Developing Resources to help you glorify God and enjoy Him forever

Fight for Joy. I love that phrase.  It is not original with me, it comes from my friend John Piper.  But I love it because it characterizes every day for me.  Each day I get up and face a day that has tremendous challenges.  Challenges to fight for a strong and healthy marriage, challenges to fight to raise godly kids, challenges to fight temptation and lust, challenges to fight disappointment, challenges to fight suffering, challenges to lead people to a greater understanding of God’s grace.  These challenges can seem overwhelming at times but that is why we have to fight.

I use three main weapons to fight for joy.  The first is God’s Word.  The Bible brings me the true truth about life, God, who I am and how I am supposed to live.  The Bible tells me the unbelievable story of God’s relentless pursuit of me and His unconditional grace He floods my life with everyday through Jesus.  Thanks to my old Young Life leader, Casey Dunn, I memorized Psalm 119:9,11 in high school and I still remember it today.

“How can a young man keep his way pure?…I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” 

Hiding God’s Word in my heart enables me to fight for joy and to believe that the promises of  God are far better than the promises of the world.

The second weapon I use to fight for joy is prayer.  I am terrible at prayer.  I can’t sit still for more than 35 seconds.  Prayer is hard work but it pays great dividends.  I try and pray throughout my day, attempting to constantly keep the Lord on my mind.  Asking the Holy Spirit to fight for me when I am tempted or frustrated or feeling down.  Sometimes I put these two weapons together and pray through a passage of Scripture.

The third weapon I fight for joy with is friendships.  I have a couple of guys that I can share absolutely anything with.  I can call them day or night, ask them for help, advice or prayer. They have always been there for me.  If I am feeling like a complete failure then I know I can call one of them to help me work through it.

So, my challenge to you is simple, grab your Bible, speak directly to God and make sure you have some buddies that will fight this battle with you.  The battle is of utmost importance, it has eternal consequences.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

The gospel changes us to live missionally.  The gospel tells us that we have a mission and purpose in life.  That mission and purpose is to make disciples of all nations (see Matt. 28:19-20).  God is sending us to be missionaries in our own community and culture.

^ESV 2 Corinthians 3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. ³ And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

God has put the gospel of grace into our hearts and we are to live “sent lives.”  Jesus says in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” So, we are being sent, like letters, by Jesus, to the world around us.  We avoid an “us” vs. “them” mentality, we embrace public life and work, we live authentic lives, and we tell the gospel story in the language of the culture. We believe we are a part of God’s mission to redeem the world back to Himself.  There is no greater mission or purpose in life, therefore it affects the very core of our being.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

There are two types of people; those who have surrendered their life to Christ and those who are still putting up a fight.  Some people think that those who surrender in battle are cowards.  I don’t think this is always true. Surrendering in battle actually takes courage.  When you surrender you are placing your life in the hands of your enemies.  You are hoping they will treat you fairly and with dignity and that one day when the war is over, you will be set free.  Cowards are the ones who run from the battle and hide. 

The thing about this war with God is that we can’t win.  There is absolutely no hope to beat God.  He is just too powerful, too just, and too loving.  So I am encouraging everyone who is still fighting against God to surrender.   It will take courage, especially since you have no idea how God is going to treat you and whether or not you will ever be set free from His captivity.  But let me assure you…God will treat you with dignity, He will love you unconditionally, He will show you mercy and He will set you free.  Freedom with God is different than what most of the world thinks though.  Freedom with God is when He sets us free to be who He originally created us to be.  You see, for those who are still battling against God, putting up a good fight, you are actually enslaved.  You are enslaved to a lifestyle that focuses on yourself, which is actually pretty pathetic.  Why would anyone want to settle for something so little when you could have so much?  Why settle for a purpose in life that centers around a creature who is so limited?  We were created to live in relationship with the eternal God.  We were created in His image and our purpose is to worship Him and glorify Him in all we do, say and think.  I know this sounds absolutely crazy for those who are battling against Him, but just think about it.  God created us to live in this awesome relationship.  He gave us the entire world to have dominion over and to rule.  He said that He would walk through life with us, every step of the way.  But we have chosen to rebel against God, run away from Him and then try to rule the world without Him? What is that all about?  Why would we give up so much to attain so little?  It doesn’t make sense.  What does make sense is when we realize what we have done, how stupid and self-centered it is and then return to God.  God uses this word called “repent”.  This just means that God wants us to turn away from our old way of living, our old way of thinking and turn back towards Him.  Only when we come back to God will anything in life begin to make sense or have meaning and purpose.

But how in the world is this possible?  If God is really just then it would go against His perfect and holy character to let me, His enemy, go free without punishment?  God has made it possible by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to take your penalty upon Himself.  Jesus lived a perfect life, perfectly fulfilling every law that God demanded.  God sent Jesus to die for you, in your place.  So God really is just and His justice was taken out on His own Son, Jesus.  So surrendering to God means believing that Jesus died for your sins and giving your heart over to Him.

So, you may be a coward and run away from God, you may have the gall to stand and fight God or you may have the courage to surrender to God through Jesus.  But ultimately, God is going to win the battle, whether you like it or not and whether you believe it or not.  So my suggestion is to surrender to God.  Believe that Jesus died for you, that He rose from the grave and now sits at God’s right hand.  Believe that He will send His Holy Spirit to come and live in your heart, to walk through every moment of life with you.  Come back to God and let Him take you captive.  It is His great desire to have you back, to show you mercy and grace, to love you unconditionally.  Surrendering to God has no regrets.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

On Tuesday night at 1:30am my next door neighbor was robbed at gunpoint.  They stole some of her jewelry and her cell phone and of course scared the daylights out of her.  This is obviously quite disturbing.  We live in a very nice, quiet and (usually) safe neighborhood.  But this happened next door!  Literally 25 feet from where I was sleeping.  You can’t ignore it now that it has happened.  So the big question is, what do we do now?

First, I am thanking God that my neighbor was not physically injured, although the emotional scar will be there for some time and I am praying that God will heal that. Secondly, we will be more vigilant about keeping our lights on at night, our doors locked and try to be as aware as possible of our surroundings.

But am I really surprised that this happened?  Yes and no.  Yes I am surprised because these things don’t normally happen in our neighborhood.  There has always been the occasional car break in or vandalism but I have never heard of someone being robbed at gunpoint.  I am not surprised though that people have the will and desire to rob other people.  It is in our nature to do whatever we want regardless of the consequences and regardless of anyone else.  We live in a culture that believes in “the survival of the fittest.”  It only makes sense that if someone wants something someone else has then they will just take it.  Originally, we were created by God, to live in a relationship with Him.  But, we rebelled, we decided that we wanted to live life the way we wanted to and said,  ”The heck with God, I’m going to live life the way I want to.”  The problem is that living this way has created a pretty chaotic world.  One in which people lie to one another, cheat on their taxes, start wars, say mean things to each other, think evil thoughts, and even rob each other at gunpoint.

The real answer to all of life’s problems is to return back to God.  Because God created life and He’s the one who designed it, then He is going to be the one who knows best how to live it.  God has this intense desire for us to enter back into this awesome relationship He originally created us to live in.  Some of you have done this already and you understand what I am saying. Some of you are not exactly sure who this “God” is or what it means “to have a relationship with Him.”  My suggestion is for you to pursue God and get to know Him a little better.  But how?  There are two main ways: First, read what God says about Himself in the Bible.  God has chosen to make Himself known in the Bible.  Actually, God has made Himself known through His Son, Jesus Christ.  The Bible says that Jesus is the exact representation of who God is.  God chose to communicate to us in the flesh, through a human, Jesus, who was both God and man.  So I encourage you to dust off your Bible and check Him out.

The second way to know God is to talk to people who really know Him.  I have a personal, intimate relationship with God.  I know Him.  I have read the truths about God in the Bible and then have experienced those truths in real life.  I know about God’s unconditional love, His mercy and compassion, His justice.  I know that He is with me all the time.  I am available to talk to anyone who wants to know more (Plus I have this blog where you can get more information and resources to understand God more. Tomorrow you can read about Cowards vs. Courageous people).

And I am not the only one, there are others who have this same relationship with God through Jesus.  So I encourage you to talk to them, get to know them, ask them questions about who God is.

The best is yet to come,

Fletch

I’m a rule follower.  I know it’s kind of silly but I like rules.  Rules help me know when I am staying within the bounds of what I’m supposed to do.  I somehow find comfort in knowing that I am being responsible if I follow the rules.  (Jay walking is dangerous.  I saw a kid yesterday barely escape getting run over by a car because he was jay walking.) But sometimes when I think I’m being responsible, I’m actually being prideful.  I take pride in following the rules.  This is a problem when it comes to our spirituality and our relationship with God.  We can follow God’s rules, well, at least most of the time.  And we can become prideful about it too.  We can become so prideful that we believe that God loves us based on our rule following and that He is either happy or disappointed with us when we follow or break the rules.  But that is exactly not the way God relates and acts towards us. 

Listen to what John Piper says in his book, Fifty Reasons why Jesus came to Die:

“This is why the Bible says that the new way of obedience is fruit-bearing, not law-keeping. ‘You have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God’ (Romans 7:4). We have died to law-keeping so that we might live to fruit-bearing.  Fruit grows naturally on a tree.  If the tree is good, the fruit will be good. And the tree, in this case, is a living relationship of love to Jesus Christ. For this he died. Now he bids us come: ‘Trust me.’ Die to the law, that you might bear the fruit of love.”

I am praying that I will be fruit-bearing today and not just a rule follower (law keeper).  I don’t need to earn God’s love, Jesus already did that.  I need to bear fruit of who I am on the inside. May you think and ponder deeply that one of the reasons Jesus died was so that you do not have to keep the law perfectly but so that you will bear fruit for God, for His glory.  I think your relationship with God through Jesus will be much more joyful if you do.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

From guest Blogger, Paul David Tripp

The following was taken without permission from Tripp’s book, Whiter than Snow; Meditations on Sin and Mercy.  I highly recommend this to purchase.  My wife Julie has been reading this book in her devotional time and thought it would interest me.  It obviously did and so I am passing it on to you.

“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.”  Psalm 51:13

   Do you know that God has called you to be a teacher? You say, “Come on, Paul, you’ve got to be kidding! I’ve never been to a seminary. I freeze up whenever I have to say something in front of a crowd. I don’t feel that I’m as biblically literate as I should be. I don’t think God really intends me to be one of his instructors.”

   Let me explain what I’m talking about. It’s true that God sets apart a certain people for formal teaching ministry in the church. He gives them the gifts and grace necessary to do the thing he’s called them to do. But the formal ministry of the Word in the body of Christ is only one aspect of the church’s teaching ministry. Paul says, in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.” It’s clear here that he’s talking about the myriad of everyday-life ministry opportunities that God will give every one of his children.  According to Paul, you have been called to teach. And if you want to understand what that means, you need to understand that there’s no real separation between life and ministry. Rather, the Bible teaches that every dimension of human life is, at the very same time, a forum for ministry.

   This is where David comes in. He says, in Psalm 51, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways.” David is reminding us that what qualifies us to teach in the personal ministry context of daily life is the grace that we have received in our own moments of need.  This teaching isn’t about laying out a comprehensive theology of grace. Most of us wouldn’t be qualified to do that. No, what it’s actually about is realizing that my story of God having rescued me by his grace is a tool that God intends to use in the lives of others. As I teach others, by being willing to share my own story, I am actually being a tool of transforming grace in their lives. In this kind of one-on-one, informal ministry, I’m not teaching the person about grace.  No, I’m sharing my experience of grace. People learn, not because I’ve opened the dictionary of grace, but because I’ve shown them the video of grace in operation.

   So, are you a good steward of your story of grace? Have you thought about how to tell your story in a way that puts God and his grace in center stage? Have you looked around and considered who’s living with or near you who could benefit from your story of grace? Where have you tended not to let your gratitude shine as brightly as it should? Where have you been unwilling to talk honestly about how much you were (and continue to be) a person in need of rescue?

   So, it’s true; you have been called to teach.  Maybe not as a pastor, small group leader, Sunday School teacher, or foreign missionary. But you have been called to a daily life of gospel transparency, where you’re ready, willing and waiting to share your gratitude for the grace you’ve been given someone who needs it just as much as you.

All for Jesus,

Fletch

Some people say, “I want to have more of a servant’s heart…”
Then bathe yourself in the gospel – understand it, read it, memorize it, read books about it, listen to messages about it, and mostly go deeper in your relationship with Jesus, who is the gospel.
Open your eyes to see how much God has given you grace and mercy and how He serves you. This will encourage you and motivate you to serve others, not for your own personal gain, but for God’s glory.

The gospel of grace is central to all of life.  Everything we do, say and think about will be impacted by the gospel.  The gospel is simply the good news that God sent his son Jesus to save us from our sins.  We were created to live in relationship with God but we chose to turn our backs on God and live life the way we wanted to live.  This rebellion broke our relationship with God and left us to face the wages and consequences of our own sin, which is death.  But God, who is rich in mercy and grace, did not leave us to ourselves.  God sent Jesus to come and die, paying the penalty for our sins, past, present and future.  Through faith in Jesus we can have a restored relationship with the God of the universe.  This renewed relationship will last forever and cannot be broken. 

The Bible says that we are “new creations” and that we who live might no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us.  God’s Spirit comes and makes his home in our hearts.  The Holy Spirit will work in and through us to glorify God in all we do.  Every day should be one in which we live in the gospel of grace.  This grace infects us and causes all our interactions with others and with ourselves to glorify God.  You will have people that irritate you, dislike you, disobey you, make fun of you and you will love them with the grace that God has given you.  You will have financial stress, your computer will stop working, you will miss an appointment and you will work through these issues with the grace that God has given you.  You will enjoy a date with your wife, you will accomplish something great at work, you will find joy in smelling the fresh spring air and you will thank God for his abundant grace in your life.  The gospel of grace is central to all of life.  It permeates our thoughts, our actions and our words.  As we walk through today and the day after that and the day after that, let us never forget to bathe ourselves in God’s grace.  May you be completely overwhelmed just by meditating on this infinite grace.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through GRACE, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (II Thess.2:16-17)

Have you ever wondered what Lent is? Or Ash Wednesday or why some people deny themselves of certain things for 40 days before Easter? Lent is the season of 40 days leading up to the celebration of the passion and the resurrection of Christ.  

“The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom to prepare for them by a season of penitence¹ and fasting…The whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.  The congregation is invited to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.   And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, they are encouraged to kneel before the Lord, their maker and Redeemer” (adapted from the Book of Common Prayer).

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.  Some churches will have a special service where the minister will place some “ash” on the forehead of the believer to signify our mortality and penitence and to remember that it is only by the gracious gift of God that we are given everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Savior.

While our church will not have a special service on Ash Wednesday I would like to encourage you to take the next 40 days to meditate on the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection.  As believers in Christ, we know and believe that without Christ’s death and resurrection there is no forgiveness of sins.  Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection were pinnacle events in human history and salvation.

^ESV Colossians 1:13-14 ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

^ESV Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Take some time the next 40 days to:

• Spend time in self-examination; confessing your sins and your need for Christ.
• Repent of your sins, turning away from them and toward Christ.
• Spend special time in prayer and devotion to Christ; read the Lenten devotional each day (attached).
• Deny yourself of something or make a special commitment these 40 days to remind you daily of your commitment to Christ and to remember His sacrifice for you. (Our family has committed to spending 15 minutes a day in devotions.  Some cried that they did not have time, but that is the point, we have to give up something else we like to do, i.e. computer, games, internet, etc. to find time for devotion). Remember, we do not deny ourselves something in order to gain favor with God, this is not a work that is “added” to Christ’s work on the cross, this is simply a special time to meditate on Christ’s all satisfying, all sufficient death and to worship Him for His sacrifice.

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.( from the Book of Common Prayer).

^{1penitent simply means deep remorse and sorrow for sin; repentant.}

  Lenten Devotional Readings 2009

ESV Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

No promise is of private interpretation. Whatever God has said to any one saint, He has said to all.  When He opens a well for one, it is that all may drink. When He opens a granary-door to give out food, there may be one starving man whose reason its being opened, but all hungry saints may come and feed too.  Whether He gave the Word to Abraham or Moses, matters not.  He has given it to you as one of the covenanted seed. There is not a brook of living water of which you may not drink. If the land flows with milk and honey, eat the honey and drink the milk, for both are yours.  Be bold and believe, for He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  In this promise God gives everything to His people. Then no attribute of God can cease to be engaged for us. He will show himself strong on behalf of them that trust Him.  With lovingkindness He will have mercy on us. To summarize, there is nothing you can want, ask for or need in time or eternity, which is not contained in this text, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”