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From the desk of the pastor:
Romans 11:33-“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” ESV
In our day and age there are many programs that promote an answer to your problem or the things that you struggle with by following these “three easy steps”. It appears that given enough time there could be a formula for everything and maybe these formulas would work if everyone were the same.
This same ideology has crept into the church as well. What areas in the church can we simplify into a neat little program or formula? In light of this I want you to seriously contemplate the words of Paul in Romans 11. God is infinitely deep in His knowledge and wisdom while man is shallow and clouded by his own pride.
God cannot be placed into a box or a lamp like a genie. God knows each one of us better then we know ourselves and has the exact thing that we need to live the Christian life to its fullness, yet we fight Him at every turn. We need to quit fighting God and trust Him because His ways are unsearchable and inscrutable. May we this day surrender some area in our lives to God because then we will gain the real victory, a custom fit way!
From the desk of the pastor:
James 4:8-“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” ESV
Do you desire to foster a more intimate relationship with God? Is the extent of your commitment like what is mentioned in…Isaiah 29:13-“And the Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,’”
Has your relationship with God dwindled to the point of being mere rote repetition leaving you unfulfilled? Do you feel like you are in a wasteland with nothing to feed your spiritual soul? Do you desire the heart of Paul as he said in…Philippians 3:10-“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”
God desires for us to draw nearer to Him. He does not force us to tap into His limitless source of power and refreshment but waits patiently for us to come to Him. We are the ones who are holding onto sin, which keeps us from seizing this promise. May God grant us the ability to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts through the only One who can perform these transformations…‘draw near to God, and He will draw near to you!’
From the desk of the pastor:
Romans 12:2-“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.” ESV
It is a true statement that because of our faith and trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation that we are taken care of for eternity. The sins which we have committed, are committing and will commit are forgiven. This is one of the reassuring truths of our position in Jesus Christ but this is not an end in itself. God is not only concerned about our final destination but also desires our betterment while we still live in this world.
God is able to change us and what we are prone toward doing in order to make us more like Him, right now. Our salvation in Christ is also for where our sins begin. He wants to change our minds and how we think about sin in general. God is changing us from:
• Lovers of self to lovers of God
• Arrogant to humble
• Critic to complimenter
• Ungrateful to grateful
• Unholy to holy
• Reckless to responsible
• Gossips to proclaimers of truth
God help save us from ourselves as we purpose to serve You this coming week.
From the desk of the pastor:
Psalms 37:7-“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” ESV
It is often very hard to sit still and be silent. We always want to get our proverbial two cents into every situation we find ourselves. Are we able to give God, no matter what it is, the whole situation without being worried as to the result? We need to be!
Added to this silence is also the call to wait patiently. We live in an instant culture and want things when we want them and do not fancy waiting. Maybe there has been a wrong done by someone else and we desire revenge or retaliation. In waiting, God may teach us the lessons of gentleness, patience, and even forgiveness.
It is easy for us to look around and see the prosperity of others, no matter what the scenario may be. We feel that judgment or paying the piper should be the immediate consequences toward those who do evil. The verse tells us not to fret yourself…don’t be inflamed, don’t be angry, don’t let our envy burn against those who do evil things against us.
May we be able to swallow our pride and listen to what God wants to teach us, no matter what we are dealing with…He will never mislead us and will always instruct us in the way we should go.
From the desk of the pastor:
Psalms 55:22-“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” ESV
How many times have we carried around a needless burden? Sometimes in our self-sufficient society we can’t admit that we need someone else’s help. Our pride keeps us from giving over the burdens that God wants us to cast onto Him. God loves His children so much that He will not only carry our burden, but He will also carry us.
God does allow things to come into our lives to help us grow in Him but in the same token does not want us to carry around the burden of sin. God does not delight in seeing us overwhelmed and would much rather us rejoice in the joy and comfort that only He can provide. When we let go of those burdens and exercise our confidence in God’s power and provision that is when He is able to sustain us.
Do we desire peace and rest for our souls? Do we want to be free from the burden that we are needlessly carrying around? God does not want us to be shaken but desires for us to trust Him with whatever we may be facing. What a wonderful truth for the tempted and distressed. May we have the fortitude to believe and implement the words of the apostle Peter…
1 Peter 5:6-7—“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” ESV
From the desk of the pastor:
Romans 6:6-“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” ESV
The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wants us to be reassured in the sin-eradicating effectiveness of our union with Christ—‘we know’. What does God want us ‘to know’? Our heavenly Father wants us to know that His Son’s sacrifice procured exactly what it was meant to, killing our enslavement to the old self so that we can live for Him.
The control of our sin nature has been abolished, annulled and rendered ineffective. Christ accomplished what no man, no matter how ‘good’ he might appear to be, could. I like how the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones, rendered this verse: “Do not go on living as if you were still that old man, because that old man has died. Do not go on living as if he was still there.”
May our daily prayer be something like this…‘Lord, please help me to pinpoint those sinful ways that I still battle with and give me the victory that can only come through your power. Continue to make me and mold me into a vessel for your righteousness. Amen!’
From the desk of the pastor:
1 Peter 2:24-“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” ESV
Do you give much thought to the truth that the cross of Christ was not the result of an accidental set of unfortunate circumstances? Christ, at no time while on earth, was under anything but the sovereign will and plan of His heavenly Father. Christ came for the purpose of dying on the cross to secure the salvation of all who would put their faith and trust in Him.
The cross is what brings sinful man into a right relationship with God for the purpose of dying to sin and living for His righteousness. Christ accomplished all that needed to be done, so that we might live through Him—‘by His wounds we have been healed’.
As Easter approaches, may every true believer be thankful that Christ acquired the gateway between us and God by bearing our sins on the cross. God’s stamp of approval on the sacrifice was raising His One and only Son from the grips of death, showing that everything is once again made right through faith alone in Him. Take time to praise God for the Incarnation (Christ in human form) and the Redemption (paying for sin once for all) that is made possible by the cross.
From the desk of the pastor:
Luke 19:41-42–”And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.’” ESV
Here is Jesus, entering Jerusalem, weeping over the city because it rejected Him as their Messiah. The people of this great city did not understand or see the significance of what Christ could do. If the people would have embraced Jesus then they would experience the peace of God in a world full of turmoil and oppression.
“But now they are hidden from your eyes”-what sad, yet profound words. The reason that they rejected Jesus has its foundation in the fact that He did not come as a conquering King to remove them from the oppressive Roman government. The ‘god’ that the people of Jerusalem wanted was a ‘god’ of their own design…not the God who needed to come.
What things in our world today ‘blind’ us? What things do we hold onto that are a ‘god’ of our own design? Maybe it is a lifestyle or a philosophy or something else of our own making. Is God weeping over our self-made ‘gods’? ‘Would that you, even you, had known”-Ask God to reveal to you the ‘gods’ you need to surrender and give you the power to do so.
From the desk of the pastor:
Acts 9:8-“Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.” ESV
Here is Saul (which would be renamed Paul) on the road to Damascus just being blinded by an astounding light as he encounters the risen Lord. Moments before, Saul was on his own personal mission to persecute the believers in Jesus Christ. Now he is humbled and brought to the most pivotal point in his life as He is brought face-to-face with the Messiah. Saul would be going from one who was a persecutor to the persecuted.
How many times, in our Christian lives, are our eyes opened to the truth, yet we see nothing? One of the many deceptions of Satan is sidetracking us from the things that truly matter to things of lesser importance. He makes these side issues the tyranny of the urgent and in doing so keeps us from putting our focus where it should be.
Each morning, as we wake, we need to focus our eyes on the One who is the author and perfecter of our faith. All around us will be the distractions, because our enemy does not rest and wants to render us ineffective in furthering the kingdom of God. Saul had no choice but to be focused on the truth when God revealed Himself on that road. As believers we must have this same commitment and focus on the truth about Christ…His great and gracious salvation…Living for Him every moment that we can!
From the desk of the pastor:
Isaiah 59:16-17–”He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. 17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.” ESV
God saw that there was no man to intercede. Sin had affected mankind so much that without God reaching down and intervening man would be in eternal ruin. Man’s sin grieved God so much that He knew the only remedy would be through His own arm, bringing a much needed salvation.
Today, we look back to that righteous One spoken of here, in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God, through His Son, would step down from heaven and take on human flesh for the purpose of securing the salvation of anyone who would trust in Christ alone. Man could not save himself because his sin blinded him to the truth of his need, rendering him lost. God’s power did what man could never do on his own.
Our Savior needed to be righteous Himself in order to appease the wrath of Almighty God and would come with a heart of compassion for the lost. Don’t be fooled into believing that this compassion would overlook the sin, instead “He put on the garments of vengeance” which reveals His hatred of our sin.
Finally, we can with eternal thankfulness praise God that His Son “wrapped himself in zeal” and devoted Himself without reservation to finish the work that He came to do! Take time today to reflect on what Christ’s work of obedience and sacrifice accomplished for you, personally…
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