Romans 5:3-4 3/27/2018*8/5*

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope"

It is odd to think about being able to glory in our suffering.

But in other areas of life we readily accept the concept.  In athletics, education, and our occupation, we know that to improve we must be challenged. We must push ourselves and face problems in order to grow and become better.

Scripture tells us to apply that same awareness to our spiritual lives.  Not to look for suffering, but when it comes find the benefit…and the benefit is perseverance.

Perseverance is uncommon today because we see challenges as offensive. We don’t like to be pushed, we like to be comfortable… and until you are challenged you cannot learn to persevere.

No one can claim to be a wonderful husband on their honeymoon. You can’t say you’re a great parent when your child is a toddler…You have to earn it.

When you’ve been married for years and you’re still working hard at it, when your kids are teenagers and you’ve struggled and endured – then you have achieved something.

At that point, perseverance has produced character, and character has produced hope… Not a hope that says, “maybe it will happen”, but a confident assurance… not only in what God will do, but in who God is … a hope that has been proven by years of following Him through valleys and over mountains. That is biblical hope ...and that is the only way to peace.

So, choose to glory in your suffering.  Knowing that perseverance develops character, and character will allow you to rest in a hope that cannot be shaken.

 “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
― Helen Keller

Isaiah 5:20 3/20/2018 *8/19*

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

How is your moral compass?

We are living in a time where it has become stylish to cloud moral distinctions, and it is considered “enlightened” to blur the lines between right and wrong.

This is the natural outcome of a society that does not acknowledge God and is involved in a thinly veiled attempt to take His place.

Today those who stand for truth are considered intolerant and judgmental. If you wish to be considered progressive and broad minded you must embrace evil and call it good.  You must mislabel what is written on your heart as sinful, and mistakenly call it freedom. 

God says this is a dangerous practice and those involved in calling evil good will suffer for promoting that falsehood.

Step back and re-evaluate what you have accepted. Consider what, out of repetition, has become non-offensive to you and compare it with the clear standards in God’s word.

Right and wrong are non-negotiable. Neither the number of detractors, nor their volume will impact God’s holy standard. And those who attempt to move it will suffer the consequences.

Read the word. Apply it to your life and be one of the few who still offer light in an increasingly dark world.

It may not be popular, but it is desperately needed… and will save you and those who follow you.

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare”
-Mark Twain

Luke 22: 60-62 3/13/2018 *10/7*

Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

This passage is one of the most heartbreaking in the Bible. The complete betrayal and failure of a best friend. 

It is hard to imagine what that look from Jesus felt like, but it brought a hardened fisherman to his knees in shame.

It is important that we visualize the look that Peter got from Jesus, as each of us deserve it.  Each of us have betrayed and failed our Savior.  Each of us have been responsible for the pain in Jesus’ eyes.

Christ knew Peter would do this, yet He declared him the rock upon which God would build His church. Jesus never minimized the failure, but He covered it in blood. 

How glorious to know that God uses broken people.  

The enemy would have you believe your failures disqualify you. But God’s Word is filled with unqualified people that He uses to do extraordinary things.

Don’t listen to the lie. You cannot be disqualified when you were never deserving in the first place. 

Your qualifications rest in the work of another, and He has restored you.

The only credentials you need are humility, remorse, and repentance… and a fierce belief in the power of the Blood. 

You have been redeemed by another.  You have been given the power to be free, and to change the world. 

When you stumble and fail him ... Do as Peter did...grieve, repent, accept His forgiveness... and then get back to work.

“We must not offer people a system of redemption, a set of insights and principles. We offer people a Redeemer.”
― Paul David Tripp

2 Timothy 2:15 3/6/2018*11/21*

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

Are you an approved worker who is not embarrassed about your bible use and knowledge?

This week I have been blessed to be in the Holy land. It has become evident to me that though I have been a Christian for 40+ years, there is much I need to learn. 

Seeing the bible in living color has been an amazing pilgrimage but one that has challenged me as well. 

To see the garden where Jesus prayed to not drink the cup I gave Him… to look at the same shoreline Jesus saw as He walked on the sea of Galilee … to walk the steps He took as He carried the cross that should have been mine… these were emotional, confirming, and encouraging moments. 

To see the dead sea scrolls...to see proof of prophecies written thousands of years before they were fulfilled…to see the mount of olives where He ascended, and where He will return… these have challenged me that there are prophesies yet to come that I must handle correctly. 

The verse above says we must do our best, there must be effort on our part to use scripture correctly. It is a powerful weapon and a great responsibility. 

Give it your full attention, study it daily, train yourself in the ways of righteousness, so that when He returns you will not need to be ashamed of how you handled the most powerful tool ever given to man, His holy word.

“No man is to be credited for his mere authority's sake, unless he can show Scripture for the maintenance of his opinion.” - John Wycliffe