Read Colossians 1:1-6
Everyone needs it, everyone should give it and everyone thrives when they have it. What's it? It's hope. The Apostle Paul was a man of hope, a man of encouragement. He wrote letters to the churches in the New Testament and always seems to be writing with an air of hope about him. Always encouraging believers to remember the hope we have and ultimately the future hope we'll all experience with God in eternity.
Paul writes in Colossians 1:4 about the believers faith and hope that spring from the hope that is stored up in heaven and how it's all about the truth of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. He says in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 that if Christ has not been raised from the dead our faith is futile, we're still in our sins and we have no hope. In other words, if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
This advent season it's important for all of us to remember the hope we have that comes from the Good News of the Gospel. Our hope isn't something we wish for, it's what Hebrews 11:1 tells us. Our faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Jesus Christ - poured out His life as a sacrifice for our lives so that we might have eternal hope; so that we might be encouraged in our faith to trust in everything Jesus said and did for us. Hope in the Son of God. Hope in His Sacrifice. Hope in His love. And hope in all of His promises this Advent Season.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Freedom of Christ
Read Galatians 5:1-15
What did Christ come for and what did He accomplish on the cross? Galatians 5 says He came for freedom.
This freedom Christ came for begs the question, freedom from what? If you read Galatians 5 you'll see quite clearly the answer. Christ came to set us free from legalism, living according to the Old Testament Law (or trying to at least). The Galatians were being told you're not a "true Christian" unless or until you follow the rule of being circumcised. Paul makes it clear we are free from the rule of law. Instead he says we are (v. 4) justified by faith in Christ.
Of everything Paul could say, he said this -- the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Faith - trusting God is who He says He is; expressing itself in love. This is the creed Jesus lived by - Love God & Love Others.
How we love others will look different because God's given us different spiritual gifts and different passions. But know this - God expects us to live our lives loving Him and loving those in the family of God and those not yet in the family of God. If you want to experience freedom in this life - ask God to help you live this way. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord and experience the freedom of Christ.
What did Christ come for and what did He accomplish on the cross? Galatians 5 says He came for freedom.
This freedom Christ came for begs the question, freedom from what? If you read Galatians 5 you'll see quite clearly the answer. Christ came to set us free from legalism, living according to the Old Testament Law (or trying to at least). The Galatians were being told you're not a "true Christian" unless or until you follow the rule of being circumcised. Paul makes it clear we are free from the rule of law. Instead he says we are (v. 4) justified by faith in Christ.
Of everything Paul could say, he said this -- the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Faith - trusting God is who He says He is; expressing itself in love. This is the creed Jesus lived by - Love God & Love Others.
How we love others will look different because God's given us different spiritual gifts and different passions. But know this - God expects us to live our lives loving Him and loving those in the family of God and those not yet in the family of God. If you want to experience freedom in this life - ask God to help you live this way. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord and experience the freedom of Christ.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Despise Evil
Read Psalm 36
I was reading Psalm 36 this past week and a verse within the Psalm jumped out at me. Let's look at it again, it's at the end of verse four and says "He does not despise evil." David is writing because He sees so much sin going on around him that he writes about the world view of the person (man or woman) who sins and seems to not care one bit.
This passage jumped out at me for a number of reasons but mostly because it's easy for us, I think, to see the evil that others do and despise it. But when we sin more often than not, we don't see it that way. We want to justify our attitudes and actions. I believe God wants us to despise every evil including our own. When we sin, when we do what God tells us is no good for us, we need to acknowledge it for the evil it is. We ALL must get to the point in our faith walk with God that we despise what is evil, what goes against the will of God.
The rest of Psalm 36 from verse 5 to 12 indicates the amazing character of God. What always helps me when I realize the evil that exists in this world, and more than I like to admit in me as well, is all of God's good beats all of this world's evil every single day. I know it doesn't always seem like it, but in God's timing this is absolutely true. So no matter what we're dealing with we should always come back to who God is. When we know God so well, all of His qualities and all of who He is we can walk with confidence that our God is able to get us through anything.
My sense this week is we need to be reminded that our God is the Almighty God; our God is the Forgiving God; our God is the life-giving God; our God is the seer of all that is good and evil; and our God is the One whose lovingkindness extends to the heavens, and faithfulness that reaches to the skies. May our lives LOVE God (all that is good) and despise EVIL (all that is bad).
I was reading Psalm 36 this past week and a verse within the Psalm jumped out at me. Let's look at it again, it's at the end of verse four and says "He does not despise evil." David is writing because He sees so much sin going on around him that he writes about the world view of the person (man or woman) who sins and seems to not care one bit.
This passage jumped out at me for a number of reasons but mostly because it's easy for us, I think, to see the evil that others do and despise it. But when we sin more often than not, we don't see it that way. We want to justify our attitudes and actions. I believe God wants us to despise every evil including our own. When we sin, when we do what God tells us is no good for us, we need to acknowledge it for the evil it is. We ALL must get to the point in our faith walk with God that we despise what is evil, what goes against the will of God.
The rest of Psalm 36 from verse 5 to 12 indicates the amazing character of God. What always helps me when I realize the evil that exists in this world, and more than I like to admit in me as well, is all of God's good beats all of this world's evil every single day. I know it doesn't always seem like it, but in God's timing this is absolutely true. So no matter what we're dealing with we should always come back to who God is. When we know God so well, all of His qualities and all of who He is we can walk with confidence that our God is able to get us through anything.
My sense this week is we need to be reminded that our God is the Almighty God; our God is the Forgiving God; our God is the life-giving God; our God is the seer of all that is good and evil; and our God is the One whose lovingkindness extends to the heavens, and faithfulness that reaches to the skies. May our lives LOVE God (all that is good) and despise EVIL (all that is bad).
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Give It All To You
Read Colossians 3:1-25
Something I've always enjoyed since becoming a follower of Jesus is Christian music. Primarily I enjoy worship music with a contemporary flair to it. Give It All To You is a new single by a group called Yellow Cavalier. As I was thinking the other day of this title it hit me that whatever I'm facing God wants me to give it all to Him.
Colossians 3 is so full of challenges that tell us the Christian life is all about giving it all to God. Our hearts and our minds are to be set on things above, not on earthly things. Paul gives this picture of Christ being seated at the right hand of God and if we don't understand the importance of this image we can miss the power of his challenge. When Christ is seated at the right hand of God we must realize this is showing He was finished accomplishing His purpose on earth; seeing Him seated at the right hand of God shows His victory over death, His victory in securing that He gave everything He had so that we could have a right relationship with God the Father! Jesus seated at God's right hand could rightly say for all eternity I give it all to you.
Friends, Paul goes on and says because Jesus is victoriously seated in heaven with God we now must commit our new lives in Him by ridding ourselves of our old lives. Put to death he says all the things that are out of character for anyone claiming Christ is the leader of their life. And put on or "clothe yourselves" with the character of Christ (vv. 12-14), let the peace of Christ rule your lives as you allow the word of Christ to guide your words and deeds (vv. 15-17).
I love how he wraps this chapter up with probably one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture -
23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Let's be able to say to God with our lives - Father God I GIVE IT ALL TO YOU!!
Something I've always enjoyed since becoming a follower of Jesus is Christian music. Primarily I enjoy worship music with a contemporary flair to it. Give It All To You is a new single by a group called Yellow Cavalier. As I was thinking the other day of this title it hit me that whatever I'm facing God wants me to give it all to Him.
Colossians 3 is so full of challenges that tell us the Christian life is all about giving it all to God. Our hearts and our minds are to be set on things above, not on earthly things. Paul gives this picture of Christ being seated at the right hand of God and if we don't understand the importance of this image we can miss the power of his challenge. When Christ is seated at the right hand of God we must realize this is showing He was finished accomplishing His purpose on earth; seeing Him seated at the right hand of God shows His victory over death, His victory in securing that He gave everything He had so that we could have a right relationship with God the Father! Jesus seated at God's right hand could rightly say for all eternity I give it all to you.
Friends, Paul goes on and says because Jesus is victoriously seated in heaven with God we now must commit our new lives in Him by ridding ourselves of our old lives. Put to death he says all the things that are out of character for anyone claiming Christ is the leader of their life. And put on or "clothe yourselves" with the character of Christ (vv. 12-14), let the peace of Christ rule your lives as you allow the word of Christ to guide your words and deeds (vv. 15-17).
I love how he wraps this chapter up with probably one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture -
23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Let's be able to say to God with our lives - Father God I GIVE IT ALL TO YOU!!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Serving Leftovers
Read Malachi 1:18
Tim Kizziar once said, "Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." When you think about it, so many of us are successful at so many things. But are we successful at what really matters?
The prophet Malachi wrote about people who were serving God their leftovers. And I think if we'll take the time to consider Malachi's words and Kizziar's as well, what it comes down to is am I serving God or am I serving myself. I just have to be honest with you, lately I've been so frustrated with hearing stories of folks who know what God desires but do their own thing anyway. With their lives, they're serving God their leftovers; they're not giving God their very best.
When Malachi says what we offer God is less than our best he says it is evil. We don't think of it this way do we? We think of ways to justify our behaviors and attitudes because let's face it we're busy people. So what we give God we expect Him to be pleased with because in our society something is better than nothing. From the beginning of time, God has been crystal clear. Some offerings are acceptable to Him and others are not. Just ask Cain, whose offering God "did not look with favor" on (Genesis 4:5).
What I want us to do is not get caught up in why God wasn't pleased with Cain's offering. I want us to think for ourselves - is what I'm offering God with my life pleasing to God (every area of my life)? Let's be sure what we offer God is not labeled as evil, less than our best for the One who gave His best to us. Love Him with your life!
Tim Kizziar once said, "Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." When you think about it, so many of us are successful at so many things. But are we successful at what really matters?
The prophet Malachi wrote about people who were serving God their leftovers. And I think if we'll take the time to consider Malachi's words and Kizziar's as well, what it comes down to is am I serving God or am I serving myself. I just have to be honest with you, lately I've been so frustrated with hearing stories of folks who know what God desires but do their own thing anyway. With their lives, they're serving God their leftovers; they're not giving God their very best.
When Malachi says what we offer God is less than our best he says it is evil. We don't think of it this way do we? We think of ways to justify our behaviors and attitudes because let's face it we're busy people. So what we give God we expect Him to be pleased with because in our society something is better than nothing. From the beginning of time, God has been crystal clear. Some offerings are acceptable to Him and others are not. Just ask Cain, whose offering God "did not look with favor" on (Genesis 4:5).
What I want us to do is not get caught up in why God wasn't pleased with Cain's offering. I want us to think for ourselves - is what I'm offering God with my life pleasing to God (every area of my life)? Let's be sure what we offer God is not labeled as evil, less than our best for the One who gave His best to us. Love Him with your life!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Lukewarm
Read Matthew 13:44
It's that time of the year here in the Northeast when the seasons are beginning to change and the overnight chill factor is starting to have it's affects on all of us. And with this change in temperatures and even seasons of life it got me thinking about what the Bible calls and warns Christians about - being lukewarm.
The man in Matthew 13:44 is anything but lukewarm! He's excited about the reality, the treasure of finally understanding and finding the kingdom of heaven, the truth about God. He's so excited about His new life in the kingdom of God that he does a few things. First, he's celebrating. He's filled with this almost unexplainable joy. Next, he goes out and sells everything he owns. Friends, everything means everything. He's so excited that no material things matter any longer to him. He's found something that is invaluable. Finally, he goes and buys the field where he buried this treasure of the kingdom of God. Make no mistake this man would never be described as lukewarm.
How about us? I think if we're honest we'd assent intellectually that we have an amazing treasure in our relationship with God. But I'm not so sure we'd go out and sell everything we owned. Listen, the point is our enthusiasm and our lives are intended to be like this man's. We should be so excited about the truth of God we've found in our lives that it impacts everything.
Here's the deal, we will remain lukewarm in our faith if we are satisfied with being "godly enough" to get ourselves into heaven and see our lives as "good enough". God desires all of us to live lives that are red-hot for Him. Where everything else takes second place. This week I urge all of us to consider what it's going to take for us as individuals, those who claim to follow Christ, to truly live our whole lives fully devoted to Him.
It's that time of the year here in the Northeast when the seasons are beginning to change and the overnight chill factor is starting to have it's affects on all of us. And with this change in temperatures and even seasons of life it got me thinking about what the Bible calls and warns Christians about - being lukewarm.
The man in Matthew 13:44 is anything but lukewarm! He's excited about the reality, the treasure of finally understanding and finding the kingdom of heaven, the truth about God. He's so excited about His new life in the kingdom of God that he does a few things. First, he's celebrating. He's filled with this almost unexplainable joy. Next, he goes out and sells everything he owns. Friends, everything means everything. He's so excited that no material things matter any longer to him. He's found something that is invaluable. Finally, he goes and buys the field where he buried this treasure of the kingdom of God. Make no mistake this man would never be described as lukewarm.
How about us? I think if we're honest we'd assent intellectually that we have an amazing treasure in our relationship with God. But I'm not so sure we'd go out and sell everything we owned. Listen, the point is our enthusiasm and our lives are intended to be like this man's. We should be so excited about the truth of God we've found in our lives that it impacts everything.
Here's the deal, we will remain lukewarm in our faith if we are satisfied with being "godly enough" to get ourselves into heaven and see our lives as "good enough". God desires all of us to live lives that are red-hot for Him. Where everything else takes second place. This week I urge all of us to consider what it's going to take for us as individuals, those who claim to follow Christ, to truly live our whole lives fully devoted to Him.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Everything We Need
Read 2 Peter 1:3-13
Please don't read any further until you've read the suggested reading in 2 Peter 1:3-13.
Ok, now that you've done that, did you get it? God has given us everything we need. And don't miss this everything means everything we need for life and godliness. This is amazing but can be scary at the same time. You know why? Because of this truth, you and I are without excuse. What God calls us to, He equips us to. And He tells us there's not a thing He asks of us that we can not do when we're aligned with our Heavenly Father's plan.
Nothing this world throws at us has any power unless we allow it to have power. God tells us we can escape the corruption in the world that's caused by evil desires by receiving the gift of His promises and His power to abide and live in Him.
But then as a result Peter says add all these things to your faith (goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love). And with this command comes another promise - if you and I do this God says to us we will be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sounds like a win-win situation for all of us. So let's be open to the commands of God knowing the promises of God are amazingly beneficial.
My challenge for all of us is this - when you read this passage again, place your name in the passage; make it personal. Read it and meditate on it, allowing God to speak His words directly into your heart so that you may live for Him. May God get the glory for giving us everything we need!
Please don't read any further until you've read the suggested reading in 2 Peter 1:3-13.
Ok, now that you've done that, did you get it? God has given us everything we need. And don't miss this everything means everything we need for life and godliness. This is amazing but can be scary at the same time. You know why? Because of this truth, you and I are without excuse. What God calls us to, He equips us to. And He tells us there's not a thing He asks of us that we can not do when we're aligned with our Heavenly Father's plan.
Nothing this world throws at us has any power unless we allow it to have power. God tells us we can escape the corruption in the world that's caused by evil desires by receiving the gift of His promises and His power to abide and live in Him.
But then as a result Peter says add all these things to your faith (goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love). And with this command comes another promise - if you and I do this God says to us we will be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sounds like a win-win situation for all of us. So let's be open to the commands of God knowing the promises of God are amazingly beneficial.
My challenge for all of us is this - when you read this passage again, place your name in the passage; make it personal. Read it and meditate on it, allowing God to speak His words directly into your heart so that you may live for Him. May God get the glory for giving us everything we need!
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