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

Psalm 119:9 2/27/2018*

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your word" 

Seems like a simple question with a simple answer. But if that is the case why don't we do it? 

Why do we spend so much energy skirting around the Word of God instead of using that same energy to follow it? What causes us to engage in "Theological open field running" as we weave around the clear teachings of the bible in an effort to justify our actions?

If you look at the lives of those who walk according to the Word and compare them to those who do not, the difference is clear. Sin is destructive. Yet somehow, we believe we will be different. We think we can ignore the truth and avoid the consequences. 

We cannot.

Why don't we stop scheming - and simply follow His Word? What if the answer is right in front of you? What if your bible is the map that can stop you from going down all these dead-end roads.

There are a thousand people, on a thousand web sites, all with different "answers" for your problem. But there is only one who knit you in your mother's womb, and His way is the only way to purity, righteousness, and peace.

Follow His Word. Stop trying to avoid the clear truth and just do what it says. He is the way, the truth and the life ... His Word alone is your true north and will allow you to keep your life pure. 

"If there is any verse that you would like left out of the Bible, that is the verse that bought to stick to you, like a blister, until you really attend to its teaching." 

 - Charles Spurgeon

1 Corinthians 3: 1-3 2/19/2018*

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly - as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly...”

How long have you been saved...Are you growing?

Paul had founded the Corinthian church approximately three years earlier and he is a little put out with their lack of spiritual growth. He is disappointed that they are still infants in Christ needing milk and unable to break from their worldly chains.

What kind of letter would he write to us? Many of us are decades into our walk with Christ and still on a spiritual bottle. Still worldly and focused on temporal, instead of eternal things.

Did we check the box of salvation and miss that it was a beginning not a destination? Have we forgotten that the very purpose of our “re-birth” is to grow in Christ?

If so, then it’s time to change that. It is time to commit to growth.  If three years was too long for the Corinthians to remain worldly, then it is past time for us to grow up as well. 

Start this week consuming a daily serving of God’s Word so you can grow into the warrior God intended.  Dig into the meat of the Word and begin to develop spiritual strength and break free from all the worldly things that drag you down.

Be intentional. Nothing is more important than becoming who God made you to be and doing what God made you to do.

"Spiritual growth depends on two things: first a willingness to live according to the Word of God; second, a willingness to take whatever consequences emerge as a result."

- Sinclair B. Ferguson

1 John 5:3-4 2/13/2018

“In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.”

The same Holy Spirit that teaches love, also demands and enables obedience.

Too often we see God’s commands as burdens… a list of “don’ts” designed to rob our lives of pleasure. We believe the lie that we are missing out by not pursuing what the world says is gratifying.

So, we grab our “fire insurance” religion and spend our days seeing how close to the edge we can live without getting burned.  We wear the jersey but never enter the game.

There are no verses that offer assurance for that lifestyle. 

In fact, scripture is clear. Loving God means keeping His word. What is perplexing about our attitude is that obedience is not a price tag, it is a benefit.

Seeing His word as burdensome is like a kitten being annoyed that it must walk around, and not through the Pit Bull enclosure.

God’s word is the “owner’s manual” written by the creator…following it makes life work. It keeps us safe and prevents the enemy from stealing, killing, and destroying, which is his stated purpose. (John 10:10)

You are not burdened by God’s commands, you are set free to follow them.  Evaluate your life…you will see His plan always works, and the world’s never does.

You won’t be perfect, but you have been given strength to resist and provided with grace to redeem. So, overcome the world and live in obedience and victory. You are no longer a slave to sin, so stop allowing it to pollute your life.

“You will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice.”
― Eric Liddell

Psalm 107:14 2/6/2018*

^“He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains.”

Last year Zach Williams wrote a song called “Chain Breaker”.  It’s about something God has been doing for centuries. We often hear of God’s forgiveness … but there is more to it.  God also offers deliverance. 

God offers a way out.

Are you in utter darkness?  Are you shackled with sin that absolutely owns you?  The enemy would have you believe that is permanent.  That your sin is part of you. That it defines you … but that is a lie, and he is good at lying. 

Stop listening… God is a chain breaker.  There is nothing you’ve done that compares to the power of the blood of Christ.  God holds title to your soul, and there is no iniquity that has any claim of ownership.  

Your sin is a paper tiger and the Cross is a match. In the shadow of Calvary, this thing you have given so much power to, becomes feeble. Face it, hand it to God, and begin anew.

In faith claim your freedom and never willingly accept incarceration again. God says you are free, insist on the veracity of that statement until you can prove it.

Your chains are broken … walk out of this prison, out of the darkness, and live in the light of redemption, deliverance, and freedom.  

“If you’ve got pain, He’s a pain taker,
if you feel lost, He’s a way maker,
if you need freedom or saving, He’s a prison-shaking Savior,
If you’ve got chains, He’s a chain breaker.”
 - Zach Williams

Romans 8:18 1/30/2018*

^“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Paul had been imprisoned, beaten, and shipwrecked but that is not what he is talking about. The suffering he is referencing is the inner turmoil of his own spirit, battling against his own flesh.

When we talk about suffering today, too often it involves someone saying something unkind to us, or calling our faith a fairy tale, or excluding us because of what we believe. These are not sufferings, they are opportunities.

However, our battle against sin, the inner struggle of not doing what we want, but doing what we hate can be devastating, and that is what Paul is referring to  in this verse. 

This is the suffering that caused him to cry out “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is infected by death?” (Romans 7:24)

Scripture has two pieces of advice for us when we face this kind of suffering: 

1. Know who your liberator is. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25)

2. See the fight in context.  It is painful, it is frustrating, but it is over…the battle was won on the cross and these clashes are nothing compared to the glory that awaits us.

So, when you stumble, get up. Confess, repent, accept the forgiveness Christ gives, and keep going …

Learn from the suffering but don’t dwell on it… keep your eyes on the finish line and remember that this present suffering will fade away when compared to the splendor and glory that God will reveal in us when we finally get home.

"I groan daily under a body of sin and corruption. Oh, for the time when I shall drop this flesh, and be free from sin!"  - Charles Spurgeon

Revelation 2:4 1/23/2018*

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

This passage is from the letter to the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation. According to the letter, the church worked hard, persevered, had solid doctrine, and endured hardship.

Yet God said if they didn’t correct this one flaw their ministry would be removed. What makes this one thing so important?  Why is it so critical to remember our first love?

Maybe it is the fact that love is the difference between religion and relationship.  Simply following a creed or acting out a system, is powerless. 

You lose your first love by forgetting where you came from.  Forgetting who you were when Christ found you.  When that happens, gratefulness is replaced by pride, and acts of love are replaced by responsibilities.

Whereas we used to worship because we couldn’t help it, we now grudgingly fulfill our obligations of church attendance and service.  

Have you lost your first love? 

Are you following a religious system, or are you overwhelmed with love for Jesus? 

Stop and recall your history.  Remember what Christ did for you even though you were in rebellion. Consider how you felt when you were first redeemed.  Then love like that again. Feel and act like you did when He first saved you.

God doesn’t need your help, He wants your devotion.  Wake up from your stale, legalistic existence and fall back in love with Him.  iHHHHBe so full of Love for Jesus that it permeates everything you do…the rest will take care of itself.

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”
- Brennan Manning