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!

Love, Do Good, Bless, Pray...

Luke 6:27-28

27 But to you who are listening I say: LOVE your enemies, DO GOOD to those who hate you, 28 BLESS those who curse you, PRAY for those who mistreat you.

One of the most difficult passages to read, to embrace, and to put into practice is found in Luke 6.  It is actually a quite simple passage of Scripture; it is actually easy to understand.  However, the difficulty comes in embracing it and in doing it.  Let me be clear from the very beginning.  The Bible tells us in Romans 3 that we are all sinners, that none of us seek God, that none of us seek to do good in and of ourselves.  Romans 3 tells us that our "throats are open graves" and that our "tongues practice deceit."  We need to know exactly who we are because of our sin, and we need to know the devastation of our sin because of the separation from God our sin has caused.  We also need to know that God loves us, and God has done something about sinful condition and sinful circumstances.  Romans 5 tells us all about God's great love, that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Did we deserve that?  Did we earn that?  Absolutely not!  It is God's grace poured out and given to us, and that is it.  Now, let's get back to Luke 6.

In Luke 6:12, the Bible tells us that Jesus went to the mountainside to pray and that He actually spent the entire night there on the mountainside praying to God the Father.  I believe He was praying about the message He was going to deliver the next day.  I believe He was praying for His disciples and for anyone and everyone who would hear the message He was going to preach.  That message would be a message that many, if not all of them, probably had never really heard before and a message that probably went against the grain of their culture and their society and their human nature.  Jesus said to them in Luke 6:27-28, "But to you who are listening I say: LOVE your enemies, DO GOOD to those who hate you, BLESS those who curse you, PRAY for those who mistreat you."  Again, these words are not difficult to understand.  The difficulty comes in application.  When someone comes against you and comes against your principals and your values, it is easy to call them an enemy.  Our human nature, our sinful nature, leads us to fight the enemy, to push back against the enemy, and/or to hurt the enemy.  As Christ followers, we are called to live differently.  Actually, we are called to love differently.  Jesus clearly shows us and tells us the right way to live with our enemies.  We are to LOVE them, DO GOOD to them, BLESS them, and PRAY for them.  Jesus actually continue this conversation with His disciples and with all those who came to see Him and to hear Him that day.  In verses 29 and 30, Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek when we are slapped.  He tells us that if someone takes our coat then give them our shirt, as well.  He tells us that is someone takes something from us not to demand it back.  And in Luke 6:31, Jesus says, "Do to others as you would have them do to you."  

If you turn on the television or if you turn on your computers, I wonder how much you see of this passage of Scripture being embraced and lived out today?  And I am not talking about non-believers; I am talking about professing Christ followers.  I am talking about me and my faith family!  I am talking about leaders in whom we trust and in whom we support and in whom we follow!  I wonder today do we even care about our sanctification?  When we repent of our sin and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Bible tells us that we are changed in an instant and that we are baptized with the Holy Spirit of God.  From that moment forward, we are being sanctified, which means we should become more and more like Jesus in the way that we talk and in the way that we walk.  I don't believe we have a LISTENING problem; I believe we have an OBEYING problem.  Jesus' words are absolutely clear, not only in this passage found in Luke 6, but in every passage of the Bible.  He clearly tells us what is right and what is wrong.  We either embrace it, or we reject it.  Our world is broken because of sin.  Our world is suffering because of sin.  God has given us His amazing grace and love in the form of Jesus.  God has rescued us and redeemed us as Christ followers, and God has given us the ability to be vessels of His grace and love to a world that desperately needs it.  However, if we pick and choose which words and passages to embrace and reject others, are we really being the vessels God created and enable us to be?  As Christ followers, we are called to LOVE, DO GOOD, BLESS, and PRAY...for one another, yes, but for anyone and everyone else, as well, including our enemies.  Jesus goes on in Luke 6 with more powerful words.  He says in verses 32-36, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners do that.  And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to repaid in full.  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."  In verses 37-49, Jesus goes on to discuss judging others, bearing good fruit, and building wisely.

I don't know about you, but when I look around I don't see much mercy, much love or good or blessing or praying.  I don't see much obedience when it comes to this passage of Scripture.  And let me be clear, I am looking in the mirror first.  I am looking at me first.  It begins with me!  I don't have a hard time reading God's Word or listening to the words of Jesus; I have a hard time obeying, especially when it comes to my enemies.  However, as a Christ follower, if I am truly humble before God and if I have truly surrendered my life to God, then I will repent of my sin daily and obediently walk before Him.  Am I perfect?  No.  But His command found in Matthew 5:48 is one again simple: "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."  As a Christ follower, I strive each day to walk as Jesus walked, which means I want to live as He lived and love as He loved.  I have to choose this daily.  I know it is easy for me to look past myself and see others - Christ followers, leaders, friends, strangers, and even unbelievers - and wonder why they choose to be so angry, so hateful, so wicked, but God has a word for that, too.  I can't talk about the "speck of sawdust" in someone else's eye and pay no attention to the "plank in my own eye."  Like I said, Jesus was talking to me in this passage; Jesus was commanding me to live and to love differently than the world.  It begins with me!

Father, thank You for loving me.  Thank You for rescuing and redeeming me.  Father, forgive me.  I am a sinner, and I need Your power in my life.  Thank You for baptizing me with the Holy Spirit, for empowering and enabling me to live for You and to live like Jesus.  Thank You for my salvation and for my sanctification.  I am relying on Your grace and Your love so that I can be a vessel of that same grace and love to anyone and to everyone I come in contact with today, including my enemies.  Help me today, Father, to LOVE, DO GOOD, BLESS, and PRAY the way Jesus commanded me in Luke 6.  And may my life be a glory and an honor to You in every way.  Amen.