September 5, 2017

“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven. “ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?  But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” Luke 5:17-26

Wow! 

What an amazing and thrilling story!

There is much to be learned from these four friends who helped their friend find healing at the hands of Jesus.. There are some direct applications from their ministry to the ministry of a local church that wants to get people to Jesus.

First, they wanted to carry their friend because Jesus was in the house.

The main reason people want to go to a church is because they know Jesus is in that house. Likewise, the reason they want to bring their spiritually needy friends is the same reason, because Jesus is in that house.

It's a worthwhile reminder of what is most needed to attract people to church. Many churches have bought into the idea of what it takes to get people to choose a church:

• A high-powered, high personality, high-profile pastor
• A high- powered praise band with a worship leader to match
• High quality worship productions
• High-powered programs for every age and every need
• And highly polished promotions for all of the above

There is nothing wrong with any of those things but they are poor substitutes for the presence of Jesus in the house. When you have the leadership and the budget and the staff and the talent to make all those things happen, it gets very tempting to invest all your focus and energy toward making them happen. The time, the thought, the focus, the practice and the planning required to execute all those things can distract from time spent in prayer. It is easy to drift away from trust the Lord and start depending on talent, creativity and planning.

I have served in a couple of situations where we faced those issues and I know how easy it can be to fall in love with creativity and lose touch with Christ. It's a battle but one worth fighting because when you have all those benefits and still have Jesus in the house - powerful things can happen!

When these four friends carried their needy neighbor to see Jesus, they found no room in the house because Jesus was in the house.

Of all the things we need at FredWes, the thing we need the most is to have Jesus in the house. 

How does that happen?

Seek Him first and surrender to Him and don't settle for less. Jesus comes where He is invited and welcomed.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and these things will be added to you as well." Matthew 6:33

September 4, 2017

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take car of it." Genesis 2:15

"So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals." Genesis 2:20

"His servants will serve Him." Revelation 22:3

According to the Department of Labor, the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, according to the plans of New York's Central Labor Union. The second Labor Day followed a year later, on September 5, 1883. Labor Day wasn't part of a three-day weekend until 1884, when the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed by the Central Labor Union, who then urged other labor organizations in other cities to celebrate the holiday on the first Monday of September.

The first state to enact a bill that would eventually become law to celebrate Labor Day was Oregon on February 21, 1887. Other states jumped on the bandwagon, just a few at first, but more than half of the states adopted the holiday to honor America's workers by 1894. On June 28, 1984 the U.S. Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. So the idea of a three-day Labor Day weekend was well in place across the U.S. over 100 years ago.

Am I the only one to find it ironic that we celebrate the American Labor Movement by taking a day off and not working?

I also find it interesting that work is God's idea while taking a day off of work to celebrate work is man's idea! Just another of the multitude of reasons He is God and you're not!

As we head into this week leading up to Labor Day how do you feel about your job? Do you enjoy working?

Would it help to know that God invented work, put together the first job description, made the first hire and supervised the job site?

And remember that this all took place in a the original paradise, the Garden of Eden!

We see in the Scripture verses above that work was the part of God's will for man at the very beginning of time and it will continue to be a significant part our responsibilities in Heaven! He made meaningful work for man and He made man for work!

So, if you find your boss testy, your job tedious and your co-workers trying it might help to remember Who created work!

And remember, praising Him is job one!

September 3, 2017

"And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work He had done." Genesis 2:3

With our first look at God in the Bible we see Him working!

Have you ever thought of that?

That makes quite a statement about the importance and the sanctity of work!

When you have finished thinking about that think about this, with few exceptions you know the great heroes of the Bible because of the work they did.

Adam was a care-taker before he was careless.

Noah was a farmer who became a ship builder.

Joseph was a dreamer turned dream-reader turned prime minister.

Moses was a prince turned fugitive turned rancher turned deliverer turned tour-guide!

Rahab was a member of the oldest profession turned rescuer.

David was a shepherd who became a giant-killer and part-time musician who became a king.

Nehemiah was a wall-builder.

Peter was a fisherman. So were James, John and Andrew.

Matthew was a tax-collector. So was Lazarus.

Paul was a pharisee turned evangelist.

Jesus was a carpenter for maybe 18-20 years and a rabbi for only three years. (I'm REALLY thankful for those last three years!)

This represents a short list of Biblical characters who are identified in terms of the work they did.

Work is honorable so why not honor God through the work He has given you to do?

How will you honor Him in the workplace on Tuesday?

September 2, 2017

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."  II Peter 1:3-4

When I was a kind we used to sing a chorus in Sunday School that went something like this:

"Every promise in the Book is  mine - every word, every letter, every line."

Looking back on it I believe my teacher was trying to instill the same truths in me that Peter is affirming to these Christians - GOD HAS GIVEN US GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES!

These promises are great because of Who has given them!

These promises are great because of what they give to you!

These promises are great because of what they will give you in days to come!

And, these promises are great because they are TRUE and their truth is guaranteed in Jesus Christ, Who is both the fulfillment of every promise and is the proof that every promise will be fulfilled!

His promises that have been given to you are precious because He made them!

His promises are precious because what they promise is precious!

His promises are precious because of the price that was paid to guarantee them -the life blood of Jesus.

God, through His power, has given you great and precious promises!

Will you believe them?

Will you receive them?

Strange Math

"One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:6-8

I was never real good in math, but math is nice and tidy, very predictable. When you add one and one you always get two. Always. When you subtract 5 from 10 you get 5. Always. That is nice That is comfortable. That is so unlike life.

But somehow we take a mathematical approach to life. We think that if we do this good thing and combine it with that good thing we will get a good result. Maybe. Maybe not.

That is a huge part of the problem with suffering. It doesn't always add up. In the Bible some of the men who suffered the most lived the best. So here's the math: righteous living + faithful obedience = severe suffering. God's math is strange!

There weren't many who were more moral than Job. He was so righteous that God bragged on him to the Devil! Of all the people I want to impress, God is THE ONE! So what did Job's stellar resume get him? Deep sorrow and suffering. How does that add up?

David had a heart like God's. When God chose him to be King his life was constantly threatened by Saul the reigning king. He spent years running from Saul even though David was totally blameless. Several times he could have killed Saul and ended the period of exile, but he chose to honor Saul because Saul still occupied the throne. David suffered and suffered longer than he needed to because his heart was right and he chose to wait on God. How does that add up?

And then, of course, there was Jesus. He was sinless and remained sinless for one reason. So He could become sin for us and suffer our judgment. The very Son of God died a horrifying excruciating shameful death for one reason - He was the only One holy enough to do it! There is no worse suffering than death on a cross. God's best took our worst. How does that add up?

This brings us back to the problem that has no mathematical solution, a holy all powerful loving God Who could prevent all suffering doesn't. No one has ever been able to balance that equation. That has caused many to abandon faith or to choose not to believe.

What do you do when life doesn't add up?

What are you to believe when God subtracts from your comfort rather than adding to it?

Will you factor in God's goodness and love when the math doesn't seem to work?

Can you trust your problem to be His solution?

August 31, 2017

"Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ," II Peter 1:1a

What Peter describes as his role, a “slave” of Jesus Christ, is also your role and it is my role. But just exactly does that mean?

It means to surrender to Him! Offer yourself with all your hopes and ambitions.

Billy Graham tells the story about a little child who was playing with a very valuable vase. He put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His father too, tried his best to get it out, to no avail. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, “Now my son, make one more try. Open your hand and hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing, and then pull.” To their astonishment the little fellow said, “O no, dad, I couldn’t put my fingers out like that because if I did I would drop my dime.”

It means to serve Him! Offer to do His will.

When Joseph Ton was a pastor in Romania he was arrested by the secret police for publishing a sermon calling for the churches to refuse to submit to the Communist government’s demand for control over their ministries. When an official told him he must renounce his sermon, he replied, "No, sir! I won’t do that!"

The official, surprised that anyone would respond so forcefully to the secret police, said, "Aren’t you aware that I can use force against you?"

"Sir, let me explain that to you," Ton said. "You see, your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. . . . You know that my sermons are spread all over the country on tapes. When you kill me, I only sprinkle them with my blood. They will speak 10 times louder after that, because everybody will say, ’That preacher meant it because he sealed it with his blood.’ So go on, sir, kill me. When you kill me, I win the supreme victory." The secret police released him, knowing his martyrdom would be far more of a problem than his sermon.

It means to satisfy Him. Obey Him in love.

I recently did a wedding. During the wedding rehearsal, the groom pulled me aside and made me an offer.

He said "Look, I’ll give you $100 if you’ll change the wedding vows. When you get to me and the part where I’m to promise to ’love, honor and obey,’ I would appreciate it if you’d just leave that part out." He gave me a $100 bill and walked away.

The day of the wedding the bride and groom were in front of me and we were to that part of the ceremony where the vows are exchanged. When it came time for the groom’s vows, I looked at the young man and said "Will you promise to bow down before her, obey her every command and wish, serve her breakfast in bed every morning of your life and swear eternally before God and your lovely wife that you will not ever even look at another woman, as long as you both shall live?"

The groom gulped and looked around, and said in a tiny voice, "Yes." Then He leaned in and asked “what happened I thought we had a deal."

So I gave him his 100 dollars back and told him that she had made a better offer.

Are you choosing to be obedient to God or are you looking  for a better deal?

HERE’S A BETTER DEAL:  Give Yourself To God As A Slave And He Makes You A Son!

If You Want Your Salvation To Work

“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13

Paul is teaching us how we can make sure our salvation works for all our days on planet Earth. His key thought is "obedience IS the work of salvation because it allows God to work out the completion of your salvation"!

If you want your salvation to work:

Obey faithfully!

Obey fearfully!

AND obey fruitfully!

You know salvation is working out when His will and His purpose happens through your life!

You know your salvation is working out when God is pleased by your obedience.

Salvation works when you are committed to obeying His will and purposes. It doesn't work when you disobey. It is that simple!

When you are committed to obeying His will and purpose your life will bear spiritual fruit. When disobey his will and purpose there will be not fruit.

Charles Finney noted this about obedience and sacrifice, “Revival is nothing more or less than a new obedience to God!”      

“Joy is the byproduct of obedience”  - (Unknown)

D. L. Moody has expressed it so well: “. . .Joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition. It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about. The Lord gives His people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him”

Patrick Morley’s book “Walking with Christ in the Details of Life.” It is a book of meditations that includes one called “Revival: The Gospel of Addition.” In it, he said the following, “The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior… A changed life is one that has added Christ and subtracted sin, that attracts a world weary of worn-out words. Obedience is the proof.”

"Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late - and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been TRYING TO SUBSTITUTE PRAYING FOR OBEYING, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience." A.W. Tozer

You are more likely to OBEY YOURSELF INTO PRAYING than you are to pray yourself into obeying!

HOW’S YOUR OBEDIENCE? ARE YOU SEEING FRUIT IN YOUR LIFE?

HOW IS YOUR SALVATION WORKING OUT?

I AM GOING TO GUESS IT IS WORKING OUT IN DIRECT PROPORTION TO YOUR OBEDIENCE.