December 2, 2015

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Matthew 1:18-25

How do I know if I have a “Joseph heart”? Or maybe a better question is, how do I know when I don’t?

I am glad you asked!

Let me give you some markers you can look to for evidence.

First, Joseph was surrendered to God’s will.

Being surrendered to God’s will simply means you do what you know God wants you to do even when it is something you don’t understand or would rather not do. Joseph wanted to marry Mary, but not under these circumstances. But he did!

The other things he was asked to do where not things he found joy or pleasure in, but they were the clear will of God so he did them.

Are you surrendered to the will of God? Are you willing to do what ever He may ask you to do?

Second, Joseph sacrificed to do God’s will.

Obeying God will cost you something! Disobeying God will cost you more!

Joseph sacrificed his reputation in the community to marry a pregnant fiancée. When you are a small businessman in a small town your reputation is everything. Joseph but it up for risk to obey God!

What have you sacrificed for God lately? What are you willing to sacrifice? What are you unwilling to sacrifice?

Finally, Joseph served God, served Mary, and served God’s Son. In so doing, He served God.

People with a “Joseph Heart” are servants. Like Jesus’ earthly father, those in possession of a “Joseph heart” are willing to serve God by serving others. They are humble. They are helpful.

Are you are servant? Do you find joy in serving others? Or, would you rather be served?

There are at least three unmistakable signs of a “Joseph heart:

A willingness to surrender to God

A willingness to sacrifice for God!

A willingness to serve God!

Those are things that allowed Joseph to help change the world!

How is your heart?

December 1, 2015

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

I am a proud alumnus of Indiana Wesleyan University (in a humble sort of way). IWU has been a leader in distance learning – that is, via extension centers and the Internet. That concept allows people to get a good college education without the high cost and without actually going to Marion, IN.

Not only is this less expensive it fits our human nature. It is our nature to know as much as we can with as little effort and sacrifice as possible. I am not being critical, if I could have gotten a college degree without actually going to college and studying and paying off student loans for ten years I would have taken it in a heartbeat!

You would, too!

Knowledge is power and to have more knowledge without working for it or paying for it is an irresistible idea. Who could pass on that deal?

God did!

What?

Re-read these verses!

Another awesome amazing truth about Christmas is that God, Who knows everything that there is to know and possesses all power, did not settle for long distance learning in regard to the human experience.

Rather than cling to power, He relinquished it.

Instead, of resting in knowledge, He released it.

Unlike you and I, who do our best to avoid pain and suffering and death, He embraced it!

WHY?

This text tells us:

1) So He can completely identify with us!

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are”

 2) So He can compassionately intercede for us!

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God”

One of the primary responsibilities of a High Priest is to represent his people before God and God before his people.

3) So we can confidently interact with Him!

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

God did not settle for knowing you from a distance, He sent Jesus to get personally involved in the pain and passion of your human experience! Christmas means God’s Son got up close and personal with your human experience! He desired to know you more intimately so you may know Him more intimately!

That’s AMAZING news! “Good tidings of great joy” as the angels proclaimed!

Why would you settle to know God at a distance when you can know Him personally? Why would you cling to your illusions of power when you can be intimately connected with the God of the universe?

November 30, 2015

“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” Matthew 1:24

“When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt” Matthew 2:13-14

“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” Matthew 2:19-21

Meditating on the Christmas story the other day a thought occurred to me, “I had trouble trusting my teen-agers with the car, but God trusted two teen-agers with the Christ!”

From everything we know about Mary and Joseph, that is what they were – teen-agers!

Once I got my mind around that I began to ponder why they were so trustworthy when mine weren’t.

My teens were immature – so were they.

My teens were inexperienced – so were they.

My teens were impulsive – they may have been.

Let me focus on the obvious and most significant difference – obedience. God could trust Joseph and Mary.

The proof is in these three verses chosen from the first few chapters of Matthew. In each of these verses Joseph obeyed God IMMEDIATELY.

That will build a little trust!

When I saw God trusting teens with the birth and care of the Savior I began to comprehend the power and potential of obedience. Wow!

After I got a grasp on that I begin to wonder what could happen in my life if I would become more obedient – instantly obedient.

What about you? How is your obedience?

God used two obedient teens to change the course of human history, not to mention the possibilities for eternity!

Our world may be only a few “obediences” away from a dramatic improvement. 

If only God could trust us!

November 29, 2015

As we move from Thanksgiving into Christmas Season it is a perfect time to call the church to prayer. And before I do I want to review several important insights about prayer. Two have been presented and in this post I will share the third.

First, We Must Be Armored for Prayer – Ephesians 6:10-20

Second, We Are Assisted in Prayer – Romans 8:26-35

Today, We Can Be Assured In Prayer

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him”  I John 5:13-15

·        You can be confident the One Who answered the prayer for your greatest need according to His will will also answer all your prayers according to His pleasure!

·        Consistent with our theme for this series – our courage and confident for the future is based on what God has done in the past and promises to do in the future when His people pray!

A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the County Building Inspector informed the pastor their parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building and until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to move into the new sanctuary.

Unfortunately, the church with the undersized parking lot used every inch of land right up against the mountain that bordered their property. In order to add the required parking spots they would literally have to move a mountain!

Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning there would be a prayer meeting held Monday evening for all the members who had “mountain-moving faith”. The sole agenda for that meeting would be to ask God to somehow remove the mountain from their back yard and while He was at it, provide enough money to have it paved and striped in time for their dedication service scheduled on the following Sunday.

The next evening 24 of the 300 church members showed up and used their mountain-moving faith to call upon God in behalf of their desperate need. For three hours they earnestly prayed and at 10:00 the pastor pronounced the final “amen”. He dismissed the faithful few with this assurance, “We will dedicate our new sanctuary as scheduled next Sunday! God has never let us down and He will be faithful to us once again!”

Tuesday morning the pastor was in his office bright and early. His study was interrupted by a loud knock on his door. When he called, “Come in”, a rough looking man wearing a hard hat walked into his office. Removing his helmet the man introduced himself, “Excuse me, Reverend. I’m a construction foreman from Acme Construction Company over in the next county. We’re building a huge new shopping mall over there and we need a whole lot of fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of your mountain? We’ll pay you a fair price for all the dirt we remove, we will level and pave all the exposed area free of charge and stripe it for you if you will agree to let us begin today. We can’t proceed on the project until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly.  

So, the little church with a big faith dedicated their new and larger sanctuary as previously scheduled! And there were far more members with “mountain-moving faith” than there had been the Sunday before!

When you understand you must be armored for prayer, when you know you are assisted in prayer and you assured in your prayer you, too, can have mountain-moving faith!

November 28, 2015

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray the Lord my soul to keep

If I should die before I wake

I pray the Lord my soul to take

I would be pretty safe wagering that this was one of the very first prayers you learned as a child.  It is a very good prayer and if you have children I am sure you taught this prayer to them!

Prayer is one of the vitally important disciplines of effective Christians so the earlier you learn to prayer or teach children to pray the better it will be!

Since I will be calling the FredWes family to prayer in both services this Sunday morning I thought it wise to share three powerful portions of Scripture pertaining to prayer and pull some principles from them.

Yesterday I shared Ephesians 6:10-12 and shared this truth from those verses: We Are Armed For Prayer.

This morning I post the second prayer principle and it is found in Romans 8:26-35.

WE ARE ASSISTED IN PRAYER

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”  Romans 8:26-35

·         When you pray the Holy Spirit will strengthen you and guide your praying.

·         When you pray the Holy Spirit will intercede for you with God according to God’s will. He directs our prayers according to how God is working in you and in your circumstances.

·         Jesus also intercedes for you from His position at the right hand of God.

Knowing that the Holy Spirit is assisting and interceding as you pray should give you courage!

Knowing that Jesus is also interceding as you pray should strengthen your courage!

Pray away!

November 27, 2015

Sunday, before I call the church to prayer I will share three quick reminders about prayer based on three powerful Scriptures about prayer.

Here is the first one!

WE SHOULD BE ARMED FOR PRAYER!

^“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”  Ephesians 6:10-20

Here are several insightful takeaways from this powerful portion of Scripture:

·         Prayer is much more powerful than you think.

·         Prayer is spiritual warfare.

·         When you pray the enemy fights back.

·         Because it is spiritual warfare you need spiritual armor.

·         When you go to war you go to win and you can’t win without praying in the Spirit and putting on the armor.

·         With spiritual prayers and the spiritual protection you can pray fearlessly for yourself and others.

What spoke to you from this Scripture?

Will this impact how you think about prayer?

Will this change how you prayer?

Are you armored up this morning?

If you are, shouldn’t that give you courage as you pray?

November 26, 2015

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

You pray for everything and everyone that really matters to you. And you teach everyone who is important to you how to pray.

So, don’t tell me prayer doesn’t matter.

From the earliest days of our formation as a country prayer was valued because freedom and liberty were hard earned and highly valued.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s the original proclamation that established this National Holiday. I thought it might be good to start your Thanksgiving Day by reading the declaration penned by Fredericksburg’s Favorite Son, George Washington.

Thanksgiving Proclamation

Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence  of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interposition of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.  Go. Washington

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!