FREEDOM

Scripture Job 31 ; Job 32 ; Galatians 5 ; Galatians 6

Galatians 5: ¹³My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love.

Observation:  Somehow there is this great disconnect between who we really are who we are supposed to be in the eyes of God.

Application:  God has set us free to live in the world but not be a part of it.  That is really hard to do because with every breath we take the world wants to tell us how to take it in and how to let it out.  So, what does this freedom mean that Paul says we were chosen for, which is then qualified with ‘you can’t use it to do anything you want.’  Is that freedom?  It is a hard thing to think about…freedom.

For me, freedom (the freedom that God has given me through Christ Jesus) is the ability to live in the world but not be of the world.  In other words, I can be right where I am today and still know that God loves me and has given me the promise of eternity through putting my faith in Jesus who has paid the price for my sin (past, present, and future).  Does that give me license to live anyway I want?  NO it does not.  It does however give me the freedom to have a relationship with God and my neighbor—whoever my neighbor might be.  I have the freedom to help in matters of justice, peace, and a bunch of other things that happen to people-- to make their lives better and to give my witness as to the peace I have found in Jesus.  Sometimes I will have to use words.

Freedom is a powerful thing, especially when it is given by God.

Prayer:  My prayer today is that God enables me to share my freedom with some who is locked in the chains of the world. 

Yieldedness: With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, I will become a key and not a lock.

Paul's Wonderful Testimony: Can I Claim It?

^{Galatians 2:20}I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. ²¹I don't turn my back on God's undeserved kindness.

Scripture Job 28 ; Job 29 ; Galatians 1 ; Galatians 2

Observation: Paul spoke very boldly of his faith.

Application:  I wish to live my life as Paul lived his life.  I wish to be quick to say what Paul has said to the Church at Galatia—“I have died, but Christ lives in me…I don’t turn my back on God’s underserved kindness.”

It is hard to live this life where I don’t turn my back on God’s grace.  Just yesterday I found myself angry at someone who was probably just doing their job as best as they could.  I ordered a cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon at a fast food restaurant and of course the attendant had to stop what they were doing and make a fresh pot of coffee just for me.  Well, I paid for the coffee and went back to my vehicle to transfer the coffee from the Styrofoam cup to my on cup.  As I was trying to get the lid off the Styrofoam cup, the cup was so full that the hot coffee was spilling on my fingers…Well, I have to say at this point I did not resemble the image of God…unless God was really mad and upset and God’s hand was on fire from hot coffee.  My sweet wife called me on it and reminded me of who I am. 

She reminded me that that person might have been disgruntled at me because I disrupted her routine, but that probably I needed not to think that way.  I needed to deal with “what was” spilled coffee and a blistered finger and pray that God would bless the person that poured that coffee and me as well.

Prayer:  So my prayer for today is this:  God please bless that person that poured that coffee cup way to full and bless my wife for being more of your image at that moment than myself and forgive me for my words and thoughts and remind me that I have died and now you live in me and help me not to turn my back of your loving kindness…Love Stephen

Yieldedness:  I will be more careful when I transfer coffee from a Styrofoam cup to my person favorite coffee cup.

Where Does the Understanding Hide?

  Job 20; Mark 3; Mark 4 (Contemporary English Version) 

^{Mark 4:12}The reason is,

"These people will look

and look, but never see.

They will listen and listen,

but never understand.

If they did,

they would turn to God,

and he would forgive them.

Jesus is explaining why he uses stories (or parables as we call them) as tools for teaching.  Jesus understands folk pretty well I would say.
Some years ago, I don't really remember when, I went on a spiritual journey.  It was 72 hours of hearing talks from clergy and lay folks about priorities, grace, piety, Christian actions and a bunch of other stuff.  I have to say that when I left that week-end I was fired up.  I had been in the ministry a few years and because of the notes I had taken and all the chocolate I had eaten, I was going to change the church as it was known in those days.  Me and God and few more folks that I was sure felt the same way I did was going to change the face of the earth, renew it as the prayer says and bring glory to the creator.
Well, that enthusiasm lasted a while and then I realized that Jesus is right:  "people look and look and never see..." and so on.
I have to say though that I am still somewhat on that "Spiritual High" when I see folks come alive with ideas and realize that God is calling them into ministry of some sort where the neighbors will be loved like we love ourselves and that above all God will be glorified and loved as well.
I think of those seeds in this parable of the sower in Mark 4.  The seeds that are sown in so many places on Sunday mornings from the choir loft and from the pulpit, when children and youth are serving in worship, when visitors are welcomed "in", when folks take time from their busy schedules to invite a neighbor to come and worship and experience the presence of God that they feel, and many other ways that seeds are sown.  Like after the enthusiastic worship is over and it time to go to Sunday School (oh I wish there was another name to call it like discipleship or learning to follow Jesus Time) when folks come to learn how that the life and times of Jesus are still relevant to our life and times today and even more so.  I could go on and on...

I guess that I am desiring to find a new way to do an old thing.  Its that wrong?  Is it wrong to try and find a way to get folks to open up and take hold of the Good News and let it change their lives the way it has changed mine.  Well, maybe not exactly like it changed mine, but change it a new way that just fits who they are.  I see a lot of folks who leave worship on Sunday morning to go else where and somehow I know they have not been fed the whole meal.  Oh, they enjoyed the servings they have had but the stuff that sustains them have been left out.

The seed gets sown but I guess there is no way to control where the seeds land and whether they grow or not--is that what I am saying--well, I wonder.  I wonder if there is a plan that will fit everyone who is the ground on which the seeds are sown.  I wonder if there is a way to get a seed to take root and grow on solid rocks.  I wonder if there is enough fertilizer for the seeds that have fell into the thorns to some how overtake the thistles and flourish.  I wonder.  How about you do you wonder?

Have blest day, brosteve

 

My Redeemer Lives

Scripture Job 19 ; Mark 1 ; Mark 2

Job 19:²⁵ I know that my redeemer lives, 

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

Observation :  Even Job trusted God and was obedient to the end.

Application:  What a wonderful statement of faith that Job pronounced to his doubtful friends and to me as well today.  "I know that my redeemer lives,..."

In this world today, with the Church going through change, with the economy a wreck, people losing jobs and becoming homeless, the political world in question on every avenue; with every thing the world says that makes the world go 'round amiss...there is one thing that is sure--my redeemer lives. 

These are comforting words to anyone who knows Christ, but to a lost and dying world these words are empty. 

Let us today who know that the redeemer lives find a way to share that good news with a lost and dying world and if necessary let us use words.

Prayer:  My prayer today is that God will use my witness to bring someone to Christ and that I will be able to encourage others who follow Christ to let use their witness as well for the same purpose.  AMEN!

Yieldedness: I will remember that "my redeemer lives"

Deliverance

Journal 10/20/2010

S.  Job 6, 7, 8; Acts 12

O.  Here is Job, a righteous man wondering why God is letting all this happen to him. Then there is Peter who has been freed from the chains that bind him in prison.

A.  From time to time I wonder why I am having to go through the pains of life.  I have always tried to live right before God, the community, my children, my spouse.  There have been times when I acted unwisely and made some stupid decisions, but those have been paid for or are being paid for as I write—and that is OK. It is the deliverance that I have trouble with mostly.  Trying to figure out why it is that God has sent some money or an idea that would make the day go easier or solve a problem that stands in the way of progress—that is the real dilemma.  Here is Peter in Jail one minute and free the next and it all at God’s hand.  People of the same mind who believed the Good News were praying constantly, God hears the prayers and sees that God’s will can be done and Peter is released and in the end the price is paid.  In the end the price is always paid, but it seems for me the price was paid in the beginning.

P.  My prayer today is of thanksgiving.  God thank you for loving me even when I don’t deserve it and I am unlovable—Be with me today in every step I take, every move I make, every word I speak, every decision I make—lead me, guide me, correct me, comfort me.  Be with all that it is my duty to pray for today and bring healing, comfort, grace and peace to all who need it.  AMEN!

Y.  How will I yield today?  I will look to God and ask the questions of my heart and listen for the answers to come from on high.

I will Listen

I will Listen

 I know I haven't been here in a while.  I appologize but I am back now for a while.  Blessings to you, Brosteve

Scripture Nehemiah 13 ; Malachi 1 ; Malachi 2 ;

 Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Observation
The greatest power of all is at our fingertips and the tips of our tongues--Prayer.
Application
I suppose the question is: What do we pray for? In my mind this morning, I can see the brokenness of our system (our Church, well God's Church, the Church Universal). So I pray in the brokenness because I am part of it. I don't have the answers or even the words to say to God for the feelings that are in my heart in this ministry I have been called too. Perhaps I must depend upon the Holy Spirit to utter those sounds God needs to hear and then I must be prepared to listen to the answer--whatever it may be and be ready to act upon it (God's answer).
Prayer 
I pray today for God's Church and that God will call us in the direction that will bring glory to God and cause the kingdom to be built in God's will.
Yieldedness 
I will listen for a Word from God.

Repentance

Acts 3:19 (NIV)
¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,




I think I need to take time to repent more often--time to turn toward the God who loves me even when I am unlovable.

There are days in my life when I am unlovable (at least that is how is seems to me).  It is a day when I am depressed and nothing is going the way I had visioned it would be--you've had those days haven't you?  Sure, we all have them.  The question is what do we do about them?  Do we just let it go on and hope that it will pass?  Do we stop and fall on our knees before God and pray for complete healing or at least a better outlook?  How do we handle those unlovable days?

I wish I had the answer to all those questions--but I do not.  I just know that I am a sinner in need of a savior, a redeemer, a friend, a healer, a comforter, a peace maker, a crutch or a prop--the trouble is I have all that in my Lord Jesus through the work of God's Holy Spirit.  I suppose today, this minute, I need to turn and pray that God's love will cover me and through God's grace I will be saved and God will give me the strength to go forward for God's glory.

Where we go when trouble is near

Some folks in my churches and I have been reading through the Bible this year Chronologically.  It is very interesting to do it this way.  Guide Posts, Harvest Home Publishers and Zondervan have printed this Chronological Bible and it is an interesting way of reading the Word of God. Well, having said that, Deb and I print a week's reading in the Bulletin and folk can choose to do it or not.  But I have to say that it is a powerful thing when people read the Bible together...you know the same words at the same time... there is just something wonderful in that togetherness I think.

Anyway, I was reading some of the selected Psalms of David for today's reading and I have to say for a sinner that David had a great relationship with God.  Through his life, no matter how bad he had behaved, he always came to his senses and put himself before God's grace in repentance.  I was thinking about myself and my family and we all know who God is and I think some of us have better relationship with God that others, but it is always  good to hear one of my family say that they have prayed about something or that "it is a God thing"...that is powerful to an old preacher who is trying to proclaim the gospel as best he can in whatever way he can...

I hope someday I will be able to put down my thoughts and prayers as well as David has done.  I think God really smiled down upon David when he opened his fearful moments, his moments of doubt, and his joyful moments to God.  I believe that God is sad with us and that God is glad with us and when we try to do things on our own that God ought to be involved in...I think God gets a little smile on his face and at the same time a tear in his eye and says "come to me and I will give you rest..."

Just saying...
Have a good day, B.S.

The WORD for the day

Jude 1:17-25 (NRSV)
¹⁷ But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
¹⁸ for they said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts."
¹⁹ It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.
²⁰ But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;
²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
²² And have mercy on some who are wavering;
²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.
²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing,
²⁵ to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.




These are words to think and ponder about in the times which we live.  Have good blessed day, steve

Words for Life--Every Day Life

So many times in life (as life changes) there are scrary times.  Times when you can either run away from (or try too) the change or you can face it.  When I say "face it" I don't mean alone but with the help of friends (true friends) and the presence of God's Holy Spirit.  I can run but I cannot hide! 


Scripture: Luke 6:47 (MSG)  These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.

Observation: Jesus speaks words that are the foundation for my life--or atleast should be.
Application: I read the Bible, I see the words that are printed there, but sometimes they don't touch me, or maybe I don't want to be touched. It is hard to determine the answer--it is even harder to be honest about it
Jesus speaks words of life that touch every important aspect of life and if I open my heart to them then my heart will be softened so that my life can absorb the words of life.
The result is I will be transformed into the image of God.
Prayer: Lord, I pray that my heart will be softened and that I can be honest with you and myself, so that I might be changed into what you would have me to be. I pray your will is done in my life, so that I may become like you. Thanks for loving me, Stephen

Yieldedness: I will strive to open my tough skin to the words of life.

"Cast Your Net On the Right side.."

It is the first of the year and planning is just now beginging for the year and the future.  It is a little scary in this economy and with so much unemployment--life has become a challenge.  How do I pay my bills--do I try and keep the car I just bought--how do I make my morgage payments?  These are questions that are being asked by people who never in a million years thought they would be in this situation.  Churches are no different.  Some have eased along even in good times and have operated off of money that had been raised in many different ways.  Giving was at a minimum, but now the fund raisers are not happening like they were because those dedicated people are not there anymore and they did not replace themselves--so the funds are dewindling--so what is to be done.  Well, Jesus said, "Cast your nets on the right side..." (JN 21:6)  This means communication is a must.  People need to know the situation and the why and the wherefores, so they can respond in the right way. 

Communication is a must in these times.

Scripture : Luke 5:5 (MSG)  Simon said, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I'll let out the nets."

Observation: Just had a Church Council meeting at one of the churches I serve. For the last 3 years or so they have not met their budget except by dipping into a savings account. But no one wants to talk about it, what I see though is the funds will run out some day--Then What?
Application: Jesus said to Peter (Jn 21:5-6) to go out again and cast his nets on the right side of the boat. Peter being experienced fisherman said, "if you say so."
I suppose what I am saying is that if people have the information they need to make informed decisions then they will will make good decisions. Rick Warren recently put some infomaton about a short fall in the church's budget and overwhelming amount of money came in to cover it. If people know they will respond.
Jesus said, "cast your net on the right side..." I think if we go about communicating in the right way--the church will respond.
I myself see a need to respond in my giving by an increase of 10% and that is my goal this year.
Prayer: I pray that God's Holy Spirit leads me and the churches I serve to cast our nets on the right side, so the harvest will be great in all areas. Love Stephen
Yieldedness: I will do my best to increase my giving in all areas, not just finances

I wonder!

Made your News Years resolutions by now I am sure, I am glad they are not promises--but maybe they should be promises.  Maybe they should be promises or goals that are set, not high, but reachable--Change comes hard for all of us, gradual change is much easier than radical change.  Oh by the way, if you happen to not live up to your New Year's resolutions don't forget grace and forgiveness.  God's grace is sufficent and if God can forgive you, surely, you can forgive yourself and start brand new.   HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Scripture: Luke 2:50 (MSG) 50 But they had no idea what he was talking about.
Observation: So many times I look out over the sanutary at heads bobbing up and down seemingly in agreement, looking as though the message is being understood and I wonder.
Application: Here is the Mother of God and Joseph who are disturbed by the his (Jesus') behavior. Jesus seemly not concerned for the peace and well-being of his earthly parents. He is doing his Father's work--but they don't understand--I again wonder.
The angels have come to Mary and Joseph and announced of this special person they would raise and give the name Jesus, Emmanuel (God with us), but here they don't understand and I wonder.

Maybe while in the sanctuary, with the symbols, the hymns, the prayers, the elements--maybe there is an understanding in that place but away from that place and that moment thoughts and actions sometimes change, I wonder.

Prayer: I pray this year that the moments shared in the sanctuary will be carried to the outside and lived in life. Thank you Lord for saving me, Stephen
Yieldedness: I will seek this year a better understanding than my own, so that I may know what he (Jesus) is talking about.