He see?

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”

Romans 5:17 NIV

When God sees us He sees His Son. And in His Son we have righteousness. Yes, God sees us in the perfection of His Son and thus calls us His beloved in who He is well pleased. Now lets be honest as humans we are not perfect. Yet, in Christ we are. As humans we are not submissive to God’s will. Yet in Christ we are. In life we do not always please God. Yet, we are to be more like His Son each day. Someday soon this old tent will be no more and we will be like our Savior. Our position today is one of living in two worlds. We stand with one foot on this earth and the other in eternity. As long as we are here let us live a life worthy of children of the King. Let us long to be more like Jesus, let our minds be transformed. Let our thoughts be on things above and let our feet be about the work of our Master.

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Honor to a Women

“Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

Judges 4:8 NIV

How frequently are we like Barak?  Let me set the scene for you.  Israel as it often had done in the past had turned away from God.  So God had allowed the Canaanites to oppress them.  At that time God would raise up judges to oversee the people and one such judge was Deborah.  It was known that she was a judge and a prophetess.  The people would come to her to settle disputes.  So when she calls Barak he knows that he is being called by someone that represents the Lord.  Deborah tells Barak to get some men together and go out to defeat the enemy.  And look at what Barak says.  I’ll go only if you go with me.  Why did he want her to go with him?  Because he knew God was with her.  But if he knew that then he had to know that what she was telling him to do was from God.

In our lives just as Barak, knew what God was telling him to do we also come to the same place of knowing. God clearly shows us what we are to do but we stop. OK, God, I will do it but I have some conditions. I will do what you tell me, only if you do this thing first. We know that God had sent His message to Barak and that means that God was going to be with him. What else could he need? God is on my side. Yet, just like Barak, even when we know that God has spoken and that God is on our side we want more. How much more do we need when we know that God is going with us? In this case, Deborah went with Barak into battle and the honor of catching and killing the enemy’s General went to a woman minding her business at home. How often do we give up on the victory because we want more than just God with us? Yes, God saw the people thru and they defeated the enemy, but God had so much more for Barak. His fear and doubt cost him, how much? Well, it does not say. Yet, it does tell us that the honor for the victory went to a woman. How much are we giving up each day because we ask for more? When God has spoken why is His word not enough? If God is for us who can be against us? So, then let us go forth to victory.

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Meditations in Psalms

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.”

Psalms 32:1-2 NIV

Blessed be the name of the Lord.  It is interesting that God is to be blessed by His people and is the source of our blessings.   The greatest blessing of all is to be forgiven our sins.  Not just the sins of our past but the sins of today and our future.  Although we are imperfect we can live clean before our God.  David looks and sees the coming of our savior. And with Him the blessing of living a forgiven life.  David sees the blood of the Messiah covering sin.  Personally I love reading the Psalms, I considered the Psalms one of the great books of Biblical prophecy. There are over 90 prophecies in Psalms that Jesus fulfilled.  I know we see Psalms as a book of songs to sing and it is, yet at the same time, it is so much more.  There is a Psalm for any mood or kind of day.  If you are not seeing it perhaps you should read it a little more deeply.  Lord thank you for the poetic beauty that you have given us in Psalms. 

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Meditations in Psalms

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.”

Psalms 30:11-12 NIV

Here we find two truths, a present one and one for the future. Today if we call upon the Lord He will turn our sorrow into joy. He is the giver of joy and has already given to us of His abundance. Let us sing songs of worship and praise to our Lord. It should be impossible for us to remain silent. Our hearts should cry out with praises. Let everything within us praise and glorify the Lord. For He alone is worthy. Here also David sees the future. He foresees being in the house of the Lord forever, where he will praise God without end. All honor and glory are due to our Great King. Let us like David look forward to the day when our sadness will be joy, our tears will become dancing and we will sing praises to our King forevermore.

Thanksgiving

“And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 5:20 NLT

Today of all days let us give thanks. We are to be thankful for all things. This would include things that we might not consider as good. But still we are to give thanks. But if we just spent our time giving thanks for the blessings in our lives, that alone would fill our time. We take so much for granted. We overlook little things and daily inconsequential things. Yet, we are not to overlook these things. We are to give thanks. If you think to yourself that giving thanks for the bad or hard things will be difficult. Then give thanks for the good. Our lives are filled with so much good. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings. Now tell me how long would it take you to give thanks for all blessings? Thats right our problem is not so much about giving thanks for the difficulties of life. Our problem is we take for granted all the daily blessings we receive. So I challenge you today start by giving thanks for ALL your blessings and name them one by one. Let me know when you are done.

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Meditations in Psalms

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”

Psalms 24:1 NIV

All of creation is the Lord’s.  We often forget that everything is His.  His richness is so great that He freely gives to us and yet His wealth is not decreased.  We also forget that we belong to Him.  If we would just keep these two facts in mind I think a lot of our problems would go away.  How often do we end up in conflict with one another when in reality we fight for what was never ours.  We struggle for our way and yet we belong to another.  How can I struggle and fight for what I want when in truth I belong to the Lord.  Only when I am sitting on the throne of my life can I want what’s mine.  Yet nothing is mine it all belongs to Him.  How foolish and waist full of our lives to live in such conflict.  If it all belongs to Him then let us live in such a way that all may see that we belong to Him.  No longer my will but His will.  No longer my life but His life that I live through Him.  All that I have and all that I have come from the Lord.  So then we should live and give all for Him. 

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Meditations in Psalms

“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”

Psalms 20:4 NIV

“May He give you the desires of your heart” what a wonderful verse.  But how do we make this happen.  Well, it’s simple. If my heart is in alignment with His then all that I desire will be all that He desires for me, nothing more and nothing less.  The hard part is putting our desires away and letting Him truly control our lives.  He must be Lord over our hearts and minds.  Only when we submit to Him as our Master will we truly start to live the faithful life.  We cannot serve two masters. Either I am in charge or He is in charge.  If I hold any part back then He is not Lord.  You want to see all your desire come true then let Him be Lord over every part of your life and all that your desire will be all that He has for you. 

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Meditations in Psalms

“Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Psalms 19:13-14 NIV

There have always been many who found solace in the book of Psalms. It is beautiful and powerful at the same time. David who wrote most of the Psalms is so easy to relate with. He has his ups and downs just as we do. He had days of victory and days of defeat. The wonderful part of all this is that no matter what the day entails he always turns to the Lord.

On the day he wrote Psalms 19 he must have been feeling like I believe many of us feel.  Here we see a man that is struggling with some inner sin.  A battle that he knows he can not win.  So he turns to the Lord, “Keep your servant”. Lord I can not do this without you so keep me from this sin.  He knows that if sin is not brought under submission of the Lord it will control him.  As he meditates on God and his cry for help he turns to the Lord and asks to be found, “pleasing”. Let us all turn to God and cry out that our lives will be found, “pleasing”. The Lord is our Redeemer.

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He Teaches Me at Night.

Nov. 16, 2020

“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.”

Psalms 16:7 NIV

We have all heard the joke about the student who sleeps with his book under his pillow.  The reasoning being that the student hopes some of the knowledge will seep into their brain in the night.  I am not sure how effective that study strategy works and I don’t recommend it.  But here is one strategy I do recommend.  

Our Lord is a wonderful counselor.  Let us meditate on His Word.  As we go to sleep let our last thoughts be of Him.  Let our hearts be praising Him. The communion of the soul with God brings inner spiritual wisdom And peace.  Our Lord and savior spent many a night in prayer and communion with the Father.  I have found that if I end the day in such a manner then the next morning when I wake often I wake with songs of praise and worship on my heart. 

Does God come in the night even when we sleep and instruct us?  I don’t know.  But I tend to think so.  I have had dreams at night where I am thinking about some verse and in my dream, the meaning of the verse becomes clearer.  In the morning when I examine my dream against scripture it is in alinement with God’s Word.  I can not explain this and I would always test all thoughts against Scripture, but yes I believe our God can speak to us at any time.  

Waking to thoughts and songs of my Lord are the most pleasant of mornings.  On such days my heart just seems to continue with praise.  Let our days and nights be filled with longing for our Lord.  Let praise, worship, and prayers be always on our tongue. 

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He Knows

Nov. 11th 

“Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

Joshua 7:19 NIV

He knows what we have done.  Although Achan was able to keep his secret from Joshua and the people.  He could not keep his secret from God.  Not only did God know but there were consequences for his sin even though no one knew. We may think no one knows but God always does.  And even though not another living soul knows there are still consequences.  You hear a lot of people say, that what they do with their body is up to them.  Yet this is not true.  Nothing we do is done in a vacuum.  Everything we do affects others around us.  This is just an uncomfortable fact.  

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

Galatians 6:7 NIV

You may sow your seed in secret but you will surely reap in the open.

Prayer for My Children

Nov. 9th, 2020

In this world, there are few things I love more than my children.  My wife is one of those things.  Along with the church and my brothers and sisters in Christ.  My children are special for two reasons.  They are my children in flesh and spirit.  (I Cor. 4:14-15) So, what do I pray for them?  It is what I pray for all that are my spiritual children.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

3 John 1:4 NIV

If you are not sure what to ask God for concerning your children. Then this verse is for you. There can be no greater joy than to know our kids are walking in the truth. And conversely nothing can break our hearts like a prodigal child. So, no matter were your kids are on the scale. (walking worthy or walking prodigal) Our prayer should be the same. Pray that your kids will walk in the truth. It will bring us joy here on earth and our Heavenly Father joy in heaven. All parents are filled with joy when their kids are living worthy. So pray for your kids today.

Take Your Kids to Work Day.

Nov. 6th

Frequently I watch a live cast online from a guy who is a stock trader.  He works from home and illustrates how and why he buys or sells stock as the day goes on.  Well, he works from home and has kids. Now and then one of his kids will come into his office and we will see them onscreen.  He will stop what he is doing and talk with them and soon enough they will be on their way.  Have you ever thought in the same way, we can come into God’s office?

“But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.”

Psalms 5:7 NIV

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Hebrews 4:16 NIV

We can come before the throne of God and the best part is He stops what He was doing and will talk with us.  Why is this possible? Well for two reasons.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

1 John 3:1 NIV

It is because of His, “great love” for us as His children.  A loving father wants to be with his children.  And when his children come around a father will stop what he is doing to spend time with his child.  In the same way our Heavenly Father.  Who sits on His throne in Heaven.  (Which is His office from which He goes about the business of running the universe) Will stop what He is doing and spend time with His children when they come into His office.  What a privilege we have to be able to come into God’s office whenever we want.  Yet, how often do we take advantage of this privilege?  God through His, “great love” has opened the doors of Heaven to His children.  He sits in His office just waiting for us to come in and talk with Him.  Instead, we spend our days in more mundane and trivial pursuits.  Often we fail to see the desired outcomes because we failed to talk with our Father first.  In all that we do let us first bring it before the throne.  God is there, He’s just waiting for us. Best part He always has time for His kids!

Love Your Brother

Nov. 4th, 2020

“But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”

1 John 2:11 NIV

At first reading, most of us think, “Yea I’m doing OK.”  I mean there may be a few brothers or sisters that are not my favorite people.  But I don’t hate any of them.  Well good, we can move on.  

But, what does it mean to hate? Hate is used fairly frequently in the Bible. So in this context, what does hate your brother or sister mean? And here is where we get into trouble. In Luke 14:26 we are told we must hate our family. The NLT puts it well, our love for Jesus must be so strong that anything else in comparison looks like hatred. It’s not that we hate our family but we love God to such an extent that nothing else compares. God’s love is the standard. Our love for God is to emulate His love. And if we do not love our brothers and sister in the same way we are hating them. (See John 13:34-35). God is light and there is no darkness in Him. (I John 1:5-6) And we are to be the light to the world. (Matt. 5:14-16) Yet, how can we be a light if we are stumbling in darkness and how can we not stumble if we do not love our brothers and sisters as God loved us? The defining mark of a Christian is to be their love. First love for other Christians and then a love for the lost world. So, your love for your brothers and sisters becomes a direct reflection of your love for God. It is how the world sees your love.

“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.”

1 John 1:6 NIV

Sins of Omission

So, a few weeks ago I was talking with one of the guys and he asked me if not reading your Bible was a sin?  I told him I did not think so.  But that when we neglect to read our Bible it’s just like not eating food.  Can we do it? Yes, but after a while we get weak.  And so the same thing would happen to us when we neglect reading God’s word.  After some time we get weak.  

Upon further reflection perhaps it could be a sin.

“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”

James 4:17 NLT

So, do we know that we ought to read the Bible and spend time with God? If you said, “yes” then James says it’s a sin. This does not apply only to Bible reading, it goes for anything we know is right to do but don’t do it.  If your conscience tells you that you are to be doing something and we don’t then I think we may have a problem.  

Let’s just take a look at a few examples.  If I see a poor person asking for money and I think, “I should help that person.”  But then, “I say no they will only use my money for alcohol and drugs.”  Have I not done a few things wrong, did I not listen to my heart? Did I not judge them and have I forgotten that the money is not mine but God’s.  I am merely an instrument that God uses to get His money where He wants it.  Or let’s say I come home one day and see the kitchen needs to be cleaned.  Do I help out or not?  Well, the real question is do I know what I should do?  Yes, then to not do it would be a sin.  This can be applied to many areas of our life.  The simple answer is to do what you know is right to do

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Prosperity?

Oct. 29 2020

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,”

Deuteronomy 28:47 NIV

God had promised blessing on the people of Israel.  To receive these blessings they were to keep all of God’s commands.  

Yet, if they failed to do so they would be cursed. They would become poor and destitute. They would be hungry and naked. Their enemies would rule over them. If God did this to His own chosen people how much more will He do to us.

We as a nation have been blessed beyond any other nation in history. Yet, in our prosperity we have refused to serve the Lord. How much worse will be the fate of our country?

Halloween 

Oct. 27, 2020

Well its that time of year again, fall is here.  We even had a little snow on the ground this morning.  Along with the fall comes Halloween and the never ending question. Should Christians be a part of Halloween?  Well let’s break this question down and look at it.  The Bible does not talk about Halloween.  It says nothing about going Trick-or-Treating.  So then should we let our kids dress up and go door to door for candy.  

I see two parts to this question.  First the Bible is very clear that we are not to become involved in any occult practices. 

““Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 19:31 NLT

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions”

Galatians 5:19-20 NIV

So, you say, “yes, I understand that”. We are going to just dress up like a super hero for school.  Is that forbidden in the Bible?  No its not but I think we should look at I Cor. 8.

“So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.””

1 Corinthians 8:4 NIV

“So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

1 Corinthians 8:11-13 NIV

Here Paul is talking about eating of meat that has been offered to idols.  Paul is clear that doing so is not a sin.  He knows that the idols are nothing and we know that the Halloween customers are nothing.  Yet, Paul points out that to some who have come out of idol worship eating this meat would be a sin.  For this reason Paul says that he would not do it, so as to not cause a brother or sister to stumble.  For the same reason we should be careful.

So here are three Biblical reasons we should be careful around Halloween.  First, we are clearly commanded to stay away from the occult and Halloween is an occult holiday.  Second, even if we try to sanitize the holiday and call it a fall festival and wear innocuous costumes it could still cause some to stumble and in so doing sin.  Third just as Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife we should never try to see how close we can come to sin.  Let us flee from even the appearance of sin.

Let us not open a door to Satan.  If I dress up and others are dressed as ghost, witches and other assorted baddies am I not taking part even if I am just dressed as a super hero?  What message does this send to my kids?  I would never want to cause another to stumble and least of all I would not want to cause one of my own kids.  This is a great time for us to teach our kids why we are not like the world.  It’s also a great time for our kids to witness to there friends.  Let us be different and let the world see this difference.  That’s the whole point of Christians being in the world. Halloween is a great time for us to train up our children in the way they should go.  And an opportune time for us as Christian to shine the light in a dark world.

Cheer for Your Kids

Oct. 23, 2020

When my kids succeed it makes me happy.  Don’t we all get excited when our kids win.  Just go to a High School football game and watch the parents cheer on their kids and celebrate. This is great that we do this but I think there is more we should be doing.

“My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice! Everything in me will celebrate when you speak what is right.”

Proverbs 23:15-16 NLT

We should celebrate the spiritual victories of our children. When is the last time you cheered out loud when your child showed Biblical wisdom? When is the last time you jumped out of your chair and yelled at the top of your lungs because your child just won a spiritual battle? Come on people we get more excited about the mundane and temporal things of this world. Let’s be honest the worldly victories won here on earth; games won, grades, scholarships awarded or degrees earned all will be meaningless in eternity. What will last forever are the spiritual wins. So if we are going to get all excited about something should it not be something that will last? So parents when is the last time you gave your kids a spiritual pat on the back? I know for me its long over due. From now on it is my goal to tell my kids good job on that spiritual test. Nice work on the wise choice you made. Lord help me to encourage my kids based not upon worldly standards of success but upon Heavenly standards. Let me rejoice and shout out loud for the eternal victories.

Doers! 

Oct. 21

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

James 1:22 NIV

To “deceive” means “to deceive by false reasoning”. This is something we do to ourselves.  It occurs within our  own minds.  We rationalize our actions and tell ourselves we are, “OK.”  When in reality we have totally missed the boat.  The mark of true Christian conversion is our actions.  If nothing about you changed when you got saved you may not have been saved.  A new birth means a new person.  A new person should not act like the old one.  The new life must bring new fruit. I believe one mark of a new person should be a change in the way you love.  

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35 NIV

When people see you let love be what they see.  When others mistreat you let love be what they receive.  When others speak of you let love be what they mention. Love is to be the defining mark of a Christian. 

Do I Love My Child?

Oct. 19

“Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.”

Proverbs 19:18 NIV

I know that’s a funny question to ask. But how much do we love our children? I love it when my kids are happy and doing well. I never like it when they are hurting. Yet, am I willing to see my children go through some pain? In Proverbs it tells us that if we are not able to, not just see, but be the source of the pain we become a part of their death. That’s right we are to discipline them and that means causing them some discomfort. It’s hard for many modern parents to grasp this concept. The last thing a modern parent wants is for their child to due without, or God forbid have pain and discomfort in their life. Yet think about it from the other perspective.

“As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.”

Hebrews 12:7-8 NLT

Yes, the other perspective is God’s. And truth be told is not His view point the only one that really matters? If we are to model our life after our Savior then as He disciplines us we should discipline our children. Don’t be afraid that if you discipline your kids they wont love you. I know from my own life that as God has corrected and disciplined me I have loved Him more. His discipline gives me security and through the discomfort I can feel His Love. If their is no discipline in your life then there is no love. In scripture we can see that the two go hand in hand.

The Rich Young Ruler pt3

It’s not the Money

“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Mark 10:17-22 NIV

This story has become somewhat famous for its take on the evils of money.  But is it really the money?  I mean we all need money to live, we have to have it.  So then what was the problem? 

Jesus was never one to beat around the bush.  So He gets right to the point.  But first we see that Jesus looked at the young man and was moved.  It says He, “loved him.”  This was not a human love but a Devine love.  Jesus was moved with compassion and love.  So what Jesus said next was said with Devine Love.  Young man you lack one thing.  In this case it was money.  And for some of us it may be money.  But money is not the point.  The point was the young man had something in his life that he had put before God.  He lacked one thing.  What is it you lack?  Is there anything in your life you have put before God? It could be money, or it might be something else, job/work, your kids, drugs, sex, pleasure, lack of self control, anger, bitterness, jealousy, or any other thing.  That’s the point, in each of our lives a time comes when Jesus says, you lack one thing.  Now what will you do.  In the case of the rich young ruler he went away sad.  Why? Because he was not willing to give that, “one thing” to God.  He said, “No” and in so doing he disobeyed Jesus.  You see it was not the money.  It was his refusal to obey God.  When he walked away sad, I’m sure he was not the only one that was sad.  I’m sure that Jesus was also sad.  Jesus loved this young man and he watched as the young man rejected Him and walked away.  When Jesus comes to you and says. “There is something I want you to get out of your life.” What will you do? Will you be like the young man and refuse to obey God or will you say to Him yes Lord.  You see money was not the issue, obedience was the issue.  Obedience has always been the issue as it was two thousand years ago so it is today.  Always remember that God loves you and if there is anything in your life that comes before Him (that’s called an idol) then He will ask you to get it out.  Will you obey? 

God has given us a land full of plenty. We have become the bread basket of the world. Yet, at the same time we still have poor people living in our land. How can this be? God told the people of Israel that, “there need be no poor people”. If they would only do one thing. “Fully obey the Lord your God.” Unfortunately, they never did realize this promise. And today in our country we still have not cured poverty. We have fought a war on poverty for decades and are no closer than the day we began. Without turning to God we will never solve the problem. Politicians can try all they want, they do not have the answer. You can vote for any promise that tickles your fancy, it will not work. Only by turning to God as a nation can we help rid our country of poverty.

On a more personnel note. How many of us struggle with poverty? I mean do you struggle financially. Do months come along where paying all the bills raises a big question? Well, I think this passage can be applied on a personnel level. If you struggle, then ask yourself. Have I FULLY obeyed the Lord? If we are careful to follow the Lord our God then I firmly believe that He will meet our every need. God is just waiting to richly bless us, the hold-up is always us.

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The Rich Young Ruler Pt2

Sin

“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Mark 10:17-22 NIV

I think at some point we all wonder if we are going to heaven.  For some that turns them to Jesus.  For others it leads in a different direction.  The rich young ruler asks that very question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  In his mind the young man thinks he’s pretty good.  He even tells Jesus that he’s kept all the laws.  How wrong he was, yet like him we often compare ourselves to others and think, “not doing so bad.”  But that’s not the point, Jesus was asking so that the young man would see how bad he had missed the mark.  The law was given so that man could see that they had sinned.  Instead this young man used the law to justify himself.

“Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.””

Romans 7:7 NLT

In the same way we often look for anything that we can find to try and justify ourselves. When in reality we should be seeing how lost we are. So, the first strike for the young man is that he does not even see that he is lost. He refuses to acknowledge that he is a sinner. Until you realize you are a sinner, you can never see your need of a Saviour.

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Romans 3:23 NLT

Where does the rich young ruler go from here? The conversation turns to money, but is money really the point?

ADONAI

Are you a Rich Young Ruler?

Oct. 9.      The rich young ruler.

“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Mark 10:17-22 NIV

As I thought about this I was like no, not me.  Then I had a second look and I found more similarities then I would like to admit.  Maybe you have some. You may say, “but Philip I’m not rich or a ruler.”  Ok, but what about this? Each of us is indeed a ruler, you see God has aloud us to be the ruler of our own life.  But lets get back to the rich young man.  

We see that he ran and fell on his knees.  It would seem that he was excited to see Jesus.  Falling on his knees was a sign of humbling oneself.  Next he addressed Jesus as, “Good Teacher.”  He was most likely a ruler in the synagogue, perhaps even a Pharisee.  So, addressing Jesus as good, simply said you are good, I am good and the other teachers in the synagogue are good.  When he compared himself and his friends with the riff raff of humanity all around he was doing pretty good.  How often do we compare ourselves to those around us.  We can always find someone worse off then we are.  Jesus answers with a question, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God,”. Jesus cuts right to the point.  Yes Jesus is good because He is God, but that’s not the point.  The young man is not good and neither are the group of people he hangs out with.  Good, unlike bad is absolute, not relative.  God is the absolutely perfect standard by which goodness is to be judged.  The young mans works just don’t cut it. (Romans 3:20, 28). Jesus was making a point that we can not judge our selves against other people but we must judge our selves against God’s perfection.  As humans we often like to make systems of worship. (we call them religions) This is what the Jews had done, they had twisted the law into a system of deeds and rules to keep.  By doing these things they felt that they would be good enough and declared righteous.  It’s the same thing going on today.  The difference between the Gospel and all other religions is boiled down to one thing.  The Gospel says that God did it all for us. All other world systems have a list of things that you must do to make the grade. (Eph. 2:8-9). We can never make the grade. Jesus alone is the answer. 

ELOHIM

Giants of the Faith pt. 2

Oct. 7

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

It has always taken faith. But having faith requires us to believe in what we can not see. This is not some blind faith. It is a reasoned faith in a trustworthy God. Have you ever wondered, what was the difference between Cain and Abel’s offerings to God? Faith!

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

So, then just how much faith did the thief on the cross have? In Matthew and Mark we are told that at first both thieves mocked Christ. But something changed for one of the thieves. I believe the change happened in vs.34. The thief heard Jesus pray for God to forgive the very people that had beat, mocked and then crucified Him. The thief sees his wickedness. He understands that he has nothing to offer Jesus. He knows there is nothing good in him and that he needs mercy, grace and forgiveness. By faith he believes that Jesus is the Messiah. The thief has seen Jesus pray for forgiveness for others. So by faith he asks and believes that Jesus can and will forgive his sins. By faith he believes that Jesus has lived a sinless life, “This man has done nothing wrong.” This is not just a profession that Jesus did not deserve to die on the cross but a profession that Jesus had never done wrong. The Jews clearly understood that only God was perfect and only God could forgive sins. (See Luke 18:19, Matt. 9:2-6). Thus the thief’s declaration of Jesus being without wrong was a profession that Jesus was the Son of God. When the thief asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus comes into His Kingdom. The thief by faith was saying, I know that I am about to die and I deserve it. Yet, you are the Messiah and your kingdom is not of this earth. By faith I ask for forgiveness and believe that you are“Yeshua” or “Yahshua”(translated Jesus in Greek) the Saviour. (Yah – From Yahweh, Shua-salvation)(God Saves)

Because he knew that both he and Jesus would be dead soon, no one escaped the cross alive. He had faith that Jesus would rise from the dead and would have a Kingdom(dead men don’t have kingdoms). The thief had faith that Jesus could raise him from the dead and bring him into His Kingdom. (The thief had most likely heard about Lazarus as the story had spread far and wide, also the thief probably knew Daniel 12:2) This one poor lost, sinful thief changed in an instant. He put all of his faith in Jesus. The answer Jesus gave him is one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.

“Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.””

Luke 23:43 NIV

Truly, or believe me for this is hard to believe, but it’s true.  “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  Without faith we cannot please God.  The thief on the cross had faith in that moment he was filled with faith.  All of his faith was placed in Jesus.  No one gets to heaven without faith in Jesus.  Faith was the only thing the thief had, he had no good works, no baptism, no church membership, nothing but faith. And he placed all of it in Christ.  The Old Testament saints were saved by their faith in Christ. (Heb. 11:13-16) The New Testament saints were saved by their faith in Christ. What are you trusting in, where have you put your faith?   There is only one hope, Faith in Yeshua.  

JEHOVAH is my strength.

Giants pt.1

Oct. 5

Do you ever think about the, “Giants” of faith.  In Hebrews there is a list of some OT saints that were giants of the faith.  I’m sure that we could easily add some NT characters to that list.  But I’ve been think about one person.   I think this guy is a giant of the faith and I’m not sure if anyone else has ever listed him among the giants.  Today I’m going to add his name and tell you why.

This guy is perhaps the most unlikely character to think about.  He is only briefly mentioned in the Bible and never by name.  He never performed any miracles and only told one other person about Christ.  And as far as we know that other person rejected the message.  He never taught or preached. Did not write any books and only lived for a very short time after conversion.  So, by now your like who is it? 

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. ” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.””

Luke 23:39-43 NIV

That’s right, “the thief on the cross.”  Why him?  Well look at it.  Jesus is dying on the cross.  Everyone is mocking Him. Even the thieves were hurling insults.(see accounts in Mark & Matthew)  Jesus disciples had abandoned Him (only John was there) Jesus was supposed to be the Messiah. To the Jews that meant He would defeat the Romans and become the King of a great Jewish nation.  And yet here He was on the cross, there was no escaping the cross.  It was certain death.  That meant; not the messiah, no victory over the Romans, no Kingdom, no more followers.  To everyone there it was over.  Even the followers of Christ thought it was over. The cross had killed all the dreams of the disciples and the people.  Yet in the middle of all of this something miraculous happened.  What happened is reason enough to add the thief on the cross to our list of, “giants of the faith.”  

Part. 2 coming soon 🙂 

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Yes black people matter and so do white, yellow, red and any other shade under the rainbow. God is color blind and so should we also be. Each and every soul is precious to our Lord. He died for the whole world and loved us all. We ought to have the same mind as Christ. And we are to love all people without regard to race, religion, economic status or any of the other million and one things the devil will use to drive us apart. Satan is a liar and the father of lies.

Yes the truth is all Lives Matter!

“I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭8:23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God has always wanted His people to stand out from the crowd. What sign do we see today that says we are different from the world? Don’t get bogged down with the cares of this world. Live above it all, eyes focused on the finish.

Garbage in Garbage out!

Sept. 30

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Philippians 4:8 NIV

I think we’ve all heard the saying, “garbage in garbage out.”  Some of us may have even have used it.  I know that I have.  Ive told my children that what come out of us is a result of what ever is inside of us.  It’s like two dogs living inside.  These dogs don’t like each other and frequently fight with each other.  Do you know which dos usually wins the fight?  Well the stronger one of course.  And which dog is stronger, the one that gets the most food.  

This is exactly what Paul is saying in Philippians.  Paul is wrapping up Philippians and says, the key to this spiritual life that I’ve been talking about is based upon what you think. So here’s a list of things you should think about.  No that’s not what he says! Paul says here is a list of what you must think about.  The Greek word here for, “think about” or ”dwell on” is logizomai its in the imperative form which means its a, “Command.” Our right thinking is not optional.  We are commanded to control our thoughts and think on right things.  

What we put into our hearts becomes what we think about, what we think about becomes what we are.  When you fill your heart with evil, evil is what comes out of you.  As Christians we have been told to fill our hearts and minds with good and pure thoughts. Thus good is what will come out of us.  This is a spiritual discipline with which we must wrestle each day.  If you are not fighting this spiritual battle you are losing the war.  Our victory come from the Lord and at the same time we must discipline our minds to think upon what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. 

Let’s be honest we all like it when people say nice things about us. But a true friend will see the flaws in our life and help us see them. A man is often blind to his own faults. How we respond when someone says something to us that we don’t like is a great picture of our own spiritual growth. An immature Christian is easy to offend and quick to anger.

Church

Sept. 28

During my cancer treatment I spent 10 days hospitalized and all alone. It was during the COVID 19 shut down and I was allowed no visitors. I would see a nurse every few hours but they keep the visits short and to the point. During this time I would read my Bible and write what little I could for my blog. I would text my wife and kids but it was just not the same. After a while I started to get down. One day a nurse asked me what I was doing and I told her I was writing short devotionals for my family. She told me that she was a Christian and thought what I was doing was a great idea. I thanked her for the kind words and she left. Two days later she was back and she came into my room and she asked if we could spend some time together singing and praying. For the next half hour she sang and prayed. I sang within my heart (my voice was almost totally gone and I could not sing at all) my inner voice cried out to God in praise and worship. I cried as she sang and it was one of the best church services I’ve ever been to. God had sent a ministering spirit to encourage me in a dark hour. When she left I could hardly speak, God had refreshed my soul. Brothers and sisters we need each other. The hour of our Lord’s return grows near let us come together and lift each other up. The world around is a dark place. It is controlled by dark forces that want nothing more than to get us down and then destroy us.

“A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”

Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT

The Lone Ranger only wins in movies. In real life if you find your self all alone you are in great danger.  So gather with other believers and encourage one another. Be that ministering spirit to someone today.

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.””

Psalms 122:1 NLT

For I know that I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.   Come join me and bring your friends. 

I replaced the original picture with this one. The original pic showed a sick, ugly mangy dog. I was receiving comments that the picture was disturbing. But in a way that’s the point. Our sin looks way worse to God and is much more disturbing. It’s sad that a picture bothers us so much yet our sin is no big deal.

Refuge 

Sept. 25 

“select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee.”

Numbers 35:11 NIV

Here’s something I was thinking about. Not sure where my kids learned this but whenever they are hurt or afraid they come to me or their Mom. We did not have to teach them this it just comes natural. Kids go to their parents when they need a safe place or refuge. So also, in the Old Testament God provided cities of refuge for people to flee to when they had accidentally killed someone. They could go to the city of refuge and take shelter within and be safe.

What about you? Do you have a place to go when in danger?

I must make a confession I needed a city of refuge. You see I killed a man and it was not even an accident. His name was Jesus. You see He died because I was a sinner. I am responsible for His death. And yet the irony of it is this, it is to Him alone that I must turn to find my refuge. There is no other safe place for me to hide. I must seek shelter and protection from my blood guilt in the very one who I crucified.

“so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”

Hebrews 6:18 ESV

“Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.”

Isaiah 32:1-2 NLT

Like me each of us is guilty. We all need a place of refuge. Jesus Christ is that place and there is no other. This is the good news that must be shared with the world. God has sent His Son to die in exchange for us. When the storm comes there is only one place to seek shelter, if you look for it in any other place you will be lost.

Lord the time is short, the storm is coming. Let your children be over burdened with the plight of the lost.  Let us love the world as you loved the world. Lord let us spend our time, energy and resources working to share your good news in the days that we have left. Amen

Cross Contamination 

Sept. 23

 “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.”

Numbers 33:55 NIV

God was clear that the Israelites were to drive out all of the people living in the land. For He knew that if any remained the Israelites would be contaminated with their wicked ways. In just the same way we must drive out all vestiges of sin in our lives. God knows that if we allow any sin to remain it will contaminate our whole being. For many of us the sin in our lives is hard for others to see, this is perhaps the most dangerous kind. For we keep secrets within our hearts. Hidden in a deep dark corner. Brothers and sisters get it out. Shine the light into every corner of your life and sweep out the old dead things. Don’t you know that a little leaven will leaven the whole. Like the people of Israel, we too must make a decision. Will we drive out all of the inhabitants or will we leave some behind? If you leave any behind it will only bring pain and trouble in the future. Clean it out and live with God’s joy and peace.

Old Tents

Sept. 21

Let’s be honest for a second. We spend a lot of our time in life trying to make ourselves comfortable. We buy new cars and remodel our houses. Some of us have shoe fetishes and buy nice clothes. Others may workout insistently. Or go and get plastic surgery. Here’s the bottom line. If there is no after life there’s really no point in even getting dressed for the day. Think about if for a minute. If there is nothing after this then why all the effort while we are alive? We will all die and then that’s it. On the other hand, if there is something more after this life then what’s the point? What?

What is the point in all the effort of making ourselves comfortable and look good if there is more to life than just this?  Is there something better we could be doing?

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

2 Corinthians 5:1-4 NIV

Let’s be honest again for a moment. No matter how fancy your tent may be it’s still just a tent. No matter how comfortable or good it looks its just a tent and in time it will all fall apart. Perhaps we would be better off spending our time somewhere else. Instead of spending so much time and energy on an old, raggedy tent lets spend it on something that counts. This tent I live in is on its last leg. Truth be told from the moment I was born my tent has been in the process of breaking down. Good news though, God is making a new place. Not a tent but a building made by God. Thus, unlike this shell I live in now my new body will never break down. My new body will not get sick or tired. Will not get hungry or sleepy. But the best part I will eat and enjoy food and never get fat. My new body will be incorruptible. We are told we will receive a new body like Jesus, well His body had flesh and bone. He could be seen and felt. He ate food and had fellowship with others. He also could move through solid objects and appear wherever He wanted to be. If we are getting bodies like His we also will have the same characteristics. This new body will never feel pain, sorrow or suffering it will be like living in heaven. (Pun intended) Brothers and sisters the day that we take off our old tent and put on our new body is fast approaching for all of us. If our time is short (and it is even if you live to be 100) then should we not be more focused on what truly matters? Have joy for our King is fast coming to gather us home.

“So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;”

1 Corinthians 15:42-43 NIV

If we are but vessels to be used by our Lord then let us be filled with His love. And if then filled let the love of our savior come overflowing out of this vessel and rain down blessings on all around. Let our outflow of blessing never forget the poor and needy.

Believe a Lie or Bountiful Harvest

Sept. 18

What’s going on?  I watch the news and look around at the world and it makes me wonder.  At times it looks like our country is out of control, not to mention the whole world.  I see angry people looting and rioting.  It seems to get worse as time goes by. Immoral lifestyles and pedophila are defended, justified and even normalized.  How can such things be happening?

“and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie”

2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 NIV

Here’s the truth this world is getting worse and that’s not going to stop. The wicked are trapped in their sin. They have refused to see the truth. They so desperately want to believe the lie and reject truth. So strong is this that God has given them over to the delusion. As the world gets closer to the end this delusion will only get stronger and stronger. At a certain point it will become impossible for those trapped in this delusion to escape. God has never forced Himself upon anyone. If we as humans insist on having our way in the end God will give us what we want.

So as Christians what do we do?  I think we need to use discernment.  Some of these angry people trapped in a powerful delusion have gone beyond the point of no return.  But only God knows who has reached this point.  So we must continue to share the truth in love.  Yet at the same time we must know when its time to leave people alone.  This does not mean that we stop praying for them. No, not at all but perhaps it means that after we plant the seed we need to step back and in prayer wait for the seed to grow.  We may plant and another may reap the harvest.  And unfortunately in some cases the seed may never grow.  These are the last days let us not be slack in our work for the, “harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.”

A New Job

Sept.16

For most of us starting the first day of a new job can be nerve racking and exciting at the same time. What if I don’t like this new job? What if my new boss is not nice? What if I don’t like my new coworkers or worse yet they don’t like me? Well let me put your hearts to rest. In heaven you will have a job. But guess what? It will be the most perfect job you ever had, almost as if God made the job just to fit you. (HE did) You will work for the best boss ever and your coworkers will be perfect. (Literally) Ever day you will be filled with excitement to go to work and your job will fill you with joy. Now what exactly it is that you will be doing? Well as to that I’m not sure. But, the Bible does give us some clues, so here goes.

Some day Jesus will rule the earth, it is His gift from God.  We also will obtain an inheritance. 

“It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.”

Romans 4:13 NIV

Jesus will set up His kingdom and rule the earth and we will rule with Him.  Each of us will be given an area of authority and responsibility.  (Rev. 22:5).  We will have an ongoing, eternal stewardship over some part of God’s kingdom. We will be judges.

“Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!”

1 Corinthians 6:3 NIV

What that means exactly, I’m not sure but it sure does sound important. Here are a few more verses that talk about us regaining with Christ. Rev. 5:10, Rev. 20:4-6, Daniel 7:27, 2 Tim. 2:11-12.  So in heaven we will be given jobs to do, I firmly believe that our responsibility in heaven will be directly related to our faithfulness here on earth.  Here are a few other things that I believe, but are not directly said in Scripture.

We were made in the image of God, this is more about the inside of us than what we look like on the outside. The qualities of God can be found in us i.e. Love, justice, anger, artistic, creative, humorous, adventurous and so much more. These are qualities that we get from our Father, although tainted by sin and thus expressed on earth in a corrupted form. What does this mean for us in heaven. It means that God has created an infinite universe for us to explore and enjoy. To see the majesty of His unlimited artistic ability and to appreciate the beauty of His creation. In eternity I believe we will experience and discover all of God’s creation. It will be exciting and amazing. It will be filled with joy and fun. We will never be bored not for one second. For as our God is infinite in all that He is and does. So, then His creation in its perfected sinless form will be more than we can ever fully experience.

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

Revelation 21:1-3 NIV

So, then let this thought be on our hearts and minds. Let us encourage one another with words of praise and songs of the return of our King. Until that day. Come Lord Jesus.

“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

Revelation 22:20 NIV

Be ENCOURAGED brothers and sisters. Our Lord is coming back for us. (And I believe the time is near) We will be reunited with our loved ones. We will be perfected in our bodies, hearts and minds. Soon we will be together FOREVER With our Lord and Savior. TY Jesus.

Sept. 14

“On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.”

Isaiah 25:6 NIV

In heaven we will have more things to do than just worship.  How about a party?  Not just any old party but the biggest, best and funnest party you could ever imagine. This party will be part of a  marriage fest. (Matt. 8:11, Luke 22:30, Rev. 19:9).  How amazing will that be to attend the heavenly party. 

Also in heaven we will be reunited with loved ones and we get to meet all of the Saints that have proceeded us.  That means we will get to talk with people like King David, Abraham and Moses.  We can ask Paul to tell us all about his missionary journeys. Here’s One more thing to think about, we will meet the saints that come after us.  As Christians we are to leave behind a living legacy.  These children, grandchildren even great and great great grandchildren will be there for us to meet. Have you ever wondered if you are making an impact in peoples lives.  I hope that each of us are having an impact for the gospel.  Well some day in heaven we may have people come up to us and say, “you don’t know me but I’m here in heaven today because you supported a missionary in my country.”  When I think of heaven in this way it makes me feel ashamed for the way I use my gifts and monies that God has given me.  Oh Lord let me live my life with maximum effort for your kingdom.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

In these four words we can find the whole story. For the, ”beginning” makes one think of what was before that. Here Scripture tells us that before the beginning there was God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. With in this was a relationship of Love.(John 17:5, 17:24) There was communication and a plan. (Eph. 1:4) This plan was for God to show His great love. He would create man and man would fall. This would allow God to show His love by sending His only begotten Son. The death of His Son would provide a means for mankind to be saved. The broken relationship could then be mended. In our lives are many relationships, some may be broken. Now is the time to restore the love and mend the lines of communication. As God loved us, so are we to love others.

Discipline is never pleasant but often needful. Our response to correction from God or man reveals what is inside. We are to lean to except , dare I saw love discipline. Now to learn to love correction is a hard deed. But it is something Scripture tells us we are to do.

Sept. 11. What to do?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV

A question I have and I’m sure many others have asked is, “What will we do in heaven?”  If you have asked that question good because its a great question to ask. Indeed what will we do for eternity?  God does not give us all the details but in His word we can find hints and glimpses.  When Jesus is taking to the women at the well He tells her that God seeks true worship in spirit. (John 4:23)  Today we live in a fallen and corrupted body.  So even thou we worship it is not complete.  God created us to worship Him.  Not because He needs our worship but because we need to worship.  If you don’t worship God you will find something to worship.  In heaven we will no longer have the stain of any corruption upon us and will Love God with all that we are. (Deut. 6:5) Then we will be able to worship God in spirit and in truth.  In heaven we will be filled with nothing but absolute joy and this joy will come flowing out of us.  This perfect love and joy will manifest itself in praise and worship of our God and King.  We will worship in spirit with out end. (Phil. 3:3) I think some of us get the wrong idea when we think of this eternal worship.  We picture a church service with all the people gathered together. To be certain I’m sure we will have those kind of services and there going to be great. But remember God is everywhere. So we will praise and worship not just in a corporate setting but everywhere and at all times.  As we should already be doing. We are already told to be worshiping and praising Him at all times not just when we are in church. (Psalm 113:3, 72:15, 104:2, 71:15, Eph. 1:16, Hebrews 13:15) How much more will we worship and praise God thru eternity no matter where we are or what we are doing.  So the first thing we will be doing in Heaven is true continuous spiritual worship and praise.  So lets get started and practice here and now.  Let us live our lives with worship of our God always on our hearts.  

“I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.”

Psalms 104:33 NIV

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Each and every human that has ever lived has had to chose a team. Like it or not you are right now either on God’s side or on the side of Satan. That decision is up to you.

I’m going to Heaven

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Colossians 3:1-2 NIV

I’m going to Heaven, anyone know the address? Yes, as Christians we know where our forever home will be. But just exactly where is that?

First, Heaven is where God is. It is His center of operations, the location of His throne. (See Matt. 5:16, 5:34, 5:45, 6:1, 6:9, 7:11, 7:21, 10:32-33, 12:50 16:17 18:10) Its where Jesus is right now preparing a place for us. (Mark 16:19, I Peter 3:22, Eph. 1:20, Col. 3:1, Hebrews 12:2 and Rev. 5:7) And best of all its where Christians go when they leave this earthly body behind. Jesus has told us that He was preparing a place for us, that place will be our new home. (2 Cor. 5:6-9, Phil. 1:21-24, Luke 16:19-31, Hebrews 12:22-24 and Rev. 6:9-11)

So, Heaven is where God is, where Jesus is and it will soon be where we as Christians will be. As to its physical location, that we do not know. But I’m not worried about that for when I die angels will come and guide me home.

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.”

Luke 16:22 NIV

As long as God leaves us here on this earth we are to do His will. Until the day we see our savior face to face let us keep our hearts and minds focused on Heaven.

Heaven

Sept. 7

A little bit of skepticism is not a bad thing. Perhaps I was a Trooper for too many years. For I always listen to a story with a little skepticism mixed in. God only knows how many times I asked, “what happened” or even “how many drinks have you had tonight” and received an answer that was not fully honest. So when I hear someone tell of an experience they have had I am always examining the story. And guess what? That’s a good thing.

We need to be like the people of Berea. When we hear something we should test it against God’s word. So you may be asking, How does this relate to heaven? Well in todays world we hear of people who have died and went to heaven. These people come back and write books to tell the story of what they saw and did in heaven. Here are a few problems I have with these stories and books.

In the Bible we have absolutely zero accounts of anyone’s experiences of dying and coming back from heaven to tell what it was like. If this was to be done you would think that someone like Lazarus would have written a book or two by now. But alas there are no books in the Bible written by anyone who died and returned. Of the four times that people did tell of an experience where they saw heaven each person was alive and was taken up to heaven. We have two Old Testament examples, Isaiah and Ezekiel. Also two in the New Testament, Paul and John. In each of these cases the people who wrote about heaven were told to do so by God. These modern day heavenly revelations are more about human desire to have answers and to know the secrets of God than a desire to be closer to God.

““The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”

Deuteronomy 29:29 NLT

“I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.”

1 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

The search for knowledge is innate within each of us and the thirst for the spiritual is a part of us made by God. Yet, we must be cautious not to go beyond what is written in scripture. God has chosen somethings to reveal to us and others that we are not to know. These accounts of heaven often try to relate things that God has not chosen to reveal to us at this time.

One thing in these accounts that makes me skeptical is the reaction of those who go to heaven when contrasted to the reaction of those in the Bible. Isaiah, Ezekiel and John all have similar reactions.  When confronted with the Holiness of God, they fall to the ground, pass out or realize and declare their sinful state. (Isaiah 6:5, Eze. 1:28, Rev. 1:17 see also Daniel 10:8-9) In each case being in the presence of a most Holy God instantaneously brought about a weakness and a recognition of their fallen status, “Woe is me”. In the modern accounts of heaven we see none of this.  Instead the people walk right up to Jesus and talk with Him as if he’s the neighbor down the street.  I can assure you that when we come face to face with our savior there will be a holy reverence about our attitude.  Jesus will come to us and take us into His arms.  We will be firmly focused on God and His all-surpassing glory.

These accounts of heaven are not harmless. They do a couple of things. First, they make one feel as if Scripture is not sufficient, that we need more. Second, they tend to bring human experience to the level of God’s Word. Or the belief that we can view and interpret God’s Word through the prism of our experience. And lastly they make one believe that human experience can be as effective at causing spiritual enlightenment as Scripture.

In Latin there is a statement that has been around for a long time. It was declared by Martin Luther at his trial. The statement is sola Scriptura it means that the Word of God is sufficient authority. Scripture is the sole source of all spiritual knowledge. If this is true then an anecdotal story that adds to, takes away from or contradicts Scripture must be rejected as unbiblical. The only source of revelation that we have about heaven is to be found in the Bible. So it is to Scripture that we must turn and look.