1 John 3:23-24 4/26/2022*

“This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.” 

Two commandments … believe in Jesus - and love one another. 

Pretty clear …but oh how easily we mess this up. 

Sometimes I choose to not love my brother because he doesn’t keep God’s commands… So, I am breaking God’s command, by not loving a brother, because he is breaking God’s command… It is exhausting. 

My ever-changing application of scripture for my own convenience is hypocrisy. 

Who do you think Jesus meant when He said to love your enemy? …. The guy that looks and talks like you? ... No – everybody loves that guy…. 

He meant the guy who believes in everything you’re against – the guy that mocks your standards…. If you love that guy - the world will take notice.  And I don’t mean some pious, self-centered, martyr complex…I mean really love them and pursue what is best for them.

Is that your goal? Do you spend time searching for ways to serve others? Have you googled how you can assist those who don’t believe what you believe?  Me neither…. 

So how will tomorrow be any different? Will we just nod in agreement and say “yeah, I need to work on that”? – or will we do something? ….God doesn’t want our agreement He wants our obedience.

We must decide to LOVE others … not based on who they are - but on whose they are …and then act on it.  

This is counter to my nature which is to react to people instead of responding to God…and if, for even a moment, I stop focusing on Christ’s undeserved love for me - I will fail in loving others. 

Make today different by refusing to be self-centered and instead actively and intentionally love those around you as He has commanded. 

The world tells you to love yourself - the bible tells you to die to yourself and love others. Your creator knows His creation, so do what He says. Trust Jesus and love others – It is sometimes difficult, but it is not complicated.

“It is wonderful how much time people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of listlessness and dissatisfaction” - Helen Keller

Matthew 6 :24 4/19/2022*

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”

God is not something you add to your life – He must become the entire essence of who you are.

He is not a Sunday morning tradition but a life changing, “about face”, which alters every motive, every dream, and every goal. 

When God demands holiness, it is not just for Christmas and Easter. It is a fulltime calling.  Holiness means set apart…you are consecrated and sanctified for communion with an entirely Holy God…. This must define your conduct and excludes you from unholy things.  

You would never use your drinking glass to dip water from the toilet because that glass is set aside for a special purpose…You and I are the same. We are not to be quenching thirst on Sunday - and dipping in toilets during the week.

We have a King – we are created to serve and fellowship with Him, and our life should reflect His holiness. 

Too many of us attempt to compartmentalize our lives and serve God on Sunday and ourselves the rest of the week.  This is the “TV Dinner” approach to living where everything is divided into separate sections – but God calls us to be more like “Chicken Pot Pies”.  Our lives must be the same regardless of when or where you dip into them. We can’t have moral partitions…We are to be consistently righteous.

If you hear me teaching Sunday School or negotiating a business deal you should hear the same honesty and integrity. If I am talking to someone at church or my wife at home, there should be the same gentle heart and unselfish love. 

When you accept Christ, He doesn’t fix your heart - He performs a transplant.  You cannot keep both hearts and expect to survive.  So, make your choice. Serve God or serve the world…but be “all in” one way or the other. 

If you are lukewarm clinging to your old sick, failing heart – The new holy heart will not be effective. Embrace the healthy transplanted heart and reject the failing anemic one and don’t allow its disease to infect your new life. 

“There must be a divorce between you and sin, or there can be no marriage between you and Christ.” – Charles Spurgeon

Genesis 1:1 4/12/2022*

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

You get one sentence into the bible before you have a decision to make. Do you believe God existed before the “beginning”? …Because if this is not true then nothing that is written afterwards matters. 

Do you believe there is an eternal Deity who created what we call the universe? Or do you reject this and simply admit that you have no idea how we got here? …Those are your only options.  

Science never claims to know origin. It offers an elaborate admission of ignorance about the beginning and suggest various hypotheses for what happened somewhere in the middle.  You will not find a science book that discusses an element that was present prior to the “beginning”.  

That is because science deals with finite particles.  They have no formula to explain “something” coming from “nothingness”. 

Their dilemma is in conceptualizing an eternal component. So, when they propose a “big bang” from a collision of particles, there is no pretense that they know where those particles came from, or why they were moving. 

This is a problem when you are trying to explain the origin of the universe…but it is an even bigger problem when you are seeking truth. 

Just as God is necessary for creation, He is also necessary to establish absolute truth…. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Again, you must either believe that statement or reject it.  Our nation has chosen the latter, and we are reaping what we have sown. 

There is no standard for truth…only loud opinions. We cannot define, marriage, gender, right, wrong, morals, ethics, honesty, equality …we are absolutely adrift. In our aimlessness the only allowable absolute is that there are no absolutes. 

All we can offer are elaborate, confessions of ignorance…and then adamantly assert unsubstantiated opinions. 

The world appears content to pretend all of this makes sense, but you have a decision to make. Keep blindly following the blind or open your bible and start living life based on solid, definable, absolute truth. There is nothing virtuous about ambiguity.  

"Truth is objective because God exists outside ourselves; it is universal because God is above all; it is constant because God is eternal. Absolute truth is absolute because it originates from the original." - Josh McDowell

PSALM 25:1-3 4/5/2022*

“To You, Lord, I lift up my soul. My God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies rejoice over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed”

What is your anchor? Where do you turn when a storm comes? The writer of this psalm says that The Lord is his anchor…The Lord is the one to whom he lifts his soul.  

Is that true of me? When the chips are down do I look to my own ingenuity, or do I trust in the Lord?  

Sure, I say I trust God in the daily challenges – but when everything is on the table – winner take all – no safety net…. what is my “go to” approach …me or God?

Too often we choose to lower our soul to earthly remedies instead of lifting it to God. We turn to self-medication, or distraction rather than resting in the power of our Heavenly Father. We panic, and spiral into fear and anxiety instead of relying on the proven love and power of the Great I Am. 

But you say, “you don’t understand how bad my situation is”. That may be true. But no problem is big until it is yours - and perseverance is only perseverance when it is hard. So, don’t buy the Facebook lie that everyone else’s life is perfect. You are not alone in your struggles, but like all of us, you must choose your path. 

You may be impressed by a chair, and say it has good workmanship…but you don’t have faith in a chair until you sit in it.  When trouble comes in your life, are you impressed by God - or do you have faith in Him?

In Romans, Paul writes: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”  Paul shows an unyielding confidence in God - The writer of this psalm shows the same - but I do not see enough of it in me.  

Do I trust God or not?  Am I sitting in the comfort of God’s grace or just saying good things about it as I stand on my own?  My anchor must be Christ ….and to Him alone I will lift my soul and rest in the assuredness of His love. 

“Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them.” - Elisabeth Elliot