Friday, December 30, 2005

Crossing the Line
"How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?" And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15 NLT)

In the movies we often hear the old adage everyone has his price. This usually occurs when someone is being tempted to do something they would not normally do. They have been asked to cross the line. Initially they say no. Then the price is increased until they succumb to the offer.

Daily we are asked in various ways to cross the line. It may not be money that gets us to say yes, when no would be more appropriate. Often money is the driving force. However, sometimes it is simply what feels good, what looks like a fun thing to do.

Judas sold out Jesus for his thirty pieces of silver. Daily we need to evaluate the temptations that come our way. What does it take for us to sell out? What rewards on earth are important enough for us to cross the line?

Saturday, December 24, 2005

The Invitation
"Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see." (Matthew 28:9 NLT)

This comes from the story of the wedding feast. If you do not know the story, I suggest reading from verse 1 through 14.

The Jews were God’s first choice, but most of them refused His invitation to the wedding feast. They did not acknowledge who Jesus was; they were blinded to the Messiah they had waited hundreds of years for.

Jesus was the messenger. He brought the invitation for all from God, the invitation for eternal life, the invitation to be the bride of Christ. When the chosen people refused, God went to the street corners and invited everyone to come.

Some sneak into the wedding because it is an open invitation. To partake, one has to be a believer. Jesus must be their Lord and Savior. They are the ones dressed in wedding clothes, the ones who have put on Christ.

The imposters are weeded out even though they desire to stay for everyone loves a party. Only the believers make it to the wedding for many are called but few are chosen. Jesus is no longer walking among us, but He left us with the job of inviting. It is up to us to go out to the street corners and invite everyone we see.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

WYSIWYG
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away." (Matthew 15:8, NLT)

We are excited about the computer applications we now use. Most are WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get. As we type in our word processor, what appears on the screen is what we expect to see on the printed paper. Even better, applications like publishing and web development allow us to build intricate pages and be confident in the results.

It would be great if everyone we met were WYSIWYG. Most are dressed the part and may even know the script, but inside lurks something else. They have the right words to say and put on a good show.

You might think I was referring only to people you meet during your walk in the world. Just because someone uses the right words and can quote scripture and verse does not make their heart right. However, those with a right heart will have a genuine exterior.

How do we tell the difference? Praise and worship does not generate fruit, only a pure heart does. We must look to the fruit in someone’s life to know if their heart is with the one they honor with their lips.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

More Understanding
"To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them." (Matthew 13:12 NLT)

In school, we listen to the instructor and study the material he recommends. To show we have done the work, he tests us along the way. At the end of the course, we are given a final exam to see how much we absorbed.

If we are studying how to use a particular Windows application, we need to listen to the instructor doing what he tells us to do as he steps us through the new process. If instead, we spend all our time searching the Internet and reading material on how to grow tomatoes, our knowledge and understating of the Windows Application will not increase at all.

As the instructor moves ahead to give us more input, we will not understand because we have not spent the time going over what has already been given to us; we have not practiced what he taught us last.

As we use what the Holy Spirit has taught us and are open to His teaching, more is given to us. Bookwork is great, but the material we work hard to absorb from books, tapes, and others may have nothing to do with what Gods wants us to understand next.

If you want to build a house in our city, you first have to have plans drawn. Then the plans must be approved by the building inspector. There at two sets of plans which have the appropriate stamps and seals. Any other copies are just copies of the original drawings, not the approved set. The contractor in charge has one approved set and the city holds the other one.

God holds the approved plans for our lives; not us. As we look to Him and are open to His teaching, more will be given

Sunday, November 20, 2005

The Written Word
"Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises." (Romans 15:4 NLT)

With computers and word processors, we take the written word for granted. It is so easy to create and duplicate documents. Many are not even sending their computer documents to paper anymore. They simply email them to others or burn them onto CDs to distribute. Everyone I know is able to read; some in more than one language. We live in an advanced and educated society.

Words written today not only affect thinking today, they can have a profound affect on future generations. However, not all written works will go down in history as profound. With the Internet, anyone is able to publish their own work online. Many use web logs or blogs to do just that. Their thoughts, profound or not, are placed in cyberspace for all to read.

The Bible was written almost two thousand years ago. God instructed many to write an account of their time in history. Their words were painstakingly written, letter by letter, for others to read. The printing press and copy machine was yet to be invented. Very few had written documents to read. But then again, most people could not even read.

The beginning of our Bible was used to instruct the Jews in their history and law. It gave them encouragement as they waited patiently for God’s promises. Those who have yet to accept Jesus as the Messiah still wait. Paul’s letters were used as current instructional material. They were like the tape recorder or CD of a message sent to another church today. Other believers listened to the words read from his letter and were encouraged in their walk with Christ. The Gospels were written to tell the story of Jesus and His walk on earth as a man.

Everything in the Bible, from beginning to end, has a purpose. I believe it is the inspired Word of God. As we delve into His Word, He shows us little pieces which relate to us. He reveals to us that which we are ready to see. His words give each of us hope and encouragement. The key is to take the time each day to read them.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Get Out of the Box!
"No one else dared to join them, though everyone had high regard for them." (Acts 5:13 NLT)

Most of us grew up in a family filled with traditions. Some traditions came about because of life circumstances. For example, ours is a blended family with children from both my wife and I. As they were growing up in our house, the holidays could have been disastrous with both sets of parents demanding equal time on each holiday. We established a tradition of having them at our house for Thanksgiving and allowed them to go to their other parents for Christmas.

Some grew up in homes where the tradition was to attend church every Sunday. Others had a Christmas and Easter tradition instead. Church may have even been fun, but it was a tradition to attend. It really did not have anything to do with a walk with the Lord or a relationship with God the Father. The Holy Spirit was not involved and perhaps never even mentioned except at the end of the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father, depending on your tradition.

My wife was healed in 1991 from an incurable disease. One miraculous touch and our church traditions went out the window. We moved from our traditional weekly experience to places supporting our newfound belief and encouraging our relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Others saw what had happened in our life, but stayed in the box they had always been. Like this verse, no one else dared join us even though each had seen what had happened, even though they saw her healed. Most of them continue to go to their traditional Sunday services. What about you? Isn’t it time to take a chance on Jesus and step out of the box?

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Unlimited Resources
"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit." (Ephesians 3:16 NLT)

When our computer starts to run slower and slower, one of the things we need to look at is the amount of hard disk space left. With these new digital cameras, it is easy to use up the bytes quickly. The pictures we upload take up to one megabyte each. When we upload one hundred pictures after that last party, we have another one hundred megabytes filled.

This is like my desk. The daily snail mail seems to accumulate at an every increasing pace. Before I realize it, my desk is loaded and I have to push paper around to find things. My desk needs defragging as much as my hard drive! The desk is only so big and my hard drive has limits, too. It would be great to have an unlimited amount of hard disk space so whatever we wanted to save would fit.

Everything has a limit. We can only fit so much on our computer. Our car’s trunk can only fit so much stuff. a credit cards has a limit, too. When reached, we cannot use it anymore and may even be embarrassed at a checkout counter when we have to come up with the cash.

God has no limit. His resources are unlimited. Whatever we need, He can supply and all we have to do is ask. If our request lines up with His will, He promises to supply it. He does not send it by UPS or FedEx. They are quick to deliver the items we purchase over the Internet. God does not have to fulfill our request long distance. He gave each believer the Holy Spirit; Christ within. The Holy Spirit lives in us and gives us the inner strength to accomplish anything He has for us to do.

Monday, October 10, 2005

The Seventh Day
"Remember to dedicate the Sabbath day: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work-you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy." (Exodus 20:8-11 NLT)

And so, we set aside Sunday to go to church, to praise and worship God. Most of us grew up understanding this concept whether we went to church every week or our family considered itself to be of one or another of a long list of religions. Some were Baptist, some Congregationalists. Others were Catholics or Lutherans or Episcopalians or even Jewish, or one of hundreds of other names. Day seven was key to meeting our obligation to God.

We did our thing all week long, but on Sunday we turned into the person we knew our tradition expected. We dressed in our Sunday best and off to church we went. For some this may have been a Saturday experience, but it was once a week, every week. As time went on, some fell out of step with tradition. They began to make an appearance only on special days like Christmas or Easter.

Then we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We became born again; a new creature, alien to our old life. Yet, most of us remained seventh day people. We continued to do our thing during the first six days, put on our Sunday best, and head to church to be the best person we could in our traditional ways.

I am sure God likes our seventh day worship. He enjoys every time we worship Him for He made us to worship Him. But there is more…

He wants seven day Christians. We are to praise and worship Him all seven days, not just on Sunday. We are to put on our Sunday best in attitude all week long. Everywhere our feet tread we will not be alone. Our relationship with Him is a 24x7 affair. The Holy Spirit is always at our side ready to give us direction, ready to comfort us in our trials and encourage us through all situations.

A Sunday relationship is good and I am not suggesting giving it up. It is a time we gather with others and share testimony of how we obeyed Him and how He has worked in our lives since the previous Sunday. It is time to share in corporate praise and worship. This might be two or three gathering in a home or hundreds or even thousands in a large church building. Whether two or three or thousands, it is His church worshiping Him.

Let’s be seven day Christians every week.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Relief
As I was praying yesterday, I got one word: relief.
I asked Him what it meant and I heard this:

“You have labored long and hard.
I have heard your prayers.
Relief is on the way.”


The dictionary defines relief as freeing someone from anxiety; a release from anxiety or tension, or the feeling of release, lightness, and cheerfulness that accompanies this. It goes on to call it a factor that end anxiety; a factor forming a contrast to the general character of something else, especially something that breaks the monotony or tension of a longer experience. It can also be a diverting contrast; a factor forming a contrast to the general character of something else, especially something that breaks the monotony or tension of a longer experience.

Whatever you have been dealing with; what you have been trying to give to Him so you could move on… He has heard you and relief is on the way.

R

Ecclesiastes 8:6
Yes, there is a time and a way for everything, even as people's troubles lie heavily upon them. (NLT)

There is a right time for everything. Ecclesiastics speaks to this. Many remember it as part of a popular song of the 70’s. As believers we have a responsibility to be the new creature, to allow God to remake us into the image of Christ.

E

Romans 4:1-5
Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (NLT)

We must look to Him knowing He is with us in any battle, which comes our way. With this knowledge, we are to endure to the end. We will get through it. We will succeed. And He will change us along the way as we take on more of His character.

L

Romans 8:35-39
Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

Love is reflected in love. What we give out we will receive. It is so easy to be on the other end of that. When others attack us our natural inclination is to attack back. It takes much prayer and a strong character not to reflect what is coming at us. We are to be a reflection of His glory to others, not a reflection of the enemy. And nothing can separate us from His Love.

I

Revelation 21:6-7
I am the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge! All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. (NLT)

Our inheritance is from Him. We are the chosen ones, the ones to receive eternal life. As we allow Him to change us, to mold us, we become more Christ like on the outside for others to see. Our new man, the person created when we were born a second time, that goes on to be with Him forever. If we expect to spend time with Him then, shouldn’t we get to know Him now?

E

Romans 1:10-12
One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. For I long to visit you so I can share a spiritual blessing with you that will help you grow strong in the Lord. I'm eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other. (NLT)

2 Corinthians 13:11
Rejoice. Change your ways. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. (NLT)

We are to encourage others as He encourages us.

F

1 John 1:6-7
So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. (NLT)

Acts 2:42
They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord's Supper and in prayer. (NLT)

Fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters is an important part of our time on earth. We are to give each other relief and encouragement daily. Fellowship is not just a time spent on Sunday mornings.

And our fellowship with God is key to our eternal fellowship, to our salvation.

2 Corinthians 13:13
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (NLT)