Dearest Church, About Your Casting All Your Cares aside; Instead, seeking first His kingdom and Considering How We Grow and Mature in Christ. 1 Peter 5:1-7

1 Peter 5:1-7 The Message

He’ll Promote You at the Right Time

5 ^1-3I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.

^4-5When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—

God has had it with the proud,
But takes delight in just plain people.

^6-7So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

A Word to the Church: Seeking His Kingdom First?

1 Peter 5:1-7 Amplified Bible

Serve God Willingly

5 Therefore, I strongly urge the elders among you [pastors, spiritual leaders of the church], as a fellow elder and as an eyewitness [called to testify] of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory that is to be revealed: ²shepherd and guide and protect the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not [motivated] for shameful gain, but with wholehearted enthusiasm; ³not lording it over those assigned to your care [do not be arrogant or overbearing], but be examples [of Christian living] to the flock [set a pattern of integrity for your congregation]. ⁴And when the Chief Shepherd (Christ) appears, you will receive the [conqueror’s] unfading crown of glory. ⁵Likewise, you younger men [of lesser rank and experience], be subject to your elders [seek their counsel]; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another [tie on the servant’s apron], for God is opposed to the proud [the disdainful, the presumptuous, and He defeats them], but He gives grace to the humble.

⁶Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God [set aside self-righteous pride], so that He may exalt you [to a place of honor in His service] at the appropriate time, ⁷casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

Anxiety can creep up at times when we least expect it and quickly overwhelm us.

Or it can take up unwelcome and apparently permanent residence in our lives.

Few people do not experience it; few Churches will not have to contend with it.

All those inevitable cares and concerns will take on different faces, manifest themselves very deeply throughout the life of the church and may be propelled by different circumstances, but overall, the issue itself is remarkably common.

When we face anxiety, we often try to ignore it by distracting our minds:

“Let me listen to some different liturgy, or to worship music. Let me go for a drive, look for a church that meets my vision of the correct Kingdom of God. Let me run one mile or a marathon. Let me do something… just let me run away!”

Notice, though, that in verses 6 and 7, Peter does not say we are to deny, ignore, or flee from anxiety. Instead, we should be “casting all [our] anxieties on him.”

The Greek word for “cast” here is a decisive, energetic action word.

It could be used to describe vigorously throwing out a heaping bag of trash.

We don’t put painstaking effort into moving it; we simply grab it and hurl it with great force into the bin. Likewise, instead of going through our days pressed down by the burden of anxiety, we throw it, we hurl it, upon the Lord.

To do this requires us to give up our pride—our desire to control and triumph over circumstances – seek Ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Being humble is what enables us to give our worries to God: humility’s presence leads to anxiety’s absence.

When, with our own perverted righteousness, we attempt to take matters into our own hands through too much worry, we indicate an absence of humility.

We are significantly more concerned with ourselves than with our heavenly Father, or more determined to navigate our own course than to leave it to Him.

There will always be a circumstance that can make we the Church very anxious.

Peter doesn’t address any specific circumstances, though; rather, he addresses the anxiety produced by the circumstances which are specific to his own time.

Considering How We Grow and Mature in Christ?

Luke 12:13-34 English Standard Version

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Do Not Be Anxious

²²And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[a] ²⁶If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,^[b] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! ²⁹And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. ³⁰For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, seek his^[c] kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

³²“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

We the Church of today, have to navigate with God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirits guidance and direction – the complexities of our stuff.

The vast complexities of our anxieties being gender issues, sexual orientation, racism, clergy sex abuse and the Boy Scouts sex abuse against our children, the shrinking and closure of our churches, and left – right theological extremism, the right to life, the freedom of choice, abortion, false teachers, and much more.

Our mountains and oceans of anxiety itself is what we ought to be casting upon the Lord, doing exactly what the Bible says to do: repenting, bowing, kneeling, humbling ourselves under God’s hand, saying, “My Father knows best. He cares for me better than I can care for myself.” When worries weigh us down, we can refuse to be burdened by them by calling to mind the Lord’s willingness to help.

Churches, their leaders and their congregations are very definitely struggling through today, seriously wondering how they’re going to make it to tomorrow.

Perhaps it’s been a long time since they knelt beside their altars and truly cast their burdens upon the only One who is able to carry it, saying, “God, I cannot, my Church cannot live its life with this burden on our back. Take it. It’s all Yours.”

If that’s you, if that’s your Church, for Kingdom’s sake don’t hesitate any more.

Pray, seek God’s Will, Kingdom first, Cast your anxieties into the loving arms of your heavenly Father and to experience the freedom, peace only He can provide.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 91 tHE MESSAGE

91 ^1-13You who sit down in the High God’s presence,
    spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,
Say this: “God, you’re my refuge.
    I trust in you and I’m safe!”
That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
    shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
    under them you’re perfectly safe;
    his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
    not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
    not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
    drop like flies right and left,
    no harm will even graze you.
You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
    watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God’s your refuge,
    the High God your very own home,
Evil can’t get close to you,
    harm can’t get through the door.
He ordered his angels
    to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they’ll catch you;
    their job is to keep you from falling.
You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
    and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

^14-16“If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God,
    “I’ll get you out of any trouble.
I’ll give you the best of care
    if you’ll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times;
    I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I’ll give you a long life,
    give you a long drink of salvation!”

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Serving Ourselves, Serving Culture, or Serving God; Our Choice No Matter What Else May Happens. 2 Timothy 3

2 Timothy 3:1-8 New American Standard Bible 1995

“Difficult Times Will Come”

3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ²For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, ^[a]haters of good, ⁴treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to a form of ^[b]godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. ⁶For among them are those who ^[c]enter into households and captivate ^[d]weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, ⁷always learning and never able to come to the ^[e]knowledge of the truth. ⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.

¹⁰Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, ^[g]perseverance, ¹¹persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! ¹²Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. ¹³But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is ^[h]inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for ^[i] training in righteousness; ¹⁷so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

What do we believe is the meaning of 2Timothy 3:1-5?

2 Timothy 3:1-5Amplified Bible

“Difficult Times Will Come”

3 But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear]. ²For people will be lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane, ³[and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good, ⁴traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith]. Avoid such people and keep far away from them.

What is the meaning of 2 Timothy 3:1-5? I don’t know about you, but I have too often heard people recite these verses as evidence that we are living in the End Times. If you look at this following list, you would be hard-pressed to disagree.

Let’s go through the list quickly:

Difficult times – certainly many would say our 2024 times are difficult
Lovers of self – people sure do look out for number one over everything else
Lovers of money – we are a money loving world
Boastful, arrogant, revilers – all true of people today
Disobedient to parents – scarily true, thanks to Dr. Spock for this one
Ungrateful, unholy, unloving – yes, yes and yes
Irreconcilable, malicious gossips – Unforgiving? Check. Gossips? Check.
Without self-control – absolutely
Brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited – all true
Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – It’s all about what makes people feel good and God has been removed from all areas of life
Holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power – Everyone thinks they’re good people and going to heaven, though they want nothing to do with the God who is in Heaven.

There we have it. These verses are evidence that we are living in the End Times.

There’s only one problem.

These verses are not speaking about society in general. They are speaking about a very specific group of people.

The People Mentioned in 2 Timothy 3

Here’s the reality: people have always been like this. Go through the list again and think of a time that those types of people did not exist.

We see them today, for sure, but they were around 100 years ago as well.

They were there in the time of Jesus; just look at the Pharisees.

They were there in the times of the Jewish Kings and the Jewish Judges.

They were there when Joseph was thrown into the pit and then sold into slavery.

They were there when Noah was building the Ark.

So if these people have always been around, then why would God give us this passage from Timothy ?

It’s like saying, “The End Times will come about when people are walking and talking.”

The whole entire world itself cannot be the subject of these verses.

Although it is sufficient to acknowledge there is no shortage of these people living amongst us as our neighbors, governing authorities, business leaders. and a whole host of other common places including of our own workplaces.

But, the “whole world,” It makes no sense.

We just cannot rationally lump everybody into these categories Paul mentions.

He must have something else in mind.

God gives us these verses to look at ourselves, The Church.

Christians are the subject God has in focus in these verses.

The Church in History

Throughout her history, the Church has been known as sanctified.

In other words, she was separated out from the world.

She did not look like the world, sound like the world, or act like the world.

This was why people were drawn to her in the first place.

She was different from anything else in the world.

Here is one view of what Christians looked like, from a Greek convert named Aristides:

“They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who will hurt them. If they have something, they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers and sisters in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit, in God.”

Chuck Colson, in his book, The Faith writes:

“The Christians’ God expected that His followers would acknowledge His love by sacrificing themselves for others. They were to extend God’s love not merely to their families and friends but to their enemies as well. “Love one another” became their standard… (Regarding those who had fallen ill due to the plague) The care Christians showed often did result in their succumbing to the plague themselves. But paradoxically, their compassion did not deplete Christian ranks in the long term – quite the reverse. Tending to the sick increased the disease survival rate by as much as two-thirds and this witness attracted many new converts. By acting on the teachings of Christ, without regard to their own welfare, these Christians, against all expectations, progressed from being a small sect to the dominant cultural group.“

This is what the church looked like – loving selflessly, persecuted unto death, giving sacrificially.

Testing Ourselves and Testing the Church

2 Timothy 3:10-17 Amplified Bible

¹⁰Now you have diligently followed [my example, that is] my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, ¹¹persecutions, and sufferings—such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, but the Lord rescued me from them all! ¹²Indeed, all who delight in pursuing righteousness and are determined to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be hunted and persecuted [because of their faith]. ¹³But evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴But as for you, continue in the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced [holding tightly to the truths], knowing from whom you learned them, ¹⁵and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Hebrew Scriptures) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in His wisdom, power and goodness]. ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; ¹⁷so that the ^[a]man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We go back to the passage in 2 Timothy 3 and review these aspects again.

However, this time with an eye to the Church today rather than the world as the subject of Paul’s writing:

Difficult times – Christians are the most persecuted people group in the world, even now in America
Lovers of self – Unfortunately, most Christians now look like the world, putting themselves and their families before others
Lovers of money – As Christians look more like the world, they also act like the world. Ask them to put all the money that is in their wallet into the offering. Good luck with that.
Boastful, arrogant, revilers – just check out the social media of many Christians
Disobedient to parents – scarily most Christians raise their children using the wisdom of the world rather than the wisdom of the Bible, resulting in Christians who always spare the rod
Ungrateful, unholy, unloving – Can you be a Christian and be ungrateful, unholy and unloving? Look at the members of your nearest megachurch and it will be easy to find them.
Irreconcilable, malicious gossips – I’ve met many Christians who are unforgiving and gossips
Without self-control – Ask a Christian to fast for a day. How about pray for an hour? Or study the Bible for an hour? Too hard, can’t do it. Zero discipline.
Brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited – Christians hate those who disagree with them. They can be brutal in their thought, words and deeds. Most Christians hate the idea of Discipline, Humility, Meekness and Sacrifice – all good things. Many are thoughtless. Most are proud.
Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – How many Christians would rather go to a 3-hour church service or prayer meeting than to a movie or ball game?
Holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power – Most Christians more resemble the Pharisees of Jesus’ time than they resemble Jesus. Jesus called them white washed tombs.

Matthew 23:25-28 Amplified Bible

²⁵“Woe to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and robbery and self-indulgence (unrestrained greed). ²⁶You [spiritually] blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the plate [examine and change your inner self to conform to God’s precepts], so that the outside [your public life and deeds] may be clean also.

²⁷“Woe to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. ²⁸So you, also, outwardly seem to be just and upright to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

What is to be our Response

Are we in the End Times?

Does the Church, our home church, look like 2 Timothy 3, Matthew 23:25-28?

Maybe, maybe not.

The more important question is what are we to BIBLICALLY do about this?

2 Timothy 3:14-17 Amplified Bible

¹⁴But as for you, continue in the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced [holding tightly to the truths], knowing from whom you learned them, ¹⁵and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Hebrew Scriptures) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in His wisdom, power and goodness]. ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; ¹⁷so that the ^[a]man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If we think or believe that the Church today indelibly proves we are living in the End Times, how then will you and I and the Church conduct ourselves today?

Will you reach out to a lost person to share the gospel before it’s too late?

Will you or I or we the church repent and confess and decide to become obedient to the word of God in all ways, not only just those things that you can do easily?

Here’s the truth: whether we are in the End Times or not, Jesus has given us a playbook to live by.

Matthew 9:35-38 Amplified Bible

³⁵Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages [in Galilee], teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news (gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness [His words and His works reflecting His Messiahship].

³⁶When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion and pity for them, because they were dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is [indeed] plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

He expects that we will follow it regardless of how soon His coming might be.

The reason He did not give us a Time and Date of His coming is so that every day, we might live as if it was the last day.

Acts 2:43-47 Amplified Bible

⁴³A sense of awe was felt by ^[a]everyone, and many wonders and signs (attesting miracles) were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] ^[b]were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. ⁴⁵And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. ⁴⁶Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

If every Christian did these things, the Church would look completely different.

It would look more like the early church that we read about earlier.

We may not be able to change the Church in a day, but we can change ourselves.

Let’s live like Biblical Christians (Acts 2), even as we watch, wait for His return.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 84 The Message

84 ^1-2What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

^3-4Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

^5-7And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

^8-9God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

^10-12One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Grace Greater than our Circumstance; Embrace That Timeless, Inescapable, Revealed, Extravagant, Grace of God. Ephesians 1:1-14

Ephesians 1:1-14 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Blessings of Redemption

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus ^[a]by the will of God,

To the ^[b]saints who are ^[c]at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before ^{[d ]}Him. In love ^5 [e]He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the ^[f]kind intention of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In ^[g]Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸which He ^[h]lavished on ^[i]us. In all wisdom and insight ⁹He ^[j]made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His ^[k]kind intention which He purposed in Him ¹⁰with a view to an administration ^[l]suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things ^[m]in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him ^11 [n]also we ^[o]have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, ¹²to the end that we who were the first to hope in ^[p]Christ would be to the praise of His glory. ¹³In ^[q]Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also ^[r]believed, you were sealed in ^[s]Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴who is ^[t]given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Extravagant Grace

Ephesians 1:1-2 Amplified Bible

The Blessings of Redemption

1 Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed), by the will of God [that is, by His purpose and choice],

To the ^[a]saints (God’s people) ^[b]who are at Ephesus and are faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus: ²Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Extravagance. Now, that’s something few of my friends accuse me of!

I am guilty of many things, but as miserly as I tend to be in these cash strapped days, wasting money or spending lavishly is not among them. That’s too bad, because I’ll never be fully like Jesus until extravagance is a part of my behavior.

Extravagance can be a good great and wonderful thing.

In opening his letter to the Ephesians, Paul immediately writes of his own acknowledgement and recognition of God’s personal extravagant blessing;

1 Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed), by the will of God [that is, by His purpose and choice],

Paul writes that God has blessed us with “every spiritual blessing.”

God’s grace is “freely given” to us.

“The riches of God’s grace” are “lavished on us.”

Look at the stories of Jesus.

Aren’t 180 gallons of “the absolute very finest of wines” saved for the very end of a seven day wedding and wedding reception extravagant? (See John 2:1-11.)

Jesus didn’t think so.

Feeding all the gathered thousands with a few loaves of bread and small fish, Aren’t twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish an extravagant miscalculation of what it takes to feed a crowd? (See Mark 6:30-44.)

Jesus didn’t think so.

Isn’t a miraculous catch of fish, where none had been the previous night, that breaks the nets and then begins to sink boats extravagant? (See Luke 5:4-11.)

Jesus didn’t think so.

We might casually think, “If God really knew what I am like, he wouldn’t be so extravagant toward me.” But God does know exactly what we are like. Paul notes that God lavished his grace on us “with all wisdom and understanding.”

As with the people who enjoyed wine and bread and fish with Jesus, there are only two reasons for God’s extravagance—our forever need, his forever grace.

Timeless, Inescapable, Revealed, Extravagant Grace

Exodus 12:1-13 New Living Translation

The First Passover

12 While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: ²“From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. ³Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. ⁴If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. ⁵The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.

⁶“Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. ⁷They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal. ⁸That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. ⁹Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire. ¹⁰Do not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.

¹¹“These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed,^[a] wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover. ¹²On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! ¹³But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

The grace of God for His people knows no bounds and remains within no limits.

To know the truth of this, we need look to nowhere else than the cross of Christ, by which as the Apostle Paul writes “we have redemption through his blood.”

In the book of Exodus, God instituted the Passover, which painted a picture of freedom bought at a price.

He instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a family lamb and spread its blood across their doorposts to prevent a visit from the angel of death as he passed through Egypt. The residents of each of those faithful households avoided God’s judgment of the death of the firstborn son only because a lamb died in his place. (Exodus 12:3-13).

The Israelites were enslaved to Pharaoh.

Similarly, all of us enter this world as slaves in bondage to sin and to death.

The price of our forgiveness was the very blood of Christ, who accomplished redemption as the great Passover Lamb for all who might believe in Him.

It is the power of His blood alone that frees us from death, for life, eternally.

Christ did not come to earth to tell us how to live, to make ourselves Christians.

He did not come to tell us what we have to do to save ourselves.

He came to do what we could not—to save us.

He acted on our behalf, offering forgiveness that is free to us but costly to God.

2 Corinthians 5:11-21 New Living Translation

We Are God’s Ambassadors

¹¹Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. ¹²Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us,^[a] so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. ¹³If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. ¹⁴Either way, Christ’s love controls us.^[b] Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.^[c] ¹⁵He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

¹⁶So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! ¹⁷This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

¹⁸And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. ²⁰So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” ²¹For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,^[d] so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

We dare not believe that God simply decided to overlook our sin; rather, Christ’s death on the cross absorbed the judgment that you and I deserve. God’s purist holiness requires sin’s penalty to be paid—and His Son provided that payment.

As he considers this, Paul is moved to exclaim, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Ephesians 1:3).

Considering God’s grace should always move us to praise.

But notice the phrase Paul uses in verses 7-8: “the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us.”

God’s grace is torrential. It is overwhelming. He has poured it out over each one of His children, holding nothing back. And He will continue to do so for eternity.

Imagine that you have just finished your first meal in a high-end restaurant and someone picks up your check, saying, “I’ve got you covered—I’ll pay.”

That’s precisely what God has said to you, me on the grandest scale imaginable.

That is exactly what God is saying to me, to you, to His badly fractured church.

He isn’t saying there is no payment to be made.

He’s saying He has already made the payment.

God’s grace is beyond all limits, extending further than the eye can see or the human heart and soul can possibly grasp.

So, although as you look back on the last day or week, or even the last minutes, you will know that you are 100% sinful, you can also know this: you cannot sin as much as God can forgive, and you can be confident that He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).

Will you believe that the experience of God’s matchless grace in with you NOW?

Will we finally enter our dusty attics, open the long neglected “God in the Box?”

Will we enjoy the experience of grace upon grace upon grace for all of eternity?

Do we want to enjoy the experience of grace upon grace upon grace for eternity?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God of abounding extravagant grace, we thank you today that you do not give in moderation but that you pour your grace lavishly on us. Through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Psalm 23 New Living Translation

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.
²He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
³    He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
⁴Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.
⁵You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.
⁶Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
    all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

God’s Growing Kingdom 2024: Let us just talk a little about some of those Radical Demands of Following Jesus. Acts 2: 1-13

Acts 2:1-13 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Day of Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost ^[a]had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³And there appeared to them tongues as of fire ^[b]distributing themselves, and ^[c]they ^[d]rested on each one of them. ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other ^[e]tongues, as the Spirit was giving them ^[f]utterance.

⁵Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own ^[g] language. ⁷They were amazed and astonished, saying, “^[h]Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we each hear them in our own ^[i] language ^[j]to which we were born? ⁹Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and ^[k]Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and ^[l]visitors from Rome, both Jews and ^[m]proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” ¹²And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of ^[n]sweet wine.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

God’s Growing Kingdom 2024

On the day of Pentecost, God-fearing Jews from many nations were staying in Jerusalem.

They were gathering to celebrate the Feast of Weeks that God had established for his people Israel some 1,500 years earlier (Deuteronomy 16:9-12).

⁹“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰Then you shall ^[a]celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; ¹¹and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your ^[b]town, and the stranger and the ^[c]orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. ¹² You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

They all converged on the temple on Pentecost (fifty days after the Feast of Passover) to bring their offerings of the best firstfruits of their harvests.

That day people from many nations heard the good news of Jesus for the first time. And about 3,000 believed and were baptized (Acts 2:41).

Scholars estimate that the world population was about 300 million people at that time.

That is 1/27th of today’s population.

At the time of his birth, the earth’s entire population was just 300 million, smaller than the U.S. by itself today. The United States 2023 population is estimated at 339,996,563 people at mid year. the United States population is equivalent to 4.23% of the total world population. the U.S.A. ranks number 3 in the list of countries (and dependencies) by population.

In biblical times it is estimated that about 45 million of those people, including Jesus himself, had lived in the Roman Empire, whose borders stretched in Jesus’ time from modern-day Portugal in the west to Turkey in the east.

From there, it took 1,800 years for the world’s population to grow to a billion.

Prior to the 1800s there were few formal immigration laws.

But with the world’s population at over 8 billion today, almost every country has decided to regulate immigration.

Christians are free to differ and disagree over the details of immigration laws.

However, as immigrants, migrants, refugees, and others cross borders today, many hear the gospel for the first time.

God’s people have the opportunity and responsibility to share the gospel with them. As the gospel is shared, many people continue to enter God’s kingdom each day! That of course is a good thing—regardless of views on immigration.

What Are those Radical Demands of Following Jesus?

Luke 14:25-35 The Message

Figure the Cost

^25-27One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

^28-30“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

^31-32“Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

³³“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple.

^34-35“Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it’s useless, good for nothing.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

Without any doubt, there are a great number of the teachings of Jesus that are often easy to remember and even memorize, a bit more difficult perhaps to understand, discern, then extremely challenging to live out in our daily lives.

These lessons are frequently, but not always, described by Jesus through parables, as was his way of teaching. For example:

The parable of the talents. (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28)
The rich young ruler. (Matthew 19:16-23; Mark 10:17-27; Luke 18:18-30)
God or money – we each have to choose. (Matthew 5:38-42)
Forgive others, or God won’t forgive you. (Matthew 6:14-15)
Serve the poor and needy – or go to hell. (Matthew 25:41-46)
Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated. (Luke 6:20-23)
Woe to the rich, and those who are well fed, and those who laugh now, and when everyone speaks well of you. (Luke 6:23-26)

And we could go on. “Turn the other cheek.” “Love your enemies.”

In these and many—perhaps most—of Jesus’ parables, he taught about the life we are called to live—the real terms of discipleship.

He taught about what it would mean to truly follow him.

Perhaps, though, one of the most compelling is when Jesus taught that we must count the cost of becoming his disciples.

Luke 14:25-35 New International Version

The Cost of Being a Disciple

²⁵Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

³⁴“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Wait…what? Hate father and mother, wife and children? Hate our own life?

If those are the terms of discipleship, then we would certainly each be smart to measure that cost, wouldn’t we? But…is that really what Jesus meant?

An Argument Against Cultural Christianity

During his ministry, Jesus had a great many crowds following him, very often thousands upon thousands.

Everyone had heard about the miracles, the healings, and free food!

But Jesus knew their hearts were not always with him. He knew they desired the benefits of what he did.

They wanted to reap the rewards.

They loved his gifts—but not him.

They loved the idea of Jesus without understanding who he truly was.

We see them even today.

Jesus is the one who is going to get us into paradise when we die, right?

He died on the cross to pay for our sins and to give us our forever home in heaven. Right? That’s all, folks! We have our mansion in the sky waiting for us!

Leave it to Jesus to mess up our comfortable lives. Jesus knows our hearts; clearly, a comfortable easy chair life here on earth was not his expectation.

How many today speak the words yet don’t live them out?

How many today can memorize the teachings but not apply them to their lives?

How many put on the show of performing deeds in and for church yet don’t know Christ in their hearts?

We see them even in church.

They have the verses memorized and repeat them as if they believe the words to be true. And maybe they do believe them – but the words don’t move from their heads to their hearts. But God will not be mocked, and Jesus will not be fooled:

Matthew 7:21-29 New International Version

True and False Disciples

²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The Wise and Foolish Builders

²⁴“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

The lesson certainly seems directed at those who do the work and go through the motions but have never given their hearts to Christ.

Or perhaps they made the claim, knowing the expectation, but had never actually lived out the words.

After all, if indeed they had prophesied, cast out demons, and performed miracles in his name, then Jesus would indeed have known them.

Either way, the lesson is that mere words or mere acts without faith—without heart—are not the discipleship Jesus is looking for.

James, the brother of Jesus, put it this way:

James 2:14-24 New International Version

Faith and Deeds

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[a]? ²¹Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[b] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

In other words, if you claim to have faith but it has no impact on how you live your life, your faith is worthless.

If your life isn’t following the teachings of Christ, then you are still lost despite your words.

So many today say they believe.

They love the idea of eternal life, escaping hell, and being able to pray whenever they need anything.

But they are unwilling to give up their earthly desires and the life they now live.

They are more in love with their sinful habits than with Jesus.

1 John 2:15-17 New International Version

On Not Loving the World

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[a] is not in them. ¹⁶For 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 from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

The Cost of Discipleship

So what is it that Jesus expects of us…really?

Jesus often uses hyperbole to make his point.

Clearly, Jesus would not expect us to “gouge out our eye” or “cut off our hand” if they cause us to sin. (Matthew 5:29-32)

Neither are we to truly “hate” our father and mother, our wife and children, or our brothers and sisters.

We know this, as we are called to hate no one.

But Jesus is unmistakable in what he does expect: He wants everything from us.

He wants our full commitment, our entire hearts, entire souls, all our strengths.

Luke 9:21-25 New International Version

Jesus Predicts His Death

²¹Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ²²And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

²³Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

We often tend to understate the meaning of “bearing our cross.”

But when Jesus spoke those words, his listeners thought of the cross only as a means of execution.

We use it as a metaphor.

Jesus was asking them to put to death their prior lives and follow him.

To die to themselves, to life as they know it, to everything they hold near and dear – to follow him to the cross.

Jesus often spoke volumes with just a few words – this being one of those times.

When he calls us to “count the cost,” he does not want us to think we can go halfway naively or be surprised later with the expectations.

And there is no negotiating.

The gift of eternal life is free to anyone who asks and believes (John 3:16) – but it is not a free welfare program.

It requires a commitment on our part – a transfer of ownership of our lives, if you will, to him.

To follow him and follow his commands and teachings.

We can no longer simply follow our own selfish desires – we must give up our “me-first” attitudes and approach to life.

Jesus once described the kingdom of heaven in this way:

Matthew 13:44-51 New International Version

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

Yes! They Replied … Reality would later prove radically different in the Garden of Gethsemane and again in the courtyard and again at the Hill called Calvary.

In each parable, the man sold everything he had.

Each gave up everything to gain the valuable treasure he had found.

That is what Jesus asks of us – to give up all we have, all we are, to be called his disciple.

What Is the Reward?

The disciples of Jesus are either all in—or they are not in at all.

Jesus has laid down some pretty high costs, but with those costs come some incredible rewards.

Matthew 7:24-29 New International Version

The Wise and Foolish Builders

²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

When we simply give lip service to giving our lives to Christ, the words become like political talking points written on cardboard.

They have no strength, no foundation.

Like a house built on sand and cardboard, Christianity cannot stand against the storms of life.

But when we build the house—build our lives—on the rock of faith in Jesus Christ, we can withstand anything and everything that comes against us and will not fall.

We will not fall because our faith is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

By losing our lives, we save them. (Luke 9:24)

When we give up ourselves and give up our lives, we will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. (Luke 14:14)

In other words, what we think we lose here is nothing compared to what we gain with Jesus in eternity.

Paul expressed it very well when he said:

Philippians 3:7-11 New International Version

⁷But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

This Pentecost Day of 2024 and in the days, months ahead, May we each say,

“I consider everything I have lost garbage that I may gain Christ.”

In the name o God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 The Message

16 ^1-2Keep me safe, O God,
I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
Without you, nothing makes sense.

³And these God-chosen lives all around—
what splendid friends they make!

⁴Don’t just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
like brand-names.

^5-6My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!

^7-8The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

^9-10I’m happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
that’s not my destination!

¹¹Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Maybe now is the right time for us all to be reminding ourselves of just who God says we are? 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In a world filled with endless mixed messages, it’s easy to get lost in the fog and be deceived by half-truths or flat-out fabrications of God’s Word.

Just take a gander at some commonly used phrases below.

This, too, shall pass.

God helps those who help themselves.

God works in mysterious ways.

God will never give you more than you can handle.

The eyes are the window into the soul.

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Spare the rod and spoil the child. And on and on.

While many of these well-known statements contain good wisdom and little nuggets of truth, some even referred to or “noted” in the Scriptures, they are often badly taken out of context to spin, weave some sort of personal narrative.

While generally shared in a purposeful and meaningful way to express a softer sentiment or extend comfort, these platitudes can undermine the words of our Savior, causing us take our eyes of the Bible and to lose sight of the real truth.

That said, now, more than ever, we need to have handheld copies of the Bible, maybe even in multiple translations, so when something doesn’t seem to add up or make sense, we can go straight to His Word and seek to find the real and absolute truth God is trying to reveal to us.

In addition, there are even more mixed messages in today’s culture about how we identify, that baffle many, including believers, about who God says we are.

For example, do we know how many total genders are there?

Besides being male and female, there are 72 other genders, which include the following: Agender: A person who does not identify themselves with or experience any gender. Agender people are also called null-gender, genderless, or gender -void or neutral gender. Abimegender: which is Associated with being profound, deep, and infinite.

https://www.medicinenet.com/what_are_the_72_other_genders/article.htm

About trying to sort out these identifications, still being a “good neighbor,” in the divisiveness which currently exists in the church, communicate the gospel?

Communicate, evangelize those who have been “marginalized” by these highly volatile, highly charged, highly politicized and politically motivated divisions?

Are we really precious in His sight? Priceless? Cherished? A one-of-a-kind, unique creation made on purpose? Are we really fully known and fully loved?

Who are we, exactly?

More importantly, nonjudgmentally communicating who does God say we are?

Well, my dear friend, I invite you to grab your Bible and open it up so we can discover some sweet verses that declare who God says you are.

While the list below only scratches the surface, let it prayerfully become a new, refreshed springboard to relish in His love as He proclaims who He says we are!

Then let His Words, beautiful truths, settle into your heart, reminding you that you were so intricately made with love and called to a greater purpose, setting your sights beyond this world and embracing eternity. (2 Corinthians 4:18).

1. God says we are each His beloved child.

1 John 3:1-2 New American Standard Bible 1995

Children of God Love One Another

3 See ^[a]how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ²Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

The very nature of our God is love, which envelops His holiness, purity, righteousness, compassion, justice, and mercy.

While God loves all His creation, when we make our heartfelt profession of faith, we each immediately become His “beloved” children (Romans 10:9-13)

Being a beloved child of God is a powerful statement that holds so much significance as no other relationship will even come close or compare (1 Corinthians 13:11-13).

¹¹When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I ^[a]became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹²For now we see in a mirror ^[b]dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. ¹³But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the ^[c]greatest of these is love.

When we understand the gravity of that, we learn to revere and respect God as Father.

You are the beloved child of the Creator of the universe, and He wants to have an intimate and personal relationship with you. Tuck that in your heart today!

2. God says we are each chosen.

1 Peter 2:9-10 New American Standard Bible 1995

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

God has always had a special place in His heart for the people of Israel.

We see this weaved throughout the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 7:6).

⁶For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His ^[a]own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the ^[b]earth.

As believers, we have the honor and privilege of gaining a spiritual connection to God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In His sovereignty, God chose you (Titus 1:1-3, Ephesians 1:10-14).

I know it is naïve of me to ask; Can we each just say “Praise be to God for that?”

3. God says we are each His holy temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16-20 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁶Do you not know that you are a ^[a]temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷If any man destroys the ^[b]temple of God, God will destroy him, for the ^[c] temple of God is holy, and ^[d]that is what you are.

¹⁸Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; ²⁰and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”

Paul is addressing the church in Corinth, stating that as a church body, God dwells inside of us, allowing each one of us to go forth and live on a mission.

As a church, we are to honor this sacred and holy dwelling and use it to connect and reflect on the nature of God, deepening our faith while also striving to reach out to the lost and unbelievers. God says we are to live with a mission mindset.

We are the light to a lost and dark world (Matthew 5:14-16)!

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city set on a ^[a]hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a ^[b]basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

4. God says we are each made in His image.

Genesis 1:26-27 New American Standard Bible 1995

²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the ^[a]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God never takes His creation lightly.

In fact, when He speaks things into existence, there is value and a grander plan far beyond what we will fully know or begin to understand.

That being said, the very specific human blueprint not only claims we differ from anything else He created but that God’s unique and distinct love for us is quite beautiful and wholly and entirely “one of a kind” unique. Psalm 139:13-18

We matter so deeply to Him that He made us with attributes that resemble His own so that we can connect with Him in a meaningful and purposeful way. Just take time to ponder the thought next time you see your reflection in the mirror.

5. God says we are each valuable.

Matthew 6:25-26 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Cure for Anxiety

²⁵“For this reason I say to you, ^[a]do not be worried about your ^[b]life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the ^[c] air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

In this teaching exchange, Jesus reminds His followers (and us) that our value is far more than that of any other creation, and therefore, if He cares for their basic needs, how much more will He care for us, His most beloved creation?

Obviously enough to ensure our salvation so that we can spend eternity with Him (1 Peter 1:17-19)!

¹⁷If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; ¹⁸knowing that you were not ^[a]redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Yes, we are each, without exception, in the eyes of God, seen as a far beyond priceless treasure, which is why Jesus paid it all so we could each freely live.

There are more and more examples of Holy Scripture which I will continue to bring to you in future posts of this blog. So, please be anticipating, expectant.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lord’s Glory and Man’s Dignity.

For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

8 O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have ^[a]displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
²From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established ^[b]strength
Because of Your adversaries,
To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

³When I ^[c]consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ^[d]ordained;
⁴What is man that You ^[e]take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
⁵Yet You have made him a little lower than ^[f]God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
⁶You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
⁷All sheep and oxen,
And also the ^[g]beasts of the field,
⁸The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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While we are all too busy going our own ways, following the tunes of our own heart beats and ignoring others’, Are we Hearing the Heartbeat Of God? 1 Samuel 13:13-14

1 Samuel 13:13-14 The Message

^13-14“That was a fool thing to do,” Samuel said to Saul. “If you had kept the appointment that your God commanded, by now God would have set a firm and lasting foundation under your kingly rule over Israel. As it is, your kingly rule is already falling to pieces. God is out looking for your replacement right now. This time he’ll do the choosing. When he finds him, he’ll appoint him leader of his people. And all because you didn’t keep your appointment with God!”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Have you ever laid your head down on top of someone’s chest and heard their heartbeat.

If you were to do that you had to be pretty close to the individual whose heart you heard.

Unless you were a Doctor or a Nurse or a related healthcare professional, You don’t just go up to someone on the street and say “May I listen to your heart?”

I can only begin to imagine the wild array and diversity of words and phrases that would come spewing out of peoples mouths in that moment of intrusion.

Many quote 1 Samuel 16:7 and say that David is a man after God’s heart but never tell us clearly what the heartbeat sounds like.

1 Samuel 16:7 The Message

⁷But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”

I want to do the best I can to try and help you the reader along with laying our heads on God the Fathers Chest, trying to hear His heartbeat over our very own.

What is God’s desire, what does He really want?

What do we learn as we hear the heartbeat of God?

The heartbeat of God is the heart of man.

Mark 7:14-23 The Message

^14-15Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.”

¹⁷When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, “We don’t get it. Put it in plain language.”

^18-19Jesus said, “Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you see that what you swallow can’t contaminate you? It doesn’t enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed.” (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.)

^20-23He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.”

I. God desires men and women’s hearts

Why is Go so concerned with our hearts.

Is it just that God is a completely selfish tyrant that believes it belongs only to Him?

The answer is Yes and no.

As our creator our hearts belong to Him first and foremost.

It is not merely for Him that he desires our hearts.

Listen Closely to the words of Jesus.

Mark 7: 21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit sensuality, envy slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceeds from within and defile the man.”

Jesus just gave the reason for evil in the World of man it is the hear t of man.

It is evil.

Jesus clearly told us why our upward, outward relationships are out of whack.

A) The Upward and Outward

Mark 12:28-34

Mark 12:28-34 The Message

The Most Important Commandment

²⁸One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: “Which is most important of all the commandments?”

^29-31Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”

^32-33The religion scholar said, “A wonderful answer, Teacher! So clear-cut and accurate—that God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that’s better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!”

³⁴When Jesus realized how insightful he was, he said, “You’re almost there, right on the border of God’s kingdom.”

After that, no one else dared ask a question.

If you remember the story a group of Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes were trying to trap Jesus.

Now think about this with me.

If he were a man wouldn’t it have been terribly easy for them to trip Jesus up.

I mean this was a carpenter’s son.

Don’t Forget He is the Son of God.

One man asked him what some believe to be a sincere question.

What is the foremost commandment of all?

Jesus’ answer reflected Moses’ plus Leviticus: Hear O Israel, the Lord is one God Love Him with your all. All you heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second Is this, you shall love you neighbor as yourself, there is no other commandment greater.

It is clear and has been said that Jesus summarized the ten commandments.

He clearly showed us that our upward relationship to God must be right for our outward relationships to be right.

A relationship with God does not create murder, evil thought, theft, adultery, envy, deceit, pride or foolishness.

Are you at the end of your rope in your relationship with your husband, with you wife, with you children, friends, co-workers.

Realize if they are not a Christian then you have the very great opportunity of showing them what a real God can do for relationships.

B) The Kingdom of God

The Upward is where Matthew talks of the Kingdom of God.

The phrase Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is used more than 100 times in the New Testament.

The word Kingdom comes from a Greek word that means not territory but means dominion.

So we see that the domain of God is the heart.

The throne of the King of Kings is the heart of those who believe.

Why is this so important.

He is also the wonderful counselor, professional sessions every minute of every day. He is the prince of peace. For the peace of heart and mind He must sit on the throne. He is the Mighty God. The Great Physician. On and on we could Go.

If Jesus were authentically in complete dominion of all the hearts of churches there would be no division or rancor, no chaotic competition with our culture because there is One Lord, One Baptism, one Mission, The Kingdom of God.

That is what Home for you Heart for the world is about.

John 14:15-17 The Message

The Spirit of Truth

^15-17“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

Letting God be at home within us so that our hearts will be shaped, reshaped and slowly, but inevitably transformed to care for others being our neighbors.

Romans 12:1-2 The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 ^1-2So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Transformation: Hearts of Stone into Hearts of Flesh

Ezekiel 36:26-28 The Message

^24-28“‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God!

A Heart of Truth:

1 Timothy 2:4-7 The Message

^4-7He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

This is an anonymous quote,

“The relationship between truth and holiness is similar to that between light and Vision. Light cannot create an eye or give a blind eye vision, but It is essential to seeing. Wherever light penetrates, it dissipates darkness and brings everything into view. In a similar manner, truth cannot regenerate or impart spiritual life, but it is essential to the practice of holiness. Wherever truth penetrates, it dissipates error and reveals everything for what it really is.”

When we have hearts of truth we see things as God sees them.

We no longer laugh at sin we hate sin. I don’t know about you but the longer I live the more uncomfortable I become in this world.

It seems that there is enormous untruth many places we turn.

The news media, social media, politicians, religious people, and ministers too.

God desires to create in us a heart of truth so that through our lives he can use us to reveal untruth to others.

A heart that is filled with truth will know mercy and will know forgiveness.

B) A Heart of forgiveness

I would say mercy and forgiveness is the long forgotten fruit of Christians.

Jesus on the Cross “father forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

I have the secret to all the problems in the church as well as our Christian lives;

Colossians 3:12-14 The Message

^12-14So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

A man named John Oglethorpe, while talking to John Wesley, once made the comment, ‘I never forgive.”

Mr. Wesley wisely replied, “Then Sir, I hope you never sin either.”

A heart of un-forgiveness cannot know the great God of mercy and grace.

Un-forgiveness starts out as a fortress yet ultimately becomes a prison with bars of bitterness and chains of hatred.

A heart filled with forgiveness will be a heart that yearns to serve.

C) A Heart of service

Acts 13:16-22 The Message

^16-20Paul stood up, paused and took a deep breath, then said, “Fellow Israelites and friends of God, listen. God took a special interest in our ancestors, pulled our people who were beaten down in Egyptian exile to their feet, and led them out of there in grand style. He took good care of them for nearly forty years in that godforsaken wilderness and then, having wiped out seven enemies who stood in the way, gave them the land of Canaan for their very own—a span in all of about 450 years.

^20-22“Up to the time of Samuel the prophet, God provided judges to lead them. But then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, out of the tribe of Benjamin. After Saul had ruled forty years, God removed him from office and put King David in his place, with this commendation: ‘I’ve searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He’s a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.’

What does it mean to serve God.

What does it mean to have a heart of service.

It means no matter the cost no matter the distance we do God’s will.

The late 19th century Evangelist Reverend DL Moody once said, “The measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.”

III. God desires to deploy people after His own heart

Romans 10:8-10 New American Standard Bible 1995

⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” —that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, ^9 [a]that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰for with the heart a person believes, ^[b]resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, ^[c]resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:10 “For with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness. and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

A heart for the world begins with hearing the heart of God.

So God desires our hearts to always be ready, willing and able to serve so he can create in us a new heart of truth, true mercy forgiveness, and authentic service.

He is telling us in His word we should redeem the time for the days are evil.

Matthew 24:42-51 New American Standard Bible 1995

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴²“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³But ^[a]be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be ^[b]broken into. ⁴⁴For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his ^[c]master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶Blessed is that slave whom his ^[d]master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My ^[e]master ^[f]is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰the ^[g]master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, ⁵¹and will ^[h]cut him in pieces and ^[i]assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

He is saying to all of our Churches: “I have appointed you for such a time as this.”

Just as an Army Ranger is told Go before they repel or parachute out of some air craft. Just as Air Force pilots are given the go ahead , just as marines are told go as they take to the field of battle, Navies sets sails. God has clearly told us to Go!

The real heart of God is the kingdom of God. The rule of God in the hearts, minds, and lives of people. Lord’s prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Conclusion:

The heartbeat of God is the heart of man.

It was in Jesus Christ that this good news really was communicated clearly.

Mark 1:14-17 New American Standard Bible 1995

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

¹⁴Now after John had been ^[a]taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, ^[b] preaching the gospel of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God ^[c]is at hand; repent and ^[d]believe in the gospel.”

¹⁶As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Acknowledgement in our hearts to the summons from God; the Good news will come easily from your lips, when Jesus Christ reigns completely in your heart.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 61 New American Standard Bible 1995

Confidence in God’s Protection.

For the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.

61 Hear my cry, O God;
Give heed to my prayer.
²From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
³For You have been a refuge for me,
A tower of strength ^[a]against the enemy.
⁴Let me ^[b]dwell in Your tent forever;
Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. ^[c]Selah.

⁵For You have heard my vows, O God;
You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.
⁶You will ^[d]prolong the king’s ^[e]life;
His years will be as many generations.
⁷He will ^[f]abide before God forever;
Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve him.
⁸So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
That I may pay my vows day by day.

How is your heart today?

Why is your heart feeling like it is today?

Where is your heart today?

Why is your located where it is today?

We can never have a heart for the world if God is not home in ours!!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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There is a Tension inside our Camps; The Church: God’s Imperfect People. Act 6:1-6

Acts 6:1-6 New Living Translation

Seven Men Chosen to Serve

6 But as the believers^[a] rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

²So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. ³And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. ⁴Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

⁵Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). ⁶These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

There is definitely Tension inside our Camps

We don’t often enjoy tension. Whether it’s in an organization, a business, a family, a friendship, or even a church, tension can really mess with things. But what if we can each refocus the tension and see if it creates a new opportunity?

Things were getting a bit tense in the fast-growing group of Jesus’ followers.

Feelings were hurt, some people were left out, and some of them began to complain.

Another word for this is “grumbling.”

If you have heard the story of God’s people wandering in the desert after being freed from Egypt, you know that it did not take long for them to start grumbling (Exodus 16).

What unfolds in this moment in Acts 6 is an opportunity to decentralize the responsibilities of serving. The community has grown so large that it’s time to appoint leaders who can help take care of some needs that aren’t being met.

When we take time to pray in the tension, we are able to see new opportunities.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 New Living Translation

⁹What do people really get for all their hard work? ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. ¹¹Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ¹²So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. ¹³And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

It’s easy to grumble.

It is easy to keep grumbling-grumbling has its own unique kind of momentum.

It’s also easy to find some people to grumble with.

It is easy too to form social clubs or social media chats to encourage world wide grumbling and in the process get everything more confused than it needs to be.

But if we step back and look at things from another angle, not ever our own but God’s alone, we might see grace, an opportunity to start something beautiful.

Too often in my life I have let the grumbling dictate the bulk of my actions and let my behaviors get in the way of what God may want to teach or reveal to me.

How can we take a few steps back and reframe what we are going through?

What new Kingdom of God things might arise from the mounting tension?

The Church: God’s Imperfect People

Acts 6:1-6 Easy-to-Read Version

Seven Men Chosen for a Special Work

6 More and more people were becoming followers of Jesus. But during this same time, the Greek-speaking followers began to complain against the other Jewish followers. They said that their widows were not getting their share of what the followers received every day. ²The twelve apostles called the whole group of followers together.

The apostles said to them, “It would not be right for us to give up our work of teaching God’s word in order to be in charge of getting food to people. ³So, brothers and sisters, choose seven of your men who have a good reputation. They must be full of wisdom and the Spirit. We will give them this work to do. ⁴Then we can use all our time to pray and to teach the word of God.”

⁵The whole group liked the idea. So they chose these seven men: Stephen (a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit), Philip,^[a] Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus (a man from Antioch who had become a Jew). ⁶Then they put these men before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.^[b]

As I prepared for this devotional, I thought about the children’s story Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Now Goldilocks and the Three Bears was not my favorite childhood story.

However, I thought about all the tensions that Goldilocks went through when she encountered the bears’ environment:

This porridge was too hot, this porridge was too cold. This bed was too hard, this bed was too soft. Having found the right porridge and right bed, she did not enjoy her stay too long because a situation filled with conflict confronted her in the form of the arrival of three unhappy and surprised bears and she took off.

I think that it safe to say that sometimes we the public have the same kind of terse feelings about the church just like Goldilocks had about the bears’ home.

On the one hand, we love the church and can’t live without her. On the other hand, we find sermons long and boring, the music either too old or too new, the people too friendly or too cold, the theology of the pastor too left or too right.

On one hand, we turn to the church in times of crisis and need to hear a word of hope. On the other hand, when things are going well the church seems to be an interruption and we find her message a bit disconcerting and uncomfortable.

On one hand, we expect the church, to be all things to all people all the time. On the other hand, we sometimes feel inconvenienced when we are asked to help.

Ideologically, theologically, philosophically, even politically, we all have mixed feelings about the church.

Why is that?

Well for one reason, the spiritual nature of the church.

The church is not a for profit organization. It is the called of God, the ecclesia.

The church deals more than just with a financial statements, business matters, and programming issues. It deals with deeper matters of our hearts and souls.

And those matters of the heart and soul are all about attitude, about priorities, about thoughts and behaviors.

Matters that go to the very core of our humanity. Matters that cannot be redesigned by engineering departments or discussed with human resources.

Another reason that we all have mixed feelings about the church has to do with conflict. It seems that when conflict rears its ugly head, we begin to have second third and fourth thoughts about the stability, purpose and role of the church.

Why is that?

Perhaps we expect the church to be conflict free.

Maybe we assume that once we are saved, then everything is all right and that there is no more conflict. That’s the ideal but not even close to being the real.

Or maybe we feel that conflict is “sinful” or we are too deep and steadfast in our righteousness and that to admit to conflict is to admit that we are not perfect.

Isaiah 53:6 Amplified Bible

⁶
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us].

Not all conflict is wrong.

Some conflict is present because of the reality of good and evil in this world.

Which very much involves the church.

Unstoppable Tension! ‘Growth Can Cause Problems!’

Acts 6:1-6 Amplified Bible

Choosing of the Seven

6 Now about this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, a complaint was made by the ^[a]Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) against the [^[b]native] Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. ²So the ^[c]Twelve called the disciples together and said, “It is not appropriate for us to neglect [teaching] the word of God in order to serve tables and manage the distribution of food. ³Therefore, brothers, choose from among you seven men with good reputations [men of godly character and moral integrity], full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. ⁴But we will [continue to] devote ourselves [steadfastly] to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵The suggestion pleased the whole congregation; and they selected ^[d]Stephen, a man full of faith [in Christ Jesus], and [filled with and led by] the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas (Nikolaos), a proselyte (Gentile convert) from Antioch. ⁶They brought these men before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them [to dedicate and commission them for this service].

Tension is inevitable.

Tension is unavoidable.

Tension can be effectively managed, turned into significant kingdom growth.

The number of disciples increased rapidly as many people believed in Jesus as the Messiah!

Myriads upon Myriads of the new believers had traveled a great distance over land and sea to get to Jerusalem from their respective foreign lands (Acts 2:5-11), so it is inevitable that some, if not most of them, spoke foreign languages.

The needs of the Greek-speaking widows were not being met despite the believers’ earlier efforts to help all among them with needs (Acts 4:32-37).

Growth without loving concern causes problems that the evil one can exploit.

In the midst of the tension, we must listen and respond with grace and patience to address potentially any divisive problems lovingly, quickly, fairly, wisely!

Galatians 3:26-29 Amplified Bible

²⁶For you [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified and] are all children of God [set apart for His purpose with full rights and privileges] through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For all of you who were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union with the Christ, the Anointed] have clothed yourselves with Christ [that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values]. ²⁸There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority]. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ [if you are in Him], then you are Abraham’s descendants, and [spiritual] heirs according to [God’s] promise.

The early disciples took hold of the tension and did just that and the Gospel did spread, and the people got served and their whole host of needs had gotten met.

So, over the coming days, following General Conference, in the diversity of and in all the seriousness of the tensions created please pray, study how they did so.

Their Acts 6:1-6 solutions to the problem is an excellent example for us today.

How can this passage of Scripture be a catalyst to start the necessary debates?

How can the church continue in its great commission amidst todays’ tension?

Will we choose to be part of the problem or choose to continue and fester the problem or will we find that One way, One someway – God is saying “go forth.”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

O Father, may we be known as people who love each other as family. Please do not let racial, cultural, socio-economic status, political, or ethnic differences divide us and allow Satan a foothold to destroy the spread of the Good News of Jesus. Amen.

Psalm 80 New American Standard Bible 1995

God Implored to Rescue His People from Their Calamities.

For the choir director; set to ^[a]El Shoshannim; ^[b]Eduth. A Psalm of Asaph.

80 Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!
²Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power
And come to save us!
³O God, restore us
And cause Your face to shine upon us, ^[c]and we will be saved.

⁴O Lord God of hosts,
How long will You ^[d]be angry with the prayer of Your people?
⁵You have fed them with the bread of tears,
And You have made them to drink tears in ^[e]large measure.
⁶You make us ^[f]an object of contention to our neighbors,
And our enemies laugh among themselves.
⁷O God of hosts, restore us
And cause Your face to shine upon us, ^[g]and we will be saved.

⁸You removed a vine from Egypt;
You drove out the ^[h]nations and planted it.
⁹You cleared the ground before it,
And it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰The mountains were covered with its shadow,
And ^[i]the cedars of God with its boughs.
¹¹It was sending out its branches to the sea
And its shoots to the River.
¹²Why have You broken down its ^[j]hedges,
So that all who pass that way pick its fruit?
¹³A boar from the forest eats it away
And whatever moves in the field feeds on it.

¹⁴O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You;
Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine,
¹⁵Even the ^[k]shoot which Your right hand has planted,
And on the ^[l]son whom You have ^[m]strengthened for Yourself.
¹⁶It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
¹⁷Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
¹⁸Then we shall not turn back from You;
Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
¹⁹O Lord God of hosts, restore us;
Cause Your face to shine upon us, ^[n]and we will be saved.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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“If we are truly the Body of Christ?” those Ninety-nine and One: God and the Unthinking Sheep of His Pasture. Luke 15:1-7

Luke 15:1-7 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lost Sheep

15 Now all the tax collectors and the ^[a]sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. ²Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³So He told them this parable, saying, ⁴“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the ^[b]open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Ninety-nine and One

Luke 15:1-2 Amplified Bible

The Lost Sheep

15 Now all the tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews] were coming near Jesus to listen to Him. ²Both the Pharisees and the scribes began muttering and complaining, saying, “This man accepts and welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

There is this famous saying among Jewish rabbis:

“Whoever saves one soul, saves the whole world.”

Its wisdom is deeper than what is called “common sense.”

It is deeper than the famous Zen saying,

“Imagine the sound of one hand clapping,” which is designed to jar a person into moving beyond the limits of reason.

Some people are “numbers people,” and their contribution to the orderly functioning of society and the body of Christ is indispensable.

But in order to understand Luke’s Gospel narrative, Jesus’ story of the shepherd who leaves a flock of 99 to go search for just one lost sheep, we must remember how God made each of us in his own image.

From the first words of Genesis to the last words of Revelation, holy scripture repeatedly emphasizes and speaks about the infinite value of one single human being because each and every single one of us humans are made in God’s image.

C. S. Lewis rightly criticized the vulgarity of those who will seek to make us feel as insignificant as the dust because the universe is so huge and we are so small.

Christian Missionaries definitely treasure this single parable because they must sometimes work many years in a stubborn land to lead one lost person to Christ.

Never allow yourself to think that you count for nothing.

Think instead upon: Christ who lived, ministered among us and died to rekindle the spark of the image of God placed within His church that makes us human.

God and all of those Unthinking Sheep of His Pasture

Luke 15:3-7 Amplified Bible

³So He told them this parable: ⁴“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, [searching] until he finds it? ⁵And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶And when he gets home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

There is something unusual about sheep.

Unlike other animals they do not often deliberately run away.

A cat or dog who wants to be free, given a chance, will leave, just like that.

But sheep do not.

They only wander away.

They do not mean to.

This is the picture our Lord gives us of certain people who do not intend to get lost; they do not originally intend to wander or run away and waste their lives.

They do not intend to wander off into something dangerous and destructive.

But, little by little, concentrating only on the now, present, they wander away.

Eventually they wake up to realize they are lost, that life is suddenly empty, that their hearts are burdened, heavy with guilt — will not know how it happened.

They are not happy to be lost; they hate it.

They long to belong.

There are millions like this today.

Some are poor and obscure.

Some are intent on simply making a living, on feeding themselves.

Some are rich and prominent.

All over this vast globe, people are suffering from destination sickness, i.e. the sickness of those who have already arrived at their destination, who have all they want; but they sadly discover that they do not want anything they have.

Notice the shepherd’s response.

He left the ninety and nine in the wilderness and went after the one.

That pictures the activity of God, as expressed in the person of the Lord Jesus himself. He left everything to come and find us.

As Paul states it so wonderfully in the letter to the Philippians, he did not count the fact that he was equal with God a thing to be held on to, but instead emptied himself, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). He left, and he came.

Philippians 2:5-11 Amplified Bible

⁵Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility], ⁶who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; ⁷but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. ⁸After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus ^[a]every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father.

In worship services it is common to sing songs of praise and hymns to God our Savior.

In many ways, the Apostles’ Creed is like a hymn, and many songs have been composed from the words of this creed.

The Bible includes many song texts as well, and this reading from Philippians 2 includes one of them.

This text in verses 6-11 appears to be a hymn (or part of one) that was recited and sung by early Christians in the first century.

And the apostle Paul uses it to summarize a number of important teachings as he urges readers to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”

In some ways like the Apostles’ Creed, this ancient hymn tells us who Jesus is, what he willingly sacrificed for us, and what will happen when he comes again.

Imagine yourself in a worship service 2,000 years ago, surrounded by sisters and brothers in the Lord and singing these words together.

Then reread (or even sing) this ancient hymn that has echoed down through the centuries. Reflect long and meditate much upon the deep, life-changing truths we can each celebrate only because of “Jesus, Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.”

This hymn in Scripture, like the Apostle’s Creed, allows God’s Word to settle deep into our hearts and souls. And it calls us to humble ourselves like Jesus in all our relationships as we seek to live for God by loving and serving each other.

Finally, notice Luke emphasizes all the rejoicing over the recovery of the lost.

Luke 15:5-7 Amplified Bible

⁵And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶And when he gets home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

This reveals the high value that God sets his sights on all lost men and women.

They are never worthless in his sight. They are made in his image and are of unspeakable value to God. They bear his own image, marred and ruined as that image may be, and he longs to find them and reach them all, restore them all.

Do I feel the same spirit of compassion as the God who longs to reach the lost?

Am I involving myself in this greatest enterprise of God to find these people?

Matthew 28:16-20 Amplified Bible

The Great Commission

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted [that it was really He]. ¹⁸Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

To what degree, measure of Spirit does the Body of Christ, the Church which is supposed to go to all the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) authentically participate?

To what degree, measure of Spirit does the Body of Christ, the Church which is supposed to go to all the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) authentically value all life?

IF, and that is definitely a GOD sized IF, we ARE the authentic Body of Christ …

What of all those “99’s?”

What of all those “1’s?”

What of our 100% rejoicing for God with the same measure God rejoices for us?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

For the ninety nine and the one. Jesus, out of love, you poured out your life for us; now help us, out of love, to pour out our lives for each other. In your name, Amen.

Psalm 139 New American Standard Bible 1995

God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
²You know ^[a]when I sit down and ^[b]when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
³You ^[c]scrutinize my ^[d]path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
^4 [e]Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
⁵You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
⁸If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in ^[f]Sheol, behold, You are there.
⁹If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
¹⁰Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will ^[g]overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
¹²Even the darkness is not dark ^[h]to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

¹³For You formed my ^[i]inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I will give thanks to You, for ^[j]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵My ^[k]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
¹⁶Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

¹⁷How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

¹⁹O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
²⁰For they speak ^[l]against You wickedly,
And Your enemies ^[m]take Your name in vain.
²¹Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
²²I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
²⁴And see if there be any ^[n]hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division from our God’s Garden. John 12:20-26

John 12:20-26 New American Standard Bible 1995

Greeks Seek Jesus

²⁰Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; ²¹these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip *came and *told Andrew; Andrew and Philip *came and *told Jesus. ²³And Jesus *answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵He who loves his ^[a]life loses it, and he who hates his ^[b]life in this world will keep it to life eternal. ²⁶If anyone ^[c]serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone ^[d]serves Me, the Father will honor him.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Mathematics in God’s Garden

John 12:23-25 Amplified Bible

²³And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified and exalted. ²⁴I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone [just one grain, never more]. But if it dies, it produces much grain and yields a harvest. ²⁵The one who loves his life [eventually] loses it [through death], but the one who hates his life in this world [and is concerned with pleasing God] will keep it for life eternal.

Plants and bushes multiply in a variety of amazing ways.

Raspberry bushes send out runners from their roots and start new shoots.

Grape vines, strawberry plans, potatoes, pumpkins and cucumbers and carrots all seem to need no help in producing a bounty of produce when one is planted.

So raspberry and blackberry patches are constantly ever expanding, and we are able to cut away plants easily for friends and family to start their own patches.

Planting eight cloves of garlic before winter produces eight new garlic plants, and each plant produces seven or eight cloves of garlic the next summer—a promise of good increase.

Jesus, an astute observer of life in God’s garden, chooses wheat as an example of amazing multiplication.

As he said, one kernel “produces many seeds.”

Today we know that one seed of wheat planted in the ground yields 20-25 kernels of new wheat.

Further, Jesus was making a more profound point.

Jesus is speaking of himself in this parable.

He is the grain of wheat.

He is the Son of God, compelling, compassionate, living the life of God in the midst of men, and yet wholly as a man.

Crowds everywhere left their work and followed him.

They sensed that here was a man who possessed the secret of life.

He had nothing that men thought was necessary to living.

He had no material possessions.

He did not even have a place to lay his head.

He had no influence with the authorities. Yet, everywhere he went, people sensed that he understood the secrets of life. So he was like a single grain of wheat, alone amidst other grains of wheat, sharing nothing with the others.

He could have remained that way.

He did not need to die.

He was no martyr to a failing cause.

He was not forced to the cross.

He had no need to lay down his life, for he could have returned to the Father.

There would have been no blame attached to him if he had.

He could have chosen to return to the Father, having demonstrated before all men exactly what God wanted man to be, and left us with that demonstration and gone back to heaven.

But, as he says, if he had done that he would have remained alone.

For the rest of eternity, though he would have been thronged with angels and all the other created beings of God’s universe, he would have been alone.

There would have been no one else like him in all the universe.

John 10:11-18 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹¹“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, ¹⁵even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. ¹⁸No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

This is very important, because it gives us our first clue as to what our Lord is really unveiling here, the problem that affects so many of us — loneliness.

There is a difference between being alone and being lonely.

One can be alone and not be at all lonely.

Or you can be in the midst of a crowd, and be utterly lonely.

This is what Jesus is referring to.

He is not talking about being alone; he is talking about being eternally lonely.

Dr. F. B. Meyer once said, Many people complain of lonely and solitary lives.

They suppose their condition is due to the failure of other people.

It is, however, attributable to the fact that they have never fallen into the ground to die, but have always consulted their own ease and well-being.

They have never learned that the cure for loneliness comes from sowing oneself in a grave of daily sacrifice.

There he puts his finger upon the cause of this distressing loneliness that still bothers so many today.

It is an attempt to hold on to life, to grasp it for oneself, and this results in an undeveloped life.

Our Lord knew the deepest craving of the Father’s heart; that he might bring many sons to glory.

1 Timothy 2:1-6 New American Standard Bible 1995

A Call to Prayer

2 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, ²for kings and all who are in ^[a]authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and ^[b]dignity. ³This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who desires all men to be saved and to come to the ^[c]knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony ^[d]given at ^[e]the proper time.

But to do that it was necessary that he die.

There was no other way by which what he was could be given to us.

John 1:11-13 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹¹He came to His ^[a]own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ¹³who were ^[b]born, not of ^[c]blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:11-12 says, he came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. As many as received him, to them he gives the power to share in the abundance of his own life.

But how is that life made available?

John 12:23-26 New American Standard Bible 1995

²³And Jesus *answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵He who loves his ^[a]life loses it, and he who hates his ^[b]life in this world will keep it to life eternal. ²⁶If anyone ^[c] serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone ^[d]serves Me, the Father will honor him.

It is only available by dying to ourselves.

But we fear such dying, do we not?

What the Lord Jesus is saying to us in John 12:23-26 is that there will be, can be, no authentic deliverance from the loneliness and emptiness of this world’s life until we Psalm 51 learn to renounce that kind of living then live into Psalm 32.

Psalm 32 New American Standard Bible 1995

Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David. A ^[a]Maskil.

32 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
²How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

³When I kept silent about my sin, my ^[b]body wasted away
Through my ^[c]groaning all day long.
⁴For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My ^[d]vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. ^[e]Selah.
⁵I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the ^[f]guilt of my sin. Selah.
⁶Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You ^[g]in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
⁷You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with ^[h]songs of deliverance. Selah.

⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
⁹Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
¹⁰Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.
¹¹Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

Just as a single wheat seed “falls to the ground and dies” then “produces many seeds,” his own death and his resurrection produces an over abundance of new life, acres and uncountable acres of harvested souls in a multitude of followers.

1 Corinthians 3:5-9 New American Standard Bible 1995

⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. ⁷So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. ⁸Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own ^[a]reward according to his own labor. ⁹For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s ^[b]field, God’s building.

From the first words of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, we can trust in his sure promise of multiplication and eternal life as we follow him in dying to ourselves and serving others out of the over abundance of our new life in him.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father of all life, let us thank you for sending your one and only Son to die, rise, and multiply his life in all who follow him. Inspire and strengthen me to lay down my life and serve others. Lord, thank you for showing me that the way to life is through my dying to myself. I confess I fear such dying, so I ask that you help me to live this out.

Psalm 16 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lord the Psalmist’s Portion in Life and Deliverer in Death.

A ^[a]Mikhtam of David.

16 Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
^2 [b]I said to the Lord, “You are ^[c]my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
³As for the ^[d]saints who are in the earth,
^[e]They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
⁴The ^[f]sorrows of those who have ^[g]bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

⁵The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

⁷I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my ^[h]mind instructs me in the night.
⁸I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
¹⁰For You will not abandon my soul to ^[i]Sheol;
Nor will You ^[j]allow Your ^[k]Holy One to ^[l]undergo decay.
¹¹You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Our Glorifying and Our Praising for the Creator of the Heavens and Earth. Psalm 33

Psalm 33 New American Standard Bible 1995

Praise to the Creator and Preserver.

33 Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
²Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
³Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
⁴For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all His work is done in faithfulness.
⁵He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

⁶By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together ^[a]as a heap;
He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
⁸Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
⁹For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it ^[b]stood fast.
¹⁰The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations;
He frustrates the plans of the peoples.
¹¹The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

¹³The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men;
¹⁴From His dwelling place He looks out
On all the inhabitants of the earth,
¹⁵He who fashions ^[c]the hearts of them all,
He who understands all their works.
¹⁶The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
¹⁷A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.

¹⁸Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who ^[d]hope for His lovingkindness,
¹⁹To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
²⁰Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
²¹For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
²²Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have ^[e]hoped in You.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Though I wasn’t a carpenter by trade, in my youth I loved to work with wood.

I enjoyed the effort of taking pieces of scrap wood of any size or shape and condition and just transforming them into something useful and pleasing.

As creatures made in the image of God, (Genesis 1:26-28) we all have an inborn desire to make things useful and lovely.

In this stewardship we imitate God, who created the heavens and the earth.

For the reader Psalm 33 recalls God’s almighty power in creating everything around us: the sky, the sun, the stars, the mountains, the rivers, the oceans.

God not only created all that we see; he also created good things we can’t see—like air, gravity, and sound, as well as forgiveness, love, goodness, and justice.

God did this, as the psalm says in verse 6, through the power of his spoken word.

When we say, with the Apostle’s Creed, that God is the “creator of heaven and earth,” we are acknowledging, declaring and recalling that the same God who made the mountains, forests, the rivers and oceans made each one of us too.

Psalm 139:13-18 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹³For You formed my ^[a]inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I will give thanks to You, for ^[b]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵My ^[c]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
¹⁶Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

¹⁷How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

What’s more, we are declaring and praising that this God hasn’t stepped back from what he has made; no, he still delights in preserving and in sustaining it.

We can each take great comfort in knowing that the all-powerful Creator and sustainer, God Almighty, is the one that we also call our heavenly Father.

There is never a time or a single moment that God does not care for us and too about us; he knows what we need; he will never let us slip from his tender care.

How Can We Use Our Creative Talents to Glorify God?

Genesis 1:1-5 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Creation

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was ^[a] formless and void, and darkness was over the ^[b]surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was ^[c]moving over the ^[d]surface of the waters. ³Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

It is written in the very first line of the Bible: “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1, emphasis added).

Creativity begins with God.

He had a very definite plan and design for the cosmos and spoke it into being.

We have a written account of how creation came to be, and how the very first people were made by God. God spoke, made, and revealed it all through the written word. He was behind the entire creative order that we see around us.

When we do look at the intricacy of a human being, the intricacy of a snowflake, the symmetry of a butterfly, or the perfect location of the earth’s position in the rest of the solar system, we see the deep intricate handiwork of our Creator God.

He also planned that we would be made in His image (Genesis 1:26), so it is no surprise that we get to experience the wonder and joy of creativity ourselves.

With all of this God given uniquely individualized creative potential, do we ever wonder exactly how we can all use our uniquely creative talents to glorify God?

Give All the Glory and Praise to God Alone

Whatever we do, we are to do it to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

That includes our creative endeavors.

As the apostle Paul shared,

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).

In Colossians 1:16 it says: “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

It is through Jesus that everything has been made and it is all for Him (John 1:3).

God made the universe through His Son (Hebrews 1:2) and it is by faith that “we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). It is right and good and joyful to give all glory to the One who made it all and for whom it is all for.

It also fulfills the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Luke 10:27).

What we create should not be worshiped, nor should we glorify ourselves or others in our creative pursuits.

That does not mean that we do not enjoy or appreciate what we create, but we acknowledge, remember to keep our love and affections in their rightful place.

Not Only Praise but Participate in God’s Masterpiece

Genesis 2:19-23 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁹Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the ^[a]sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the ^[b]sky, and to every beast of the field, but for ^[c]Adam there was not found a helper ^[d]suitable for him. ²¹So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²²The Lord God ^[e]fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ²³The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
^[f]She shall be called ^[g]Woman,
Because ^[h]she was taken out of ^[i]Man.”

We all have the immense privilege of joining with God in His creative purposes for the world. It was God’s wonderful idea to create people and to get the first man to name the livestock, the birds and the wild animals (Genesis 2:20).

God “brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name” (Genesis 2:19).

From the very beginning every moment of this was God’s idea to involve us in the creative stewardship of His creation, it was not an idea of our own making.

God made the first woman as a helper, creating her from the rib of the man, and he named her too (Genesis 2:21-23). They would work together in the world.

God invites every single one of us to uniquely participate in His grand design on earth, and His kingdom purposes.

We are made in His image and formed by Him, and God has a plan and a purpose, establishing our steps (Proverbs 16:9).

We can each use our creative talents for good or for ill, but as we look to Jesus, our desires will become more and more like His. Using our creativity enables us to uniquely express a part of who God has designed us to be (Psalm 139:13-16).

That will look different for each person, as we are all individuals with unique gifts and abilities, yet we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made” by Him (Psalm 139:14).

Glorify God by Our Love for Others with Our Creativity

Mark 12:28-34 New American Standard Bible 1995

²⁸One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the ^[a]foremost of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; ³⁰and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³²The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; ³³and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

It is important to remember the first two commandments as we create: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Loving the Lord comes first. We need to spend time with Him regularly; it is vital to build and nurture a relationship with our Heavenly Father. As we do this, it will truly transform our longings and desires to love and serve others.

God loves the people whom He created, and He designed us to be in community together. As we create to the glory and honor of God and out of love for Him, it will spill over into how we use our talents, our time, our resources for others.

This might look like caring for those in need, volunteering our skills, designing something to the best of our ability with utmost integrity, photographing or painting beautiful landscapes to show God’s work on display, so much more.

There are endless opportunities to be creative.

The people in our homes, communities and our churches and the wider world can be mightily blessed, uplifted and too inspired by our God-given creativity.

Manage Our Creative Talents Well

James 1:12-17 New American Standard Bible 1995

¹²Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has ^[a]been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted ^[b]by God”; for God cannot be tempted ^[c]by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin ^[d]is accomplished, it brings forth death. ¹⁶Do not be ^[e]deceived, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or ^[f]shifting shadow.

We are to steward what God has given us and remember that all good gifts come from Him (James 1:17).

Even as we are diligent with our time, resources and creative talents, we can continue to learn and develop in our creativity.

As we look to Him who is the giver and provider of all we need, we worship Him alone, rather than anything that we create.

Throughout the Bible, there are examples of humans using their gifts and abilities to create things to worship other than God.

We see it when the Israelites created a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32) and in the construction of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-4).

In both cases, they made a god or a name for themselves, demonstrating the skill, but also the deep-rooted pride of mankind.

Even idolizing people made in the image of God lends itself to the worship of the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

There is risk and temptation to pursue and follow created things and step into idolatry, rather than to worship God.

Therefore, we must bring our creativity before the Lord, knowing it is Him that we are serving, and we should use our talents wisely.

Embrace the Skills Given to Us

Exodus 35:10-19 New American Standard Bible 1995

Tabernacle Workmen

¹⁰‘Let every skillful man among you come, and make all that the Lord has commanded: ¹¹the ^[a]tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its hooks and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its ^[b]sockets; ¹²the ark and its poles, the ^[c] mercy seat, and the curtain of the screen; ¹³the table and its poles, and all its ^[d]utensils, and the bread of the ^[e]Presence; ¹⁴the lampstand also for the light and its utensils and its lamps and the oil for the light; ¹⁵and the altar of incense and its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the doorway at the ^[f]entrance of the tabernacle; ¹⁶the altar of burnt offering with its ^[g]bronze grating, its poles, and all its ^[h]utensils, the ^[i]basin and its stand; ¹⁷the hangings of the court, its pillars and its ^[j]sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; ¹⁸the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court and their cords; ¹⁹the ^[k]woven garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests.’”

God gives skills to different people. We are all given certain abilities, even if it might take us a little while to discover or develop what they are.

In the building of the Tabernacle, there were many who had different skills given to them by God which would be used to complete it: “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded” (Exodus 35:10).

It is a beautiful picture of some of God’s people who were “willing and whose heart moved them” and brought materials and offerings to God for this work (Exodus 35:21-22).

Men and women all participated together, and there was willingness and skill involved to make what God had commanded come to be. Are we also willing to offer our unique skills in whatever way is needed for God’s glory and purpose?

God Equips Whose He Calls

Exodus 35:30-35 New American Standard Bible 1995

³⁰Then Moses said to the sons of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all ^[a]craftsmanship; ^{32 [b]}to make designs for working in gold and in silver and in ^[c] bronze, ³³and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carving of wood, so as to perform in every inventive work. ³⁴He also has put in his heart to teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. ³⁵He has filled them with ^[d]skill to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer, in ^[e]blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and in fine linen, and of a weaver, as performers of every work and makers of designs.

God also equips those whom He calls to a specific task.

In the building of the Tabernacle, the Lord chose Bezalel of the tribe of Judah, and filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, knowledge and all kinds of skills, to make artistic designs (Exodus:35:30-35).

He also equipped him and Oholiab of the tribe of Dan to be able to teach others. God is the one who fills us with the skills for the tasks that He has called us to.

The creative process means walking through trials and frustrations at times, but can also develop our perseverance and character.

God can use our creativity to shape and transform us into the likeness of Jesus as we seek to use our creative talents for His glory.

He is interested in our hearts.

As we create, we can ask Jesus to help us honor Him in our pursuits.

We can use our creativity to build up believers, spread the good news to those who do not know Jesus, support those in need, and use it as a way to provide an income for our families.

As we surrender, yield to God, continually thinking “not my will but yours be done,” He can take our creative offering, transform it for His glory, purposes.

God saw the two loaves and five fish, and He was the One who filled the crowd.

Give Him your creative talents, no matter how big or small, and let Him deeply satisfy your every need.

As pastor and theologian Reverend Dr. John Piper said:

“God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.”

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; ²⁴And see if there be any ^[a]hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 148 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Whole Creation Invoked to Praise the Lord.

148 ^[a]Praise ^[b]the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
²Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
³Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all stars of light!
⁴Praise Him, ^[c]highest heavens,
And the waters that are above the heavens!
⁵Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For He commanded and they were created.
⁶He has also established them forever and ever;
He has made a decree which will not pass away.

⁷Praise the Lord from the earth,
Sea monsters and all deeps;
⁸Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
⁹Mountains and all hills;
Fruit trees and all cedars;
¹⁰Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and winged fowl;
¹¹Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
¹²Both young men and virgins;
Old men and children.

¹³Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above earth and heaven.
¹⁴And He has lifted up a horn for His people,
Praise for all His godly ones;
Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him.
^[d]Praise ^[e]the Lord!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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1 Peter 5:1-7 The Message

He’ll Promote You at the Right Time

A Word to the Church: Seeking His Kingdom First?

1 Peter 5:1-7 Amplified Bible

Serve God Willingly

Considering How We Grow and Mature in Christ?

Luke 12:13-34 English Standard Version

The Parable of the Rich Fool

Do Not Be Anxious

Psalm 91 tHE MESSAGE

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2 Timothy 3:1-8 New American Standard Bible 1995

“Difficult Times Will Come”

What do we believe is the meaning of 2Timothy 3:1-5?

2 Timothy 3:1-5Amplified Bible

“Difficult Times Will Come”

The People Mentioned in 2 Timothy 3

The Church in History

Testing Ourselves and Testing the Church

2 Timothy 3:10-17 Amplified Bible

Matthew 23:25-28 Amplified Bible

What is to be our Response

2 Timothy 3:14-17 Amplified Bible

Matthew 9:35-38 Amplified Bible

Acts 2:43-47 Amplified Bible

Psalm 84 The Message

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Ephesians 1:1-14 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Blessings of Redemption

Extravagant Grace

Ephesians 1:1-2 Amplified Bible

The Blessings of Redemption

Timeless, Inescapable, Revealed, Extravagant Grace

Exodus 12:1-13 New Living Translation

The First Passover

2 Corinthians 5:11-21 New Living Translation

We Are God’s Ambassadors

Psalm 23 New Living Translation

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

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Acts 2:1-13 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Day of Pentecost

God’s Growing Kingdom 2024

What Are those Radical Demands of Following Jesus?

Luke 14:25-35 The Message

Figure the Cost

Luke 14:25-35 New International Version

The Cost of Being a Disciple

An Argument Against Cultural Christianity

Matthew 7:21-29 New International Version

True and False Disciples

The Wise and Foolish Builders

James 2:14-24 New International Version

Faith and Deeds

1 John 2:15-17 New International Version

On Not Loving the World

The Cost of Discipleship

Luke 9:21-25 New International Version

Jesus Predicts His Death

Matthew 13:44-51 New International Version

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

The Parable of the Net

What Is the Reward?

Matthew 7:24-29 New International Version

The Wise and Foolish Builders

Philippians 3:7-11 New International Version

Psalm 16 The Message

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2 Corinthians 4:16-18 New American Standard Bible 1995

1. God says we are each His beloved child.

1 John 3:1-2 New American Standard Bible 1995

Children of God Love One Another

2. God says we are each chosen.

1 Peter 2:9-10 New American Standard Bible 1995

3. God says we are each His holy temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16-20 New American Standard Bible 1995

4. God says we are each made in His image.

Genesis 1:26-27 New American Standard Bible 1995

5. God says we are each valuable.

For the choir director; set to ^[a]El Shoshannim; ^[b]Eduth. A Psalm of Asaph.