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April 11: Spring Break! Come join us for a cook out and time of fellowship as
we celebrate a risen Savior. We will meet at 6:30pm and wrap up around 8pm. Bring a football, soccer ball or anything
else you'd like to have. Your friends are also welcome. See you there.
April 4: What does His death really mean?
Colossians 2:6-15
"6 So then, just as you received Christ
Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted
and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,
which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power
and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision
not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by
Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having
canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to
the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities,
he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
March 21-28: Empowerment by the Holy Spirit
We left off last week with the encounter the two men on the road the Emmaus had with
Jesus.
Remember how they had walked and talked with Jesus but did not recogize Him til they broke
bread together.
Luke 24:30-49 "30 When he was at the
table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked
with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”
35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus
was recognized by them when he broke the bread. 36 While they
were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled,
and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39
Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and
amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43
and he took it and ate it in their presence. 44 He said to them,
“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must
be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will
suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47
and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised;
but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Luke 24:49..."I am going to send you what my Father has promised.."
The promise is found again in John 14:26 " But
the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you
of everything I have said to you. "
John 15:26 tells us what will happen when the promise is fulfilled.
John 15:26 “When the Advocate comes,
whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about
me."
John 16:13-14 "13 But when He, the
Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what he hears,
and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14
He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what he will make known to you."
It is from this receiving of the Holy Spirit that our Spiritual empowerment comes from.
March 14: Walking with Jesus; an outpouring of the Spirit ~
You have an anointing on you as a child of God through the cross.
1 John 2:27
" As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all
things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him. "
Remember John 14:26 "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you"
So what does it mean to be 'anointed'?
Anointing is found all throughout the scriptures.
*Prophets were anointed to proclaim God's Word.
1 Kings 19:16 says "Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel,
and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet."
*Kings were anointed to rule.
1 Samuel 16:3 " (3) Invite Jesse
to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate....(13) So Samuel took
the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully
upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. "
*The sick were anointed for healing.
Mark 6:13 "They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people
with oil and healed them."
*Priests were anointed for worship.
Exodus 40:13 "Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him
and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. "
*Objects were anointed for worship and sacrifice.
Leviticus 8:10 "Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the
tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them."
Scripture also talks about the fragrance of the anointing.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 " 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal
procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15
For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings
life. And who is equal to such a task?"
Do you have the Spirit of the Lord upon you? If you have accepted Christ as your Savior
then you do have the Spirit of the Lord upon you. It is received through Jesus and the cross.
Luke 4:18-19 "18 “The Spirit
of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for
the blind,to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
Having this Spirit of the Lord, do you realize God has also called you to share the Word fo
God that can set prisoners free. Prisoners of the world, bound by the control of sin and a life lead by satan.
Freedom comes in a relationship with Jesus. Our anointing is so that others may see who Jesus is.
Do others see Jesus in your life?
Do YOU see Jesus in your life?
How often do we fail to recognize Jesus in our day?
Let's take a look at Luke 24:1-30. It is the story of two men who were literally walking
with Jesus in the flesh and did not even realize who they were walking with. They were having a conversation with a
'man' about Jesus and had no idea the 'man' WAS Jesus. Is it possible that Jesus is engaging you daily in conversation,
in walk, in presence and you are missing His identity? Read the scriptures below and pray that God would raise your
sense of awareness to His presence.
Luke 24:1-30
" 1
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed
like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women
bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while
he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The
Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’
” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these
things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene,
Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of
linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. 13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking
with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they
talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named
Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in
these days?” 19 “What things?”
he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God
and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed
him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21
but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this
took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They
went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find
his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did
not see Jesus.” 25 He said to them, “How
foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said
in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached
the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table
with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. "
March 7: Life in the full!
Jesus says in John 10:10 "10 The thief
comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
All through scripture, God reveals to us that we are objects of Spiritual warfare but scripture
also tells us the victory belongs to God!
Re-read John 10:10 above and try and grasp the power in that scripture.
While forgiveness is very much an integral part of God's plan to allow Jesus to take our place
for the punishment we deserve, the scripture in John 10:10 when discussing warfare does not say " I came to forgive you",
it says "I came to give you life and to give it to you in abundance" The life is the gift, the forgiveness is the means.
We are fogiven by the blood of Jesus so that we may have LIFE!
We are given 'eternal' life. Eternal means 'unending'. We will live eternally
with our Lord and Savior in Heaven when our bodies pass from this world. To understand 'eternal' we must understand
that in undending life there is no death! God offers LIFE to those who call on Jesus as their Savior and He offers it
in abundance so that we may live to the fullness He has prepared for us! His Word says "I have come so that.....they
may have life and have it to the full." Isn't it time we started living like those who are fully alive in Him! Next
week we will look at the annointing by the Spirit we have received that initiates this new life in abundance of Christ.
February 29: Extra Day celebration PIZZA PARTY! It is leap year and that gives
us an extra day to share the gospel. That will be celebrated!
Here is the message:
How many times have you thought you just needed a little more time?
Today we have an extra day on our calendar, how have you spent it?
Was today an ordinary day or have you done something different than 'normal'?
If you did something different, was it because today is February 29 or would it have been
the same if it were March 1?
How we spend our time sometimes is determined by others; ex: school, work, sports etc.
How we spend our extra time is our choice. How are you spending yours? Is your time spent in a manner that furthers
the Kingdom of God and glorifies Him or is it spent in a less significant manner?
As you consider those things, lets take a look at Leap Year from a historical perspective,
a scientific perspective and most importantly, a Biblical perspective.
Historically:
The Julian calendar is a reform of the Roman calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC (708 AUC). It took effect the following year, 45 BC (709 AUC), and continued to be used as the civil calendar in some countries into the 20th century. The calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into
12 months, as listed in Table of months. A leap day is added to February every four years. The Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long.
The calendar year was intended to approximate the tropical (solar) year. Although Greek astronomers had known, at least since Hipparchus, that the tropical year was a few minutes shorter than 365.25 days, the calendar did not compensate
for this difference. As a result, the calendar year gained about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons.
On February 24, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian Calendar which created leap
year to keep our dates more in line with the seasons and to accomodate for the extra time not factored into the Julian calendar.
Leap Year:
A leap year (or intercalary or bissextile year) is a year containing one
additional day (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, a month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat in a whole number of days, a calendar that had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with
respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that is not
a leap year is called a common year.
Did you know?
In the Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, most years that are evenly divisible by 4 are leap years. In each leap year, the month of February has 29 days instead of 28. Adding
an extra day to the calendar every four years compensates for the fact that a period of 365 days is shorter than a solar year by almost 6 hours. Some exceptions to this rule are required since the duration of a solar year
is slightly less than 365.25 days. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are
also evenly divisible by 400, in which case they are leap years. For example, 1600 and 2000 were leap
years, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. Similarly, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500, 2600, 2700, 2900 and 3000 will not be leap years,
but 2400 and 2800 will be. Therefore, in a duration of two millennia, there will be 485 leap years.
Scientifically:
A day is a unit of time, commonly defined as an interval equal to 24 hours. It also can mean that portion of the full day during which a location is illuminated by
the light of the sun, also known as daytime. The period of time measured from local noon to the following local noon is called a solar day. A day, understood as the span of time it takes
for the Earth to make one entire rotation around the sun.
Biblically:
Genesis 1:14: "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the
day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years."
God created time, our calendar is the means we use to 'measure' time. All things essentially
happen in God's timing as the creator of time Himself!
Earlier you were asked if you had ever wanted just a little extra time. Let's look at
2 Biblical truths that show God granted that request to two individuals, Joshua and Hezekiah.
Let's read Joshua 10:1-15
"1 Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally
destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty
of peace with Israel and had become their allies. 2 He and his people were very much
alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men
were good fighters. 3 So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of
Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. 4
“Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”
5 Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron,
Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and
attacked it. 6 The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at
Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from
the hill country have joined forces against us.” 7 So Joshua marched
up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. 8 The LORD
said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand
you.” 9 After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by
surprise. 10 The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the
Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As
they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them, and more
of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. 12
On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “Sun,
stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” 13
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as
it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.
14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened
to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel! 15 Then Joshua
returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal. "
Notice vs 13 says the sun delayed going down almost a full day. God granted Joshua some
extra time!
Now let's look at Hezekiah's story in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 38: 1-8
"1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was
at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house
in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” 2
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 “Remember,
LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.”
And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father
David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. 6
And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. 7 “‘This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: 8 I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the
stairway of Ahaz.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down. "
We can read the same account in 2 Kings 20:1-11
" 1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was
at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house
in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” 2
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 “Remember,
LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.”
And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court,
the word of the LORD came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler
of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears;
I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. 6
I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend
this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’” 7
Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered. 8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me
and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day from now?” 9
Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow
go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?” 10 “It
is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.” 11 Then the prophet Isaiah called on the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the
ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. "
If you know anything about a sundial, a shadow is cast to mark time as the sun moves.
By moving the shadow back 10 steps from which it had gone, God revealed that He had 'rewound' time or granted extra time.
10 steps would equate to about 20 minutes.
We can clearly see from scripture that God has the power to manipulate time in any manner He
sees fit. Another point to be noted in Hezekiah's story is that God is the final authority on the number of days we
have to live on this earth. Hezekiah's life was coming to an earthly end and God heard Hezekiah's prayer and granted
him an additional 15 years of life. Only God determines when we leave this earth and move onto our eternity.
How will you spend your time today?
February 22: Working on the video for 'Friendship Sunday'.
February 15:
NO GREATER LOVE!
As we celebrate Valentine's Day, we demostrate our love for one another by exchanging cards,
flowers, candy and other expressions such as a hug or a kiss. God demostrates His love for us in that He gave us His Son to
exchange His blood for our sins. That is something we should celebrate every day!
Romans 5:8 "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ
died for us.
Let's look at scriptures to reveal the way God calls us to love and what He has to say about
'love'.
1 John 4: 7-20
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone
who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know
God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his
one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love:
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one
has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in
us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father
has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus
is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely
on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God,
and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have
confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is
no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect
in love. 19 We love because he first
loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.
For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Now that we have read how God defines love, we will take a look at what the 'love' experience
is.
The experience of God's love is poured out through the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5:5 "Hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us."
1 John 4:13 "We know that we live in Him and He is in us because He has given us of His Spirit."
John 15: 9-17
9 “As the Father has
loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other
as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this:
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14
You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer
call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything
that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and
so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17
This is my command: Love each other.
(Note: the fruit Jesus speaks of in the above passage is the fruit of the Spirit;
Galatians 5:22-23 "22 But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law")
Jesus calls us 'friend'! That is a relationship that we experience with Him when we have
accepted Him.
Prayers for that experience as revealled in scripture.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 "May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perserverance."
2 Corinthians 13:14 "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Grace, Love and Fellowship - the three indicate a relationship we are to have with God through
His son Jesus who has given us the Holy Spirit to reside within us and He will teach us all things as we grow closer to God
through His presence.
Ephesians 1:18-19 "I pray also that the eyes or your heart may be enlightened in order that
you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 19)and His incompariably
great power for us who believe."
God gives us incompariably great power as we experience His love. Power to overcome
the attitudes of the world and the hate that is in the world. That is when we begin to see the fruits of the Spirit
in our lives. The first being 'love'.
Lastly let's look at Paul's words and prayers for the church of Ephesus found in Ephesians
3:14-19
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15
from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I
pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established
in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp
how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this
love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
When rooted and established with love it is then that we can be filled to the measure of fullness
of God He has promised us.
When you get your relationship with God right, the rest of your relationships will be so much
easier. Without God all relationships are destined to fail because scripture tells us how our relationships should look
and they should reflect the love of God because God is love. Without God there will be no love. God is enough!
He will bless you with an abundance of love in your life when you first love Him. He promises!
I challenge you today to commit all your relationships to the Lord and to the model and guidelines
God has given us in scripture to love one another as He has loved us.
February 8:
The most asked question:
"Why does God let bad things happen to good people?"
Who can answer such a question?
How do adverse circumstances change our thoughts of life, hope and how we view God?
What do you think about when you try and make sense of the unthinkable?
We must understand God's nature. He is all knowing, all being and able to be present
in all places at all times. He knows everything about us and always has.
Let's look at man's nature: quiet simply, we have none of the attributes that God has.
To even ask why bad things happen to good people demonstrates our short comings.
Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughs, neither are your ways my ways declares
the Lord."
"Bad" is what we view the things that we can not understand and we have forgotten that according
to scripture there are NO "good" people.
Many times we are unable to understand what is happening but we must learn to trust God and
know that His plans are sovereign.
Jeremiah 29:11 tells us of His plans for us. "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. "
There is no ambiguity in scripture. God delivers what He promises. Our perspective
may seem if we are looking at a contradiction of scripture but scripture never contradicts itself. It is our lack of
understanding that is wrong, our view and our conclusions about what we can not make sense of.
2 points scripture is very clear about:
1)There are NO good people:
Ecclesiastes 7:20 "Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
no one who does what is right and never sins."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
1 John 1:8 "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
Romans 3:10-18 "10 As it is is no
written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they
have together become worthless; there one who does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit.”The poison of vipers
is on their lips." Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”5Their
feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”18There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
We are a bad people,none good and in His mercy and grace, he continually blesses, forgives
us and restores us in that He sent His one and only perfect son to die for us!
**Maybe the real question we need to ask is why would a perfect God love us enough to let
all the good things we experience happen to us as bad people?
The second point on this matter scripture is clear about:
2) God loves us!
Romans 5:8 "God shows His love for us in that while we are sinners, Christ died for us."
He loves us and loved us enought to take the penalty for our sin.
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death but the free gift fo God is eternal life in Jesus
Christ our Lord."
If we receive Christ as our Savior and accept that gift, we are forgiven and promised eternal
life with Him in the perfect Kingdom of heaven.
Romans 10:9 "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Greatest news: Romans 8:1 "there is no condemnation in Christ!"
What we deserve is hell. What we get is a HUGE gift of mercy and grace through the blood
of Jesus shed for us.
There are many we know who are 'relatively' good people according to man's standards and it
may seem that they are undeserving of bad things that may happen.
We can not understand these things as our thoughts are not His. (Isaiah 55:8)
We must remember the nature of God:
He is a loving God.
He is an all knowing God.
He is a merciful God.
He is a gracious God.
He is faithful God.
His plans for us are not to harm us.
He is a sovereign God.
Therefore we must learn to TRUST God in all circumstances.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding,
in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."
For those who know the Lord, the end of life here is the beginning of an eternal life in Heaven.
Revelation 21:4 "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no
more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away."
John 14:2 "In my Father's house are many mansions...I am going to prepare a place for YOU."
(Jesus says!)
How do we handle adversity?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 "Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ
Jesus."
Not that God would will us to feel pain, but on earth we are going to experience pain, it
comes with our human nature and lack of understanding but His promise is He will one day deliver us from all pain as we enter
into His presence in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the mean time we must; TRUST.
God gives us opportunity to use what we view as 'tragedy' to reach others for Him.
Share the hope that is in Him.
Remember, we all die in the flesh, but eternally we can live in Him.
Life is short! Yes, it is. Scripture tells us so as well.
james 4:14 "Why you do not even k now what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?
You are a mist (vapor) that appears for a little while and then disappears."
We do not know what will happen tomorrow but God does.
Psalms 139:1-18 should be read again and again if needed to grasp the Divine nature of God
and His plan for us. He has known us since before we were conceived, He knitted us in our mother's womb, He knows every
detail aobut us and loves us anyway and He has already determined the days of our lives, the number of them and how we will
spend them! He is in control. Take a look at the passage:
Psalms 139:1-18
1 You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts
from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you
are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you,
LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and
you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too
lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where
can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if
I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the
dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even
there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine
like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you
knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret
place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before
one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How
vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they
would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
1Corinthians 15:50-57 reveals to us that flesh and blood can not inherit the Kingdom of God;
the perishable must put on the imperishable and death has been swallowed up in victory. Victory that is given through
Jesus Christ!
I Corinthians 15:50-57 "50 I declare to you,
brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but
we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has
been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death
has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of
death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks
be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. "
Never let a 'homecoming' be a missed opportunity to share the hope we have in Christ.
1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give
an account (answer) to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness
and respect."
February 1:
Sharing - Growing
Growing- personal relationships (the garden)
Sharing- outreach (becoming the gardener)
We can not share something that we do not have. We must grow personally in our own relationship
with Christ before the fruition of that relationship can be shared with another through us.
Imagine you have just planted a garden. The soil is all tilled up- nice, rich black
soil. Nutrient filled and you have even added a few bags of fertilizer for good measure just to ensure a better harvest.
That is called: preparation.
Next it is time for the seeds. Do you buy the discount brand that expired last year
or would you select the 'premium' brand? Would you just walk over and throw them on the ground and walk away expecting
great things? Do you read the planting instructions? Isn't it important to know just how to plant the seed?
How deep should you plant them? How far apart should you plant them? How much water do the need? How much
daily sunlight is required?
This is all part of the sowing process.
Daily you check to see if the seeds have sprouted. Is there any sign of life?
Maybe you are tempted to move a little dirt and make sure the seeds are actually still there! Finally, with patience
a small green sprout begins to emerge. Now is time for the nurturing stage.
So excited to have new life springing up, you frequently look to see the progress. You
check the weather for rain so you will know if you should water more or less. One day, much to your surprise the weather
shows a frost warning. Now what? If you do not cover these fragile plants, the frost will surely kill them, so
you cover them. This is protection.
The plants finally grow, slowly at first but then noticeably very fast. Some shoot up
so quickly that they start to bend from their own weight. They will break without being tied to a stake. This
is called: support.
Now that the plant is sustantial, most harm has passed but not all. the plant does have
good solid roots, strong leaves and stems but suddenly delicate blooms show up all over the plant. These new blooms
are very vulnerable to the elements. They will become the fruits and vegetables of the plants when they mature.
Notice the plant is strong but the blooms are fragile. Again this new growth must be protected until the blooms are
transformed into mature fruits or vegetables ready for harvest. When the harvest comes in, this is called: fruition.
Fruition is when the expected things come to be.
Where did the seed come from to begin with?
Can you see how a personal relationship with Jesus is very similar to this cycle?
Someone plants a 'seed' of faith, someone else waters it and nurtures it and possibly someone
else is there for the harvest.
The planting and growing instructions are found in the Word of God.
John 4:34-38 "34 “My food,”
said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months
until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for
eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work,
and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
What stage are you in?
What is necessary for you to grow beyond this point?
Important to note that the seed comes from the fruit or vegetable of the plant and there are
no seeds to pass along until that time of fruition.
Our life with Jesus is exactly like that, until we ourseles grow and mature with the fruit
of the Spirit we are not able to pass along seeds to others.
**Let's learn to live our faith first and share it second. In living it you are already
sharing it!
Consider this question: What are we doing here anyway? Are we intentionally, deliberately,
tirelessly planting and cultivating a faith in ourselves rooted in Christ Jesus to be shared with others or are we going for
the short cuts, the discount seeds, the cast it out and hope for the best attitude?
Sure in youth ministry there are a lot of things you will remember. You will remember
the banana games, the lock ins, the bonfires and a few outreach trips, a week of camp is unforgetable and all these are great
times but are you truly taking away the Word Of God to sustain you in the wilderness times of life that are yet to come?
1 Peter 1:23-25 "23
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All people are like grass, and
all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
God desires that we reap a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22-25 "22 But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
January 18 and 25: Connected or Disconnected?
Paul spoke when in Athens:
Acts 17:24-28 "24The God who made the world
and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself
gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From
one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history
and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they
would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said,
‘We are his offspring."
Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you."
Romans 1:20 " For since the creation of the
world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood
from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. "
Whose fault is it if we are not close to God?
Remember from a previous message James 4:8 "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."
This is a command followed by a promise.
Why do some come to church and get nothing out of it?
We must be intentional about our relationship with God. We must desire to enter into
His presence. We must long to be close to Him. We must seek Him with all our hearts and sincerity putting aside
the distractions and desires given to us that are of this world.
James 4:7-10 " 7 Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your
joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will
lift you up. "
Verse 10: HUMBLE
Humility is essential to submitting in obedience. Jesus is the author of salvation to those who obey Him.
Hebrews 5:7-14 "7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and
petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent
submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what
he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of
eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated
by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.11 We have much to say about this, but
it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s
word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone
who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from
evil."
Verses 11-14 addresses growth (milk or solid food?)
It is Sin that separates us from God.
Colossians 1:21 "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior."
How do we live?
Philippians 3:18 "For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of
the cross of Christ."
There is a hope: FORGIVENESS
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
Forgiveness comes from true repentance.
Luke 13:3 " I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
2 Corinthians 7:10 "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings
death."
To be connected to God is to know that our body is the temple to the living Holy Spirit that is indwelling within us.
1 Corinthians 3:16 "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells
in your midst?"
Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples
built by human hands."
1 Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received
from God? You are not your own"
January 11, 2012: Draw Near!
James 4:8 " Come near to God and he will come
near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. "
Hebrews 10:22 "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having
our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."
In the previous passage, what does God call us to do?
In reading the full context of scripture passage in Hebrews 10:22-25 we can note 5 things
that we are called to do in order to be fully confident in our reconciliation to God.
The scripture says this: "22 let us draw
near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us
from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging
one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
5 things are noted in the scriptures.
1) vs 22: Draw near to God.
2) vs 23: Hold unswerving to the hope.
3) vs 24: Spur one another on.
4) vs 25: Do not give up meeting together.
5) vs 25: Encourage one another
HOW?...look at Hebrews 10:22 again.
1)with a sincere heart; 2)with the full assurance of faith; 3)our hearts sprinkled to give
us freedom from guilt; 4)having our bodies washed- the cleansing of the blood from His sacrifice.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 "We remember before our God and Father your work produced
by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."
*Work produced by faith.
*Labor prompted by love.
*Endurance inspired by hope.
It is God who works!
Philippians 2:13 "for it is God who works in you to will and to act in
order to fulfill his good purpose. "
January 4, 2012: SEEK!
Seek the Lord - What does that mean?
What is the first thing that comes to mind when we hear the word 'seek'?
What is the difference between 'seek' and 'look for something'?
We look for our lost car keys, but when we seek something is it really lost?
Consider 'Hide and Seek'. If someone is hiding, and you are seeking, they are not really
lost, you just have to find them where they are.
So...what does this have to do with God? The great news is we are told in scripture to
'seek God' but God never hides from us.
Let's take a look at scripture:
Psalms 27:8 "My heart says of you, seek His face, Lord I will seek you."
Jeremiah 29:13 "you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
1 Chronicles 16:10-11 "Glory in His name, let the hearts of those who seek Him rejoice.
Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always."
Psalms 9:10 "Those who know your name will trust you for you Lord have never forsaken those
who seek you."
Psalms 33:13-14 "From Heaven, the Lord looks down on all mankind. From His dwelling place
He watches all who live on earth."
2 Chronicles 16:9 "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose
hearts are fully committed."
Psalms 14:2 and Psalms 53:2 (same verse, two different references) "God looks down from Heaven
on all mankind to see if there are any who understand and any who seek God."
**To 'seek' the Lord is an intentional entering into His presence. If we seek Him, He promises
we will find Him.
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