Tag: jesus

When has God ever made a promise which could, should, would, ever be deemed to be too good to be utterly, completely true? Matthew 8:8-12

Matthew 8:5-13 AMPLIFIED

5 As Jesus went into Capernaum, a [a]centurion came up to Him, begging Him [for help], 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, with intense and  terrible, tormenting pain.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied to Him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man subject to authority [of a higher rank], with soldiers subject to me; and I say to one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you truthfully, I have not found such great faith [as this]  with anyone in Israel. 11 I say to you that many [Gentiles] will come from east and west, and will sit down [to feast at the table, and enjoy God’s promises] with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven [because they accepted Me as Savior], 12 while the sons and heirs of the kingdom [the descendants of Abraham who will not recognize Me as Messiah] will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place [which is farthest removed from the kingdom] there will be weeping [in sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [in distress and anger].” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it will be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was restored to health at that very hour.

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.

But I Have Promises to Make … (and to Break?)

5 As Jesus went into Capernaum, a [a]centurion came up to Him, begging Him [for help], 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, with intense and terrible, tormenting pain.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied to Him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man subject to authority [of a higher rank], with soldiers subject to me; and I say to one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost 1922

When the poet Robert Frost wrote “But I have promises to keep”; he means that

(a) He has to make promises to make his and other lives successful
(b) He has a certain authority, duties, which he must discharge
(c) He has to make promises, follow what he has said to his friends
(d) Promises: He has to make certain people happy and others sad.​

The purpose of the passage is simple: Jesus has just taught with great authority; God then uses a Roman centurion to give the insight that the authority comes from God Himself. We learn from this exchange not to overestimate our own place in eternity, not to underestimate the promise of Jesus’ place in eternity.

We’ve all seen great scenes where the little guy confronts the big bad guys, and because he brought some support, the bad guys don’t mess with him.

Seriously—is anyone truly going to mess with the little kid with the giant dog?

Of course not!

If you mess with one, you mess with the other.

While you can probably overcome the little child without too much trouble … but overcoming a big dog – say a German Shepherd or a Doberman, Pitbull, is another matter entirely – you most certainly risk painful significant injuries.

We have seen the movies. It’s a great movie trope (a funny variation of it is the “scared of what’s behind you” trope), and it has great real-world application.

How do you confront a bully? With a bunch of friends at your back, that’s how!

Preferably really big and tough friends.

Here’s where I’m going.

The Roman Centurion in this week’s passage understood how that worked.

When he said something, he had an entire army to back him up. If anyone had messed with him, his authority, they messed with the authority 0f Rome itself.

Likewise, he realized that when Jesus spoke, He had the authority, backing, of God almighty. [Then you can make the application: “Shouldn’t that be the kind of support we have from our church family? If something happens to one of our class members, by God’s authority, will the rest step in to defend or support?”]

“My Word Is My Bond.”

There’s another way you can go with this if you want to—talk about promises.

The Centurion understood that when Jesus spoke, things happened. Literally.

When Jesus gave His word, it was done.

What kind of reputation do we have? Are we known for having good intentions to get a thing done, for promising more than we can deliver, for being people of our word, or not? With Jesus, His word is always good. The Centurion got that!

The centurion met Jesus.

Our prayers to God can be modeled after the way this man approached Jesus.

First, he asked for help simply by stating a fact: “Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

This Roman-army commander didn’t make an official request or ask politely for anything from Jesus. He just cried out to Jesus in his need. When our prayers are no more than a heartfelt deep cry of pain, Jesus hears those prayers too.

Second, the centurion trusted in the sure promise of Jesus’ power to respond.

Even though Jesus offered to come in person and heal the servant, the centurion surprisingly, humbly replied, “Just say the word, my servant will be healed.”

The centurion knew that Jesus was so powerful that he could heal people, even Romans, even Romans with sharp swords, even if he was not physically present.

We too can publicly exhibit that kind of trust that Jesus will answer our prayers.

Sometimes Jesus heals us physically, and other times Jesus heals us emotionally or spiritually. Sometimes Jesus promises us future healing and asks us to wait until the right time. No matter what, Jesus’ words are powerful enough to heal.

Jesus was amazed at the faith of the Roman, healed the centurion’s servant and praised the faith of the centurion. We are invited to trust in Jesus, just as this man did. Jesus does listen to our prayers with love, answer prayers with power.

Seeking, Discovering Finding Hope in God’s Promises

Psalm 42:5-11 Amplified Bible

5 
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
6 
O my God, my soul is in despair within me [the burden more than I can bear];
Therefore I will [fervently] remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of [Mount] Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 
Deep calls to deep at the [thundering] sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
8 
Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song will be with me,
A prayer to the God of my life.

9 
I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 
As a crushing of my bones [with a sword], my adversaries taunt me,
While they say continually to me, “Where is your God?”
11 
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
Why have you become restless and disquieted within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him,
The [a]help of my countenance and my God.

Like the Centurion, in our lives we can often face times of discouragement.

Our spirits can feel overwhelmingly heavy and our hearts heavily burdened.

When that happens, and God’s promise is that it will happen. however, we can turn to God and lean on him, finding hope in his promises and unfailing love.

Discouragement can come from various sources—economic disappointments, the wide assortment of personal failures, prolonged healthcare challenges too.

Yet even in the midst of such trials we can choose to put our hope in God. He is our refuge and strength, the one who always sustains us through every season.

When such great measures of discouragement threatens to overwhelm us, we can find solace in God’s Word. His mighty acts and daily provisions remind us of his faithfulness, and his promises give us hope for the future. God is always present to help in times of trouble, and his love and grace are sufficient for us (Psalm 46:1-11; 2 Corinthians 12:9).

Hebrews 6:17-20 Amplified Bible

17 In the same way God, in His desire to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His purpose, intervened and guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge would have strong encouragement and indwelling strength to hold tightly to the hope set before us. 19  This hope [this confident assurance] we have as an anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whatever pressure bears upon it]—a safe and steadfast hope that enters within the veil [of the heavenly temple, that most Holy Place in which the very presence of God dwells], 20  where Jesus has entered [in advance] as a forerunner for us, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of [a]Melchizedek.

As we read and study and pray the Word of God, we anchor our hope in God, our perspective subtly shifts into His wisdom. We begin to see beyond our present circumstances, and we focus on the unchanging nature of our heavenly Father.

He is the source of true joy and peace, and in him we find strength to persevere.

Today, if you find yourself discouraged, turn to God in prayer. Pour out your heart before him and listen for his promising voice. Trust in his perfect timing and purposes, knowing that he is working all things together for your good.

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

Let us Pray,

Psalm 42 The Message

42 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks
    from the creek;
I want to drink God,
    deep drafts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
    arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
    tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
    people knock at my door,
Pestering,
    “Where is this God of yours?”

4 These are the things I go over and over,
    emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
    right out in front,
Leading them all,
    eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
    celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!

5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He’s my God.

6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
    everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
    including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
    to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
    crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
    sing songs all through the night!
    My life is God’s prayer.

9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
    “Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
    harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
    tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
    “Where is this God of yours?”

11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He’s my 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.

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Guarding Against Unbelief – The One True Ultimate Challenge to Change. Hebrews 3:1-11

Hebrews 3:7-11 The Message

The Centerpiece of All We Believe

3 1-6 So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave him to do. Moses was also faithful, but Jesus gets far more honor. A builder is more valuable than a building any day. Every house has a builder, but the Builder behind them all is God. Moses did a good job in God’s house, but it was all servant work, getting things ready for what was to come. Christ as Son is in charge of the house.

6-11 Now, if we can only keep a firm grip on this bold confidence, we’re the house! That’s why the Holy Spirit says,

Today, please listen;
    don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,”
    that time of wilderness testing!
Even though they watched me at work for forty years,
    your ancestors refused to let me do it my way;
    over and over they tried my patience.
And I was provoked, oh, so provoked!
    I said, “They’ll never keep their minds on God;
    they refuse to walk down my road.”
Exasperated, I vowed,
    “They’ll never get where they’re going,
    never be able to sit down and rest.”

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.

The Holy Spirit says (and keeps on eternally saying)

Today, please listen;
    don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,”
    that time of wilderness testing!

For an untold number of years, the Holy Spirit has been repeating the exact same requests over and over again; “Please Listen!” “Don’t turn a deaf ear!”

Yet, after all the uncountable accumulated requests over the same accumulation of uncountable years who is it who has actually heard the requests and listened?

Who is it who has actually heard the requests, listened and actually changed?

God has spoken to the hearts of his children over the centuries inviting them back into relationship with him. These Spirit-inspired messages came in many and various forms, but the clearest came through Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-3). 

Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God eternally speaks to us and to those around us, inviting us to come home to him. We must respond, or our hearts will surely harden, and we lose any possible sensitivity to the message of grace.

The message from the Holy Spirit, uttered over and over through the centuries, now comes to you and me in today’s verses: “Hear God’s voice! Do not harden your hearts as in the days of the rebellion!” How will we respond today 2024?

How Well Do We Guard Ourselves Against Unbelief?

Hebrews 3:7-9 Christian Standard Bible

Warning against Unbelief

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me, tried me,
and saw my works

Before the Israelites entered the promised land, God had them send twelve spies into Canaan on a reconnaissance mission.

Two of those spies, Joshua and Caleb, are famous for their “minority report,” which concluded that the land was ripe for the taking.

The people, though, would not listen to them, demonstrating their distrust of God. Despite all the very visible evidence they had had of God’s reliability, the Israelites hardened, quickly reverted to trusting only in their own judgment.

In a moment of unbelief, the people feared they would die if, as Caleb and Joshua were urging them to, they chose to rely on God’s power to overcome a great enemy (Numbers 13:25 – 14:4). God responded with judgment: instead of enjoying the promised land, an entire generation spent the remainder of their lives in the wilderness, never experiencing the joy God offered them (14:21-23).

Like the Israelites, you and I have a propensity for hardened hardcore unbelief.

The writer of Hebrews warns us, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).

Such an exhortation wouldn’t be necessary if it weren’t possible for us to have hardcore sinful, hardened unbelieving hearts! We do want to sin. We do want to go our own way. We do not wish to trust. Do not want any will other than ours.

Unbelief hardens us so that when the Bible is preached and taught and prayed, instead of God’s word coming into our hearts and minds like seeds sown in the ready earth, our hearts and minds become like old rusted corrugated tin roofs.

The more the Bible is read, taught, and prayed, the more its truths effects on us becomes like a hard rain storm hitting against that which it cannot permeate.

Matthew 6:19-21 Amplified Bible

19 “Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.

So be on guard, lest your heart become impervious to the truth of Scripture.

Be hyper cautious, hyper vigilant, hyper wary that you don’t become someone who defends the Bible, tells other people about it, and quotes from it, but all the while hardening your heart against what hard truths God is saying to you in it.

How do we protect ourselves against such unbelief?

Exhort others to remember what God has done in and through Christ, and ask them to do the same for you (Colossians 3:16). And ask the same Holy Spirit who authored Scripture to work in your whole heart as you hear His voice.

The Never Ending Hardcore Challenge to Change

2 Corinthians 3:1-8 Amplified Bible

Ministers of a New Covenant

3 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some [false teachers], letters of recommendation to you or from you? [No!] 2 You are our letter [of recommendation], written in our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4 Such is the confidence and steadfast reliance and absolute trust that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficiently qualified in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency and qualifications come from God. 6 He has qualified us [making us sufficient] as ministers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not of the letter [of a written code] but of the Spirit; for the letter [of the Law] kills [by revealing sin and demanding obedience], but the Spirit gives life.

7 Now if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones [the covenant of the Law which led to death because of sin], came with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, [a brilliance] that was fading, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit [the new covenant which allows us to be Spirit-filled] fail to be even more glorious and splendid?

Times are tough, spiritually tough.

In many parts of the world it’s harder to live as a Christian than it was years ago. I find that hard, fast and true for myself. The Christian virtues of humility and contentment are out of step with the culture I live in. But thankfully there are those other parts of the world where it is now easier to live as a Christian.

Whether our culture makes it easier or harder to be a Christian, we are all yet challenged to soften our hearts so the Spirit may shape us to become like Jesus.

That was the challenge for God’s ancient people (Psalm 95), and our verses for today quotes those same words so that none of us misses the point personally.

But how soft is my heart? How soft is your heart? How open am I to the Spirit’s work? How easily do I accept the place God has for me in his world? How do I react when I am spiritually tested and I hardily fail by giving in to temptation?

If we are honest, we’ll admit we are often like the Israelites who grumbled against God. After all, we are yet today as primitive and as human as they.

We need to continually take stock of our openness to God’s Holy Spirit.

The spiritual disciplines of fasting, reading, studying prayer and meditation on the whole of Scripture will help prepare the soil of our hearts for God’s leading.

As you are reminded of God’s power and care and as the Holy Spirit goes to work in you, your hard heart will be softened to receive the seeds of His word.

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

Let us Pray,

O Father, I want to have a tender heart that responds to the Holy Spirit’s invitation to hear your voice and respond to your grace. I ask that the Holy Spirit convict me of my sins, help me take notice of and avoid my vulnerabilities, overcome my weaknesses, and empower me to be like Jesus, in whose name I pray. O Holy Spirit, make my heart warm, soft, and pliable; open to your work. Heal my spiritual hard-heartedness for my Savior Jesus’ sake. Amen. Amen.

Psalm 95 Amplified Bible

Praise to the Lord, and Warning against Unbelief.

95 O come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
2 
Let us come before His presence with a song of thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with songs.
3 
For the Lord is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
4 
In whose hand are the depths of the earth;
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
5 
The sea is His, for He made it [by His command];
And His hands formed the dry land.

6 
O come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker [in reverent praise and prayer].
7 
For He is our God
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 
Do not harden your hearts and become spiritually dull as at Meribah [the place of strife],
And as at Massah [the place of testing] in the wilderness,
9 
“When your fathers tested Me,
They tried Me, even though they had seen My work [of miracles].
10 
“For forty years I was grieved and disgusted with that generation,
And I said, ‘They are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not acknowledge or regard My ways.’
11 
“Therefore I swore [an oath] in My wrath,
‘They absolutely shall not enter My rest [the land of promise].’”

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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What More Does God Really Want Me to Do? Who Precisely Do We Believe We Are Living and Witnessing For? Matthew 5:13-16, 6:30-34

Matthew 6:30-34 The Message

30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

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.

We Are God’s Coworkers: Redemption Agents

Matthew 5:13-16 The Message

Salt and Light

13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

We are the salt of the earth …

We are the salt seasoning the earth …

Unseasoned food tends to taste rather bland, and even unpalatable too.

An unseasoned earth tastes like ____________ (fill in the blank)

Today’s verse is simple: you and I are like salt crystals that God sprinkles into a fallen world. When Jesus spoke these words, salt was used as a preservative to keep meat from spoiling. Salt was also used in Jewish religious ceremonies to remind Israel that God had made a commitment to preserve his fallen world.

Jesus was saying to the gathered crowd that we are each the means God is using to make good taste, to preserve this broken world. You and I have opportunities to labor, work as God’s agents of redemption, keeping this world from spoiling.

We know that God works through our work to accomplish his purposes.

In many ways our daily work is like salt in an unseasoned world.

I had a friend who was a mechanic working for the state government. He said that it can be difficult to work and serve among people who did not share his worldview. Yet he saw his labor, his work as a calling to bring Jesus’ voice of commitment, service, grace and truth into his arena of state government.

You may work in this way too. Perhaps you are a social worker or a family therapist. Some of us work as addiction counselors or in the prison system or in the school systems, maybe you are a customer service representative in a drug store, or a super market, a Home Depot or Lowes or Target or in a busy bank.

These can be dark, unpredictable places where the effects of sin are painfully obvious when customers get frustrated and screaming dramatically angry at staff. Yet God is the God of redemption, and Jesus, the one who accomplished the supreme work of redemption, continues to work through us, his salt.

A Christian auto mechanic once told me, “People come to me for car repairs, but sometimes they’re really looking for &lsquopeople repair.’ My business is more than cars.”

Somehow, somewhere, God, by His authority, in his sovereignty arranges things “even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30).

So it’s entirely possible that what we see as drudgery “just our daily work” may in truth include some carefully planned times, behind the scenes arranging, by God thru which he aims to bless people, call them to a relationship with him.

Many Christians miss significant opportunities when they can tell stories of how they have been able to serve God in their work—not only by acting with integrity but also by telling how God has richly blessed them in their lives.

The New Testament gives us many windows into the work-a-day world of believers. Peter James and John were fisherman, Matthew was a tax collector and Luke was a doctor, Martha a homemaker, Paul is a tentmaker, and Lydia a cloth dealer. Jesus himself worked in construction alongside of his father.

Many of his parables drew from people’s experiences at home and work. The kingdom of God is not only good news for all parts of life but also through them.

Matthew 10:38-42 The Message

38-39 “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.

40-42 “We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.”

Where has God placed you to labor for Him?

Where is God trying to place you to labor for Him?

You have been given talents so that his blessing can abound through you!

Even one single bottle of water randomly, kindly, gracefully, handed out!

There are many things you can seek to live for in life.

You can live for a lot of things.

You can live for your physical appearance.

You can live for a successful career.

You can live for pleasure.

But here is what Jesus said: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33).

How can you honor God and tell others about him in your everyday work?

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

Let us Pray,

Lord, thank you for your resolve to redeem the world you made. We praise you for continuing to bring your redemptive mercy; help us live and work as your preserving life in this world. Sovereign God, let me pursue, see and seek your kingdom and thy righteousness in every part of my life. Give me my share of wisdom to know when and how I can be a blessing in the places you have put me. For your glory, Amen.

Psalm 18:20-24 The Message

20-24 God made my life complete
    when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
    he gave me a fresh start.
Now I’m alert to God’s ways;
    I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
    I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
    and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
    when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

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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So, Are we Considering the Question: Why we Bother with Church Anyway? Matthew 16:13-20

Matthew 16:13-20 Amplified Bible

Peter’s Confession of Christ

13 Now when Jesus went into the [a]region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they answered, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or [just] one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the Son of the living God.”  17 Then Jesus answered him, “Blessed [happy, spiritually secure, favored by God] are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood (mortal man) did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say to you that you are [b]Peter, and on this [c]rock I will build My church; and the [d]gates of Hades (death) will not overpower it [by preventing the resurrection of the Christ]. 19 I will give you the keys (authority) of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind [forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful] on earth [e]will have [already] been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose [permit, declare lawful] on earth [f]will have [already] been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He gave the disciples strict orders to tell no one that He was the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed).

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.

Debating: Why Does Anyone Bother with Church?

In his book Church: Why Bother? Philip Yancey tells a story about a prostitute who had reached the end of the road.

She was desperate and did not know where to turn. Someone then suggested connecting with a local church. She answered, “Why would I do that? I feel bad enough about myself already. They’d only make me feel worse.”

When I asked someone once why he had given up on going to church, he said, “There’s nothing there for me.”

With the current state of division and disarray and disaffiliation, it is not at all unreasonable or irrational to keep right on asking “Why bother with church?”

The answer to that hot button question is found in today’s Bible reading and is summed up in just one phrase, where Jesus says, “I will build my church.”

The church is not any ordinary organization founded by just anyone. The church is founded by Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior who is the head of the church. According to the Bible, the church is the body of Christ. Belonging to the church is a sacred privilege, a high responsibility never to be taken for granted.

Matthew 6:32-33 Amplified Bible

32 For the [pagan] Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; [but do not worry,] for your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

The church is here to continue the work of Christ on earth and to build God’s kingdom. You and I need the church in order to be equipped for service, to enjoy the fellowship of other believers, to honor our Lord through faithful worship.

Can, Should We, Believe The Church Is Here to Stay?

Hebrews 10:22-25 The Message

22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

The first one ever to use the word church was not the apostle Paul. Rather, it was Jesus Himself. He said, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it” (Matthew 16:18 NLT).

When Jesus walked this earth, He started only one organization, and that, of course, was the church.

By emphatically stating the gates of Hell will not conquer His church, Jesus was saying, “Listen, this church is here to stay. Against all odds, it will prevail.”

Interestingly, Jesus made this statement at a place called Caesarea Philippi. We could miss the significance of that altogether. But Caesarea Philippi was a place of paganism and false belief. In fact, the Greeks had dedicated Caesarea Philippi to Pan, one of their gods. And if you were to go there today, you would see what is left of a site dedicated to false gods and idols.

In contrast, the foundation of the church is Christ Himself.

He will build His church, and the gates of Hell will not conquer it.

This reminds us that the church will face hostility and opposition.

The word church comes from the Greek word ecclesia.

And ecclesia consists of two other terms that mean “out from” and “called.”

When we put them together, the meaning of ecclesia, or church, is “called out from.”

From what is the church called out? We are called out from this world and this culture. Jesus was saying, “My followers should be separate from this culture.”

But we also are called to.

God has called us to Himself and to one another.

Wherever God’s people gather together, that place turns into a sanctuary.

That’s because the church is not a building; it is people.

Jesus said, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20 NLT). That is what the church is.

When we love God, we also will love His children.

And when we don’t love His children, then the question arises as to how much we really love God.

It is popular today to criticize the church. But understand this: when you speak critically of the church, you are speaking critically of those whom Jesus loves.

Some people claim to be Christians, but they don’t attend church. However, if you really are a Christian, then you should long to be seated with God’s people.

The Bible says,

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT)

If you love God, then you will love His people.

As Christians, we need to live up to our name, which means “Christ followers.” And we need to be Christlike.

Colossians 3:1-4 The Message

He Is Your Life

3 1-2 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ,  act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from only his  perspective.

3-4 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

Colossians 3:12-17 The Message

12-14 So, 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.

15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

When we read Matthew 16:18, some think that God was saying that He would build His church through Peter. Certainly God used Peter to build the church.

However, the “rock” that Jesus was referring to was the truth of what Peter had said just before this.

In Matthew 16:13, Jesus had asked the disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” The disciples give various answer and then Jesus asked the disciples, “Whom do you say I am?”

In verse 16, Peter answers, “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

It is this truth on which God built and established the church. It the most basic foundational truth about which we build our spiritual beliefs as Christians.

In fact, I believe that you cannot be a Christian until you first settle and answer Jesus’ question for yourself against the reality of sin: “Who do you say I am?”

Peter understood Jesus’ true identity as God had revealed it to him.

It was this foundational truth that Peter took with him as he preached and played a critically important role in the kingdom, the spread of Christianity.

However, it’s also important to note that Jesus said, I will build my church. 

It wasn’t Peter’s responsibility to build the church.

Peter’s job was to tell others about Jesus and then Jesus alone holds the real responsibility for the growth and expansion of the church. Peter’s job was to “go and tell.” Jesus’ job is to build the church through our own generations .

As followers of Christ, We have the same job today that Peter had – to go and tell. Then we leave the rest up to God and allow Christ to build His church.

We are all responsible for telling others about our Savior. But first we must settle in our hearts the answer to the question that Jesus asked the disciples.

So, if Jesus were to look you directly in your 20/20 eyes and asked you today:

“Who do you say that I am?” When do you, what would be your answer?

Would Jesus’ response to your answer be “I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard it not what I meant” or would He say to you, like Peter: “Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father alone who is in heaven. And I also say to you that on this rock I will build My church.”

If each of us would be what we ought to be as followers of Jesus and as a part of the church, what a difference it would make in our homes, neighborhoods, our communities, our schools, our playgrounds, streets, country, and the world.

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

Let us Pray,

Ephesians 4:1-6 The Message

To Be Mature

4 1-3 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

4-6 You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

Prayer for God’s People (Ephesians 1:17-19)

God of our Lord Jesus, the Liberating King, Father of Glory:

I call out to You on behalf of Your people, the Body of Christ, the Church in the world. Give them one mind, ready to receive thy wisdom and revelation so they will truly know You. Open the eyes of their hearts and let the light of Your truth flood in. Show them all what You have promised them. Shine Your light on the hope You are calling them to embrace. Reveal to them the truly glorious riches You are preparing as their inheritance. Let them see the full extent of Your power that is at work in those of us who believe, and may it be done according to Your might and power alone. Amen.

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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O’ What a Fellowship, O’ What a Joy Divine, O’ What a Prayer to Pray for; A Prayer to Be Welcoming at Church. Romans 15:3 – 13

Romans 15:1-13 The Message

15 1-2 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:

Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!

And this one:

Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!

And again:

People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!

And Isaiah’s word:

There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

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.

Each one of us needs to ask ourselves, “How can I help?”

Romans 15:7 Amplified Bible

7 Therefore, [continue to] accept and welcome one another, just as Christ has accepted and welcomed us to the glory of [our great] God.

Have you ever been invited into Christian community?

It is so refreshing to feel accepted and welcomed.

When people go out of their way to say hi, introduce themselves, and connect, it means a lot.

It can be easy over time when we reach out, become comfortable in our current community and neglect to see others who are nearby as well.

We can become routine in our church circles and forget the calling as Christians to love and welcome new people.

It is easy to do, and we all have to is pray, ask the Holy Spirit to check our hearts and reveal sin in our lives (Psalm 139:23-24). He will surely work His way into into our hearts, souls, convict and gently lead us to love others around us better.

I love how Romans 15:7 tells us to welcome others as Christ has welcomed us.

Jesus is always our example and role model.

We were sinners who He easily could have ignored but He chose to love us. We welcome others in Christ because He first welcomed us all for the glory of God.

It honors the Lord when we take the time to get to know others, love them well. We should pray for special thoughts as well to those who are different from us.

James 2 teaches us to show no partiality. We are called to show kindness to all others, and our friendship should automatically extend to a variety of people.

Matthew 22:36-39 says, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Loving God and loving people are the two greatest commandments. When we welcome others, we love them. The best part is that we can often end up making wonderful new friends, meet new families who could teach us more about God.

We were created to pray for each other, to encourage each other, welcome each other and to share our hardships with each other. This has to start somewhere.

Why not in the parking lots, at the accessibility ramp, at the steps and the front doors of our churches, with wide and wider smiles, with open hands extended?

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

Let’s pray:

Psalm 134 The Message

134 1-3 Come, bless God,
    all you servants of God!
You priests of God, posted to the night watch
    in God’s shrine,
Lift your praising hands to the Holy Place,
    and bless God.
In turn, may God of Zion bless you—
    God who made heaven and earth!

My Dear Savior Jesus,

Thank You for the gift of community. Thank you for helping us by Your Spirit to get to know new faces and people around us we do not know. Help us to be motivated to seek out relationships with others in our church communities. We pray against the sinful decisions to isolate and ignore. We pray for confidence to reach out and love others with our words and actions. We confess where we have been too cliquey and selfish. Forgive us for making “our” churches and neglecting Your church. Help us to reach out and see You at work. Enable us to have open hearts. Please help us not to show partiality or favoritism. Help us remember that we are all one in Christ Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for welcoming us and helping us to live out of gratitude for Your hospitality. Open our hearts to have the willingness to get to know others as brothers and sisters. Open the door to new friendships that are founded on you and prayer. 

Lord, thank you for the people who have welcomed us into community. We celebrate Your goodness in providing friendships in our lives. Thank you for that one person who was kind enough to say hello. Empower us to meet one new person at church this week and even every week from here on out. Help us go the extra mile and get numbers or meet for coffee. Lead us into creative ways to have community. Lord, You say that everyone is not a hand and that being the body means there is great value in different parts. Help us to see that when we get to know others we get to be a better picture of what You intended for us to be. We were not meant to be alone; we were made for this. Help us to fight the enemy and our flesh that would tell us otherwise and choose to welcome others around us. Help this not to be an individual effort, but a church-wide movement to multiply and grow. In Your name, Jesus, Amen.

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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From Before All Time, The Word of God, True Word of God, All Thanks Be To God. John 1:1-5

John 1:1-5 Amplified Bible

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word ([a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and [b]the Word was God Himself. 2 He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. 3 All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. 4 In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines on in the [c]darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

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 John 1 the Greek term for “Word” is logos. John chose this word carefully.

In Greek philosophy the word logos referred to divine reason, or the power that made order out of chaos.

This idea fits well with the scriptural teaching that God—whose word is always faithful and true, and who created all things—has now, once and for all of time, revealed himself in a new way through his Son, the Word of God, who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

God has long been communicating with us—through creation, through the patriarchs, the prophets, the Kings and the Psalmists and the Scriptures.

But with the coming of “the Word”—that is, Jesus—God revealed himself even more – “in the flesh.” Earlier forms of communication were less clear. Since the logos became flesh, however, we can see, hear, listen to and know that we have physically met God. Jesus is the best and the only perfect representation of God.

This contradicts the teachings of other religions that claim they have a better or additional revelation of God. Why would you want or need to hear more about God once you have heard from the Word himself? Jesus showed that God is love and “the light [that] shines in the darkness,” light overwhelming the darkness.

What an absolutely incredible revelation! We need to recognize that the true and complete Word of God has come into the world. That Word is Jesus Christ, “the ONE and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

1 John 1:1-4 Amplified Bible

Introduction, The Incarnate Word

1 [I am writing about] what existed from the beginning, what [a]we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life [the One who existed even before the beginning of the world, Christ]— 2 and the Life [an aspect of His being] was manifested, and we have seen [it as eyewitnesses] and testify and declare to you [the Life], the eternal Life who was [already existing] with the Father and was [actually] made visible to us [His followers]— 3 what we have seen and heard we also proclaim to you, so that you too may have fellowship [as partners] with us. And indeed our fellowship [which is a distinguishing mark of born-again believers] is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be made complete [by having you share in the joy of salvation].

A revelation which needs to be fully uncovered from under our baskets of sin.

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

Let us Pray,

Psalm 46 Amplified Bible

God the Refuge of His People.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to soprano voices. A Song.

46 God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable],
A very present and well-proved help in trouble.
2 
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas,
3 
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains tremble at its roaring. Selah.

4 
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
5 
God is in the midst of her [His city], she will not be moved;
God will help her when the morning dawns.
6 
The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered and were moved;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
7 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

8 
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has brought desolations and wonders on the earth.
9 
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow into pieces and snaps the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10 
“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

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 Blind Ambition is both a blessing and a curse, a Double Edged Swords’ Cleaving of Our Souls. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21 Amplified Bible

Covetousness Denounced

13 Someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the  family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbitrator over [the two of] you?” 15 Then He said to them, “Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.”

Parable of the Wealthy Fool

16 Then He told them a parable, saying, “There was a rich man whose land was very fertile and productive. 17 And he began thinking to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place [large enough in which] to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many good things stored up, [enough] for many years; rest and relax, eat, drink and be merry (celebrate continually).”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; now who will own all the things you have prepared?’ 21  So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward 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.

“You Fool!” Ambition is both a blessing and a curse

Luke 12:18-21 Amplified Bible

18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many good things stored up, [enough] for many years; rest  and relax, eat, drink and be merry (celebrate continually).”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own all the things you have prepared?’ 21 So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward God.”

Ambition is both a blessing and a curse. When it is God-directed and also Holy Spirit-managed, it can bear tremendous fruit. When it is restrained by humility, ambition can be a powerful motivator and also a Kingdom Builder. But when it is hijacked by self and ego, it can leave a wide wake of destruction in its path.

I have wrestled with this issue for most of my life. If you have leadership gifts, you know what it is to be captivated and held captive by vision. You know what it is to have dreams of what is possible and what “possible” could truthfully be. You know what it is to pray, to want to do something significant with your life.

Here’s where it gets too sticky. Is whether of not this drive and desire and this motivation about me or about God? If we’re honest, we would have to admit our hearts are entangled with true God-directed motives and self-directed motives.

Sorting them out is complex. A debate, discussion, of motives and ambition takes us to an inner place hidden from everyone except God. Part of what makes ambition so dangerous is that it resides in the deep, unseen, world of our souls.

God hot wired into every one of us a creative tension. On the one hand, we have what the ancients referred to as a “fire in the belly.” This is our inner source of vision, our longing to make a difference, our will to achieve. In recent years in the ministry world we have been pouring not enough gasoline on these fires.

At the same time, God also has hardwired into us the need for quiet, solitude, rest, and reflection (a healthy soul). This is one reason God established the Sabbath: to teach us there is covenanted a healthy rhythm of life. I like to refer to this part of us as a “spiritual recliner.” It’s a place of rest and peace. It’s more about being a soul intentionally refreshing itself than grasping, catching, wind.

God covenanted this when He took a Sabbath day (Genesis 2:3). You and I need both a fire in the belly and a spiritual recliner to be healthy. In fact, you must have both.  The problem is that these two realities create strain in our lives.

2 And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [as His own, that is, set it apart as holy from other days], because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and done.

Think of it like this.

Imagine that the fire in your belly (ambition) is as raw unharnessed electricity.

It’s alive, energetic, powerful, exciting and full of potential, but it can also be dangerous and potentially fatal. Then think of a healthy soul as a transformer.

A transformer serves to regulate, channel, and direct, and control electricity.

A transformer takes what’s potentially harmful and deadly and turns it into something safe useful and helpful when handled with the respect it deserves.

It seems to me we are reaping the results of a generation in the church where it has been all about raw and unchanneled electricity. We need to be just as serious about building and installing transformers, as about generating raw electricity.

My first pastorate was in a suburban church in Baltimore. We were a small hospice, legacy church of less than ten in a bustling town that had been the steadily growing and developing in size and prestige for a generation or more.

I came out of my home church with lots of ambition and drive. Why couldn’t we be a church that could grow again by ministering to the many nearby colleges?

But all my ambition and hard work didn’t translate into any growth. I fully remember going to denominational meetings or occasionally running into a few clergy more experienced friends. I dreaded those conversations because I knew the drill. Sooner or later (usually sooner) we would get to the “How are things going at your church?” question. I would try to change the subject as soon as possible. I always walked away feeling inadequate and discouraged.

God’s Kingdom is supposed to be about growth, with God all we have to do is pray for growth and believe in that growth and all the possibilities of growth.

The emotion and the pressure were mostly self-imposed. The emotions I felt had to do with my own ambition. In my mind the only successful pastor was the pastor of a kingdom building-kingdom growing church. My own obsession with size and church growth had set up unmatched strongholds of sheer frustration.

Now, let me reveal the other side of my struggle with ambition. Fast forward a few years to a time when I was a member of a new church plant that was planted in a rural area community. All indicators were up and to the right. By everyone’s measuring stick, we were working, praying hard, were moving toward success.

Unlike before, I found myself anxious to talk to other friends and neighbors. I could not wait to get to the “How are things going at your church?” question.

I’m ashamed to admit this, but I would find myself in a conversation looking for any way to turn, manipulate the dialogue so that I could talk about our church.

This was a whole different set of emotions than what I experienced in my small, hospice church in Baltimore, but, truly, it was nonetheless related to ambition.

Ultimately, God’s purpose for that hospice church far exceeded all my ambition.

Thanks be to God for His good and wondrous, wonderful gifts from His throne!

God’s vision of Kingdom building, Kingdom growth was far and away greater and more ambitious than my own – we deeded the property to a Korean Church which now ministers and serves the needs of their growing Asian Community.

As Scripture says “Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.” Proverbs 27:21

21 
The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold [to separate the impurities of the metal],
And each is tested by the praise given to him [and his response to it, whether humble or proud].

Success with and without accolades can be just as challenging a test as failure.

I’m not quite sure when, but somewhere along the way, the measuring stick for what it means to be an effective pastor got switched. The target was no longer personal faithfulness, it became external fruitfulness.  My concern is that the measuring stick of size alone can fuel a kind of ambition that is destructive.

If there is one thing I’ve learned in recent years, it’s this: numerical growth alone is no useful indicator of God’s grace and favor or from godly leadership.

In the introduction to Purpose-Driven Church, Rick Warren talks about catching spiritual waves. It is God who creates waves and movements of his Spirit. We don’t get to decide when the wave comes, where it comes, or how big it will be.

But it’s our privilege to ride a great wave and participate in what God is doing.

My fear is that Christian leaders will no longer quietly, boldly stand on the shore looking for and pray for, a wave of God’s Spirit. When ambition does not have a healthy soul attached to it, we can start trying to create waves ourselves.

Humble Ambitions, Humble Patterns, Humble Service

Philippians 2:1-4 Amplified Bible

Be Like Christ

2 Therefore if there is any encouragement and comfort in Christ [as there certainly is in abundance], if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship [that we share] in the Spirit, if [there is] any [great depth of] affection and compassion, 2  make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same [a]love [toward one another], knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose [and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel—the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ]. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves. 4 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Philippians is one of the warmest and friendliest of Paul’s letters in the Bible.

The church in Philippi seems to have been quite healthy, source of joy for Paul.

But it was not perfect. No church is.

As we read along in Philippians, we see hints and whispers that Paul knows a few unhappy and unhealthy things about people in this congregation. There are some cracks in their unity, some struggles with “whose right” ambition, pride.

In Philippians 2, Paul begins to address this. And he lays it on pretty thick.

“If you are even remotely Christian,” Paul says, in effect, “then make me even more joyful by being about “of one mind – Jesus’ and embracing his ­humility.”

Many theologians teach that ambitious humility is the core Christian virtue, the characteristic that makes us most like Jesus.

Ambitious Humility helps us realize that even though we all have gifts and talents to do many things, that does not make us any better than anyone else.

Instead, we try to see life as a level playing field on which each person does her or his part. At the end of the day, pay more attention to others than to ourselves.

Let someone else compliment us for our work while we are too busy focusing on building up others. We all need each other. Each of us needs to be thankful for the next person. This is, as Paul explains next (in verses 5-8), the true pattern of life established by a humbly ambitious Jesus—so this is the pattern to follow.

5 Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility], 6 who, 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]; 7  but 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]. 8 After 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.

Are we, as committed, covenanted Christians, more about Kingdom building for our building our self esteem through our own accolades or giving God the glory?

Pray, take a few moments to reflect on this serious issue of ambition. Are there any “signs” of unhealthy ambition.  Ask God to purify your heart and motives!

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

Let us Pray,

Psalm 15 Amplified Bible

Description of a Citizen of Zion.

A Psalm of David.

15 O Lord, who may lodge [as a guest] in Your tent?
Who may dwell [continually] on Your holy hill?
2 
He who walks with integrity and strength of character, and works righteousness,
And speaks and holds truth in his heart.
3 
He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 
In his eyes an evil person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord [and obediently worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].
He keeps his word even to his own disadvantage and does not change it [for his own benefit];
5 
He does not put out his money at interest [to a fellow Israelite],
And does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.

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/

Be Planning for our Future with God; Just How do We Live and Move with Our Eternity in Mind? Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21 Amplified Bible

Covetousness Denounced

13 Someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the  family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbitrator over [the two of] you?” 15 Then He said to them, “Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.”

Parable of the Wealthy Fool

16 Then He told them a parable, saying, “There was a rich man whose land was very fertile and productive. 17 And he began thinking to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place [large enough in which] to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many good things stored up, [enough] for many years; rest and relax, eat, drink and be merry (celebrate continually).”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; now who will own all the things you have prepared?’ 21  So it is for the one who continues to store up and hoard possessions for himself, and is not rich [in his relationship] toward 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.

Planning the Future Without God

The rich man had it all figured out. He would make one more major investment by building a bigger barn, after that he was going glory in self, to take life easy.

This prosperous farmer had worked hard all his life, he had sacrificed a lot of things to get where he was, and he now felt entitled to enjoy a life of leisure.

Of course! That is okay. We need to give ourselves some good rest, when you have worked hard all of your life, you should be allowed to reap the benefits.

But suddenly God stepped into the man’s life and called him a fool.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g878/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/

  1. without reason
  2. senseless, foolish, stupid
  3. without reflection or intelligence, acting rashly

Why did God do that?

Not because the rich man had planned for the future, but because he had stored up things for covetousness, glorifying himself, without being rich toward God.

The man had lived his life with a false sense of security, and in the process he had missed the purpose of his life.

God does not begrudge us riches or retirement.

God is the one who gives us all the good things we have (see James 1:17-18). But God gives us these things for a purpose: to put himself at the center of our lives.

We need to ask ourselves, “Am I living up to the purpose God has in mind for me? And am I rich toward God?” In Matthew 6:33 Jesus urges us to seek out the kingdom of God and his righteousness. When we do that, we will be rich toward God and we will be excessively involved in the purposes for which God made us.

How to Live with Eternity in Mind …

Ecclesiastes 3:11 Amplified Bible

God Set Eternity in the Heart of Man

11 He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.

Luke 12:13-21 The Message

The Story of the Greedy Farmer

13 Someone out of the crowd said, “Teacher, order my brother to give me a fair share of the family inheritance.”

14 He replied, “Mister, what makes you think it’s any of my business to be a judge or mediator for you?”

15 Speaking to the people, he went on, “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”

16-19 Then he told them this story: “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’

20 “Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’

21 “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.”

Suppose, if Jesus told it to us today, this parable might go something like this…

Recently there was a certain businessman, a real wheeler dealer. Everything he set his mind to do, he accomplished with great success. If he purchased stock, he bought low and within a short time, sold high. If he built a high-rise, there’d be a huge boom in new businesses needing office space. If he dug an oil well, there would be a revolution somewhere in the Middle East and the price of oil would skyrocket. In fact, the man was so wealthy, he made Elon Musk look like the very lowest of paupers.

In the midst of his success, he had an epiphany. “I’ve worked hard and become the richest guy in the world. Why am still I killing myself? OMG I can buy anything, go anywhere and do anything I want. Nothing and no one no where can ever stop me. What the hey – I’m going to live it up because I can now afford to! And he went to bed laughing and dreaming about the good life he was going to enjoy from then on.

And later that night, with no evidence of severe issues, he died in his sleep. The End.

Jesus was telling his disciples a viable parable that actually sounds a lot like the stereotypical American dream (add in the gorgeous spouse, 2.3 kids, family dog, weekends playing golf, owning the beach, and bam, you got it – the American dream). Well, except for the unexpected death part. Nobody ever dreams of that.

But Jesus knew it was also the Israelites’ dream.

All the Old Testament heroes and Bible greats were rich!

These included Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, King David, and of course, King Solomon – the richest man ever.

Wealthy individuals were very influential, powerful and cultural heroes of the Israelites. They loved overmuch rich guys and wanted to be like the rich guys.

As far as His listeners were concerned, this parable began about an honest farmer climbing the ladder of success right to the top, just like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David and Solomon. He was a hero, a role model, a trend setter. yet God dared called him a fool, and not because he was rich, proud or even selfish.

The man was a fool because he lived his life as if this temporary existence was all about him. Jesus indicated that the man never considered or prepared for eternity. It’s not a lecture on being rich, but rather it’s a reminder to be ready!

In the same manner, however “rich” we really are, we could all still be fools.

  1. without reason
  2. senseless, foolish, stupid
  3. without reflection or intelligence, acting rashly

Regardless of our economic class, our race our gender or our political opinions, theology, unless we get ready, we’ll be ill-prepared to meet the God of eternity.

Have an Eternal Perspective

As the saying goes – there are never going to be any U-hauls behind hearses.

We will all face eternity someday and leave behind all the material possessions we invested our life energy into.

The only things that go with us are our good works done for the Kingdom, and the spiritual fruit of our Christlike character. These are the kinds of acts, deeds of service we receive eternal rewards for (they aren’t the means to salvation).

That means we should all live our lives with an eternal perspective in all we do.

What does that [Ecclesiastes 3:11] eternal perspective look like on a daily basis?

Realize Life Is Short

Psalm 37:1-2 The Message

37 1-2 Don’t bother your head with braggarts
    or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings
    and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

James 4:13-15 The Message

Nothing but a Wisp of Fog

13-15 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”

We humans are funny when it comes to our ages. Kids can’t wait to grow up.

They proudly count months in addition to years on their fingers.

Teenagers cannot wait to hit the big benchmarks that allow them greater freedoms: college, driving, working, living independently, voting, married.

Middle-age folks look to slowing it down and we begin to fudge on our ages, remaining 29 years old several years in a row, if not the rest of our lives hiding the telltale signs of aging with hair dye, young fashions and gym memberships.

Eventually, it becomes bad form to even ask how old someone is, so we avoid the subject in polite company. But eventually, a person may get to be so old we can ask again, becomes a cause of surprise, celebration they are still with us!

But no matter how many years we each experience here on this fallen earth, it’s simply a wisp of vapor compared to timeless eternity. In that light, as Jesus was saying, it’s foolish to place greater emphasis on our well-being today than our well-being in eternity. When we truly understand how short our days are, we will live our lives with a greater view to how our actions affect and influence others, and how it furthers or hinders God’s plan and purpose here on earth.

Prioritize What Matters Most

Remember Jesus called the guy a fool not because he was financially well off, but because God was not visible in the equation. The man was simply playing Monopoly with his life; he thought he was winning when he was actually losing.

So what does it mean to live our lives in such a way that we are “rich” toward God? One meaning would be to live in a way that pleases Him, by loving Him our neighbors, ourselves, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).

Another meaning would be that we live with purpose – following the will of God for your individual life. When we fully commit to doing God’s will in our lives, we move from playing Monopoly money to actively preparing for our eternity.

But being rich toward God also means prioritizing people.

If we truly want to be ready for eternity, we should do everything in our power to make other people the central focus of our lives. After all, people are the most important thing to God! People are the reason for both creation and the Cross.

If you love God, with all you are, you will love His people, from every nation, tribe and tongue (Revelation 7:9-10)! So if we are going to be rich toward God and be ready for eternity, our lives need to be not self but other people focused.

Love Openly, Reconcile Quickly, Forgive Freely

Tell people that you care, tell them how valuable they are, tell them you love and appreciate them. Tell them you miss them. Slow down and make time for them in your schedule. Playing Monopoly and acquiring stuff is not nearly as important as making sure people know how valuable they are, to you, to God.

Luke 14:7-9 The Message

Invite the Misfits

7-9 He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Embarrassed, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.

John 21:15-23 Amplified Bible

The Love Motivation

15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I [a] love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16  Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me  [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] [b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him,  “Feed My sheep.”

Our Times Are in His Hand

18 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and arms, and someone else will dress you, and carry you where you do not wish to go.” 19 Now He said this to indicate the [c] kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after saying this, He said to him, “Follow Me [walk the same path of life that I have walked]!”

20 Peter turned and saw the [d]disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His chest at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray You?” 21 So when Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, and what about this [e]man [what is in his future]?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If I want him to stay alive until I come [again], what is that to you? You follow Me!” 23 So this word went out among the brothers that this disciple (John) was not going to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but only, “If I want him to stay alive until I come [again], what is that to you?”

“Follow me [walk the very same path of life that I have walked!]” “Feed my Lambs, Shepherd my sheep, Feed my sheep!” Jesus quietly commissions Peter.

All who have met the living Lord are commanded, covenanted, to follow him.

In following Jesus, Peter ended up in Rome, where he died for his faith.

Tradition has it Peter was crucified like Jesus, except that Peter requested to be crucified upside down, to show that he was not worthy to die as Jesus had died.

Following Jesus brought Peter to a cross.

We often forget that following Jesus brings sacrifice. Jesus says to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

Matthew 16:24-26 The Message

24-26 Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?

Some Christians seem to think that when you are a Christian you are on easy street. But living the Christian life is not always easy. If you stand up for Jesus, you will be in conflict with the powers of this world. In many places around the world, many Christians suffer mightily and sometimes even die for their faith.

In our reading for today, Peter wonders what will happen to the apostle John (John 13:25), but Jesus tells Peter that he must focus instead on following Jesus.

Matthew 7:13-14 The Message

Being and Doing

13-14 “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.

We must always remember that we cannot ever follow both Jesus and the world.

And we must definitely not get sidetracked in wondering about the Lord’s plans for other believers. We each need to be true, be faithful in the calling he gives us.

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

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 The Message

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

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

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

5-6 My 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!

7-8 The 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.

9-10 I’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!

11 Now 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.

https://translate.google.com/

Dance the Happy Dance of Salvation! Day and Night, God Always Sustains! Psalm 3:1-8

Psalm 3 Amplified Bible

Morning Prayer of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David. When he fled from Absalom his son.

3 O Lord, how my enemies have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
2 
Many are saying of me,
“There is no help [no salvation] for him in God.” [a]Selah.

3 
But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory [and my honor], and the One who lifts my head.
4 
With my voice I was crying to the Lord,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
5 
I lay down and slept [safely];
I awakened, for the Lord sustains me.
6 
I will not be intimidated or afraid of the ten thousands
Who have set themselves against me all around.

7 
Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
8 
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
May Your blessing be upon Your people. Selah.

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.

If your relationship with Jesus doesn’t put a spring in your step and cause you to dance a happy dance once in awhile, maybe you’ve hit a spiritual funk?

Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your realization of how much Jesus loves you and exactly what you should be expecting from your relationship with God?

Sometimes we, and I say we as the church collectively, forget our salvation belongs to the Lord.

Far too often we want to defeat ourselves, beat ourselves up, work out our own situations and bring our own answers to the table. By doing so, our efforts fit our own agenda, personal narrative better, to the dilemma we may be facing.

The human will is powerful and our genuine willingness to try to work out our own truer answers without God’s help, only ends in the self deprecating, self defeating spiritual exhaustion, a frustration of our own inability and failure!

Re-read what David writes:

“Lord, how they have increased who trouble me! verse 1

Many are they who rise up against me. verse 1

Many are they who say of me, verse 2

“There is no help for him in God.” verse 2

Psalm 3:1-2 The Message

3 1-2 God! Look! Enemies past counting!
Enemies sprouting like mushrooms,
Mobs of them all around me, roaring their mockery:
“Hah! No help for him from God!”

Not unlike David in his problem, we who are Christians today face similar situations. Our liberties, our morals, our values and our way of life as we know it are substantially threatened by those who mock, say, act as if there is no God!

The atmosphere created by what some want to call a new normal, a progressive normal, a socialist normal, is repeatedly trying to be established! Without God being any substantial part of it! Some say, get used to what we’re witnessing.

God would have me tell you, “things are not always as they appear to be!”

Matthew 6:4-13 The Message

2-4 “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.

Pray with Simplicity

5 “And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

6 “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

7-13 “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.

As in David’s time and in the moment as we watch history in the making, fear is still the primary propellant and pusher of the enemies agenda and plans today.

After all the different diversions of attack throughout history, the devil is still stuck with the same playbook of lies, being manipulate, steal, kill and destroy!

Only God has the ability to create new, only God knows what the future holds and only God wants you to have an abundant life! Only Jesus came to give life.

2 Timothy 1:4-7 The Message

To Be Bold with God’s Gifts

3-4 Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion.

5-7 That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

Sometimes it’s far too easy for us to get caught up in the moment like David by the rise of circumstances and lose our focus of how big God is. When we focus exclusively on all our circumstances, the opportunity for fear not only raises its ugly head, but gains the confidence to become our primary center of attention!

Isaiah 55:11-13 The Message

8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

12-13 “So you’ll go out in joy,
    you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade,
    bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
    exuberant with applause.
No more thistles, but giant sequoias,
    no more thorn bushes, but stately pines—
Monuments to me, to God,
    living and lasting evidence of God.”

Right there my friend proclaims the promise of our standing on Gods word!

Giving every believer the right to go through life doing the happy dance!

Gods word assures us He is willing to pull out all the stops in the removal of the burdens of life, if we let Him search our hearts, test us, to be a part of our lives!

If your relationship with Jesus doesn’t put a spring in your step and cause you to dance a happy dance once in awhile, just maybe you’ve hit a spiritual funk?

Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your realization of how much Jesus loves you and exactly what you should be expecting from your relationship with God?

God’s word is still the full truth and will always be looking for ways to prosper God’s people, establish joy for their lives and accomplishing the impossible!

Constantly searching for those who want to become aware of His Promises and are willing to believe, and 100% trust that “nothing is impossible for God!”

Fear is the opposite of faith!

Fear’s main driving force is self efforts lack of ability!

Faiths driving force is resting in the strength of Gods ability and the peace of mind stemming from it!

David had faced a similar situation of faith and fear we read of in

1 Samuel 30:1-7 The Message

David’s Strength Was in His God

30 1-3 Three days later, David and his men arrived back in Ziklag. Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They tore Ziklag to pieces and then burned it down. They captured all the women, young and old. They didn’t kill anyone, but drove them like a herd of cattle. By the time David and his men entered the village, it had been burned to the ground, and their wives, sons, and daughters all taken prisoner.

4-6 David and his men burst out in loud wails—wept and wept until they were exhausted with weeping. David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken prisoner along with the rest. And suddenly David was in even worse trouble. There was talk among the men, bitter over the loss of their families, of stoning him.

6-7 David strengthened himself with trust in his God. He ordered Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the Ephod so I can consult God.” Abiathar brought it to David.

There was definite fear that all was lost, by all of David’s men including David.

There was also a glimmer of hope, stemming from the God given faith they all possessed!

Remember these men were warriors of many battles and triumphs following David and his pursuit of becoming King of Israel! They had no doubt many miraculous displays of David’s walk, connection and relationship with God!

Many a lesser man would have contemplated a different strategy resulting in failure and possibly great loss of life, as faced with the same circumstances.

But David, didn’t look to his own ability.

David looked only to Gods amazing ability!

I’m sure there was talk among his men, saying something to the effect of look what doing the Lords work has gotten us!

The voices of those grew against David to the point of the talk of Stoning him!

TBS.

David strengthened himself in the Lord and God answered him with a victory over his adversary’s and the returning of everything that had been taken from him and his men!

David’s realization of his own humility, allowed God to fully work out an amazing end to what seemed a hopeless situation!

David chose to do same again, with complete reliance on God, as we read from verse three again of our text.

3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,

My glory and the One who lifts up my head.

4  I cried to the Lord with my voice,

And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah

5  I lay down and slept;

I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.

Selah, means to pause. David paused, or rested and strengthened himself in the amazing ability of God.

David could’ve been mad, he could have been thinking of retribution against Absalom. David could’ve been thinking a lot of things, but what he chose to be calm, do was rest and strengthen himself in what he knew to be his salvation.

David realized looking to God for his salvation, was what had sustained him every time he had ever faced any circumstance!

God had never let David down before!

His adversaries were too powerful and too numerous to count, but David remembered what God had helped him to be victorious over in the past!

David knew God had never let him down before and God would be willing to accomplish the impossible for him again, in the moment of his great needs!

Lions, bears, giants, adversaries, warriors, enemies, yes God had sustained David through each and every one!

Gods calling and anointing is without repentance!

Romans 11:29 The Message

A Complete Israel

25-29 I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and they’re just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that’s not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written,

A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion;
    he’ll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
    removal of their sins.

From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.

Today because of God’s loving act of grace to the world, We look to Jesus and our connectional relationship with Savior Jesus for our sustaining salvation and promise of deliverance!

We have David’s example, to not look at our circumstance, but to the one who controls and determines the outcome of our circumstances!

Knowing when we humble ourselves and ask for God’s help, God hears and responds to our needs!

Reading on from verse seven

7 Arise, O Lord;

Save me, O my God!

For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;

You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.

Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah

David calls on God to rescue him and bring salvation to the situation!

And then reflects on the times that God has rescued him and rescued Israel, and to seemingly have done the impossible time after time.

Asking for Gods blessing once again, and then pauses or rest in the assurance God will deliver!

Is it really that easy?

Under who’s ability?

Under mans ability, what David ask was impossible!

Under God’s ability, our requests really are that easy!

We repeatedly have the tendency to try making things for God harder than what they are!

Philippians 4:6-7 The Message

6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Paul tells us, to let God know what we need and have faith God will meet the need and to rest in the peace that passes all understanding God supplies through Christ Jesus until the need is no longer a need!

There is no harder or easier for God!

God can do anything He wants, anytime He wants, for anyone who has the faith the size of the tiniest mustard seed, which God has also already miraculously has provided and is willing to believe God can meet the need!

We find our true identity in Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord, when we finally kick fear to the curb and take our rightful place of resting in Jesus willingness, to show us unmerited favor!

Have we earned it? No!

Are we worthy of such reward?

If Jesus is our Savior then yes we are worthy!

Because of the cross, Jesus has made us worthy and able to receive the Favor God freely offers to all!

The only thing there is no room for in a Christians life today and what we face in the never ending onslaught of condemnation and attack by the accuser, is fear!

Because fear triggers and is fuel for doubt and unbelief!

Whatever you’re facing today doesn’t matter, because nothing is out of the realm of the possibilities of the One True Living God!

Whether it’s an addiction, or a financial need, or a physical condition makes absolutely no difference! If you’re trusting the results and outcome of what you’re facing to God!

Don’t let the fear caused by the failure of self effort, keep you from receiving the miracle your seeking.

Put your mustard sized God given seed of faith in the God of all things possible and rest in God’s willingness to split your mountain in half while making those same mountains of adversity sing for joy, while the trees clap with thunderous applause, in the glorious midst of clearing the pathway to your victory!

Do you know how much God loves you today?

Jesus established on the cross amount of Gods love for you is immeasurable.

God willingly gave His very best, so you could live in, walk in and experience His very best, all along your way to eternity!

Aren’t you glad you know Him?

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

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 The Message

23 1-3 God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.

4 Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.

5 You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.

6 Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life.

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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Dare to Envision the Unimaginable: ‘Our “Trying” to Live for Ourselves, Without a trace of God in our World.’ Psalm 49:13-20

Psalm 49:15-20 The Message

13-15 This is what happens to those who live for the moment,
    who only look out for themselves:
Death herds them like sheep straight to hell;
    they disappear down the gullet of the grave;
They waste away to nothing—
    nothing left but a marker in a cemetery.
But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death,
    he reaches down and grabs me.

16-19 So don’t be impressed with those who get rich
    and pile up fame and fortune.
They can’t take it with them;
    fame and fortune all get left behind.
Just when they think they’ve arrived
    and folks praise them because they’ve made good,
They enter the family burial plot
    where they’ll never see sunshine again.

20     We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
    Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.

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.

For centuries, Western society has benefited from the widespread influence of the Christian faith.

While the history of the West is filled with examples of human depravity, where there has been a consistent Christian presence it has, in many ways and at many times, stayed the hand of evil.

Most of us have not had to grieve and groan through the experience of what a society looks like when it completely abandons and rejects and forgets God.

The Scriptures, however, do give us a grim picture of what happens when people have convinced themselves that there is no God.

It is a picture of a rejection of humility, where “the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul” and rejects God in his pride (Psalm 10:3-4). Humility is where the knowledge of God begins; therefore, those who reject God reject humility too.

Not only do such proud people reject God; they also revile Him, cursing and renouncing Him (Psalm 10:3). Too often prosperity leads people to curse God.

Their lives are going so well that they believe nothing can touch them and they will give no account to their Maker. Their prosperity gives them a false sense of security. They think they can live as they like, that “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it” (v 11), that there will be no repercussions for their behavior.

With no accountability for how people live, there is no need for the powerful to serve or the strong to be gentle: we can treat others however we please, and so the godless man “sits in ambush … he murders the innocent … he lurks that he may seize the poor” (v 8-9).

It is with good reason, then, that the psalmist says, “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.” Psalm 49:20

When we abandon, reject and revile God, we foolishly think we are secure, which inevitably convinces us that it’s acceptable for us to mistreat others.

It is tempting to think that passages like this one only describe other people.

But we should not be too quick to look away from ourselves. Are there ways we have rejected humility, believing ourselves to be sufficient without God?

Have we let our prosperity numb us to our neediness and accountability before God? Has our treatment of those around us been marked by self-interest and arrogance instead of love and service? We may confess to have faith in God, but perhaps there are just a few hidden areas of our lives that require repentance.

The picture of man “in his pomp yet without understanding” is indeed a bleak one—both in this life and at its end. So praise God that this is not the whole picture.

Psalm 16:9-11 The Message

9-10 I’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!

11 Now 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.

Psalm 16:9-11 Amplified Bible

9 
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my innermost self] rejoices;
My body too will dwell [confidently] in safety,
10 
For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
11 
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

If you and I ever dare ourselves to come to understand that we have a Creator to whom we are utterly invaluable and accountable, and that that this Creator has ransomed mine, your, soul and will receive you into eternal life (Psalm 49:15), then the pomp of this world will soon assume its rightful place, and in Jesus Christ you, I, will enjoy purpose, hope, forgiveness, and pleasures forevermore.

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

Let us Pray,

Psalm 15 Amplified Bible

Description of a Citizen of Zion.

A Psalm of David.

15 O Lord, who may lodge [as a guest] in Your tent?
Who may dwell [continually] on Your holy hill?
2 
He who walks with integrity and strength of character, and works righteousness,
And speaks and holds truth in his heart.
3 
He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 
In his eyes an evil person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord [and obediently worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].
He keeps his word even to his own disadvantage and does not change it [for his own benefit];
5 
He does not put out his money at interest [to a fellow Israelite],
And does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.

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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