Acts 4:1-22, 31-Empowered by the Spirit-6/7/15

We see here in the apostles Peter and John a holy boldness, courage in the face of danger. I mean here they were, facing the exact same guys that put the Lord Jesus to death, that found an innocent man guilty.

You remember how these guys and other disciples reacted? They ran, they hid. Now they are facing the same guys from whom they once hid. They are caught, but now they are looking at their accusers different.

Something has changed now. These guys aren’t cowardly cats. They are lions ready to roar!

What has changed? They were given the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Himself, and now nothing can stand in their way.

And if you are a believer in Him, then He dwells inside of you, what you see when you look in a mirror each morning. He lives in you.

They tried to arrest Peter and John, and the church kept growing, they tried to persecute the believers, and the church kept growing. The more the devil tried to clobber the Kingdom of God, the more the devil found himself being clobbered by God.

The tables are about to turn and the accusers are about to find themselves the accused, and the judges are about to be judged.

And its apex hits a crescendo in verse 11 and 12-“The Stone you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else!

There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them. I know that message isn’t very popular today. It seems exclusive, but to say anything less, is to not honor and give thanks to God for what He has done.

See people think there are hundreds of religions out there. No, there are really two types. One is salvation by works, where it is my own effort. The other is by grace which is accepting God’s offer. One way you look at God and say, “I must do” the other, God looks at you and “it’s done”.

One way is effort, the other is grace. One way leads to pride, the other

love. One way is work, the other way is a gift. One way is a duty, a responsibility, the other is a relationship and a joy.

Either Jesus is enough, or He isn’t and we still have to earn something with God, and friends we can’t…but we don’t have to.

Don’t focus on the fact that God has chosen only one way to save humanity, rejoice He gave us a chance at all, when he didn’t have to

The debt has already been paid, and this is part of the proof of it. This man has been healed by the disciples, and the leaders are marveled by this!

It did not take degrees, or schooling, it took spending time with Jesus, quality time learning from Him.

If you live for the Lord, His light will shine through you, and you don’t have to be afraid of those who hurt you because of your faith, because if they stand against you, then they will find themselves standing against God Himself.

If you are faithful, God will provide the evidence needed to show your faith.

Don’t be afraid. If these guys could do it, so can we. But it takes all of us to make a decision, to say no to self, and yes to the Holy Spirit. To yield to self, is to be filled with the Spirit. To live Spirit-controlled lives. And that is going to take us being humble.

But once we do, the fruit of the Spirit becomes multiplied. Look at the answer they gave when they were threatened.

“We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” These men walked so closely with Jesus that to deny Him would be to deny who they were. Friends, if there is one point Acts is bringing us in its pages, is that the same Spirit that gave them the power to do God’s work is the same Holy Spirit today, here and now.

We are the handiwork of God, continuing His mission in the world. We ought to pray for courage. He is the one who has won the battle with death, Satan, and the world and in doing so has purchased our freedom to live!

We have been made friends with God, and when we are with Him, nothing is impossible.

You are the church. It rises or falls depending on your faithfulness to the gospel. Be filled with the Spirit

5/24/15-Empowered by God’s Spirit0-Acts 3:1-10

I know that I do not have much time left with you brothers and sisters here, and so I thought we could take a journey together through the book of Acts

 

This final sermon series of mine is a gift to you, to get us to look at God empowering His church to do His work in the world, to be His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. We are to be holy ambassadors of that Kingdom, because if you are a believer, your eternal life starts right now, not when you die.

 

We are to live as if we are living in the Kingdom of God, today, right now. Today is Pentecost, the church’s birthday, and Acts 2 is where we read last year of the Holy Spirit’s coming mightily down on the apostles and other believers, about 120 of them.

 

Immediately, the disciples move out into the world to fulfill the grand yet simple command, “Tell the whole world about Jesus.” It did not take a huge PR firm or a campaign, only the willing hearts of those who were empowered by the Holy Spirit. It was those who simply said, “Yes” to Jesus and took Him at his word.

 

Peter, the impetuous, forthright and bold, loudmouth. John the more quiet, retiring, tender and compassionate. YET these two different guys were bonded in brotherhood with chords that could not be broken. This is an example of the chains of love and unity among these diverse believers.

 

We too are different here, different ages, different jobs, different hobbies, yet we should always remember, that what, or rather WHO, unites us is stronger that he who tries to divide us.

 

We should not only be thankful for that undeserved gift of grace, but should be asking “what does grace require of me?” We often ask God to solve a small problem, but He wants to give us a whole new life and help for all our problems. When we ask God for help, he may say, “I’ve got something even better for you” You may ask God for what you want, but don’t be surprised when He gives you what you really need.

 

Friends, the same Spirit given to them to do this great work, this miracle, is given to you as well. If you are a Christian, you are a spirit-anointed powerhouse!, destined to do God’s work in the world.

 

What does God’s grace require of me? To continue His work of redemption in the world. What started at the cross of Calvary finds its continuing here, among us. The book of Acts may end at chapter 28 but we are Acts 29. We are the church called to do His work in the world.

 

So what does it mean to be empowered by God’s Holy Spirit? How do we get it? Ask, and ask sincerely, with a willing heart and mind. But brother Craig, I can’t perform miracles, I can’t heal anyone.

 

Neither could Peter, but God worked through Him and can do the same through you, and even if you never see anyone healed, All of you have a story, just tell people what Jesus did for you. You have Jesus, that is all you need.

 

You demonstrate Jesus in the world by your actions and how you live. It is a responsibility, but it is a joyful one.

 

And brothers and sisters, when the Spirit of the Lord is given full reign in a congregation, there will be healings of people’s spiritual, psychological, and physical needs. When a person turns aside from sin and decides to follow Jesus, that is the greatest miracle, and when stuff like that happens, congregations, communities, and the outside world begin to sit up and take notice.

 

The same power that called the earth into existence is what is inside you when you have Jesus in your life, and it is for the lame of the world—the lame in body, in mind, and in spirit. God blesses you and then calls you to be a blessing to others, and repeat, and repeat. What you have been given by God, share with others.

 

The power of Pentecost faith is for people in need. It is for our joy, but never for private enjoyment. Instead, it is so that the things Jesus did for people, we can do them too by continuing His work.

 

God used Peter to lift this man up and get him to walk, Jesus took us by the hand and raised us up to life, and now that same Jesus calls us and gives us His Spirit to reach out to others, and lift them up to life as well

 

What does grace require of me? to be Jesus to people in your everyday lives, and through Him, To free people from the fear of sin and death, to show them that through Jesus they can have life!

 

Mother’s Day Sermon: Persistence in Prayer: Luke 18:1-8: 5/10/15

I thought this Mother’s Day that we ought to turn to a woman whom Jesus uses to demonstrate two important Christian truths.

 

One, that God is ultimately more powerful and more good than we give Him credit for, and two, that faithfulness in prayer is a virtue we should continue to strive.

 

It is because our God is good all the time and all the time He is good, that this should draw forth from our souls this loving desire to be in constant prayer with Him.

 

Whether it is in repentance over our own wrongs, bringing requests before Him on behalf of others, thanking Him for His many blessings, drawing spiritual strength in our daily lives, crying out to Him in need, and so much more.

 

The Holy Spirit helps us in our prayer life as well, and we must take advantage of that.

 

Friends, I have said this before and I will say it again: Just as our physical bodies are strengthened because we gather nourishment on earthly food, so too our spiritual lives are strengthened because we gather nourishment through spiritual disciplines like reading the Bible and prayer.

 

His grace comes first, and He awaits our response. His faithfulness calls forth our faith. It is important not only that we answer God’s goodness,

 

We ought to take from this story that God is infinitely more good than we can imagine, and He will give mercy and justice, that He will show compassion to us believers who suffer, so we should be encouraged to pray in all kinds of times, lifting our requests before God, and…be ready for Him to answer and sometimes…in ways we would not expect.

 

See, often we think prayer is a one-sided conversation, but any of us who have spouses, family, or close friends know, that to keep a relationship strong, we have to do just as much listening as talking, sometimes even moreso.

 

When we pray, God listens, but we must also listen, for sometimes God wants to show us His view of things, to see things from his perspective.

 

Sometimes, God says “I will not give you this specific request you bring, because I have much better in store for you.”

 

It may not always be the easier way, but it will always be better. To gain wisdom, we must see things the way God sees them.

 

His grace comes first, and He awaits our response. His faithfulness calls forth our faith. It is important not only that we answer God’s goodness, but that we do so consistently…over and over.

 

Pray with your whole heart, passionately, like you mean it. Pray, because I as your pastor and brother in the Lord want all of us, you and me, to hang in there, to be found loyal to the Savior, even to the end. The wicked judge teaches us about the character of our good God, and the widow teaches us about the proper response of we His people. To persist in prayer does not mean endless chanting, or repetition or painfully long prayer sessions. Constant prayer is a relationship.

 

It means keeping God at the center of life, bringing our requests continually before God as we live for him, day-by-day.

 

When we are strengthened in faith, we do not give up. As we persist in prayer, we grow in character, faith, and hope. Prayer grows us. When we accept Jesus Christ, and make Him Lord of our lives, we are given access to the Holy Spirit through prayer. We are given to opportunity to commune with God, our very source of life?

Friends what is stopping us? What are we waiting for? let us pray

Mark 5:21-43-God’s Power: Our Patience-5/3/15

Here is another example of Jesus reaching out to the hopeless, the downtrodden, those that many of us would often pass by if we saw them.

This healing story teaches us about faith, about hope, and really about patience.

We first meet Jarius who was the leader of the local Jewish synagogue, who had close ties to leaders who were probably against Jesus.

So Jarius has a choice to make. Keep his friends and the status quo and risk losing his daughter who is near death, or upset the apple cart, throw his lot in with Jesus as hope the Lord can and will save her.

In a way, it is a choice we all must make. Stick to the safe and familiar or jump to the Son of God and trust Him to save.

When suddenly, Jesus stops and the crowd stops, and Jesus asks, “who touched me?” And it says who, this woman who had a condition for twelve years, who not only suffered the ailment, but seemed to also suffer from the cures!

And here, she thinks “if I just touch His cloak, I’ll be healed.” It is a small act of faith.

This is an example that shows that it is not the amount of faith you have that matters as much as Who you have your faith in.

The amount of faith you have can vary, but the amount of faith is not as important as WHO you are putting your faith in!

After all, you can have a beautiful mansion, but if it is built on a hollow foundation, it won’t last long.

On the other hand, a small house built on a strong foundation is always more secure.

It was a mustard-seed-sized trust in Jesus that led Jarius to seek Him out, that led this woman to reach out to Him, and all it takes is a mustard-sized faith to move mountains 

This woman’s healing was complete, not only did was she healed physically, but was healed spiritually.

She became a believer, and thus was healed of the soul, and saved from sin, all from that small act of trust. This woman teaches us another lesson.

Sometimes we all feel like our problems will keep us away from God, but He is always ready to help, don’t let fear or anything else, stop you from coming to Him. God wants the relationship with you, and it just takes you saying “yes” to Him

So now that the woman is healed, both physically and spiritually, let us go back to the other person, Jarius’ daughter. While all this is happening, Jarius gets the news he feared worst of all. “She’s gone, she’s dead. Don’t bother Jesus anymore.

Yet in this midst of this storm, this punch in the gut Jarius just got, Jesus says to him the same thing He says to all of us.

“Don’t be afraid. Just trust me”-Jesus is saying to Jairus, “trust me, be patient, there is no need to hurry”

Patience is love for the long haul, working hard and not giving up, holding up, delaying gratification, and not lashing out when it’s not instant.

There may be a reason God is delaying in answering your prayers. It may be to perform something even more grand that is the better way for you.

Remember friends, when you go to Jesus for help, you get from him far more than you had in mind, and you also end up giving Him far more than you had expected.

Jairus had to give more than he thought.

He came to Jesus with faith for a healing, Jesus wants Him to have that mustard-seed sized faith that will grow into a mighty tall bush, he wants that faith that will grow and recognize Jesus as having the power over death itself.

To have faith even at the eleventh hour. To trust God when you are up the creak, not even without a paddle, but without even a boat. That faith takes practice.

It is to get up say, Yes Lord I’m still going to trust you. If you go to Jesus, he may ask of you more than you think, but he can give you more than you ever dared to dream of as well. This is what we see when the daughter is raised.

Jesus is saying by his actions, “if I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep” Let Jesus take you by the hand and lead you through all your struggles. When you truly ponder his goodness, why hurry the Master?

He holds you tightly and brings you through the greatest darkness. Don’t ever let the problems you face or your brokenness stop you from coming to Jesus to be healed. Give it all to Him, and wait patiently. He has you by the hand, and will never let go. Amen

4/26/15-Do Good

This particular subject has been a question to Christians since the time of Jesus. Should we keep the Sabbath or not?

Jesus answers here, “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, so do good on the Sabbath”.

So what is exactly one to do on the Sabbath? Well I would say take time to love God and your fellow neighbor.

However you treat the Sabbath, do it as a joy. Here we see Jesus two different times doing what was untraditional on the Sabbath

One time he picks heads of grain to eat. The other time, he heals someone with a withered hand.

The first, Jesus is walking through grain fields on the Sabbath picking the grain and eating it and so were his disciples.

The second, Jesus heals a man in the synagogue, in the church, the one place you would want to be get a divine healing, yet they are against it

Jesus’ disciples are criticized because they are picking grain heads, they were not breaking any Old Testament law though, because they were not harvesting the grain for profit, they were gleaning it to eat.

Harvesting for money was illegal on the Sabbath, but gleaning was not because that is how poor people ate.

So the Pharisees criticize and Jesus comes back at them with another story…about someone all Jews respected, King David.

David was hungry, and he was dependent on an act of mercy to feed him, and so he was fed. This shows something Jesus is trying to tell these guys. The Pharisees desired rule-keeping above mercy.

God desires mercy above rule-keeping.

When following rules overrides mercy and human need, the practice leads us away from God not toward Him. On the other hand, when we look at the next story, we see Jesus doing good on the Sabbath. He is motivated by godly compassion.

I don’t want to make the Sabbath rest a strict requirement, but I also don’t want you to miss out on the great blessing God has given you in rest. Brothers and sisters, God does not want us to run ourselves ragged, you and more than the work you produce. You are more than a paycheck.

The Sabbath is a day to restore what was diminished.To replenish what has been drained, to repair the broken. So when Jesus heals the man’s hand, he is doing exactly what the Sabbath is all about. The word Sabbath means deep rest, a deep peace, a state of wholeness and flourishing in every area of life.

Jesus is the source of that peace. He is our Sabbath, the source of the deep rest that we need.

The one-day-a-week rest that we take is just a taste of the deep divine rest that we need, and Jesus is its source.

Jesus can give us the rest we need, mentally, physically, spiritually.

Don’t go trying to prove yourself to anyone.

Because it is a never-ending battle, because often when we are trying to prove ourselves to others, it is really just trying to prove something to ourselves. Don’t worry about others in this regard.

If they love you, you don’t have to prove anything to them, just show them Who you belong to.

When God finished His work of creation, he said, “it is finished” and he could rest. Jesus died on the cross and said “it is finished” and we could rest.

 

God wants us to have a deep rest of the soul. Rest in Jesus and his love, knowing that that love will never change. Allow that deep rest of the soul to restore you, no matter what day of the week it happens upon. Whatever you do, love God and your neighbor by doing it. Whatever good you do, whether it is family time, alone time, or serving time, whatever day your Sabbath day is, whether Sunday, Saturday, or the Wednesday, treat this rest, as a gift and as a joy, and know and have peace, that God will take care of everything. AMEN

MARK 1:40-45-The Touch of the Master’s Hand

This is Mark’s gospel, the action-packed one, the let’s cut to the chase gospel.

If you want to look at it this way, it is the blue-collar gospel. It is as if Mark is inviting you into a restaurant, telling you pull up a chair, pour yourself a tall glass of sweet (or unsweet) tea and lemme tell ya about this Jesus.

And this is one of those snapshots of Jesus’ ministry. Everything written in Mark’s gospel is mean to show us that Jesus is the true king of the world, and that no dictator, no terrorist group, no other person can rival or challenge Him.

That no amount of greed or power can stand toe-to-toe with Him, and that the church, can withstand whatever challenges we face exactly because Jesus is the King, the Emperor. The One to whom we all bow the knee

So the question becomes will we do so willingly out of love or out of fear? 

Mark writes these stories to show Jesus is the Son of God and to get us to stop and say, “NOW what are we gonna do about it?”

These are not dead words on a page, but they are God’s story meant to halt us in our tracks, grab us by the collar and say, “This is something worth paying attention to.” And we see this happen often in Mark in examples like this one right here.

The King is about to do something very unexpected: touch the untouchable. Gasp!

I don’t know how much you may know about leprosy, I didn’t know much about it as it is not a common condition we encounter here in America. Now when the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) mentions leprosy, it was one of many skin conditions, but here in this story in the New Testament, it probably was what is known as Hansen’s disease.

This disease is common in parts of India. This condition distorted the human body, and it made your nerves inactive so you couldn’t feel pain, so even the smallest injury could lead to a serious infection or even death.

Not only were you hurt physically, but socially. Lepers were not permitted to participate in any religious or social activity, because it was believed if you touched an unclean person you yourself became unclean. You know how you sometimes avoid someone who has a common cold, imagine that times 50…million. So deep was this fear of being unclean, some people even threw rocks a lepers to keep them at a safe distance.

Even the mention of this disease terrified people. Do we have a way we can understand what they must have felt? Well at first, I thought “na”, but then I looked at just my own lifetime and it seems like there have been a few diseases and viruses that in my life got me so scared I was being overly pre-cautious to borderline paranoid. Let’s see there was Killer Bees, SARS, West Nile Virus, Swine Flu, Asian Bird Flu, Ebola, and for some of you younger youth reading this, let’s not forget the so-called “Zombie apocalypse”.

It is as if every two years or so, some condition has to be blasted by the press to get people shaking in their boots.

So this disease, hurt you physically, it hurt you socially, and in a way it hurt you spiritually. See the Old Testament put a law out there that for the sake of quarantining and containing an infected person, you had to avoid them and put them outside the community.

Now, a point of clarification here: The Old Testament never said that someone who was struck with leprosy was a sinner, but unfortunately, by the time Jesus came, that idea began to sink in to the culture because people took it one step too far. If you got this disease it mean that you were being punished by God for something that you did, and surely God would want nothing to do with you.

Jesus is about to undo all that, shake things up, and prove that the touch of the Master’s hand can reverse the damage.

With being hurt physically, with being hurt socially, and with being hurt spiritually, this leper has no hope…except to approach this holy man, sent by God. And he does so humbly, but he also does so boldly, for remember what he risks; he has to make his way close enough, endure the scorning of others, yet he does so with faith and trust, and says the simple statement,

“If you are willing, you can make me clean”.

And Jesus, replies simply, yet in a way that shows His perfect goodness…”I am willing, be clean”

But Jesus does more than just speak. He does something with it, and it was done not only to show His power but to prove a point.

He reaches out, and touches the unclean, the sick, the diseased, the one who everyone else avoided. Jesus does this often, He does not need to touch the man, He could have just spoken it and it would have happened, yet Jesus disregards what is taboo in favor of human well-being. What motivates Jesus is not fame, not a desire to prove Himself, but to show that…

***God goes after the untouchables, those who the rest of us tend to avoid, to show them His love and mercy are for them too.***

The gospel is not just for those who think they have their act together, but rather for those who know and admit, “I am in need of God.”

Remember how the leper was hurting, physically, socially, and spiritually? Well Jesus heals all of him!

Spiritually, He shows that God loves him!

Physically He heals his body!

Socially, He says “go and show yourself to the priest at the Temple in Jerusalem so that you can be accepted and welcomed back!”

In a way, we are all lepers. We may not be physically deformed as he was, but we all have a disease that hurts us, it’s called sin.

It too hurts us physically because we chase after the desires of the flesh.

It too hurts us socially because we neglect to love our neighbor as ourselves.

It hurts us spiritually because it pushes us further away from the God who loves us.

Yet, He proves this love by sending His Son Jesus, to touch us and give us the opportunity to be healed. 

Don’t ever doubt that. Look at what the leper says to Jesus, “if you are willing, you can make me clean” Friends I don’t  always understand the mind of God, but I do know that the answer Jesus gave to that man is the same one He will give to you when you ask Him, “Lord if you are willing, heal me of sin”…

He WILL ALWAYS answer “I am willing, be healed”

That is how good our God is, that is why we have victory in Jesus. He not only touches us, but gives us the power to act to touch others, to show them just how the Master heals. 

You may not be able to miraculously heal someone, but if you put your trust in Jesus Christ, you have the ability and opportunity to reach out and heal those who are hurting so that they would not be in pain. You have the chance to show them the way to the God who loves them, that should excite and energize us.

 Let me summarize by a poem, “the Touch of the Master’s Hand”. A poem written by Myra ‘Brooks’ Welch.

“Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer

thought it scarcely worth his while

to waste much time on the old violin

but he held it up with a smile;

‘What am I bidden, good folks,’ he cried

‘Who’ll start the bidding for me?”

‘A dollar, A dollar’; ‘then two’, ‘only two?’

‘Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?’

‘Three dollars, once; three dollars twice;’

‘going for three’…But no

from the room, far back, a grey-haired man

came forward and picked up the bow.

Then wiping the dust from the old violin,

and tightening the loose strings

he played a melody as pure and sweet

as caroling angels sings.

The music cased and the auctioneer

with a voice that was quiet and low,

said ‘What am I bid for the old violin?’

and he held it up with the bow.

‘A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?

two thousand, and who’ll make it three?’

‘Three thousand, once, three thousand twice

and going and gone’ said he.

The people cheered but some of them cried

‘We do not quite understand’

‘What changed its worth?’ Swift came the reply

‘The Touch of a Master’s Hand’

And many a man with life out of tune,

and battered and scarred with sin,

is auctioned cheep to the thoughtless crowd

much like the old violin.

‘a mess of pottage’, ‘a glass of wine’

‘a game and he travels on’

‘he is going once and going twice’

‘he is going and almost gone’

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd

never can quite understand

the worth of a soul and the change that is wrought

by the touch of the Master’s hand.”

Let the Master touch and heal you so that you can play beautifully for Him.

Amen

 

I had the pleasure of viewing Disney’s most recent film, Cinderella, which was tastefully done, yet it was in viewing this film that I definitely had one of those “God-moments”. (Warning what follows does contain spoilers so if you have not yet seen it and want to, look away now!!)

Many of us are familiar with the classic tale: innocent young lady raised by a cruel step-mother and taunted by immature and spoiled step-sisters, yet despite it all, Cinderella maintains her goodness. In the film, we see why: shortly before her early and untimely death, her real mother tells young daughter Ella (Cinderella’s real name) to always, “Have courage and be kind”. Cinderella dutifully obeys despite the harsh treatment of her step-family. Yet, when it came to her step-mother Lady Tremaine’s viciousness, the question on my mind (and I would guess several others’) was why. Why such evil toward someone so innocent? I mean there are frustrations of a blended family (as a former youth pastor having seen it I can respect that), but this went above and beyond the realm of reason. At one point, close to the end of the film, Cinderella bravely asks her that very question point blank, “Why, when I have done nothing to you and nothing to deserve it?” Lady Tremaine answers by proceeding to give a litany of reasons (“I married my first husband for love and that did not work out”, “I married your father but he secretly never stopped loving your mother”, etc) but never once did an apology ever happen.

Not once.

Never once did step-mother own up and take responsibility for her actions or say “I recognize that I am broken, and I transferred that to you and I should not have and I am sorry. Please forgive me.” This is a common characteristic of sin in the lives of broken humanity: always and only blaming others for our flaws.

Yet in this case, something profound is seen. Lady Tremaine hates Cinderella, not for anything Cinderella did, but simply because of who she is. Cinderella, the perfect expression of good, is targeted by evil, and this is an illustration of a truth of the Judeo-Christian worldview. Evil hates good simply because it is good, and evil cannot just co-exist alongside good; it seeks to destroy it. For the disciple, this can be most obviously seen in his crucifixion of Jesus. Evil humanity as a whole encountered perfect goodness and peace, and yet rather than welcome it warmly, we attempted to destroy it because its very existence makes us crazy with madness. I have always held the belief that no matter where Jesus was born, no matter what culture, people, or group, the outcome would have been the same for Him because He was perfect goodness that would not be manipulated or intimidated despite humanity’s best efforts. This should cause us all to be humble and recognize that there is always a temptation to ignore the Master rather than listen patiently to His words, even if they are of gentle rebuke.

Yet, for Cinderella, even after all of the pain, rather than let bitterness set in, rather than lash out in vengeance against her step-mother, indirectly giving her the satisfaction of saying “Ha! at least this proves she is no better than I”, Cinderella maintains her innocence and goodness. What encapsulates this the most is the final encounter between Cinderella and Lady Tremaine. The prince has already come, the glass slipper is shown to fit, and even the step-sisters apologize for their treatment of her. Right as the prince and Cinderella exit her childhood home start their new lives together, she turns and locks eyes with the source of her pain, her step-mother. In a similar fashion, I can imagine while He hung on the cross, Jesus locking eyes with those who mocked and taunted Him.

In Cinderella’s case, when she finally experienced her prince’s love that rescued, freed, and redeemed her, giving her a new identity, she had the strength to lock eyes with evil and simply say, “I forgive you.” And the look in her step-mother’s eyes was a mixture of confusion, befuddlement, desperation, and awe, almost as if she could not comprehend that such pure goodness could exist. Cinderella is free, and Lady Tremaine is now locked in a prison of bitterness, resentment, and lost opportunities. Compare this with Jesus, the Prince of Peace who loves, rescues, frees, and redeems a lost humanity; He knew who He was and so He did not need a new identity, and so having walked so closely with His heavenly Father, had the strength to pray even in His crucifixion and death, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

If the Master has done this, then there is a lesson we as servants can glean, and we can use Cinderella to help us see it. When we forgive, we are freed from bitterness, indignation, rage, and so much more. The strength to forgive and show grace comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ and remembering that when we let Him define us and fill us with His love, His Spirit expels the pain and desire to hold grudges. He not only frees us of the evil, but empowers us with good, focusing our mind on heavenly things.

In forgiving, we glorify God and confuse evil, showing the world the way of the cross is higher than the way of retribution. When we let God judge, we have the freedom to forgive and enjoy an unadulterated relationship with Him. The Scriptures say this, and I am slowly but joyfully experiencing this truth for myself.

Peace friends

Matt 5:10-12; 19:23-30-

This is one of the toughest beatitude to follow. Mostly because we want the opposite to be true. Blessed are you whose religion comes easy for you, for yours is the Kingdom of heaven.

Yet Jesus turns easy religion on its ear and says “rejoice when you take your faith seriously enough to be persecuted for yours is the Kingdom of heaven”.

He is saying that taking a stand for the faith that you claim, it won’t always be easy, but for what lies in store for you, it is worth it, and even moreso, you will never have to endure alone. For no man is an island.

The burdens of life become easier when you have other people to share the load, and one by one, they help you see some of the burdens you carry, you don’t have to bear them at all.

The desire for wealth, the desire for power, the desire for respect by proving yourself better than everyone else.

In our second Scripture set, Christ invites those who follow him to give up a great deal, but He is not pointing a finger saying “how dare you have these things” for these are good things.

Rather he is saying, “that if you have given up those good things to follow me, you get them back a hundredfold. This is not an ethical sledgehammer, rather it is an invitation to take a deeper walk in discipleship.

If you take your Christianity seriously, then eventually one day you will have to make the choice when the choice puts you at odds with the world.

Now I am not saying that every one of you will have to endure physical pain, but you may have to do the unpopular thing, you have have to withstand social pressure and the temptations of the world.

There are many distinguishing marks of true Christian living, and sometimes that may put you and I at odds with how everyone else live. Yet that is why we need one another as body of believers, so that when one of us feels the difficulty of remaining faithful, the others of us can remind them, that it is not in vain, that there is hope, and they are not alone as they walk the journey.

We are not alone, but not only because we have each other, but because we are in good company with some of the biblical heroes. Many of those in the Bible had to endure hardship for doing the right thing. Even Jesus, for what do you think got him crucified.

Children of God uphold God’s truth and refuse to compromise with the ways of the world. That walk is not always an easy path, it calls us to swim upstream sometimes.

Yet, if you are being picked on because of your faith, remember a few things.

1. It keeps your eyes on what is important-heaven, not earth. The eternal rewards not the temporary.

2. It acts like a mighty wind, blasting away weak leaves and leaving behind sturdy trees. As you endure the hardships for being a Christian, allow it to help mold how you think about God. You who are youth, who crave something authentic, allow those times to show you what is real in your faith, and blast away the superficial.

3. If you endure, you get stronger. Many of you have worked hard, many of you have played sports. The more you practice the stronger you get. If you put something under strain, it gets stronger, same with your faith.

3. Through hardship, it serves as an example to others who follow.

Look at your life and ask who are the wise? Is it not the ones who have lived through the most? Learn from them.

I think every person wants to be remembered for something. And if you want to be remembered, well nobody remembers a person who just went with the crowd, nobody writes books about people who just floated and didn’t care.

If someone wrote a book about your life, would anyone want to read it?

Dear Friends, don’t forfeit the eternal for what is only earthly. If God offers you gold of eternal life, then don’t take fools gold of only being concerned about this life. And if you find that you are doing your best to serve God, and yet you feel as though you face an uphill battle…then be encouraged, you may just be doing something right.

Difficult times are not always the result of something we did wrong. Often is because we are doing what is right, and God is using it to draw us ever closer to Him. Jesus says that no servant is greater than the Master.

And if they went after the Master, then should we really be surprised when it happens to us too? In fact, Bible says, we ought to rejoice, for it means we are being like Jesus. He assured the disciples the same way he assures us now:

that anyone who gives up something valuable for His sake will be repaid many times in this life and the life to come.

Let me give you an example of this. We hear on the news often, of Christians suffering persecution in other countries.

I won’t mislead you: some of them were sold out by their own family members. Yet these Christians rejoice. Why? Because they have family members in every part of the globe praying for them, that they can walk into any church, just like this one, find fellow believers in Jesus, and call them brother or sister.

Blessed are you, when being a Christian is not easy, for you are becoming more like Jesus. Worry about His opinion, none other. It may not be an easy life, but as young as I am I think I have learned this:

I would rather have a hard life, knowing I stood on my convictions, that have an easy life knowing it was because I stood on nothing at all.

Remember, you don’t have to do it alone, you have each other. And it is not in vain for whatever you lost in this world, you get back all of it, with interest, in a reward that will never go away.

Blessed are you, for it shows your loyalty to Jesus, and for that, your reward is the kingdom of heaven.

Stand your ground.

Passion & Purity-Matt. 5:8; 15:1-20

For the following blog entry, I am drawing heavily upon information I found in A Spiritual Formation Workbook by James Bryan Smith and Linda Graybeal

Jesus remained true to his mission throughout his testing and emerged pure at its end. His responses tell us much about the nature of sin and importance of purity.

The Bible makes it clear the people of God can be free from the power of sin!!!! Hallelujah!

Every time the commands of God were rejected in the Bible, disaster followed. Disaster still trails the heels of sin.

Why follow God’s commands? Because God knows the consequences of sin.

God’s commands are not rules that stifle our happiness or make us feel guilty. Commands are given to us that we might live abundantly.

Sin does not bring freedom, obedience to God does.

Holiness is something God wishes for us simply because it is the best way to live. The commandments of God are not meant to make our lives a dull drudgery, but to make them whole and full.

God’s plan completes and integrates our lives; sin disrupts and fragments our lives. While sin seems appealing on the surface—the fulfillment of all of our desires—beneath the surface lurks poison that will ultimately destroy us.

Sin is slop, it stains and ruins our souls. Living a holy life is not limited to the “super saints” rather it is healthy and functional for everyone

Jesus turns our attention away from ritual purity and points to the purity of heart from which flows unshakable obedience to God.

Not keeping God’s commandments is not an option for a serious believer.

Obedience is the natural outgrown of a life that is bound to God. If we are in love with God, we will obey his laws. Why? Because we love and trust God as a child loves and trusts a parent.

To trust and obey is at the heart of holiness for a disciple of Jesus.

Do the following and you will be able to keep the commands you were once unable to keep and do the things you were once unable to do.

HERE ARE SOME PRACTIAL HOLY THINGS TO DO DAILY!!!!!!

Tounge-if I tell myself to simply stop saying negative things, I will likely fail. But if I begin with the “inside”-praying for a pure heart and the committing to watch my words, then I open the door to the Spirit to begin helping me.

When I am about to say something negative, the Spirit speaks a word of caution to me, and that blessed split second change in my behavior possible.

Result is not “wow look at me”, but rather “God is beginning to shape and mold my life”.

-Pray for the Holy Spirit to purify your heart and mind; then listen. Set aside some time, where everything else can wait and you spend with God. Ask God to purify your heart and mind through the Holy Spirit, and surrender your life to Him.

-Respond to temptation with the word of God-Memorize the words of Scripture and when you are tempted by the enemy to 1 gratify selfish desires, 2 doubt God’s power, or 3 seek wealth, power, or fame, respond to the temptation the corresponding verse of Scripture. Jesus used the power of God through Scripture to defeat the devil, and so can we.

-Try a 24 hour partial fast-Jesus fasted in the wilderness to gain spiritual strength. The practice of fasting also reveals hidden traits-anger, selfishness, inability to delay gratification, laziness, and so on which can become areas for growth.

Only fast so you can “feast” upon God, realizing that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

-practice these two disciplines for “taming the tongue”-it is what comes out of our mouth that makes us unclean. Our words, like fire, can refine or destroy

-go a day without saying negative. In the morning ask the Holy Spirit to “set a guard over [your] mouth” (Ps. 141:3) to keep you from saying anything negative. Be ruthless about this!

Do not let even the slightest hint of criticism or judgment come out of your mouth. Be honest, not critical. Search for ways to positive about everything around you and be ready to give compliments as often as you can.

Matt. 5:7; John 8:1-10-“Mercy is the Medicine”-2/22/15

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.” Seems simple does it not? Yet these words, like the others we have been studying in the beatitudes are profound.

Often the violence and hatred that plague our world today, can be compared to a mighty train, that does not seem to be easily stopped, yet, often it start with one act of mercy that can flip that switch and divert the train of strife away from disaster.

One flip, one act of kindness, can make all the difference. Blessed are the merciful, so what is mercy you may ask?

It is love with legs on it, love that grows hands and works. It is love expressed in action.

God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

Divine mercy writes in the sand.

Yet this is not enough for the mob, so they keep questioning him, “what do we do Jesus, what do we do?”

Divine mercy answers.

Jesus says to them, “Let any one of you who has never sinned be the first stone-thrower.”

See, the law said that any time someone was to face this capital penalty, it was to be carried out by someone who had a clear conscience before God.

None of them did, none of them could claim to be perfect, so they now found themselves accused and guilty, and the oldest and wisest all the way down to the young and restless, began to move out, one by one, until all was left except Jesus, and here we find some more irony.

The ones who want to judge and have no right to, are all dispersed and gone, and the One who has the right to judge and does not want to remains.

Jesus wants to show them and us, that none of us are perfect, and none of us have the right to look down our noses at anyone. This is different from God’s holy justice. We talked about this a bit last week.

We can and should desire justice on God’s terms while realizing it is He who judges not we. God’s role is to judge, our role as His followers is to show forgiveness and compassion where we can.

If view of God’s love, and the fact that He was merciful to us, we too ought to show mercy to one another.

Those who know the mercy of God, give mercy. Those who don’t know the mercy of God, cannot give for they don’t know what it really is.

We don’t show mercy in order to earn mercy from God. We show mercy because we have been given mercy by God.

The more we give mercy, the greater we experience God’s mercy, and the more we can give to others, and the more we experience, and it is a beautiful circle

Mercy comes with an attitude of thankfulness. Because you have received God’s mercy, use the gratitude to leave your sin behind and never to repeat it.

God offers us all mercy. So that we can both show mercy to others, and also strive to go and sin no more.

It is hard to live a life that God calls us to live. Temptation hunts us at every turn, but one of the best ways I have found to fight against it, is to be thankful to God for the gift of mercy and love. When we let that attitude of thanksgiving be our motivation to not sin, it gets easier not to.

Being thankful to God is the key to striving to be more like Jesus in ever way.

And it is this divine mercy switches the tracks and deters the train of never-ending violence that hurts our world today.

To be a part of God’s kingdom, you must follow in the example of the King, showing mercy in a world obsessed with vengeance.

Mercy is love set in motion. God has shown us mercy, and therefore calls us to show mercy to others.

No deep pondering, no confusion, it is just that simple. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. AMEN