July 14, 2016

^"1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion  blot out my transgressions. ² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. ⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. ⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,  sinful from the time my mother conceived me. ⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. ⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;  let the bones you have crushed rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins  and blot out all my iniquity. ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence  or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation  and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. ¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.¹⁸ In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar."  Psalm 51

To fully grasp the importance of repentance you really need to understand the destructive nature of sin. I'm sure David had an intellectual comprehension of why he didn't want to sin. He certainly had a front row seat observing King Saul's spiritual self-destruction. And I'm sure his passionate desire to please God gave him a hatred for sin.

But, despite those extremely strong aversions to sin - he sinned - TERRIBLY! And once he had fallen SO far and SO hard, he had a first-hand knowledge of how awful sin is and specifically, his sins. NOW he felt the desperate for forgiveness and was ready for true repentance.

What is involved in true repentence?

RESPONSIBILITY, Vv. 1-4

For repentance to matter it must begin by taking full and complete personal responsibility for your sin against a personal and holy God!

Face it! As a human parent you feel better when your child owns up personally and voluntarily to something they have done wrong. How much more so a God Who actually KNOWS the thoughts and doesn't just hear the words?

If you desire true forgiveness then offer true repentance beginning by taking full responsibility for your sin.

REMORSE, Vv. 1-4

Sincere repentance is demonstrated through sincere remorse. David shows that deep remorse as he cries out to God.

Real remorse goes hand in hand with taking responsibility. If you can't admit that you were very wrong then you can feel really bad about what you have done.

David did! You must, too!

RECOGNITION, Vv. 5-7

Repentance requires a stated recognition that God is holy, just, righteous, gracious, merciful and you are not!

Recognizing that you have sinned because you are sinful is more than an excuse - it is a fact. It is agreeing with God about Who He is and Who He says you are!

I John 1:9 says that if we "confess" our sins God will forgive them and cleanse you. "Confess" means to "agree" with God about your sinfulness.

RESTORATION, Vv. 8-12

Once you have come clean with God and come into clarity of Who He is, then you must be prepared to receive all the mercy and grace He offers to pentitent children.

By faith, receive His forgiveness and His cleansing and His peace and His joy and His presence and His power, and His promises - in short - ALL THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE!

Like the Prodigal father restored his pentinent son in the familiar parable, God FULLY restores those who come come to Him in true repentance.

RECOMMIT, Vv. 13-14

One of the evidences of true repentance is jumping back into serving God. And who better to teach or witness about the grace and mercy of God than one who has experienced that grace and mercy?

REJOICE, V. 15

Another evidence of one who has truly repented in his joy! Joy is expressed in rejoicing!

There is a line from an old hymn that celebrates the fact that when all the saints of God are gathered in Heaven and are rejoicing over their redemption the angels will have to fold their wings because they don't know the joy our redemption brings.

Cetainly, this is not to say that you should sin just to know the joy of forgiveness - BUT, as sinners, we MUST repent in order to receive. And once received and restored, rejoicing comes natural!

RESTITUTION, V. 16

A third evidence of a true reptentant is restitution. Repentence involves making right those people you have wronged, returning what you have stolen, or fixing what you have broken.

When you have sinned against God there is no restitution you can do toward Him - other than repent.

But the good news is this - YOU DON'T HAVE MAKE RESTITUTION - Jesus did that on the cross!

Sin is awful! 

Salvation from sin is awesome!

Truth is...

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." I Corinthians 13:6

The problem with sin is that it complicates life. It complicates life because it confuses your understanding of truth. When the line gets blurred between truth and lies, life gets tough in a hurry.

That is exactly what happened with Adam and Eve and it has become the story of humanity. It is essentially the story of history.

So, fast forward to your marriage and our truth for the day reminds us that love is directly and intricately connected with truth. The question then becomes, "What is truth?"

Truth is a Person!

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." When Jesus made that statement He was not saying He is a concept or a system of beliefs, He IS TRUTH! Truth starts and ends in HIM! If you want to know truth you must know Him! Nothing is true apart from Him! So, when this verse says that love rejoices in truth it makes a lot of sense when you understand that truth is not a thing it is a Person! Isn't it much easier to love a person? Especially when that Person is Jesus! Want love in your marriage? Get Jesus! Want truth in your marriage? Get Jesus!

Truth is Purity!

Because truth is a Person and that Person is Jesus, you need to get Jesus. In order to get Jesus you must repent of sin and renounce it in your life. You must cleanse your heart and mind of moral impurity. I John 1:8-9 affirms this: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." That's what I am talking about! Get rid of the impurity of sin and receive the purity of His righteousness. And righteousness is "rightness". Also, back up a couple of verses to I John 1:7 and it sheds more truth on truth: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." "Walk in the light". What is light but truth? As you walk in truth you walk in purity!

Truth Is Power!

When you have Jesus you have purity. When you have Jesus and purity you will have power. The power of truth! The power of holiness! The power of rightness!

Love rejoices in truth!

Make that "truth" with a capital "T"!

July 12, 2016

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

Wise people trust God. The wisest people trust Him completely.

The word for trust means to “lean into”. When you trust God you “lean into Him” with all your weight.

Heed the wise instruction given in these verses, “You don’t have to fully understand God in order to fully trust Him.”

Often, one of the biggest obstacles to trusting God is the notion that we have to understand Him in order to trust Him.

As Solomon reminds us in this Proverb, not only is that untrue it is absurd!

I put my trust in a lot of things I don’t understand. I have rested all my weight in a jetliner and flown 35,000 feet across the Atlantic Ocean with little understanding of that aircraft.

I have a very limited understanding of how my Toyota Camry works but I trust it to carry me wherever I need to go.

I lean heavily on this laptop for my writing and sermon preparation and research and emails every day of every week. I don’t really understand how it works.

Here’s some wisdom to help you trust Him.

Wise people trust God by leaning completely into His trustworthiness and leaning away from their understanding of Him.

Is your need to understanding Him making it difficult to trust Him?

Wise up!

Lean away from your need to understand Him and lean fully into what you DO understand about Him – HE IS TRUSTWORTHY!

By the way, an amazing thing happens as you lean fully into His trustworthiness – you gain a better understanding of Him as well!

How are you leaning today?

Standard of Loyalty

“The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.”  Psalm 27:1-3

What is God worth to you?

How would you estimate His value in your life?

How would you express that to Him?

The word "worship" comes from two old English words "worth"  and "ship".  It literally means giving worth to God or expressing His worth.

So, the purpose of worship is to express to God how much you realize He is worth to you. Now when that happens, several other good things begin to happen. As you realize how much He is worth to you you also get a fresh sense of how much you are worth to Him! Also, you begin to understand how valuable others are to Him - and you grasp how much others need Him. As you worship Him you catch a fresh glimpse of His holiness and your unworthiness. That humbles you and causes you to call upon Him more. Calling upon Him fills you with more of His presence and restores your hope - and so it goes! Worship is the life-blood of your Christian commitment!

Think about this:

I wonder what would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives? 

If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If the postman skipped delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a reliable employee? If your fridge stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it work most of the time.”? If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable? If you skipped a couple of electricity bill payments do you think Dominion Power would mind? If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian? We expect loyalty and reliability from things and other people - isn’t it reasonable then that God just might expect the same from us.

Is God worth one Sunday a month to you?

Is He worth two Sundays a month?

Even if you worship every Sunday, is that enough?

If worship helps you understand and express His worth more effectively, how much worship is enough? How much of God is enough?

Check out Romans 12:1-2 as you prayerfully meditate on these thoughts.

July 11, 2016

“The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.”  Psalm 27:1-3

What is God worth to you?

How would you estimate His value in your life?

How would you express that to Him?

The word "worship" comes from two old English words "worth"  and "ship".  It literally means giving worth to God or expressing His worth.

So, the purpose of worship is to express to God how much you realize He is worth to you. Now when that happens, several other good things begin to happen. As you realize how much He is worth to you you also get a fresh sense of how much you are worth to Him! Also, you begin to understand how valuable others are to Him - and you grasp how much others need Him. As you worship Him your catch a fresh glimpse of His holiness and your unworthiness. That humbles you and causes you to call upon Him more. Calling upon Him fills you with more of His presence and restores your hope - and so it goes! Worship is the life-blood of your Christian commitment!

Think about this:

I wonder what would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives? 

If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If the postman skipped delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a reliable employee? If your fridge stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it work most of the time.”? If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable? If you skipped a couple of electricity bill payments do you think Dominion Power would mind? If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian? We expect loyalty and reliability from things and other people - isn’t it reasonable then that God just might expect the same from us.

Is God worth one Sunday a month to you?

Is He worth two Sundays a month?

Even if you worship every Sunday, is that enough?

If worship helps you understand and express His worth more effectively, how much worship is enough? How much of God is enough?

Check out Romans 12:1-2 as you prayerfully meditate on these thoughts.

July 10, 2016

"Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows." Matthew 10:28-31

As Jesus brings this session with His disciples to a close He gives them two more ways to overcome fear. First, know what really matters and second, know how much you matter to God.

Think about it. Doesn't it make sense that attaching yourself too tightly to things that can be lost, stolen, broken or become obsolete is a prescription for anxiety?

You have a forever part of you and you have a frail fleshly part of you. Where do you think you should invest most of your faith, hope and dreams? Doesn't it make sense that investing those things that matter most to you in the forever could be a stress reducer?

Jesus thinks so. In fact, He knows it will!

So, the Master after telling His disciples not to be afraid turns a "180" saying they should focus their fear on those things that can destroy their spirit not their body.

What are some things that can destroy your spirit? Self-centeredness, materialism, greed, lust or covetousness would form a short but deadly list. Are not each of these connected in some way to a love of temporary comfort or pleasure or security. Does not a strong focus on these distract you from developing your spirit? Doesn't that continual and passionate pursuit of earthly advantages foster the rise of fear within your heart?

If you answered yes to any of these questions I urge you to give a second look at the Word of God. I implore you to give Him a listen when He calls you to change your fleshly focus to a forever focus. When you do you will notice an immediate peace that will continue to grow as you continue to follow.

One more truth gleaned from this saying of Jesus is that fear will decline as you increase in your awareness of God's love! No one ever has nor ever could love you as much as God does and Jesus came to prove that.

His follower, John, who knew Jesus as well as anyone on earth wrote, "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend!"

The call to follow Jesus is a call to live in His love, to learn of His love, to lavish in a love which provides everything for the present life and the life to come!

Jesus is reminding His followers yet again how much His heavenly father enjoys caring for those who trust Him. He delights in it! He is good at it!

Essentially, Jesus wants you to know if you will care intentionally, passionately and primarily about the things He cares for then He will make sure your needs are cared for!

I feel relieved just thinking about it!

Don't you feel your tension level dropping?

July 9, 2016

^“A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still! ”Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:37-41

Do you still have no faith?

Isn't that a piercing question?

What He is really asking is, "Do you have a faith that's greater than your fear?"

Still a piercing question!

Why did Jesus allow His disciples to endure such a fearful experience as this fierce and frightening storm?

Jesus knew the only way to learn how to handle fear is to experience it. Fear is a decision. Not always a rational one but a decision none the less. 

Faith is also a decision, a rational one. So, faith is coming to a rational decision in the midst of irrational fears. Faith is suddenly remembering that Jesus is in the boat during a storm. Faith is consciously shifting your focus from the storm to the Savior.

Unless you go through some storms and get scared to death you won't learn that God is faithful in the storm. And if you don't learn it there will be plenty more storms to help you learn it.

Until you have accused Him of not caring about your life can you learn the reality of how - and how much - He really does care!

Until you experience the terror of feeling your life is out of control do you fully understand the power of being under His control.

Only when you have had some, "Who is this that even the waves and winds obey Him" moments can you appreciate His sovereign power.

Once you have been terrified (feared with a great fear) in His presence you can begin to understand that faith begins with the fear of God. When you fear God more than you fear anything else then you are at a place where you can rationally choose faith.

Don't be surprised by the storms.

Don't despise the storms.

Don't go through a storm without Him.

Don't waste the fear you feel in the storm!

Facing a storm without Him should be your greatest fear.