April 19, 2016

"I do not call you slaves anymore. Slaves do not know their master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends. I have told you everything I learned from my Father." John 15:15

Here's a question to get your brain jump-started this morning.

"What do these people found in the Bible have in common?"

Pontius Pilate

The woman at the well

Jairus

The adulterous woman

James 

Martha

The Gadarene demoniac

Zacchaeus

The Lad with a lunch

Bartimaeus

Lazarus

Barrabas

How are you doing?

Each of the above mentioned people are known in history for one simple reason - they had an encounter with Jesus.

Seriously, would any of their names have endured through 2,000 years of history had they not crossed paths with the Savior?

The point?

Jesus gives significance to every life He touches and we all long for significance.

Back in 1943, a psychologist named Abraham Maslow categorized what he perceived to be man's most basic needs by arranging them in a pyramid he called the "Hierarchy of Needs". Atop that pyramid was what he dubbed "Self-Actualization". He apparently believed that man is capable to find satisfaction and fulfillment on his own merit.

History records that "Savior-Actualization" is where significance is realized. The list of people above are examples of those who found a measure of fame only because they happened to cross paths with the Man from Galilee!

Jesus is the only one who can satisfy your craving for meaning and significance!

Have you met Jesus?

Do you know Him as Your Savior?

Are you walking with Him?














                                                         

Giants Will Fall If God Stands Tall

"David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”  I Samuel 17:45-47

What should I expect of God? 

I can show you what David expected. He expected that God put a giant in front of him so he could demonstrate that He is a giant God!

The old saying. "The bigger they are the harder they fall" certainly applies to God. Some powerful enemies have opposed Him and He stands undefeated. According to what I read in the back of the Book, He will remain undefeated for ever!

How did it happen that David looked at Goliath and said, "He is too big to miss." when all the other soldiers were thinking "He is too big to fight."!

That is THE big question, isn't it?

Here are a couple of obvious answers from reading this story.

First, David spent his time focusing on God while Saul and his soldiers had been focused on Goliath. 

It matters where you fix your focus!

David, as a shepherd, spent his days watching sunrises and sunsets and full moons and constellations of stars. His constant focus was on the beauty and grandeur of God! The more you gaze at God, the better He looks!

As for the Army of Israel, they had been subjected to the sights and sounds of a seriously large and loud Philistine warrior. Seeing this imposing enemy while listening daily to his taunts and curses had taken a toll on their faith and taken their focus off God.

Is there a giant hovering over your life? 

Has it taken a toll on your faith? Have you found yourself more focused on that giant than on God?

Second, David's expectations of God came out of his personal experience with God. All the time he had spent with God in the remote areas where he tended sheep had allowed him to get to know God well. When he was lonely and called upon God, God came. When he was frightened and called upon God, strength and courage came. When a lion attacked his flock, God's power came and enabled him to slay the lion. And when a bear came after his sheep, he was given a godly strength to kill the bear.

Because David had learned to trust God in his private battles, he found it easy to trust God in this public confrontation.

Your expectations of God will reveal a lot about your experience with Him. If you are losing in your personal spiritual battles you will have difficulty ratcheting up your expectations against your giant.

Where do you need to trust Him in your personal battles? 

Where is the focus of your life?

Giants can fall in your life if God stands tall in your life. David proved it! 

Will you?

April 17, 2016

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him." Matthew 4:1-11

Pride is ever lurking within the human heart ready to shut you in and shut others and God out.

Pride seeks to make you self-sufficient and independent. 

There are three words that will puff up your pride quicker than anything else. Those three words are:

1) Power

2) Prestige

3) Possessions

So, powerful are these that before He began His earthly ministry Jesus had to overcome these three temptations.

In two previous posts I referenced how Jesus stood against the temptation to misuse His power for selfish reasons and how He turned down the scheme to gain Him instant fame and prestige.

The third temptation was an offer of a prized possession. "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 

There is a certain irony in One Who gave up everything dear and precious to Him and yet would be tempted by the offer of gaining possessions. So, there must be more to it.

There is.

God had given Adam dominion over the kingdoms of the world but when Satan deceived him and lured Adam into disobedience Satan usurped Adam's dominion. Adam no longer held the keys to the kingdom but Satan did. The Second Adam would have to win them back.

So, therein lies the power of this temptation. Satan was in a position to hand Jesus a painless shortcut to regaining the kingdom. He could have gotten back the keys of the kingdom and avoided the cross. But in so doing He would have disqualified the Second Adam.

Jesus answered the temptation with truth. Once again He rebuked and repudiated Satan with Scripture.

This gives us clearer insight into Hebrews 4:15: "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."


Just like you, Jesus faced the temptations that come from power, prestige and possessions. But unlike you He resisted them. But because He understands how you struggle He also knows how to help you. 


If you ask Him and trust Him He will give you His power to resist the devil's power! He will give you His prestige and you can possess all that He has if you will allow Him to possess you!

April 16, 2016

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him." Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus came to kill the power of pride in the human nature. He struck at the heart of pride by releasing all claims on power, prestige or possessions. He surrendered to the sovereignty of God and became an obedient servant to both God and man.

Neither Jesus nor you are able to overcome pride without defeating the three "p's" - power, prestige and possessions. At the very beginning of His earthly ministry He was confronted by the devil with these three temptations.

In a recent post I shared how Jesus withstood the temptation to misuse His power by turning stones into bread so He could satisfy His hunger.

Because Jesus passed the temptation to abuse or misuse His power guess what? God gave Him more power!

In the verses highlighted in red above, Jesus was challenged by the temptation of prestige. Since every one of us has a strong desire to be well thought of and respected and admired the offer of instant prestige is quite powerful! And that's what Satan offered to Jesus.

All Jesus would have to do is to take a swan dive from the pinnacle of a prominent building and be caught by the angels the instant before He hits the ground. What a spectacular publicity stunt that would have been! Jesus' fame would have spread world-wide before sunset! Why die on a cross when you can dive into immediate celebrity status?

That was the enticing proposition posed to Jesus' pride as He prepared to launch His preaching ministry.

What young person beginning his career does not aspire to becoming prestigious? Who would not find it

a powerful pull on their pride to be promised instant prestige? Jesus probably did, too! At least the human part of Him!

But Jesus met the powerful proposal with the power of Scriptural perspective - ”Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 

When Satan offered Jesus the temptation He met it with the truth! When Satan targeted His flesh Jesus countered with faith. When Satan tried to manipulate His feelings Jesus countered with facts and the fact was that Jesus had surrendered the prestige of Heaven and exaltation by angels so what could Satan offer Him?

Once again, Jesus killed pride before it could kill Him. He shut it out before it could shut Him in. He killed the temptation to power and He killed the temptation to prestige. And He did it to show it can be done. He did it to help you overcome the temptations of pride.

May I remind you that if you long for power and are drawn to the need for prestige, devote yourself fully to Jesus Who can offer you more power and prestige than you will ever need.

Actually Unsinkable

It was 104 years ago that the unexpected happened.

In the frigid waters of the North Atlantic the "unsinkable" luxury line "Titantic" hit an iceberg and gashed a huge hole in its hull. At 2:20 am on April 15, 1912, it slipped below the surface of the ocean with 1517 souls still aboard.

So unexpected was it that when the news hit the newspapers it was met with stunned disbelief. 

It seems most had bought into the hype of the "unsinkable" Titanic.

Should they have had such loft expectations of a ship on its maiden voyage? Wouldn't their hopes have been more realistic had the crew and the captain have had the experience of several previous voyages?

History shows the fallacy of expecting something based on speculations and calculations and projections rather than experience. And it certainly calls into question the decision to allow fewer lifeboats than usual. Was that because of the assumption if the ship was not likely to sink they would surely not be needed?

A century of speculation and second-guessing has only added to the folly of their grand but unfounded expectations.

In the great "faith chapter" of the Bible, Hebrews 11, the phrase "by faith" appears some 18 times by my count. That's another way of saying "they had expectations" of God.

For most of them their expectations were rooted in their experiences with God. They had personally experienced what He could do for them and could easily imagine Him being able to do more.

The chapter records that their expectations were rewarded, some in this life but all in the life to come. God had "something better" planned for them.

God always delivers more than we expect from Him!

Two thousand years of "by faith" experiences have proven God REALLY IS unsinkable and you can expect Him to keep your life and your hopes afloat!

Your life won't always be smooth sailing but the One Who steers the ship also controls the sea!

The Worth of a Human Soul

A member of FredWes, Dale Taylor, has a ministry of writing strong Scripture-based letters to the editors in several of our area newspapers. I wanted to share his latest one with you because presents the Gospel in such a clear, concise and convicting manner. This can serve as a guide for you when you want to share the Gospel with a friend or family member!

If someone were to offer you one million dollars for one of your eyes would you take the money?What if someone offered twenty million dollars for both of your eyes would you then take the money, even if the offer was fifty million dollars?  Some may sell one eye for a million but there is a good chance no one would sell both eyes.  The reason is clear our eyes are precious to us.  If our eyes are that precious to us what must be the worth of a human soul. 

The Bible tells us in Mark 8:36-37 “For  what will  it profit a man if he  gains the whole world and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” 

If you drove by a house and saw it on fire and a child was at one of the windows trying to get out, would you stop and try to rescue that child?  Of course you would.  If a bridge was out wouldn’t you warn people of the danger?  Yes.  This is a message of love warning people the bridge is out.  There is a fire waiting to consume you, and there is something far greater than your eyes.  That something greater is your eternal soul.  With every religion in the world men and women are trying to be good enough by working their way to heaven.  That is except Christianity.  The God of the Bible demands perfection and no one comes close because we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God.  In the Christian faith, God came down to earth in love to save mankind from sin.  Jesus Christ came to earth to suffer and die on a cross for the sins of the whole world.  Jesus became sin for us and we became the righteousness of Christ.  John 3:36 states, “He who believes in the Son of God has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life,but the wrath of God abide son him.”  God wishes that none should perish but all would come to repentance.  While we were yet sinners Christ dies for us.  Pure unconditional love suffered and died on a cross so all who believe in Him will have eternal life.  He asks us to believe in Him with the faith of a little child.Romans 10:9-10, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved .For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” A prayer from your heart could be something like this, “Jesus I confess I am a sinner and I ask forgiveness.Come into my life and be my Lord and Savior.  I surrender all my heart to You and ask to be filled with Your Holy Spirit of love and power.  Thank You Jesus for saving me.” 

Eyes are precious but receiving Jesus Christ as your savior for the payment of your sins and the salvation of your soul is the greatest gift in all of life.  To save yourself from the burning fires of hell is a free gift of grace by faith in Jesus Christ.  This was written in the love of Jesus so whoever believes and puts their trust in the Son of God will escape the broken bridge that leads down to destruction.  

“Enter by the narrow gate, (Jesus is the gate) for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14.

The Bible says that angels rejoice in heaven over one sinner coming home.  May there be rejoicing in heaven.   

The Original Loaf of Wonder Bread

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him." Matthew 4:1-11

Pride entered the world largely because of a lust for three things (if even to varying degrees); 

power

prestige

possessions

Any one of those alone can tempt you toward pride. The combination of one or two more is deadly.

Lucifer couldn't resist their attraction. Neither could Adam or Eve.

You must kill your pride before it kills you! 

If you are going to kill it you must learn how to resist the powerful lure of those temptations.

The temptation to pride is very strong in all of its forms. But we have a Savior Who is stronger than the temptation to power or prestige or possessions! We know that because we have the Biblical record to prove it!

At the beginning of His earthly ministry Jesus withdrew to a remote wilderness location to fast, pray and prepare for temptation.

Forty days later, when the Tempter showed up, notice what he used to tempt the Savior.

The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

What is this temptation?

Is it not the temptation of power?

Jesus had power. A lot of power! He could have spoke the word and the stone would have become the original loaf of "wonder bread"!

But, the lure of the Tempter was the misuse of His power for selfish purposes.

Jesus WAS hungry and He WAS able but He chose NOT to be self-serving with His power. 

To overcome the power of this temptation Jesus leaned on the power of the Scripture, "Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

You too will be tempted with power. You will be offered power or to misuse your power in exchange for what the devil may offer.

Today, will you follow Jesus' example and resist the temptation to abuse power or to be tempted by power by depending on Scripture?