Happily Ever After

Happily ever after is something we dream of as children and actually believe in for a while, but where does it go?  Living happily ever after is just a given in the movies and children’s books, but the image gets more clouded and the glass slipper sometimes seems broken as life happens and reality sets in.  Does it have to be that way?  Are we stuck living in a world that controls us?  Is happily ever after a reality or just a dream?

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴ by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3-5)

Peter is telling us that we can have happily ever after.  God has given it to us, but do we accept it?  I spent many years seeking my happily ever after.  I bet we all have.  I looked in a lot of places thinking it was just around the next corner or just beyond the horizon, but it was there waiting all along.  You see, if we try to find our happiness it just seems to avoid us, but when we allow God to lead us to our happiness we see it was perfect timing all along.  God knows our happily ever after before we are born and plabs it out for us… we just have to allow him to work.  “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:11-12)  God has plans for you!  How special is that? 

God gives us divine appointments each day.  He sends things our way, but he also gives us a choice to act on those things or to let them pass us by.  We must be ready or we miss out.  I can’t tell you how many blessings that I have let slip right through my fingers because I wasn’t paying attention to God.  I’ll bet you have had some moments like that too, haven’t you?  It’s time for us to wake up!  I have been blessed beyond measure because I have begun to look for God working in my life.  I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the blessing my family is to me.  They have been one of life’s true blessings.  There are others out there that are blessing my life immensely now. (You know who you are!) And to think I might have slept right through these amazing blessings had I not been awakened out of my sleep.  We can’t go through life just dreaming about happily ever after, we have to wake up and LIVE happily ever after.  The only way to do this is through the power of Jesus working in our lives.  “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”(John 14:6)

“Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”(Ephesians 5:14)  Let’s wake up and begin our happily ever after.

God Bless!

Come One, Come ALL!

“Come unto me all....”  Those were Jesus’ words.  He was accused on numerous times of not only being with sinners, but actually “eating” with them.  Sharing a meal has always been an important part of culture.  We go out to dinner or we “do lunch”.  Eating is still an important part of our lives.  Who we choose to share meals with will say a lot about us, and what’s important to our lives.

We ask those out to dinner that we want to get to know better, we “do lunch” with old friends, we have a working lunch with colleagues or business associates.  Who would Jesus eat with??  Would those be the people he would have around His table?  I think we should all take a deep hard look at who we decide to have around us, and I personally think Jesus should be our guide.

Thanksgiving is here and we come together as families and Christians to celebrate what God has done for us.  We thank God for our blessings.  We always surround ourselves with friends, family and those important to our lives, and that’s good.  But who else should we have around our table?  Who would Jesus have around His thanksgiving table??

Let’s take a look, a glimpse, into who Jesus might have at His table by seeing who were the regulars at the dinners and meals Jesus shared… 

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
¹² When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (MT 9:1-13)

And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” ⁶ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. ⁷ But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” (LK 19:5-7)
You see Jesus was not afraid to get His hands dirty… to minister to those a little different, maybe even a little dirty.  Listen to Jesus as he quotes Isaiah in Luke 4, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed; ¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”  ²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²   Jesus came for the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the oppressed.  You see we all fit into that category at one point in our lives; maybe some of us are there now.  The point is Jesus cares and is waiting for us to sit at the table of Salvation. 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Jesus left out no one.  Come one, come all!  Find rest at the table of Jesus.

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!

"Rose Colored Glasses"

“Rose colored glasses,” or the eyes of Jesus, you decide?  I had someone mention a few days ago that I might just be looking at the world, and more specifically, the body of Christ through what he called “rose colored glasses.”  First off that phrase has always thrown me off a little bit, because I still see all the marvelous colors God gave us to enjoy and even the shades of grey and black that ooze from those whose spirit lacks that of Christ.  I am not a dog, I see in full spectrum color, but there is a difference in him and me, I suppose, and that is the vision of and mindset of Christ.

I don’t see the world in the same way most do, I have been transformed.  I now see things through the eyes of Christ.  Paul so clearly tells the brothers and sisters in Rome how they should live.  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  It seems to me that when we are living our lives with the mercies of God in the forefront of our being that we would see things a little different.  I mean Paul said to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”.  If anything it appears to me that would include looking at things in a different way.  That word “transformed” in the Greek is “metamorphoo”.  It is where we get the English word metamorphosis thus meaning a transfiguration.  It is the same word used during Jesus’ transfiguration.  It is a total change, including how we look at the world.  Paul explains a little more in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Once again in Philippians 2:5-8 Paul explains how we are to behave.  “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”  “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ.”  Rose colored glasses, no.  Christ-like view of the world, yes.  I seek to live my life in a way to see the needs of others and to find the best, not fault in my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I pray the one who is looking at the world through his jaded glasses will take them off, be transformed and see the wonders that God has given us in the body of Christ, His Church, not only in this life, but the glories in the life to come.

God Bless!

The Well

Some days are better than others.  I think we all would say this.  But imagine this day with me a minute or two… 

A lady is thirsty, and she goes to the same well she has been going to all her life.  It’s old and worn and deep.  It’s the same well her father and her father’s father used to get water for themselves and all her family.  She’s there once again, alone.  She isn’t the best dressed or even remotely popular; you might call her an outcast.  Some have called her much worse; you see she has a reputation.  She has walked all the way out to the well and is taking a break from the hot sun, the hot Samaritan sun.  Much to her surprise a man approaches her and speaks to her…

He asks her for a drink.  She is a little startled by a man speaking to her at all, but his accent and clothing give him away as a Jew.  She is apprehensive, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”  She is used to getting the cold shoulder and the brush off and expects that will probably be all he has to say, but he goes on, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”  She begins to think that this man may have been out in the sun too long, but something about him is different and keeps her talking.  She talks, or more importantly, listens long enough to have a life changing experience. 

She has come to the true well, Jesus.  You probably have recognized by now that this is the 4^th chapter of John’s Gospel.  This is one of several places Jesus mentions the water he can provide, “living water.”  He mentions it in verse 10 we have already mentioned and again in verses 13 and 14 of John 4, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”   Wow…  An ordinary day had become a trip to THE WELL.  “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)  “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:35)

How many of us waste our days running to this or to that to try to fix our problems or satisfy a desire?  We seek and do not find, we toil and work and yet have no peace.  Maybe it is time for all of us to take a trip to the well, for a big cool drink of the living water only Jesus Christ can provide.  "There’s a fountain free, ’tis for you and me, Let us haste, O haste to its brink; ‘tis a fount of love from the source above, And He bids us all freely drink.   There’s a living well and its waters swell, and eternal life they can give; and we joyful sing, ever spring, O spring, as we haste to drink and to live."[1]  Will you come to the fountain free?  I don’t know about you, but I’m getting thirsty. 

God Bless.

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[1] "There’s A Fountain Free" The text was written by Mrs. Mary Bridges Canedy Slade (1826-1882). The tune (Free Waters) was composed by Asa Brooks Everett (1828-1875).

Deep Roots

A living sacrifice, take up your cross, if they persecute Me then they will surely persecute you… those are tough things to swallow, aren’t they?  Tough maybe, but all warnings from God’s word that things are not always promised to be easy on the Christian walk.  God told us there would be days like this, so to speak.  These are the days and the times we must all dig deep.  This is when it would be good to have been planted by that stream of living water the Psalmist and Jeremiah talk about in Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17.  Jeremiah even mentions the roots spreading out in verse 8, a firm foundation.  Let’s take a minute to think out what can ground us and give our roots the depth needed to stand the heat of this world and the wiles of the devil.

Let’s take a look at Romans 12:1-2.  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  Paul is actually begging here.  This is one of those times that he is not speaking a command, but even more strongly, he is begging the brothers and sisters at Rome to present their bodies as a living sacrifice.  Why…Because of the “mercies of God.”  Present your bodies as the sacrifice.  This is literally the word for what is being sacrificed.  This is an all-in affair.  A sacrifice can never go back to being anything else once sacrificed.  It is final and complete.  This is a total surrender.  That my friend is the key… that is what grows deep roots… that is what leads to being a true follower of Jesus, being all-in.  Paul says that is our only reasonable response to god’s mercy, our only logical act of worship to One who gave so much. 

We might ask how in the world can I do that?  Paul explains in the very next verse, “be transformed.”  Be changed.  Don’t let yourself be shaped by what everyone else does, but rather let yourselves be transformed by a whole new way of thinking.  Paul emphasizes the transforming and new life of a Christian in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  Let’s live our lives deeply rooted in the newness that is the mercy of God’s love each day of our lives, because that is, of course, the only reasonable response to something so amazing as God’s love and mercy.

God Bless!

Courageous for Jesus

What if we were really all in for Jesus?  What if we truly made Jesus number one in our lives and hearts and souls?  What if we were radical in our expression of Jesus to others, Jesus freaks, so to speak?  Would it ever be said of us today, what was said of Paul and Silas in Acts 17:6?  "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”  Would we ever be accused of turning our hands, much less the world upside down?

I need to share a personal story that I think will inspire, and then I have a challenge for all of us.  Last night a friend and I went out to eat and I was to pick the place.  That’s never one of my favorite things, picking the place to eat, but I chose a local Mexican restaurant and we were seated in a booth.  The waiter was friendly and had a smile, but we could tell spoke little English.  We sat and discussed matters of God and other things pertaining to our lives, and were finishing our meal.  I ashamedly say that my friend, not I, determined to be bold and mention God and Jesus to our waiter.  He had a card that read, “God is good all the time and all the time God is good.”  Some of you may recognize that as a card.  My friend gave him the card and asked him to come to church with us.  We explained that we were Christians and worshipped at the Beltline Church of Christ.  Our Waiter went on to ask if it was the one across from Martins. We, of course, said yes.  Guess what?  He had been coming to worship with our Hispanic congregation, but work had pulled him away.  We talked a little more and went our separate ways, for now.  Let me ask you, was that coincidence or was that God?  I will boldly submit to you that that was our divine appointment that we would have probably have missed had my friend not decided to pull out one of those cards.  How many of those do you miss each day?  I am quite sure I miss many.  Now let’s get to the challenge.

I am going to resolve starting today to tell at least one person about Jesus every day for 30 days.  I am going to be courageous with my expression of Jesus in my life.  Who will join me?  Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:7, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” That’s just as true today as it was 2000 years ago.  We must just tap into that power that is so freely offered to those who will step out and step up for the Lord.  If you will take this “Courageous for Jesus” challenge please email me your desire and commitment to ricktalley01@gmail.com.  I would also love to share some of your stories if you would email those to me as well.  Let’s all band together and turn the world upside down again!

God Bless!

A Master's Prayer

Yesterday we began a study of the Prayer life of Jesus.  We will continue that study today by looking at a couple of instances when Jesus prayed.  We all would do well to follow the Master's example.

Jesus prayed when He was deciding who to surround Himself with in His ministry.  "n these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles. (Luke 6:12-13)  Jesus saw the people He would be working with as important, so important, that He, in fact, prayed all night about it.  He knew the people who would assist Him were important, but he also knew how much He would be ministering and teaching these men.  Jesus prayed for not only His co-workers in the ministry, but also the same ones of whom He would minister the most.  Do we do either?  Are our coworkers important enough to pray about?  Maybe we overlook them, but what about those close to us, the ones we have most influence over, do we pray for them?  Surely we pray for those we might be able to minister to...those whose only Jesus they see might be the Jesus they see living in us.  John 13:15 is in a different context, but the same words of Jesus apply here. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  We should do just as Jesus did and pray for those closest to us.

Jesus also prayed when He was busy.  Look at the situation Jews finds Himself in in Luke 5:15-16, "However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed."  Jesus had been involved in a busy day, busy time in His Life, but Jesus never lost the importance of talking to His heavenly Father.  Luke, not only, expresses that He felt the need often, but He also felt the need of quiet time with God, withdrawing into the wilderness to pray.  I think we miss the importance of quiet time alone with God.  I am of the thought that anywhere is not only a fitting and proper place to pray, but necessary.  Praying without ceasing doesn't just have to be an ideal, but can be a way of life.  With that having been said, I also feel the importance of quiet purposeful time with God.  If Jesus needed it, then we most definitely need it in our lives today.  Jesus didn't get too busy to pray, but prayed because he was becoming too busy.

Let us Pray!

Jesus: Prayer Warrior

Jesus baptism was a very important time in the life of Jesus, as it is with most that follow Him as their Savior.  Of course, Jesus' baptism was a little different.  Most of us would never have to put up a fuss to get someone to baptize us, but Jesus did.  He had to actually state His case to convince John to baptize Him.  John was a bit reluctant, knowing who Jesus was, and who could blame him?  We have to look to Matthew's Gospel to even get this glimpse of resistance.  John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (Matt 3:14, ESV)  No other gospel writer notes this obvious tension in the moment.  But Jesus answered him "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented." (v. 15) So with that, Jesus, our sinless Savior and Redeemer, was baptized.  He who knew no sin had set the precedent and example for all who would come after Him to follow.

Jesus didn't stop there.  He went on after His baptism and before His coronation as the Servant King, recalling Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1, in the words from Heaven, to set us another important example that we will explore in more detail. "When Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened." (Luke 3:21) So between these two extremely significant events in all of Christendom, Jesus prayed.  This is quite significant, but Jesus can be nothing less.  Jesus prayer life was another example that we, His followers, would do well to follow.  Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. (Luke 11:1 NKJV)

Prayer was a significant and substantial part of Jesus' life. Jesus spoke to His Father on a regular basis.  We see the beginnings of this here in Luke at His baptism, but we can trace Jesus' prayer life all the way through baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.  When something important was happening, Jesus was praying.  Let us explore Jesus' prayer life during the important events more closely and then look at the pattern, and thus importance, of prayer in the life of our Lord.

Jesus is seen praying at almost every turn, but maybe even more so when there was a fork in the road, an important event that would have a major impact on His earthly life and ministry. Jesus was praying when He was commissioned and proclaimed Savior by God, but that was only the beginning.

We will spend a few days talking about Jesus, our example and ultimate Prayer Warrior.

God's Oak Trees

I know… it’s been a while friends, brothers and sisters.  I don’t know about you, but it’s been too long for me.  I have missed talking and sharing, but enough about me, because if there is one thing I have been learning in our recent time apart, it is that it is most definitely not about me.  It is all about Jesus!

John 14: 6, our Savior speaking, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Did we catch the key phrase there?  John didn’t write it like this, everyone can come to God any way he or she chooses. Nor did he say that we could get ourselves there.  John penned the words of Jesus that the way to get to God is through Jesus … period.

How many times have you and I tried it our way?  We all have an empty spot, I call that the God spot, that we are trying to fill.  What do we try to fill that spot with? God has a plan for all of us who will follow him, but first we must become “Jesus freaks”.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”                        Jeremiah 29:11-13

The last part is the condition of the first. We must seek god with all our hearts.  What does that mean for you?  Does that mean doing more good?  Does that mean allowing God to help you drop some things you shouldn’t do?  That’s between you and God, and it takes time and effort.  When James Garfield (late President of the U.S.) was principal of Hiram College in Ohio, a father asked him if the course of study could be simplified so that his son might be able to go through by a shorter route. “Certainly.” Garfield replied. “But it all depends on what you want to make of your boy. When God wants to make an oak tree, He takes a hundred years. When He wants to make a squash he requires only two months.” We are producing too many squashes and not enough oak trees in our day. (Source Unknown).

Let’s seek to make ourselves the oak tree. Joshua has a challenge to us all, “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (24:15)

God Bless!

Christ the Exalted

Our final look at the life and work of Christ in the few verses the Apostle Paul spoke, through his letter to the Philippians will focus on Jesus the Exalted. Paul wrote these words in Philippians 2:5-11, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

Because of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf God has exalted Him.  Not only are we told of this great exaltation of Christ by Paul in our text in Philippians, but many other times throughout the New Testament.  John tells us that Jesus is above all in his Gospel. "He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth He who comes from heaven is above all.”  (John 3:31)  In Peter’s great sermon on the Day of Pentecost he tells those there that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)  Both Peter and the Apostles testified to the glory of Jesus in Acts 5:29-32.  But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.  "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.  "He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.  "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him."  Paul sums it up best from our text in Philippians 2. “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Every knee will bow, because God exalted Christ.

Jesus came down from Heaven to earth in fleshly form to be sacrificed for all man’s sins; therefore, God highly exalted Him.  Jesus sits at the right Hand of God, not only to intercede for us with the Father, but to Judge us.  He is qualified as one who suffered in all things as we did.  J.H. Jowett said, “Ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.”  Jesus’ ministry cost Him His life and cost God His only Son.  A great price was paid for this marvelous and sin shattering ministry.  Jesus’ blessing came to us through His bleeding for us.  Thanks be to God for this sacrifice.

God Bless!

God's Friend

 We will continue with part 3 of our study of Christ.  The life and work of Christ is represented very well in a few verses the Apostle Paul spoke, through his letter to the Philippians.  Paul wrote these words in Philippians 2:5-11, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”   This time we will look at Christ the sacrificed.

This leads us to the fact that Jesus, God in the flesh, was willing to be sacrificed for the sins of all of eternity.  He became the perfect sacrifice needed to give grace and mercy to humankind.  The Hebrew writer gives this in Hebrews 9:26-28, “He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.  And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,  will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”  I have often thought about this ultimate sacrifice in a much more personal way.  If you could imagine your child, if you have one, or another that you truly love,  dying for someone that you didn’t even like, one that had abandoned you and shown you no love, then this will begin to let you and me understand the love and sacrifice this truly was. 

John pens these words of Jesus in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one  than  this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  Jesus had this amazing love for us, but as a side note to this lesson, Jesus calls us His friends.  That puts us in an amazing category with Abraham and Moses (Isaiah 41:8, Exodus 33:11) as friends of the almighty God.  That alone is enough to leave me smiling all day today. God plus one is always a majority.  Jesus leaves us no doubt why He came to earth in Matthew 20:28, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”.  We are reminded of Christ’s sacrifice by Peter in 1 Peter 2:24, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed”.  So Jesus Christ became flesh so that He might become our sacrifice.

God Bless!

Christ the Humbled ... Amazing Grace

We pick up our study in Philippians 2:5-11, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Second point Paul makes is that Christ was willing to be humbled.  Christ was God, but was willing to empty Himself and humble Himself.  He was willing to come to earth in the form of man to suffer all things like we do.  Jesus was even willing to come as a “bond-servant”, so that He may serve others.  Jesus, God in the flesh, became a slave to save you and me.  “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)  Jesus allowed himself to become flesh and actually dwelt among men.  God was on earth.  What a thought, God walking among man, the creator mingling with the created.  God sent Jesus to do what the law couldn’t do.  Man was too weak … too sinful to be able to keep the law.  We needed mercy.  Our sins demanded grace.  We got grace with a capital G. We got God’s only Son.  “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” (Romans 8:3) God was willing to send His only Son, Jesus, to earth as a man.  God came down from heaven just for you, just for me.  Jesus humbled himself and stepped out of eternity to become a man to save mankind.  “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. “ (Hebrews 1:17)  Jesus coming to earth was an act of amazing sacrifice and grace so beautifully expressed by John Newton.  Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see. T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.  And Grace, my fears relieved.  How precious did that Grace appear the hour I first believed.  Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; 'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home.

God Bless!

Christ the Creator

The life and work of Christ is a subject that would be difficult to cover in multiple volumes of work.  It might be able to be condensed into just one single volume, but the task of covering the life and work of Christ in a single or short series of blogs is surely a daunting task.  After all was considered, my version of the life and work of Christ was best represented in a few verses the Apostle Paul spoke, through his letter to the Philippians.  Paul wrote these words in Philippians 2:5-11, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Paul sums up Christ’s life by telling us that he was God, was humbled, was sacrificed and was exalted.  These are the points we will consider in more detail. We will begin today with Jesus Christ the Creator.

            First, Christ was God.  Christ was here from before the beginning of creation and will be here for all of eternity.  Jesus is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13).  Jesus was with God in creation, and through Jesus “He made the world” (Hebrews 1:2).  John has this to say about Christ, or the word, in his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-3)  So John confirms that Christ is indeed God and that through Him all things came into being.  Paul in His letter to the Colossians also glorifies Christ as God and Creator.  “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)  Paul also confirms Christ as being before all things.  So Christ is God the Creator.

How Much Do You Owe?

Jesus tells a parable of two debtors in Luke 7.  As a matter of fact Luke is the only one who tells this one.  Jesus tells the actual parable in verses 41-43.  "A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?"  Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."  We can all probably see the simplicity of this parable.  Whoever is forgiven the most would be the most grateful, right?  That’s an open and shut case, a slam dunk we might say, but let’s dig a little deeper. 

First of all, the scene takes place at Simon the Pharisee’s house who had invited Jesus for a meal.  Just a few minutes before Jesus had been blasting the Pharisees again for their hypocrisy.  Why he invited Jesus at all is a mystery, but the way he treated Jesus was inexcusable.  Jesus uses this parable to show him. 

Let’s go back a little and look at what love an unknown woman shows Jesus.  Luke begins the scene in verse 37.  “And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.”  She honored Jesus, sensing His importance, if not Deity, even though this would have been improper behavior.  She had the courage to step out, because she knew her life and that she had much to be forgiven.  She washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  Something Simon hadn’t even done with water and a towel.

Simon apparently knew this woman as well; he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."

Now Jesus tells the parable and then explains in verses 44-50.  “Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.  You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.  Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."  Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"  And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." 

We are like the “certain immoral woman” (NLT) who has been forgiven much.  We have received so much grace; at least I know I have.  Do we show Jesus the same love the woman did?  How much do you owe?  Are we willing to step out in faith to do something we know needs to be done for the Lord?  Do we who have been forgiven so much show Jesus much love?  If not, why not?

God Bless!

Going Off the Deep End

You’re going off the deep end.  Have you ever heard that before?  I have and it is usually in a negative way.  What if we thought about going off the deep end of God’s love?  Listen to Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, “may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”(3:18) 

Have you ever thought about how BIG God’s love for us is?  Frances Chan called it “crazy Love” and even named one of his books with this title.  I am not calling God crazy, nor is Chan, but it is crazy how amazingly big God’s love for us is. Paul tries to put it into words we could understand.  He uses the dimensions we use for ordinary things, width, length, height and depth.  I am not sure we can fully understand it in this way though.  Can you imagine how deep the ocean is?  If you can, then you might get close to understanding the depth of God’s love.  Micah explains that God “will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (7:19).  That must be pretty deep. 

David seeks to explain a little bit about the width of God’s love in Psalm 103:12.  “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”  Since that is a distance that is impossible to measure, that too is a long way. 

When we think about the height of God’s love… how might we explain it?  My daughter and I like to say, “I love you to the stars and back” or “to the sun and back,” but that doesn’t seem to give the love of God justice.  God loves us all the way to Heaven where we have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith.” (1 Peter 1:4)  I have always imagined Heaven as being pretty high, haven’t you?

The depth of God’s love brings us back to “going off the deep end”.  That’s exactly what God did for us through Jesus.  He loved us all the way to this sinful earth.  God was willing to love us all the way up to the cruel cross and back down to the depth of the grave.  God died for you and me.  Paul once again summed this up for us in Philippians 2:5-8.  “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  God loved us that deeply.

God’s love is amazing, crazy and yes, unconditional.  Did you notice something there from Philippians?  We too are to have that same attitude of love.  I think I will keep working on that while I fall off the deep end into the unfailing love of God.

God Bless!

A Little Talk With Jesus

“Now let us have a little talk with Jesus.”  I bet we have all heard this popular song about prayer.  It has been recorded by quite a few popular artists including The Statler Brothers and Elvis.  Anyone who has spent any amount of time in worship has probably sung this tune at least once, but do we really have that talk we sing about?

Prayer is not an obscure subject in God’s Word or other spiritual books.  We mentioned meditation in the last devotion.  Prayer is another spiritual discipline that some of us may have let lose its luster and significance.  We can scarcely cover the tip of the subject in these few minutes, but it deserves at least that. 

Have we let prayer become routine?  We say “blessing” before meals and maybe say our bedtime prayers, but what if we made prayer a way of life?  What kind of revolution might we, as Christians, have on the world?  Jesus gives us a glimpse at the impact of prayer in John 15:7.  “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  That’s pretty bold.  No ifs, ands or buts there, simply abide in Christ, ask and it will be done.  We must remember that we each are Priests now and may approach the throne of God with boldness.  To dispel any doubt, let’s remember our High Priest is none other than the Messiah and Savior of the world, Jesus the Christ. “We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” (Hebrews 8:1)  And if that’s not enough we also have an interpreter that speaks God’s language, none other than the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.  “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26)  Knowing who we have on our prayer team should already make us amazingly confident in prayer, but knowing that the Almighty God cares enough about you and me to listen should seal the deal.  “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

“Let us tell Him all about our troubles.  He will hear our faintest cry and He will answer by and by.  Now when you feel a prayer wheel turning, then you'll know a little fire is burning.  You will find a little talk with Jesus make it right.”

God Bless!

Listening for God

Do you listen for God?  I know I am guilty of doing too much talking and not enough listening.  I always have my list ready for God and jump right into prayer telling God what I want Him to do for me.  I wonder what kind of difference it might make in our lives if we would listen more.  I wonder what important things God might be waiting to tell us if we would just listen. 

Listening is a lost art in our world.  We seem to want to tell people all we have to say and move on.  How many times do we ask how someone is…without even stopping?  God let the Israelites know the importance of listening in Exodus 15:26.  "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that, which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer."  God wanted them to listen to Him, but even more than that to act upon what He said.  We must listen to be able to act. 

Listen to these words from Ecclesiastes, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools… Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.” (5:1-2)   I am not here to say that God is going to give us any new revelation on matters of doctrine.  He has given us His Word and has declared that to be all we need for our salvation.  I am not so sure that Jesus doesn’t quietly whisper to us as our intercessor with our Father, God.  God also told us to listen to Jesus after His transfiguration in Matthew 17:5.  "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." 

So where does this leave us in listening for the soft still voice of God?  I am working on meditation.  Spending some quiet time with God could never be a bad thing, could it?  God will not scream.  He will not push into your crowded life.  You must make room for Him and listen.  “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).  That’s my goal in meditation, to wait for the Lord patiently.  Listening is a lost art.  We must revive this art as a part of our spirituality.  “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promise.” (Psalm 119:148)  Let’s wake up and listen for the Lord.  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)  Let’s listen carefully for the knock and open the door.  Don’t you want to commune with Jesus?

God Bless!

Rock of Ages

Foundations, we all have one of some sort.  Some run deeper than others and some may be new, but we all have some sort of spiritual foundation.  How deep is your foundation?  Strengthening that and following Jesus and His commands is the topic of His fourth parable.  We have already discussed the first two parables about the wineskin and the cloth with our Burst the Mold discussion in an earlier blog.  We also talked about letting our lights shine, Jesus’ third parable, in This Little Light of Mine.  Check those out if you haven’t already.

 But we will begin here with Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:24-27.  "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."  Jesus is teaching us some very important lessons here.  We will notice at least two of many applications of this rich parable that is full of lessons for us as Christians.

First, I notice that we seem to only have two choices.  It appears to me that we either build our foundation on Jesus or we don’t.  There is no middle ground… we are either with Him on firm footing, or we are not and seem to be on sinking sand.  We are wise, or we are foolish.  I am not here to say that we can’t shore up a foundation that might not be as strong as it should be, but once we decide to put our trust in anything or anyone other than Jesus we are building on the spiritual sand and are headed for a “great fall”.  In Luke’s account of this same parable he describes the firm foundation as one “dug deep” and” laid on the rock”.  That house is “well built”. (Luke 6:48)  So we need to dig deep into the Word of God and build our foundation on that.

The second thing I noticed only recently.  I have heard this parable from vacation bible school all the way through to my present studies at Heritage Christian University.  The rains come on both houses!  I had realized that bad things happen to good people and knew Matthew 5:45.  “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”   I had never thought about Jesus teaching us that lesson again here, but He most obviously does.  Not only does the rain come, but floods and winds.  Sounds like a storm to me, what about you?  Luke mentions the storm being so great that a flood comes and the stream breaks out of its banks (6:48-49).  Maybe it is even a thunderstorm that we must withstand at times, but the difference is not in the house, but the foundation.  We must dig deep and build our spiritual foundation on the Rock of ages, Jesus.  How deep is your foundation?  Are you ready for the storm?  Jesus will be there to help us weather the storms of life.  We just have to dig deep.

God Bless.

Blessed Day

O.K., I will be the first to confess… I thought people who would say that they “were blessed” when asked how they were doing were a little overboard.  People who say have a “blessed day” were just going through the motions, like the Pharisee Jesus talked about praying for show. (Luke 18:9-14)  I don’t think I am the only one who probably has felt that way either.  Have you? 

Then I came across Paul’s words to the Philippians I have known for a long time, but apparently had forgotten.  “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” (1:20) Am I ashamed of Jesus?  God forbid!  I am truly not ashamed of Jesus or afraid to express my love for Him.  So why am I not like those people who profess their blessedness. 

When the early followers of Jesus showed up, everyone knew.  What’s happened to His followers of our day?  In the book of Acts,- Jesus’ followers were said to have “turned the world upside down”.  Most times we aren’t even accused of turning over our hands, but even more disturbing is that we don’t even talk about our Savior.  At least we should be willing to give God the glory for our blessings in our day, right?

In First Corinthians 6:20,  we are reminded that we “were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”  Do we do this, even in our everyday conversation?  I am sure we talk the talk on Sunday, but what happens when Monday comes?  We would never be accused of being Sunday Christians… would we?  I know that knowing how my Savior and Lord suffered and died for me I would want Him to be proud of me.  Don’t you?

Jesus had something to say to us about this in Matthew 12:33-34, “The tree is known by its fruit…. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”   What kind of fruit are we producing, any at all?  Marshall Keeble once said, “Maybe we can’t judge people, but we can be fruit inspectors.”  If we were being looked at by others, which we are, by the way, what would they say about our fruit?

Do people know we have been with Jesus?  Do we speak the name of Jesus after Sunday? I realize we haven’t been with Jesus in a physical sense, but those of us who follow Jesus have His very Spirit living inside us.  That’s about as close as we can get.  In Acts 4:13, the Great Sanhedrin, when examining Peter and John were “astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”  Can anyone we see that we even know who Jesus is?

Let us no longer hide Jesus inside our hearts, but let us glorify him on Monday the same way we do on Sunday.  Have a blessed day!

God Bless!