Happy 15th Birthday, Katie!

Numbers 6:24-26

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Today is a special day for our family.  Today we celebrate you, Katie!  Happy 15th Birthday! You have been such a blessing to us...mom, dad, brothers, and sister.  Mom and I remember the day you were born.  Marty missed her first day of school with her class, but she has said over and over that it was so worth it!  You make our hearts and faces smile so much.  You are so much like me...with your crazy faces and prankster spirit and loud laughter:)  We hope you have a great day, and we hope you know how much we love you and thank God for you!  The prayer of blessing in Numbers 6:24-26 is the prayer we pray over you today: May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.  May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.  Amen!

Happy 27th Anniversary, Marty!

Ephesians 5:22-25

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Wow!  God is so, so good!  Marty, I thank God for you!  I thank God for the 27 years of marriage we have had together.  It's crazy to look back at pictures of when we were in high school and when we first met.  For me, it was love at first sight!  It may have taken you a little longer:)  We were just two kids crazy about each other.  In many ways, we still are just two kids crazy about each other.  God has been with us every step of the way, and He has blessed us with an incredible family!  I love you, and I thank you for loving me.  I thank God for His Word and teaching us how to love.  I look forward to spending eternity with you, thanks be to Jesus who loved us first and showed us how to love unconditionally.  But for here and now, Happy 27th Anniversary!!!

He Made Us Alive!

Ephesians 2:4-5

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.

So many people actually believe they can work their way into heaven or work their way into God's blessings.  The Bible actually tells us something different.  We cannot work our way into heaven or work our way into God's blessings.  We are sinners (Romans 3:23).  The punishment for our sin is death (Romans 6:23).  At our very best we are still unclean, and our very best efforts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  However, we see in Ephesians 2:4-5 that God loves us; God is rich in mercy.  In His great love for us and through His mercy and grace, HE MADE US ALIVE!  Yes, we deserve death...BUT GOD!  In Romans 5:8, Paul declares, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Jesus lived a perfect life for us.  Jesus went to the cross and died sacrificially for us.  Jesus rose from the grave for us.  God, through His Son, did what no one or nothing else can do for us: HE MADE US ALIVE!  I pray that we never get over this truth!  We can't earn our way into heaven.  We can't earn our way towards God's blessings.  And we don't have to!  God loves us just as we are...sinners...unclean...filthy rags and all.  When we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus to save us, God cleanses us and washes us whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7).  And Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us that because of God's great love for us and because of His rich mercy, God makes us come alive!  We are no longer dead men and women walking in the condemnation of our sins.  We are free men and women!  We are regenerate men and women!  We are alive!  This is not by our hands; it is by the hand of God.  That is why Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 2:8-10, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  I pray that we hear the Word of God and believe it and receive it today.  I pray that our good works are a RESULT of what God has done for us and to us and not an EFFORT to go somewhere or to gain something that is not possible from our own hands.  

Father, thank You for Your hands...Your hands that do what only You can do...Your hands that provide what only You can provide.  Father, thank You for Your great love for us...for Your rich mercy.  Father, thank You for making us alive with Christ.  Amen.

He Saved Us!

Titus 3:5-6

5 HE SAVED US, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  HE SAVED US through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.

In John 3, we find one of the most profound gospel conversations ever recorded.  Jesus has a gospel conversation with Nicodemus.  Nicodemus was a Pharisee.  He was a well-educated and much-esteemed Pharisee.  As a matter of fact, he was a member of the ruling class of Pharisees, knows as the Sanhedrin.  In John 2, Jesus performed one of His first miracles when He changed the water into wine at a wedding in Cana.  In John 2, Jesus also made His way to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God, but He found a troubling scene.  Instead of reverent worship for God, Jesus saw the people performing everyday business transactions.  With righteous anger, Jesus called out the people.  He cleared the temple courts, scattered the coins of the money changers, and overturned their tables.  Yes, Jesus was God's glory revealed, and the people took notice, especially the religious zealots and leaders.  Nicodemus was one such leader.  Nicodemus went to Jesus at night, perhaps using the cloak of darkness to keep his Pharisee and Sanhedrin brothers from knowing that he was intrigued by Jesus' words and life.  Nicodemus says to Jesus in John 3:2, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come FROM God.  For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not WITH him."  Nicodemus exposes a painful reality.  He did not see the truth about Jesus.  He thought Jesus was "A" teacher, not "THE" Teacher.  He thought Jesus was "FROM" God and that God was "WITH" Him.  However, Jesus IS God.  Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "Very truly I tell you, no one can seek the kingdom of God unless they are born again."  Jesus didn't waste His time with Nicodemus.  He didn't casually converse with him.  He knew Nicodemus.  He knew what Nicodemus was looking for in his heart.  He wanted truth.  The term "born again" was confusing for Nicodemus.  He could only see things with a physical perspective, but Jesus was showing him something from a spiritual perspective.  In the Greek, the word "another" is our word for "again," which means "from above."  Jesus told Nicodemus the only way to see the kingdom of God is to be born again, or to be born from above.  Nicodemus was passionate about the Law; his goal was to know the Law and keep the Law.  Up to his point, Nicodemus believed that by knowing and keeping the Law he could be right with God, he could see the kingdom of God.  Jesus shares the gospel truth with Nicodemus, and He shares the gospel truth with us.  Nicodemus could not save himself.  We cannot save ourselves.  Nicodemus needed the grace of God found in Jesus Christ.  We need the grace of God found in Jesus Christ.  Nicodemus' best efforts, his education, and his position could not help him with God.   Our best efforts, our education, and our position will not help us with God.  We all need Jesus.  We need regeneration.  Regeneration means that God alone awakens us spiritually through the power of His Spirit.  Regeneration means that God is the provider and we are the recipients.

If you want to be right with God, then you have start with and acknowledge two truths: 1. You are sinner in need of a Savior.  2. Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.  As the Spirit of God stirs your heart and mind, you will begin to understand the spiritual truths of God's Word.  He will open your heart and mind, and you see that there is nothing you can do to earn or to deserve God's grace and mercy.  You will begin to understand that Jesus lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, and rose from the grave to defeat sin and death for you.  You will begin to understand that Jesus is not just "A" teacher; He is "THE" Teacher!  You will begin to understand that Jesus is not just "FROM" God and that God is not just "WITH" Jesus; Jesus IS God!  When you repent of your sin and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, you are born again; you experience regeneration...something only God can do through His grace found in Jesus Christ.  That is why Paul said it in his letter to Titus this way in Titus 3:5-6, "HE SAVED US, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  HE SAVED US through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior."  What an incredible truth!  What an incredible blessing!  God did for us what only He could do!  HE SAVED US!  Rest in this truth and this blessing today, and thank God for Jesus, our Savior!