Developing Resources to help you glorify God and enjoy Him forever

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.”

My pastor preached a great sermon yesterday on Ephesians 4:1-6. (Wait, I thought you were the pastor?  I am a pastor, actually I am “the Assistant to the Pastor until Feb 28th when I get officially ordained, then I will be the Assistant Pastor.  So since I am the second guy I only preach about once every 7 weeks or so).  Anyway, at one point during his sermon he started talking about the unified hope that believers have in Christ and in His promises.  I started thinking about hope and what makes our hope, as believers, different than other people’s hope, so for instance like hope that Obama will change our country for the better (which I am highly skeptical about, since one of his first acts as President was to repeal a funding ban on abortions, so right now, thanks to Obama, more and more babies are being killed).

So how is our hope as Christians different than other people’s hope?  Our hope is a Biblical hope.  Hope is the certainty of belief in something we cannot see and has not happened yet.  But where does the certainty come from?  The Christian’s certainty of hope comes from the Bible which displays the integrity and character of God.  Therefore, our hope is based on God’s character.  When God promises to do something He delivers.  History has shown it through the prophets.  If you are interested just read Psalm 22, written by King David about a thousand years before Christ was crucified, then go and read one of the gospel accounts of the crucifixion, like Matthew 27.  Look at how many prophesies are fulfilled just between these two passages alone.  God fulfilled His promise to redeem His people from their sins through the death of Christ.  And there are hundreds of other prophesies and promises throughout the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament.

Think about it this way…God does not live within the limits of time because He is an eternal Spirit.  We are limited by time and therefore cannot see what will happen in the future.  So our hope in human beings is extremely flawed.  It’s like saying I hope I win the lottery.  There is such a miniscule chance that it will actually happen.  But with God, our hope is secure.  Look at what Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man that He should lie, or the son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?”  God does what He says He will do.  And this is not just because God can see into the future, He is already in the future.  Remember, He is not bound by time. But God providentially causes things to happen according to His plan.  He does not react to human situations, He already knows what will happen, God is never surprised.  God has made us certain promises in the Bible and He will providentially deliver those promises, He has a proven track record, so far He’s been 100% in fulfilling what He says He will do.  We can be certain that our hope is not in vain.

My wife is reading a book called Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers. It is a fictional book based on the historical Biblical Minor Prophet Hosea. It’s a gut wrenching story of love, prostitution and redemption. In the Bible, God tells Hosea to marry the prostitute Gomer. God’s purpose is to show Israel that they are His Bride but have prostituted themselves with the idols of other nations. Hosea reveals how the people have degraded themselves with sin and idolotry against a pure and holy God. Even after Hosea marries Gomer, she continues to go back to her way of life as a prostitute. In the fictional book, Redeeming Love, the wife continues to go back to her life of prostitution as well. She does not know any other lifestyle, she feels like this is just how she was made and that this is just how life is going to be. She also feels dirty and unworthy when she is around her husband who loves her deeply and keeps accepting her back.
What a perfect picture of how we, even as believers can act towards God. We have been redeemed by Christ. Christ has brought us out of our degraded life of idolotry and rebelliousness and into a right relationship with God. However, we often go back to some of our old ways, giving in to old desires and worshiping our old worthless idols of materialism, lust and self-satifaction. The Good News is that God relentlessly pursues us. He will never let us wander too far off. His hand is ever upon us even when we sin. What we need to “do” is to “believe” in who we really are because of what Jesus has “done” for us. You see Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins. We believe in faith that Jesus died for us and God imputes the righteousness of Christ upon us. That big word imputes means that Christ has washed us clean from all of our sin; past, present and future. Then God takes the righteousness of Christ and clothes us with it, like giving us new permanent clothes that are holy and pure. Even though, we, like Gomer, do not always see ourselves as worthy of anyone’s love. But because of what Jesus has done on the cross we can see ourselves as holy and pure, as one who has been completely redeemed. We do not have to go back to our old ways, old habits, or old loves. We have to trust and believe that God has made us new people.
While the story of Hosea seems like a strange love story, it is actually a beautiful love story of an awesome God who relentlessly pursues His people with an infinite love He has showered us with in His Son Jesus Christ.
I hope that today you will believe that God loves you unconditionally, that He continues to be faithful in the midst of our faithlessness and that He will never, ever give up on you.
Happy Valentines Day!
Fletch

When you read through Exodus you cannot miss the point that God is in control.  If you believe like I do that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and written by him using human authors and actual  historcal events you see that God is constantly orchestrating history.  The Israelites needed to get out of Egypt.  Pharoh had used them as slaves for too long and it was time to leave.  As you read through the story in Exodus it is quite suspenseful to see how they get out.  And when you get to Exodus 14 God makes it clear that the string of events is not random nor did they happen by fate.  The events happened according to God’s plan and for His glory.

ESV Exodus 14:17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.

ESV Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.

ESV Exodus 14:14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

God is jealous for His own glory.  He is the conductor of this meticulously orchestrated concert in history.  While we as humans may not fully understand why God does all that He does we still have to believe and trust in His holiness and righteousness to carry out His will.  We also have to understand that God sees everything all at once while we only get a glimpse of what is really going on.

Our current economic and historical situation is looking quite bleak.  Banks are collapsing, retail stores are going bankrupt and people are losing their jobs everyday.  While we understand that our situation is due mainly to man’s greed and pursuit of power we still have to believe that God is in control of the situation.  Our perspective is limited to what we can see and understand but God’s perspective is unlimited.  God led the Israelites into an impossible situation.  While they were fleeing the Egyptians God led them to the Red Sea.  God could have led them into the wilderness where there was at least some space to run.  But instead God led the Israelites to a spot where they could not flee.  The Egyptian army was breathing down their necks while the Red Sea stopped them in their tracks.  They faced an impossible situation. There was nothing that they could do for themselves. But that is exactly where God wanted them to be because He wanted to display His power and He wanted to get the glory.  You know the rest of the story, God parts the Red Sea, the Israelites cross on dry ground, the Egyptians pursue but once they try to cross the Red Sea God closes the waters and they all drowned.  The Israelites are saved and the Egyptian army is destroyed.  No human could have planned it out this way, but God did and He gets all the glory.

No human can figure out what the future will hold for our economy, our country, our families or for us individually.  But those who have trusted in Christ as their Redeemer can continue to trust in Him to redeem us from any situation or circumstance we face.  Our hope is in Christ.  When we begin to put forth our own notions of how things should be or how they should turn out we are setting ourselves above God and putting hope within ourselves.  All for our own glory and this is a big mistake.

So as we watch and live in this chaotic world, let’s not forget that God is in control, that He is sovereign, that His providence will prevail.  And let’s not forget to give Him all the glory for all that He does.

Is it better to live here on earth or is it better to be in heaven with Jesus?  To live here on earth means that we experience pain, suffering, difficulty and sorrow.  We have to live in a wretched world full of sin and misery.  Disease, sickness, depression, hatred and selfishness characterize our daily lives.  But in heaven none of this exists.  There is no sorrow, pain or sin.  Heaven is a holy place.  So is there really a question as to which is better?  Of course we will be better off in heaven.  Then the question follows…why don’t we just go to heaven once we become a Christian and skip the pain and misery of living here on earth?

The answer comes from the Scriptures;

²¹ “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” Philippians 1:21-26

Paul says that it is better to be with Christ but to remain here on earth means fruit labor.  He says “it is necessary on your account.”  Don’t miss this.  For Paul, it is better to be in heaven with Christ.  But Paul is not looking at his life according to what is best for him.  Paul is looking at life from the perspective of what God thinks is best.  God wants Paul here on the earth for the progress and joy of the Philippians.  So Paul’s life here on earth has nothing to do with himself, at least not directly.  Paul’s life is to be lived for others for the glory of God. 

The problem is that most of us go through life living for ourselves.  So we live life exactly the opposite of how God wants us to live it.  We must understand the Biblical concept of not living life for ourselves but for God and for others.  Jesus makes this clear when He is asked what is the first and greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34-40.  Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.  Neither commandment says that we should live for ourselves.  There should be no confusion.  Except that our sinful nature constantly and consistently puts ourselves at the heart and center of everything.

Somehow we have to lose sight of ourselves and get caught up in loving God and loving others.  Joel Osteen has a bestseller called “Your Best Life Now”.  Where’s the focus? It’s on YOU.  I think a title of a more Biblical book would be called, “Life is not about you!”  It probably wouldn’t be a bestseller.  But it would be glorifying to God, whereas Olsteen’s book is a stench to God.