09.22.2021

Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.” Ephesians 5:25-26

It was Sunday and I was wearing Sunday clothes. You know, dress pants, shirt and tie. As I grabbed my jacket to get out of my truck, I knew I was stepping into unfriendly territory. One that showed absolutely NO respect for my fancy dress. But catching a glimpse of my face in the rear-view mirror showed…it was EXACTLY what I needed!

I didn’t have a raincoat or umbrella. And though it wasn’t far to the door, the speed and force of the rain, combined with my massive intellect and experience in this kind of situation, GUARANTEED I was going to get soaked! But at least I was coming HOME! Taking a breath, I opened the door… and proved just how smart I was!

When we go to our cabin, we never fail to get pictures of us all lounging at the old swimming hole. When I am done cutting grass at home, I LOVE to jump in the pool to cool off. When I am dirty, I LOVE the feeling of a shower before crawling into bed. But I wasn’t in the mountains, cutting grass or going to bed. I was coming home from Church and wasn’t dressed or ready for a soaking. Or was I?

We ALL get wet. Often, many times during the day. But when I do, I usually volunteer for the process. But to get wet when I don’t CHOOSE it is uncomfortable. Wearing dress clothes the world finds acceptable, can sometimes give me a worldly kind of outlook. And often, a washing is exactly what I need.

Jesus Christ cleansed his bride, the Church, by His sacrifice and His Word. What water does for my body, His Word does for my soul and spirit. But sometimes I find myself like I did at the age of 3! Really dirty, but hating the idea of taking a bath. Then, Mom would take charge, draw the water and say…”get in!”

I need to be reminded that I am ALWAYS headed home. When the dirt and grime of the world cling to me, when my attitude turns sour and the sweat from the toils of life wears on me, Jesus has the total right to clean me anyway or any time He desires. It’s for my own good.. AND HIS!

Are YOU due for a good soaking???  

P.S.  The context of this verse is God talking to HUSBANDS.   Go ahead and look it up!  We men are to treat our wives the SAME WAY JESUS DID with HIS Bride.  And if that makes you wives feel, in any way, superior… read what comes BEFORE this verse.  We are ALL to love and SERVE one another.   AND Him  May you go and do likewise.

09.21.2021

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.” Proverbs 3:1-2

It started with Katie on Sunday afternoon. After my nap she calmly called me over and pointed to her computer screen. Recognizing what I was seeing, I tried hard to remain calm, look wise and sound comforting. Then I pushed every possible key imaginable! Nothin’! Had it stayed there with HER computer, I might have REMAINED calm.

There’s an old computer saying that, “even Jesus saves!” I have 2 files that I guard by backing up EVERY day! But beyond that, eh…! Right then, I remembered I was overdue on a backup of my own hard drive. If Katie’s crash accomplished ANYTHING, it got me motivated to work on backing up my own important data and photos. Before I was done, I lost BOTH!

It is in times of desperation that I find out who my friends are. Since I was desperate, I called Mike. After explaining Katie’s, and then MY experience, he added that HE had experienced the same thing… ALL DAY! Being an I.T. guy, computer crashes can make one wish they were a ditch digger! We talked, then laughed…and things actually started to look a little bit better! But not because they had changed!

Mike is my friend. Mike is a Jesus guy! Through talking to him, I realized that my data and photos are not ME. All those pictures? I have the REAL people in my life. My data? I STILL know who’s, and who, I am in Him. I’m taking ME, with me, to Heaven to live with God doesn’t lose ANYTHING!! So…when put in perspective, the loss isn’t that big a deal.

There is really only 1 thing that God wants me to remember, and that’s HIM! His love, His Grace, His ways! He wants me to write them on my heart, the place from where I live, so that I will DO what I KNOW! If I choose to do that, HE will make sure I will NEVER be lost! On top of THAT; time, peace and HIS kind of prosperity will be added, both here and there. Regardless of any crash!

Is Jesus YOUR back up?

09.20.2021

It would have been easier to write a ‘Words of the Day.’  But after a hard sermon yesterday and trying to get across the idea that we are NOT pleasing God by doing our own thing, I read 2 devotionals, from other pastors, saying the same thing.  So I combined them.  

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9

Christ’s humbling is what Paul holds up as an example of what it means to give. There was a time when Jesus was rich. He was not rich on earth, though He sometimes stayed with rich people. He had friends and neighbors who were rich; some who followed Him were rich, but He Himself had nothing at all. But once He was rich, according to this verse. When was that? Do you remember in the Upper Room Discourse, in the prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, He says to the Father, And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began (John 17:5)?

I do not know if Paul was aware of this prayer or not, but that is a very wonderfully insightful verse indicating that Jesus recalled a time when He was rich, when everything in the universe belonged to Him. All the hosts of heaven bowed down in continuous worship of His name, and hundreds of thousands were ready to run at His bidding. He owned it all, everything was His, but He gave it up voluntarily. He deliberately impoverished himself. As Paul put it in Philippians, He humbled himself (Philippians 2:8), and He became a man, just a poor man.

Remember how He constantly borrowed everything? He had nothing of His own. He borrowed food, clothing, a coin to give an illustration, a donkey to enter into the city of Jerusalem, and He finally had to borrow a tomb in which to be laid. There was one occasion when it says the disciples all went to their own homes, but He went to the Mount of Olives. He had no home to go to, no place to lay His head.

Why did He do this? Why did He become poor? Paul’s reminder is, in order that we might be rich. Have you thought about how rich the Lord has made you? Just the other day, in the midst of all the tumult that we see reported in the international scene, I was thinking what a terrible thing it would be to have to live today without the Lord. Would you like to do that, now that you have known Him? Would you like to give up all the joy, all the peace, all the sense of forgiveness, all the lifting of the load of guilt? Would you give up the sense of His presence, of a power source available to you for whatever you need, of a continual supply of joy and gladness and restoration, of the continual enrichment of your life?

How rich Jesus has made us! He became poor in order that we might be rich. When you think about that, how wrong it seems to withhold our gifts from those who are in need around us. How can we clutch our affluence to ourselves when our brothers and sisters are in need?

Thank You, Lord, for the example of Jesus, who became poor that I might become rich. May I learn to extend that same grace to those around me who are in need.

Jesus is our priceless Treasure. Are we learning to worship Him with all that we are and own? What may we be withholding from Him this day?

From Ray Stedman

”You have a calling on your life, and the way you live should match it.”
Mark Jobe

 
THIS WEEK’S BOLD STEP DEVOTION

When I was younger, I remember having to dress up in a suit for a special event my family was invited to attend. I really didn’t feel like dressing up that day and would have preferred to stay in my street clothes, but because my parents said otherwise, I begrudgingly put on my suit. That laissez-faire attitude spilled over into my decision to wear my thick, white, dingy gym socks with my suit, thinking no one would notice. Boy, was I surprised when my friend noticed my mismatch within a few minutes of my arrival. I won’t soon forget my parents’ reaction either!

I learned an important lesson that day. People take notice when things don’t match or line up in our lives. Spiritually, we each have a calling, and the way we live should match that calling. If you say you’re a Christian but your lifestyle says something very different, then don’t be surprised when people around you take notice—and not in a good way. What impacts people the most is how different you are. In the end, most people aren’t as impressed with what you say you are compared to how you live your life.

From Mark Jobe

09.17.2021

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 NIV

Every once in a while I get the opportunity to play the part of handyman. Asked by friends if I knew an electrician who could replace an electrical circuit breaker, ‘I said yes… me!’ Apparently the breaker had been tripping, cutting off the electrical supply to the water pump. The problem? They had no water! Grabbing my electrical tools, I set off as an electrician!

It’s not like I’m an EXPERT! But I’ve done plenty of electrical work in my life, being taught by some pretty smart people. The only difference between electrical work and any other kind of work is the penalty for making a mistake…or being careless. I had no plans for either.

When I got to the house, there was a mix up as to which breaker it was and a different brand of breaker than what we had, but after a trip to the store, the new breaker was installed, reset and CLICK!!! It TOO, tripped off! Which meant that it WASN’T the circuit breaker after all. Following the logic, I had to grab another handyman hat and became a combination electrician/plumber! Unfortunately…or fortunately, I have experience in THAT area too!

I grew up poor. When I got married, I STAYED poor. Subsequently I HAD to learn how to do things for a living AND to do things for myself. Problems, education and experience are great teachers that, over time, tend to make one wise. I knew there was a possibility that the breaker was fine and that something else might be causing the problem. It turns out that it was the water pump!

In my Christian walk I have experienced this same kind of problem MANY times. Times when I THOUGHT there was something wrong with 1 thing, only to discover that it was something else entirely. Starting out with Jesus, I OFTEN had the bad habit of blaming most problems on HIM for letting things break down in the first place! Not on ME! It was SO naturally human, and easier, to blame the electrical supplier (Jesus) and not the pump (me)!

In the words of Clint Eastwood, of Dirty Harry (a movie) fame, “a man’s GOT to know his limitations!” I know mine. And water pumps do not fall into my area of expertise. Pretending to know something that I don’t ALWAYS causes me bigger problems. The BIGGEST lesson I have learned, and proven, in my life is that God is ALWAYS good, loving and faultless in His supply to people who WANT to be fixed. Which after all… if you really KNOW Him, SHOULDN’T be so shocking!

Got power? 

09.16.2021

Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.” Psalm 34:3

We were standing on ‘The Corner’ displaying Jesus signs to the cars passing by. I noticed one of the men NOT at his normal location. As with everything done repeatedly, humans are GREAT at habit and predictability. He was out of place and standing where ‘I’ usually stand. Visiting together, the reason for his new location came in the form of a deep question, starting with the tricky word…”WHY?”

I LOVE ‘WHY’ questions. As a rebellious preacher’s kid, I asked a LOT of them. NOT because I wanted to fight or rebel. But because I simply wanted to understand! My friend, who was standing beside me, asked his question for the very same reason! I started the discussion by asking HIM a series of questions. Questions that would set the tone and basis for a Godly answer.

I was a Boy Scout growing up. When my sons grew, I became a Scoutmaster. The whole experience of Boy Scouts was to slowly, and literally, turn boys into men. To do that, we often got down to basics by separating ourselves from the world of comfort, going off into the woods! There, living in tents, EVERYTHING was intended toward the purpose of building men.

As with anything, there are different ways of looking at things. If a boy was just out there just to have fun, it quickly became apparent. Duties, cleaning, teamwork and skill building would always be met with whines and groans. But when the underlying purpose of WHY we were there became the individual’s goal, learning and growing simply became an intense experience.

Maybe, because I asked the question of God so much, I can often hear HIM ask it of me. “WHY are you doing that… is there a reason for that thought or action. What are you trying to gain from the answer? Why DIDN’T you do THAT?” I have learned that if everything I do is intent on glorifying God, ‘The Master’ will ALWAYS be WITH ME. But my relationship with Him only grows with the right intent and intensity!

WHAT and WHY do you do, or NOT do, what you do or don’t do? Since God loves the WHY question, He wants you to be like a Boy Scout and live – In Tents!  

09.14.2021

Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19

It started off innocently enough. “Yea…we ought to get together and jam sometime!” Had it stayed there, it would have cost me nothing! My ‘Batcave’ has held my electric drum-set for years. They had been pushed back into the corner, where all they really did was take up space and collect dust. But then ‘I’ went 1 step further and scheduled a time! Which was going to be a problem!

The physics of space and time never factor in dirt and grime! Silly me! I thought moving my drums out of the corner was enough. Then I remembered that Steve cleans houses for a living! Looking at my ‘Cave’ with that lens of information, even ‘preparing’ for ‘jammin’ was going to take WORK!

I had played drums for years! In fact, it’s how I caught my wife, Katie! But after marrying her, the natural rule became, ‘no drumming in bars!’ Over the years, I had made good money and got to ‘jam’ with a lot of great musicians. The remembrance, though lost, had been resurrected! But before I could ‘rum-pa-pa-pum,’ I was going to have to clear and clean the room and the instrument!

Steve was kind! “I thought you said this place was a mess!” As a PRO he COULD have pointed out evidence of missed dust, but he didn’t. He started strumming, I caught his beat and off we went! WHERE we were going wasn’t really defined because…that’s what jammin’ is! It was the time spent together that mattered.

So no, it’s not official, and we’re not ‘hittin’ the road’ to ‘make it big!’ But, like me, Steve is a Jesus guy. And when these 2 Jesus guys got together, it didn’t take long before the inevitable question came out, “can we use this for Jesus?” Since Jesus is our mutual #1, it was only natural to want to tune and turn our attention to Him! Not having an exact answer simply means there’s probably going to be some stuff to clean, more people to include and our mutual ‘Agent’ to consult! Which is OK! Because moving things around, cleaning stuff up and working together is ALWAYS part of Jesus’ Jam!

Are YOU Jammin’ for Jesus?

09.13.2021

My lovely wife had forwarded this to me before Church yesterday.  I even intended to close the sermon with it, but ran out of time.  It was a perfect summarization too.  But it is ALSO a PERFECT introduction to a new week.  Short…yet simple.  In what direction are YOU moving?  And with what kind of attitude?

Against the Flow – Christine Caine

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 NKJV

Current culture often stands at odds with everything Jesus is and what He stands for. The question is, in a world that can drown in discouragement, will we choose to rise with joy? In a world that’s hopeless, will we walk in hope? Will we let the Holy Spirit release self-control within us while the world feels like it’s out of control around us?

Even a dead fish can float downstream. But to go against the flow, we have to stay committed and choose a life of faith. To follow Jesus, we must look to Him as our goal, our champion, and our prize!

09.10.2021

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 KJV

I had preached about ‘The Corner’ happening at Church on Sunday. Where, as we stood out on the busy intersection on the Friday before, holding ‘Jesus Signs,’ suddenly 2 eagles appeared overhead. The 5 of us just stood there, with mouths wide open, at the implication of what was happening! We all knew the verse and yet, we wondered still!

It was Thursday, yesterday, and a lot had happened in a few days. I had gotten sick. BAD! So sick that I couldn’t even get out of bed to make it to the corner Wednesday morning or for our regular Bible Study on Wednesday night! I was feeling 75% better though, and having delivered some papers to a friend, I was on my way home when it happened…again!

The light at ‘The Corner’ turned yellow, which forced me to stop! Leaning my head against the window, something caught my eye. As I focused, I was shocked, but not! There it was AGAIN! An Eagle came from behind me and began encircling ‘The Corner’! And as if on a God like cue, ANOTHER one joined in. As I sensed and thanked God, we sat together and watched them fly!

Throughout my life God has blessed me with Eagles and Rainbows at some pretty difficult times in my life. Now some might think me nuts, and that’s OK. All I know is what I know. That DOESN’T mean that when YOU see one, it means the same for you! But in some of my darkest hours, my eyes have been drawn to the sky to SEE verification for my Faith. And that is even weird for me to say! It is unexplainable, yet needs no explanation! Because I’ve got it…I get it!

These days are filled with the ridiculous. As right is made wrong and wrong right, I am FORCED to make a decision as to WHAT and WHOM I will believe and rest my life upon. Having made that decision long ago, it isn’t that hard to keep doing what I’ve been doing all along. Even though the world may think me nuts!

I Love Jesus Christ! I don’t need signs and wonders to function. But neither do I turn them down, when they come! The Bible says things are going to get tougher, and that God’s Truth will be attacked, along with those who believe in Him. My responsibility is to remain in Him and keep looking up! HE will do the rest!

So… what do YOU see… and KNOW FOR SURE?

09.09.2021

Being under the radar…I send thee this.  Why do you do what you do?

A Fading Glory – A daily devotion from your friends at RayStedman.org

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?” 2 Corinthians 3:7-8  

There is a kind of glory and attractiveness about the old covenant symbolized here by the brightness of Moses’ face when he came down from the mountaintop with the tablets of the Law. God caused his face to shine, not anything Moses did himself. But God also made it fade, because He wanted to teach something by that. It was a fading glory, a symbol of something that every one of us has experienced at one time or another. It is the attractiveness to us of a chance to show how much we can do with what we have. Did you ever feel that? In so many arenas of life, someone is thinking, I’ve been trained for that. I have the skills. I have the gifts. Let me show what I can do. We make a great impression, but to whose credit? Ours. We are the ones being glorified.

Paul talks here now about the feeling of elation that accompanies an opportunity to show off our abilities. But the record of history shows that everybody trying to live on that basis ends up a day late and a dollar short. It is just not going to work. After a while it becomes dull and boring and routine, and death sets in. He calls that the ministry of death, a fading glory; it does not last. But when you discover a new principle, the principle of God-dependence, you realize that in using your native skills, abilities, and training, God will be at work. In depending on that, there is an excitement and a glory that is greater than the one you feel when you want to show off what you can do. Thus it will not be you, but God, who will accomplish things.

All those who try to live a life that is pleasing to God by self-effort always discover that they never quite make it, because they never know when they have done enough. A lady once said to me, When I go to bed at night I often wonder if I had tried just a little harder if maybe I could have done something that would have made God happy. But she never made it. Every night there was that feeling of, I didn’t quite measure up today. That is the ministry of condemnation. It is the result of trying to do it with your own resources, by your own efforts.

But Paul says, If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness(2 Corinthians 3:9). Righteousness means being fully accepted, having a sense of being approved by God, of being honored and cherished by Him. The nearest word I know to describe this is the word worth. God gives you a standing of worth. You don’t have to earn it; you start with it. God tells you already in the new covenant, I have loved you, I have forgiven you, I have cleansed you. I intend to use you; your life is significant. There is nothing more you can add to that.

Lord, l confess that I often have been like Moses, hiding behind a mask, covering up the fading glory of my own efforts. Grant me the grace to simply receive from You the gift of worth.