February 2, 2016

"He answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" Luke 10:27

Maybe you gave yourself a bit of a pass when you came to this “love God with all your strength” part of this command thinking, “I’m not very strong so that gives me a break”.

Read it again! It doesn’t say you have to be strong it says you must express your love with all the strength you have!

Pastor and author, John Piper gives this helpful insight into this part of the Great Commandment:

“What then is the meaning of loving God with our “might”? The word translated “might/strength” in Deuteronomy 6:5 usually functions as the adverb “very” in the Old Testament (298x). The noun version occurs in Deuteronomy and in only one other place, which itself is just an echo of our passage. In 2 Kings 23:25 we are told that King Josiah “turned to Yahweh with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might.” So if the word usually means “very,” what would it mean to love the Lord with all our “very-ness”? Interestingly, the Greek translation of this word is “power.” The Aramaic translation is “wealth.” Both of these may actually be pointing in the same direction, for the strength of a person is not simply who he is but what he has at his disposal.”

“Think with me: If Moses’s call to love Yahweh starts with our heart and then moves out to our being, could not our “very-ness” be one step bigger and include all our resources (see Block, Deuteronomy, 183–84)?”

“This means that the call to love God is not only with our physical muscle but with everything we have available for honoring God — which includes our spouse, our children, our house or dorm room, our pets and wardrobe and tools and cell phones and movies and music and computers and time.”

So, God requires you to love Him with everything you have at your disposal!

You could rightly phrase it this way, “Love God for all you are worth!”

Does this describe how you love God?

Honestly, if you withhold anything that you have at your disposal how can you say you truly love God? God will not compete for love, He demands complete love.

January 31, 2016

"He answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" Luke 10:27

There is a lot of emphasis in fitness and conditioning on developing the “core.” And there is good reason for emphasizing the core because every athletic movement in every sport involves your core. It is your chest muscles and your arm muscles and your abdominal muscle that must be toned in order to produce the strength required to make the throw or swing the bat or put up the shot or go for the pin or make the tackle.

I know of no competitive athlete in any sport at any level who does not understand the importance of strengthening his core! There is no way to improve his performance strengthening his core.

Equally as important as developing the physical core of his body is to master the core fundamental of his sport as well as understanding the core strategies involved in having a chance to win.

Many times a coach has admonished a player to “put his soul into the game”! That means he wants that player to combine all of his strength and skill and knowledge of the game with his full concentration and effort.

That is essentially the point of the Great Commandment which is quoted in the verse above! You must love the Lord with your entire “core”!

“We love the Lord with all our soul by living a life of faithfulness to all that the Lord has required of us. While loving the Lord with all our heart has to do with affection, loving the Lord with all our soul has to do with devotion.

The soul literally is the part of us that defines who we are. The essence of the biblical definition for soul means life, personality, the inner self and our identity. It’s where we make our decisions and choices that ultimately decide our lifestyle and behavior. Think of the soul as the “core you”.

To love the Lord with all your soul means to love Him in the way we live, in the choices we make and in the behavior and lifestyle we adopt.” Greg Simas

Loving God must be a full-time occupation. It should also be an on-going preoccupation.

We already established that a halfhearted love doesn’t please God. Nor does it allow God to fully please you! So, just as you must commit your whole heart to God you must also give your soul to loving Him!

God won’t accept anything less from you than loving Him from your core! He wants to be loved at and by the essence of your being. Only then can he fill you with the essence of His being!

I urge you to continue to strengthen your physical core! It will keep you strong and health!

That will require setting aside some time for a work out today!

But above all, develop your spiritual core by committing to “love God with all your soul”!

That will require time alone with Him today, time to work it out spiritually!

February 1, 2016

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." Romans 12:14

We sing about grace. We hear it preached. We like the sound of it. We love to receive it. We have a harder time extending it. But all the time we have difficulty wrapping our mind around it because it just doesn't come naturally to us.

I will leave it to men greater than me to communicate its significance to you.

Phillip Yancey describes grace in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace. He writes, “Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more—no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less—no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much an infinite God can possibly love.”

The attitude of grace is expressed this way by John Newton, the man who penned the lyrics to the timeless hymn "Amazing Grace".

"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am."

Richard Wurmbrand, who spent fourteen years suffering in a Communist prison, reminds all believers with less than ideal circumstances that “if the heart is cleansed by the love of Jesus Christ, and if the heart loves Him, you can resist all tortures.” He says, “God will not judge us according to how much we endured, but how much we could love.” The love of God demonstrated in the lives of his people is potent. Wurmbrand gives an example:

“A Christian was sentenced to death. Before being executed, he was allowed to see his wife. His last words to his wife were, ‘You must know that I die loving those who kill me. They don’t know what they do and my last request of you is to love them, too. Don’t have bitterness in your heart because they kill your beloved one. We will meet in heaven.’ These words impressed the officer of the secret police who attended the discussion between the two. After he told me the story in prison, where he (the prison guard had been put for becoming a Christian).”

So, what can you do to get a grip on this grace that God purchased at such a tremendous price so that it might given freely to you?

How grace operates:

1) It decides not to hold a grudge – (It forgives)

2) It refuses to get even when given the chance.

3) It refuses gossip when given the chance.

4) It responds graciously when given the chance.

5) It extends forgiveness when confession and repentance happen.

It requires God's grace to understand that you need God's grace and by His grace He sends His Spirit to grace your life, cleansing your eternal soul and transforming how you think and what you desire.

Why would God do such an amazing thing as grace?

Because it is Who He is!

Because it is what we need!

Because it is what others need to receive through you and me!

As believers in Jesus Christ, God needs you and me to grace others.

Today you have opportunity to receive His grace and you will doubtless have a chance to grace someone else. If you miss the opportunities to grace - you disgrace. You don't want to live in disgrace do you?

January 30, 2016

Renowned philosopher, Charlie Brown once said, "I love mankind, it's people I can't stand."

Of course that is ridiculous, but then it's a cartoon strip so it is supposed to be funny.

What is equally ridiculous but not nearly as funny is the notion that you can love God but not love people.

When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan it was for the purpose of confronting a religious man who was trying to justify his lack of love for people while posing as a believer in God. However, his own words condemned him when he quoted the Great Commandment in Luke 10:27 - "He answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;  and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Clearly then, based on the authority of God's Word, if you don't love your neighbor then you don't truly love God. Period.

Loving others is not in our nature because selfish love is our nature. 

The change from selfish love to selfless love sounds like a radical change. How does something like that happen?

There is only one way to experience a fundamental change in HOW you love. You must change WHO you love. Only when you love God COMPLETELY can you love yourself and others CORRECTLY.

You can no longer love God halfheartedly.

If you are not sold out in your love for God you are a hold out and the best that can happen is a partial change. Loving a little better is not what you need. Loving God completely is the only way to have a complete change of heart.

You can no longer love God around the edges of your life.

How would you feel about God loving you with a halfhearted love. Would that work for you?

Thankfully, that is not Who He is so that can never happen. But in fact, if He only has half of your heart you will only experience His love to that extent.

What gets surrendered to God is what gets blessed.

What gets emptied before God is what gets filled.

If you want to experience more love give God more to love.

If you need to love others more love God most.

January 29, 2016

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7-9

Sometimes I wonder how people who were led by God appearing in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, a God Who had opened the Red Sea and fed them with manna and given water from a rock could ever have fear or doubt, but they did.

But now the stakes were high because this is moment God had in mind for them since they first left Egypt over 40 years ago. God had led them to this would they trust Him to lead them through it!

When you follow God individually or as a family or as a couple or as a church, there are those strategic moments that may only happen once or twice in a lifetime. For example, in the hundreds of years that God dwelt with His people there were only two times that he led them to the Jordan. They whiffed on the first chance and couldn’t afford to miss this one. Hence, the encouragement for them to be “strong and courageous” and not to be afraid.

I think this is very relevant to how God is leading us at FredWes. Over the past several years as God has favored us with growth we have been exploring options to provide the space for continued health and growth. Here are some of the things we have considered in our extensive search:

1) Purchasing the white building behind us and converting it to Youth and Children Ministry space but the purchase price was too high and renovation costs even higher. That was dismissed as an option.

2) We investigated the purchase of portable classrooms to move onto the property north of the church building. But regulations and cost factors ruled this out as a good option.

3) We spent one year and over $5,000 investigating the feasibility of building onto the existing building and discovered it wasn’t a cost-effective option and wouldn’t meet all of our needs.

4) We began looking for existing buildings and set criterion for what we thought we needed:

·        At least 10,000 sq. ft. on one level

·        Adequate paved parking

·        Visible location

·        Adaptable space

·        Within 15 minutes of current location

5) Nearly two years ago we approved listing the 6.2 acres we owned out on Rt. 3 West of town. This past Summer we accepted a contract for $300,000 for the sale of this property. We closed on that sale just last Thursday, January 21. We realized a profit of $269,010.

6) We looked at several possible buildings and identified two that we preferred.

·        A 14,200 sq. ft. commercial building in Cosner’s Corner retail complex with approx. 7,000 sq. ft. finished and 7,000 unfinished. It had 92 paved parking spots. Good location with good location for $1.8 M.

·        A 22,500 sq. ft. industrial building at Rt. 1 and 606 off of Exit 118 in Thornburg. This building had 300 paved parking spots and had been used by a church for several years. It was within but on the edge of our desired radius and was also listed at $1.8 M.

7) Recently we were made aware of an opportunity to partner with Tricord Construction in their new residential development in the New Post area of the County. The plan calls for 425 units, some apartments, some townhomes, mostly single-family homes and estate homes. In every one of their developments they dedicate land to a church near the center of the development. The parcel they donate to the church is approximately four acres and the church is required to pay Tricord $1,500 per parking space (244 paved spaces in our case) for a finished parking lot and a 20,000 sq. ft. building pad with utilities on site ready for construction. So, our cost to have a relocation site ready to build in a prime growth area at a major intersection of US 17 and VA 2 will be in the $450,000 to $500,000 range. Tricord is very interested in working with FredWes. On Monday evening the Leadership Team unanimously voted to recommend this site as our relocation option. If you vote to accept their recommendation we will enter into a letter of intent with Tricord which will allow your TEAM and Trustees to enter negotiation with Tricord on final conditions and cost of the project before we sign a contract. We are in the ballpark money-wise and will have time to raise funds or arrange necessary financing if the numbers are right.

8) This is not exactly pillar of cloud or pillar of fire type of guidance but the fact that this opportunity presented itself near the time of our closing Rt. 3 property when we were seeking direction seems as though it could be Providential.

Over 40 years of wandering through the desert God gave His people just two opportunities to enter into His Land of Promise. Incidentally, those opportunities were 40 years apart. That’s how rare these seasons of opportunity and favor can be. If there is anything we learn from these first few Old Testament Books it is the necessity of moving when God says move.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

January 28, 2016

Ask God to bless everyone who mistreats you. Ask him to bless them and not to curse them." Romans 12:14

During the Korean war a certain military unit had hired a local boy to cook and clean for them. Being a bunch of jokesters, these guys soon took advantage of the boy’s seeming naivete’.

· They'd put little water buckets over the door so he’d get soaked when he opened the door

· They’d smear Vaseline on the stove handles so that when he’d turn the stove on in the morning he’d get grease all over his fingers.

· They’d  even nail his shoes to the floor during the night.

Day after day the young Korean took the brunt of their practical jokes without saying anything. There was no blame, no self-pity, no temper tantrums.

Finally the men felt guilty about what they were doing, so they sat down with the boy and said, “Look, we know these pranks aren’t funny for you, and we’re sorry. We’re never going to take advantage of you again.” It seemed too good to be true to the houseboy.

“No more sticky on stove?” he asked.

“Nope.”


“No more water on door.”

“No.”

“No more nail shoes to floor?”

“Nope, never again.”

“Okay” the boy said with a smile, “no more spit in soup.”

We chuckle at this story but let me ask you a serious question, "When you get even with someone, do you actually get even? And does it make you feel better?"

I think you know the answer to that question.

In the Bible, who do you think felt better, Peter who cut off a young man's ear in a valiant but vain effort to protect Jesus. But which one of them felt better in the end, Peter or Jesus, Who touched the young Roman and reattached his severed ear?

If your purpose is to overcome evil with good, how can you justify hurting someone just because they have hurt you? When you respond to evil with more evil, you are overcome with the evil. That disobeys God's command.

What if the next time you are hurt by someone you overcome that pain by showing grace rather than getting even? What if you do what Jesus did - you take the pain and give them the gain? How would that change your relationships? How would that shape your world? What would that do for your heart? More importantly, you would show the love of God in a powerful way! You would be acting on faith not feelings.

Is it time for you to stop spitting in the soup?

January 27, 2016

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." Proverbs 14:34

This is a very straight forward statement. It is very simple and yet quite complex.

I would think that if you ask the average citizen of any nation, "Would you rather have your nation be righteous or disgraced?" My guess is that most of them would say, "I want a righteous nation!"

While righteousness is important to any nation, it is absolutely essential to the United States!

Here's why!

America is the only nation to have been founded on the idea that human rights are given by God and the purpose of government is to protect those rights. And America is the only nation to ever have codified those protections in a legal document (The Constitution).

Rights have as much to do with responsibility as they do with freedom. In a sense, that what righteousness is - the responsible exercise of freedom. The responsible exercise of freedom means doing what God says is right! How can you hope to maintain your rights if you do what God says is wrong? Unrighteousness is therefore, a direct threat to freedom! When you under mind what is right you under mind your rights!

Think about that if you think that righteousness does not matter.

As a very simple example remember what happened when you were a child and you did something wrong. When your parents discovered you had done wrong you were punished and that punishment involved some sort of loss of freedom. Maybe you were grounded for a day or maybe you had to go to your room for an hour or two - your "unrighteousness" caused you to lose (if only temporarily) some rights.

What happened on a very small scale in your home is a microcosm of what happens on a national scale when unrighteousness becomes epidemic.

More great empires have crumbled from within due to the moral and cultural decay resulting from rampant unrighteousness.

In addition to the Holy Scriptures, many of the Founding Fathers cautioned against immoral and irresponsible actions of unrighteousness!

Doing what is right is essential to keeping America free and strong. Not only does righteousness protect freedom (and it does) more importantly it earns God's favor and blessing. There is no substitute for that!

Wonder what is wrong with American? Unrighteousness is what is wrong with America!

Do you want to get America right again? Then do right by obeying God and living according to His Word!