August 24, 2017

"Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall." Psalm 55:22

You have probably heard this: "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death."

The moral:

It doesn't matter if you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.

No one enjoys being fearful, but fear is a powerful motivator. In our verse for today, the Psalmist offers some great advice, "Let your anxiety drive you to the Lord."

Recently there have been some anxiety-producing events. Last week it was the precipitous fall of the stock market. Events in the Middle East continue to escalate. Yesterday the earth shook in an area of the USA where earthquakes are rare. And this week-end a powerful hurricane has taken aim on the Carolina coast. How are you supposed to cope with these fearful developments?

"Cast your cares".

"Cast" in Hebrew means: to throw out, throw down, throw away, to hurl. It does not mean to take back what you have cast, nor to cherish, or keep - but to cast, toss, throw away from yourself.

"Cares" in Hebrew means: whatever is given by providence. That means every part of your personality, talents, thoughts, body, emotions, worries, burdens, joys, and gifts.

"LORD" as used here in Hebrew means - Eternal, Jehovah, self-existent. The One with no beginning and no end. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty." Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13.

Piece all these truths together and you get: "Throw and hurl everything that has been given to you onto the Lord. Everything that has been given to you, you are to throw onto the Lord and not to take it back."

That is your part. If you will do your part, here's what God will do:

"Sustain" in Hebrew means: "To keep in and contain, To abide, remain with and reside, To receive, comprehend and guide, To feed, nourish, make provision for and provide sustenance for."

God makes this personal - "You" - means God is willing and able to do this for you, just the way you are. No changes are needed to come before the Lord God Almighty.

Putting this all together: The Lord Jesus Christ will do all these thing for the one who casts to Him all that they have been, are now, and will be. Every facet of your life must be given away for Him in order for your joy to be full. God Himself will nourish and help you through what you are going through, no matter what it is!

"Fall" in Hebrew means: "To waver, slip, shake, fall; To be carried, cast, be out of course, be fallen in decay."

Add it up like this: The Lord God Almighty will never ever cause the just, clean and righteous person to slip and fall or be carried, cast, or be out of course and be fallen in decay. The Lord God will keep His child, that means the one who trust in Him and loves Him and obeys Him in Spirit and in Truth, He will keep that child cared for and nurtured, steadfast in His Love and protection.

What kept you from sleeping well last night? What caused you to awake with anxieties today? You can carry that again today or you can cast it on Him. Your fears can drain you or they can drive you to Him.

Listen to the Psalmist!

Rottonness To Righteousness

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.' God's Wrath Against Mankind The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." Romans 1:16-23

Remember the good news, bad news jokes?

Doctor: I have some good news and I have some bad news.

Patient: What's the good news?

Doctor: The good news is that the tests you took showed that you have 24 hours to live.

Patient: That's the good news? What's the bad news?

Doctor: The bad news is that I forgot to call you yesterday!

Doctor: I have some good news and some bad news.

Patient: What's the good news?

Doctor: The good news is they are naming a disease after you!

In Romans Chapter 1, Paul tells you about some Good News and some bad news. I suggest you pay close attention.

Before I pursue that thought let me call your attention to the fact that their is no such thing as "Neutral" news. There is "Good News" or "Bad News" and you are involved in one or the other.

The good news is that the "Good News" IS the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "Gospel" means "good news". Jesus came to bring good news from God for mankind. Jesus came to be the Redeemer that would take away the sins of the world.

Paul says that the Gospel is "the power of God for salvation". Salvation from what? Salvation from the bad news.

How does that work? What is that power?

The "Gospel" is the good news that there is a righteousness that can deliver you from the bad news. That righteousness is found in a Person, Jesus Christ. The "Gospel" is good news exposes the bad news and points to the way out. When you place our faith in that good news of God's righteousness, you enter into a relationship with Jesus that gives you His righteousness.

Part of having faith in His good news requires you to confront and confess the bad news in your life. As you cling to His righteousness and repent of your "rottenness", you enter into a personal relationship with God through Christ that gains you access to all His power and holiness! "Rottenness" is rooted in your refusal to believe the goodness and avail yourself of His righteousness. Bad news loves being rotten and revels in it.

The first chapter of Romans lays it out simply. There is good news about God's righteousness and bad news about our rottenness. It also clearly details the choices, the motives and the ultimate outcomes of each way. And it issues an ultimatum:

Live in righteousness or die in rottenness. Have the joy of knowing you are right with God or suffer the shame of rejecting Him.

Thomas Kelley

August 22, 2017

^"If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles."  Matthew 5:41

I read this on ESPN written by the Rick Reilly. This is a touching story and a perfect picture of what a church should be - second mile Christianity.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through. Did you hear that, the other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!" And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth." Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you." Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before - hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears. As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

At FredWes we are committed to being used by God to transform people into winners. Second-mile Christianity does that because it is love that's too big to miss. Are you ready to love like that?

August 21,2017

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" John 14:6

Let's take it head on. The thing that is most offensive about our faith in this age of relativism and diversity is the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ.

Honestly, we don't even like to think that our neighbor, Bob, who is so kind and helpful, who is a model husband and father, who volunteers in the community and coaches little league is going to die and go to hell if he does not trust Christ for salvation.

If that thought is hard for us to handle, imagine how it sits with an non-believer.

No wonder we will be challenged in our belief that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Expect it. Prepare for it. Brace your faith for the attacks.

How can I do that?

Consider Who it is that make the exclusive statement, "......no one comes to the Father except by me."

Jesus said, "I am...."

Where have I heard that before?

God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "

When Moses asked for credentials to use when he went to face a powerful skeptic, God simply said, "I AM WHO I AM". God is the Eternally Present, Eternally Powerful, and Eternally Personal God. Jesus is His Son. We either believe that or we don't. If we believe it, then we must stand on it. The only way to stand against relativism is with absolute truth.

By the way, how did that work out for Moses?

If God is Who He says He is, and if Jesus is His Son, then what He says must be obeyed. Even if it offends people. Even if it doesn't "feel right" to us.

Moses prevailed over Pharaoh because He believed God and obeyed Him, even though what God told him to do didn't always "feel right".

Here's your challenge today: Will you be right or will you "feel" right.

August 20, 2017

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Hebrews 25:19-25

If you have been following my blog posts this week you may wonder, "Wow, things are dark in our nation! What am I supposed to do? Will it really matter?"

My purpose this week has not been to discourage you but to be honest about how strong, determined and organized the forces of evil are! And they are on the march! And they are doubling down on their efforts.

So, the people of God need to redouble our efforts! We are on the winning side! We know the Bible promises times like this will come but it also gives us abundant guidance and reassurance.

One thing to keep in mind is this fact: THERE ARE MANY MORE OF US THAN THERE ARE OF THEM! These violent agents of chaos and mayhem represent less than 10% of Americans. Because they have the media behind them and substantial financial backing they appear more powerful than they actually are.

Remember, too, much of the Bible was written during times exactly like we are facing today. And centuries latter we still have our faith, we still have our Bible and we still have the Church. The gates of hell can make things tough on us but cannot or will not prevail against us!

The writer of Hebrews wrote this advice to believers facing days even more difficult than we are at the present. Read and reread these verses! Take them to heart! Redouble your efforts! Gathering for worship with your FredWes family is more important than ever! Encouraging each other matters more than ever! Loving Jesus and loving people to life has more significance that any other moment in your life!

Surprising your world by living out these five holy habits matters now more than ever! Blessing people and eating with people and listening to people and learning about Jesus and living with urgency WILL make a positive change in our world! You can push back the darkness and offer real hope to those within your area of influence!

FredWes and healthy local churches like her ARE the hope of the world! Believe it! Live it! Share it!

Looking forward to "gathering together" with you this morning!

August 19. 2017

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Christians are called to live 180 degrees different than non-believers. 

This verse highlights one of the primary ways that difference is manifested. Christ-followers ACT they don't REACT! That is because we live by PRINCIPLES not by our PASSIONS.

Over this past week we have observed a textbook case of overreaction! Anyone who can get you to react has taken charge of your life.

Charlottesville was a classic demonstration of how leftists work. They orchestrate a chaotic situation and then use their thugs and the media to create an overreaction to steer public opinion in a direction they want it to go.

I get angry over these tactics and it upsets me. When angry or upset it is easy to overreact. But Christians act they don't react. I want to live with passion and energy but I ask God the Holy Spirit to help me not overreact.

In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul describes what it looks like to live with passion but according to principles:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." 

How will you act today?

The End Of America As Founded??

"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead," Philippians 3:13

The other day I heard the President say, "When you start tearing down historical monuments where will it end?"

He asked if they would eventually remove Thomas Jefferson or George Washington? Will they change the name of Washington DC?

Sure enough, those suggestions have been made.

They won't really take down the Washington Monument will they?

They wouldn't destroy the Jefferson Memorial would they?

What if they just renamed them?

Where does it end?

Taken to it's logical conclusion the University of Virginia would need to be closed since it was founded by Thomas Jefferson.

What about James Madison University or George Mason or George Washington University? Could you ignore Washington and Lee University or Randolph Macon? Then you would have a hard time making a case for the existence University of Mary Washington University, would you not?

Where does it end?

It has to end some where. What is the ultimate target of this relentless attack on our history?

I believe the end game is the undermining of the founding of our nation. If all of our Founders were slave holders and if they are all dishonored then how can we have faith in the Constitution they wrote and ratified?

And if we discredit the Constitution then what happens to the rights and freedoms guaranteed therein? Who will then determine our rights and privileges as citizens? What will be the new foundation for America?

Where does it end?

It will end with the end of America as founded.

Do you think I'm carrying this to an extreme conclusion? 

Then you tell me where you see it ending. 

It will only end if courageous people in leadership which will stand up against it, defend our founding and say, "No more."

Do we have such leaders?

Time will tell.

Meanwhile, at FredWes we will continue "Loving people to LIFE!"

I Thessalonians 5 gives counsel to God's people in lawless times:

"Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,  for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,”destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually,  give thanks in all circumstances;for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. Brothers and sisters, pray for us.  Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."