Monday, February 27, 2012

Judging Others

Romans 14:10 
You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. (NIV) 

It is so easy to judge others based on the filter of our life. We do things in a certain way, but that way may not work for others we know or meet. God made each of us in His image, but He also made us as individuals. And the word individual means that we are not the same as anyone else.

It is not only that our fingerprints, retinas, and ear patterns are unique. We are not the same, even if we were born a twin.

We are made up of the DNA inherited from our forefathers and the experiences we had growing up and all through life up to right now. And that all makes up the filter we use to view others and their behaviors.

But we do not have the right to do that. Only God will judge. Don't get me wrong. If we see a brother or sister we have a relationship with doing something harmful to their salvation or another, we do have the right to speak with them.

Sin cannot be left out in the open or it will become as though it were no longer sin. Over the past fifty years society has looked the other way and more and more sinful practices have become "normal". We must speak up when these sins are allowed amongst the brethren.

The practices of one church may not be the same as our church, but that does not mean they are wrong. It means we are different while both following Jesus. The same hold true of another believer; the key is our belief in Jesus Christ as Lord over all.

Monday, February 20, 2012

He Was Raised

Romans 8:34 
Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us. (NLT) 

We get so focused on the horrible events before us on the news channels, newspapers, and Web sites. It is one bad event after another. Once in a great while, probably when they cannot find any bad news to report, some happy moment is brought to light.

What if we lived only seeing those happy momments? What if the sitcoms on television showed happy, successful middle class families where both husband and wife were in tune with each other? And the kids respected their parents.

On my computer I have a filter that looks through my email to see if any of it is spam. It filters out the stuff I have no need or desire to be shown. What if we had that same filter in all of our encounters?

As spirit filled believers in Jesus Christ, we do. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can get beyond the bad and see through to the good. We can take that bad situation and be shown the good that has or will come out of it. IF we give the Holy Spirit permission to work in our life. We have to choose to let Him guide the way. We have to turn on the filter.

So often we hear about the death of Jesus on the cross and this is an important event. However, many were crucified or put to death in all the ages. BUT only one was raised from the dead. Only ONE sits at the right hand of the Father.

So let's remember and look past His horrible death, the death of Jesus that took away all our transgressions. Let's look to His resurrection from death. That is a happy moment brought to light.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Complicated

Luke 9:6
So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick. (NLT)

When I was a young boy there were two ways to make a telephone call. You either had a phone at home and often you shared that line with someone else on the street or you found a pay phone. There were pay phone everywhere.

Television was black and white and there were only two channels. And they went off the air by midnight. Either you watched what was on or you did not watch anything thing at all.

Computers? Well the military had them but that was about it. Banks did everything by hand with big old adding machines that had lots of keys and the bank kept track of your balance on big cardboard ledger cards. Nobody had credit cards.

Life was simple and it worked. Today we have cell phone that are more like science fiction than phones and we don't share the line with anyone. Home phone are going the way of the dinosaur being replaced by VOIP (voice over internet) services like Magic Jack or Vonage that allow you to call anyone in the world. Then there is Skype where you can call someone and actually see them on your computer screen as you chat with them.

Televisions show us hundreds of channels and we even can record the shows and watch them on our time schedule. Everyone has a computer and a cell phone and if you can't afford it, the government has a program to give you one.

Banking is mostly done from your computer and you pay your bills the same way. We charge so much on credit cards that we will never be able to pay off the debt and postage has ridden to an all time high, but most of us seldom send stuff by "snail mail" anymore.

Everything has become complicated. Just figuring out which control to use to turn on the TV can be a challenge. Sure we can do more and do it faster, but the learning curve is high and nothing is simple anymore.

This verse in Luke sounds so simple and yet we don't do it. We live in a complicated society and tend to complicate everything. But why?

Nothing in God's word is complicated. Nothing has prerequisites. We don't have to be saved for so many months or years before reaching out to others. We don't have to go to a Bible college to share God's word. No, all we have to do is go into the world of non-believers and talk about the Good News and heal the people.

So let's keep it simple. Let's speak to that person on street next time. Let's share our testimony of what it means to us to have a relationship with Jesus. And if they are sick, let's reach out and heal them.

Monday, February 06, 2012

Living Water

John 7:38
Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'" (NLT)

One of the places we shop at has food tasting stations all around the store. We call it the Senior Buffet! You get to try all types of food and snacks. Sometimes we actually purchase one or two of the items. You really can get your fill a little byte at a time.

So often we can do the same in our relationship, or lack there of, with Jesus. We go from meeting to meeting, church to church, video teaching series to video teaching series, and from Christian book to book. We sample from a lot of different places, but never spend long enough to get a drink.

We talk about the Holy Spirit and being filled, yet we show little if any evidence of it in our day to day lives. Where is the river of living water?

John 7:39 
When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory. (NLT) 

Sure, we do receive the Holy Spirit, the comforter, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Jesus promised we would. The Father sends Him and He resides in us. But that is only the beginning of our new life.

When Jesus baptizes us with Fire, the Holy Spirit baptism, not John's, we receive all power and all authority to do whatever Holy Spirit has in store for us. He alone gives us the wisdom to know what we need to know to see what the situation we are placed in requires.

Mark 16:16-18 
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed. (NLT) 

With Holy Spirit right there working through us we can cast out demons. We can handle whatever satan throws our way even if it is snakes or poison. And we will lay hands on the sick and they will be healed!