November 3, 2011

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16

Salty living means that we must embrace a lifestyle that is consistent with the character of our Father. It means that we will take seriously the demands of the beatitudes in our everyday life.

As kingdom people intent on obeying the Word of God, we know we cannot tread lightly upon these matters. As we hear Jesus begin to teach His disciples a few things about the way they should approach teir religious activity, we too must listen reverently - and be prepared to obey completely - if we're to receive our Father's reward.

When salt loses its saltiness, it becomes useless to function as salt. Christianity can be just as useless without a lifestyle that embraces the teachings of the kingdom. Then our conduct doesn't become the fuel that makes our witness stand out like a light in the dark.

Jesus discussed three important aspects of kingdom living in the first part of Matthew 6 - fasting, prayer and giving.

* Fasting prepares us for pwerful prayer.

* Prayer moves us to generosity.

* Generous giving provides visible evidence of our relationship to God.

And for the benefit of all the rest of  us who struggle with this from time to time - Jesus was not about to gloss over any one of these matters without confronting us on the issue of motive. The Pharisee prayed to be seen; the sinner prayed privately (Luke 18:9-14). Some gave for public acclaim; the widow quietly gave her all (Luke 21:1-4)

Salty behavior both demands and deserves illumination. Unless we explain the source of our righteousness, the world will neversee the light.

Ask God to reveal to you your true motives for kingdom work. Are you salt and light?

November 2, 2011

"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6

The words hunger and thirst in Matthew 5:6 suggest a deep, profound, even painful desire that increases with desperation until it is fed.

That's how the kingdom citizen pursues righteousness should be both recurring and ongoing. When we eat a sandwich at lunch, it may hold us for a while, but it doesn't satisfy our hunger for the rest of our lives, Our appetite for righteousness should keep growing. When we lose our appetite for the Lord and His kingdom, when we're just as content with the world's junk food as we are with the Word of God, something is wrong.

Kingdom hunger is:

* an unquenchable desire to know Him;

* a desire to be free from sin because sin separates us from God;

* a desire to be free from the power of sin and controlled by God's Spirit;

* a desire to be free from the desire for sin and eager to please the Father;

* a desire to be like Jesus.

How do we seek righteousness? We let God show us who we really are. We do away with the pretense. As long as we think we're better than most, we are not hungry for righteousenss. Spiritual fulfillment begins with an awareness of our spiritual bankruptcy. We must remove anything that dulls our spiritual appetite, whether it's overtly sinful or not. It might be NFL football, or boating, or a harmless hobby but if it gets in the way of our pursuit of righteousness, it needs to go. Kingdom hunger demands it.

This requires real sacrifice, but it results in real satisfaction because those who orient their "hunger and thirst" in the direction of righteousness are guaranteed to find themselves "filled". When was the last time any sin left you feeling that way?

Are good things in your life keeping you away from the best God Has to offer? Seek His righteousness.

November 1, 2011

EKG Day 25 Devotional

"The meek shall inherit the earth" Matthew 5:5

Jesus said the meek, the gentle, would inherit the earth. But our culture has created a different breed of inheritors. Thereis nothing remotely meek about the heroes of our day. Meekness and gentleness are not virtues we greatly admire , and this beatitude ma not appeal to us.

In our minds meekness is often associated with weakness, passivity, or even cowardice. Or we may think it's simply a person's natural disposition, a tendency to be quiet and mellow, which some have nd some don't. If either of these two is correct, (1) Jesus wouldn't have praised it, and (2) those of us who aren't so calm and collected by nature would be out of luck satisfying Christ's command.

The Bible says that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23) - a Christlike character trait prodced in the believer's life by the Holy Spirit. And furtermore, meekness is not weakness, it is power under control. Power restrained by gentlenes. I like that.

We see this quality in Jesus. In the wilderness Satan offered Him all a man could want. Jesus could have had physical satifaction, public acclaim, universal power. But He chose to submit to His Father. In Gethsemene, His human flesh begged to avoid the cross, but He submitted to the Father's eternal plan."'Not what I will, but wat you will.'" (Mark 14:36). Do you remember the taunting cry of the criminal? "Aren't You the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!" (Luke 23:39). Everything in Jesus' human nature must have desired to come down and show them the fierce anger of the Lord. If we were there, we would have cheered if He had torn Himself free of the cross and taken His own revenge. But it was His meekness that held Him there, enabling Him to endure the shame and buy mankind's redemption.

Our ability to be meek - or not to be - is most often seen in our relationships with other people. When you're in difficult situations, are you in control of your emotions? Do you have meekness - power under control?

October 31, 2011

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11

I grew up loving God. I have been a believer for 54 years.

Even though I have never seen God He is more real to me that any person I know. I knew intellectually He was the one thing I needed most of all.

But, there was a time in my life when it seemed I had lost just about everything that mattered to me. I was devastated and complained to God, "I have lost everything! All I have left is You!" This was in the early hours of a sleepless night as I was having a pity party. God broke the silence when He answered, "What else do you need?"

That was a turning point in my life. I went from knowing God to KNOWING GOD! When I was at the point of really understanding God was all I had - I discovered God was all I needed.

Even though I was a believer. Even though I was a pastor. I lived with the silent and mistaken assumption that what I needed for happiness was God plus....... What I discovered was that God IS the plus. True happiness is God - period! Living under the assumption that God plus anything will bring happiness elevates the plus to equal status with God. That sounds like idolatry to me. God isn't really God until He is unrivaled in your life.

Once I discovered that God IS ALL I NEED and once I committed to become complete in Him, I understood that everything else is a bonus!

What is your formula for happiness?

Complete this equation: God + _______ = Satisfaction.

Whatever you write into that blank - a person, a possession, a relationship - whatever, commit that to God and discover that there is no plus there is only a period! When you come to the place where you discover God is all you really want that is the place you will discover He is all you need!

Ready to REALLY know God?

October 30, 201

How many of you believe in eternity?

How many of you are sure that you will spend your eternity in Heaven?

So you believe Heaven is a real place – right?

How many of you have seen Heaven?

How many of you know exactly where it is or what it looks like?

So you haven’t seen it?

Have you touched it?

Have you heard it?

Have you tasted it?

Have you smelled it?

How are you able to know something is real that you haven’t experienced with your senses?

Isn’t that how we usually determine what is real, through our senses? If you can see it then it must be real. If you can touch it, it must be real.

So how do we, as flesh and blood, finite, physical, flawed creatures connect with a reality other than the sights, and sounds, and sins and sufferings of this life?

That is the final thought in this “Terms of Endearment” series:

REPENT – Turn from sins and turn to God

RESTITUTION – Making things right because you’ve been made right.

REDEMPTION – Bought back from sin and slavery by the blood of Jesus

REGENERATION – Spirit brought to life by the Holy Spirit

RECONCILIATION – Connected to God in personal faith relationship

RIGHTEOUSNESS – Made right with God through the righteousness of Christ

The last term associated with salvation is “REALITY”. When you come to Christ in salvation you get a new reality.

(Like People Who Lose Much Weight But Still Think Of Themselves As Heavy)

(Like People Who Suddenly Become Wealthy – Sports Stars, Lottery Winners)

(FPU Is Teaching Us A New Reality About Money – Paper or Plastic Has New Meaning)

These are examples of people who experience a new reality that they will have to adjust to.

Becoming a Christian, a child of God who is redeemed, regenerated, and righteous, is indeed, a reality we have to adjust to. It is a fundamental transformation of how we think, how we love, how we believe, how we see, and what we value. Now we “walk by faith not by sight”

(YOUR FAITH HAS TO BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR FEELINGS)

(BELIEVING MUST BE MORE REAL THAN SEEING)

(HOPE BECOMES MORE THAN CROSSING YOUR FINGERS A WISHING SOMETHING GOOD WILL HAPPEN – HOPE IS LOOKING TO THE CROSS AND TRUSTING THAT IS HAPPENED)

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” HEBREWS 11:6

This verse reveals how the spiritual reality of faith develops in the life of a believer.

I. LIVING FOR A REAL REASON, V. 6
“Without faith it is impossible to please God…..”

The new reality of faith is that I now live to please God. No longer do I live for what pleases me. I don’t expect God to please me, but I live to please Him. What pleases God is my obedience to His will.

THAT IS WHAT ALL THESE HEROES OF FAITH DID!

Do you live to please God? Is that your primary reason for doing what you do?

How many times this week did you face decisions between what you wanted to do and what you knew would please God? How many times did you choose His will above yours?

The reality that guides a Christian is pleasing God.

II. LIVING FOR A REAL RELATIONSHIP, V. 6b
“…..believe that He exists…..”

Believe God exists and is more real than your reality. Real reasons to know He exists:

a) Creation

b) Christ

c) Changed Lives

If God exists – and He does – then He is real and you need to know Him.

If He is Creator, and Christ and if He changes lives – and He does, then you are accountable to Him and will have to answer to Him – so you’d better be in a faith relationship with Him!

III. LIVING FOR A REWARD, V. 6c
“….and He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

a) Abundant Life, John 10:10

b) Eternal Life, John 3:16

c) Crown of Life, James 1:12

d) Jesus IS Our Reward, Philippians 3:7-10

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith– that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death”

EXAMPLE:

ENOCH –“ By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.”

Enoch was the poster child for faith!

He Pleased God

He Knew God

God Was His Reward

Because he let God be so real to him – he got a new reality! ALL THESE SAINTS IN HEBREWS 11 DID!

AS REDEEMED, RECONCILED, REGENERATED, AND RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE. WE DON’T HAVE TO BE OVERCOME BY REALITY! WE OVERCOME BY A HIGHER REALITY!

That’s what real faith does!


Are you living to please God?


Are you living to know God?


If you died tonight what would your reward be?

October 29, 2011

"We walk by faith, not by sight" II Corinthians 5:7


This is a very simple sentence and it sounds relatively easy doesn’t it?

Walking by faith implies trust on something known but unseen.

It brings to mind a time Barbara and I were driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in the late afternoon just before dusk. As the sun dropped lower and the air cooled, fog began developing. We were near Boone, NC and were trying to get to US 421 and get down the mountain before the fog became too thick. It was a nice plan but it didn’t happen. So heavy was the fog that I could not see more than ten feet ahead on the roadway. I didn’t know it I had room to pull off to the right side. Sometimes there is room on the shoulder and sometimes there is a several hundred-foot drop off so I did not want to risk that. All I was able to make out the center line so I slowed down and focused on hugging the center line. Literally, I was driving by faith in the center line rather than by sight. To this day I do not know how far we drove before we got out of the fog but it seemed like one hundred miles. Pavement never looked so good!

What does it mean to “walk by faith and not by sight”?

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Walking by faith means pleasing God!

God is pleased by our obedience and He is pleased by our dependence upon His Word. When you live to please yourself or you choose to do what you want rather than do what pleases God you are not walking in faith.

Walking by faith means proving God!

God is pleased when we believe what the Word says about Him and live for Him. He wants to be known and He delights in us actively seeking to know Him. Pursuing Him is evidence that we believe He exists. Three ways to believe He exists are: 1) His Creation, 2) His Christ and 3) Changed lives! Allowing Him to change our life is the greatest proof!

Walking by faith means pursuing God!

Like the line on the Parkway in the fog, faith fixes a focus on God and follows Him. Faith earnestly seeks God to know Him, to be known by Him and to make Him known. Faith keeps pursuing God even when life is hard to figure and God is hard to find.

Are you walking by faith?

Are you living to please God?

Are you living proof of God’s existence?



Are you pursuing God passionately?

October 28, 2011

“He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel:” Psalm 103:7


Moses came to know God as few others did. He got real good looks at God because he allowed God to be real to him. It is interesting and instructive, as well as inspiring, to trace how God made Himself known to Moses.

It began with the bush that burned but was not consumed. Burning bushes were not that unusual in the arid desert heat, but a bush that burned but was never burned up WAS unusual. And a bush that burned and was not consumed AND that spoke to him – well that got Moses curious. From that bush God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.

Next, we see Moses before the Pharaoh demanding that he let God’s people go. Of course the Pharaoh refused so God brought the series of plagues that eventually broke the Pharaoh’s resolve. But it took a series of ten supernatural plagues from the hand of God to do so. However, in those plagues Moses saw how powerful His God was.

From there, we see Moses and the people of God trapped between the Red Sea and the invading Egyptian army. God instructed Moses to raise his rod over the waters and when he did, God opened the sea so they could walk across on dry land.

Then God revealed Himself in the pillar of fire and the cloud that lead Israel through the wilderness. That was followed by the miraculous provision of the manna and the quail.

All those experiences with God had prepared Moses to climb the holy Mount Sinai to meet with God and receive the Commandments. That was the first of several encounters with God on Sinai for Moses. On one occasion Moses asked God to reveal Himself to Moses, but God only consented to allow Moses to see His backside as he passed by. So, Moses looked at God but only from behind.

Few, if any attain to the level Moses did in his relationship with God. Therefore, God was more real to Moses with each successive God-encounter they had. As a result, God was more real than any of the challenges or problems that confronted him.

How real is God to you? Are you in tune with the power of His presence and are you living to please Him as Moses did?

Are you living in the reality of a God Who is bigger than life and bigger than death and able to deliver His people. That was REAL important to God and Moses!