Be Gracious

Grace, like God’s love is a free gift.  What does God’s grace add to our lives?  It is the power to accomplish something greater than ourselves through the favor of God that granted us this grace.  The forgiving of our sins and the availability of salvation is only the beginning of this grace.  Eph 1:6-8 says, “to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (NIV)  2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  (NIV)  God wants us to abound in his grace and power to accomplish the plan He always had for our lives.

We have to actively accept the gift of grace.  It can be multiplied through the knowledge of God and of Jesus.  2 Peter 1:2-4 tells us this:  “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (NKJV)  Through our relationship with Jesus we can grow in knowledge of Him and God’s great gift of grace in order to show the world who God really is.

In my last couple of entries I talked about knowing and showing God’s love.  We also need to show His grace.  How do we do that?  Colossians 4:6-6 tells us how.  “Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone.”  (NLT)  We need to know how to talk to people in the way Jesus would.  We cannot accomplish this without His grace.  We must get to know Him better and better.  Last year I posted about our Christian lives needing to be a relationship with Jesus.  This is why.  Without Him we do not get to know God and understand this gift of grace that helps us proclaim to the world who He is.

It is not an easy thing, but I feel any good thing is worth some effort.  I know for a fact that even as I studied to write this I was tested in how gracious I could be.  I wound up getting angry with some people with how they were handling a situation.  My assumptions were proven wrong, so I graciously admitted to being wrong and thanking them for telling me so.  I did explain why I had come to those assumptions in order for them to understand why I did mess up.  Of course, there are at least three answers you will get when you admit to being wrong:  1) the mad will stay mad at you, 2) people will not care that you admitted your wrong, and 3) people will be glad for your acknowledgement and explanation.  Do not expect everyone to be happy when you graciously admit a wrong.  We are not here to make everyone like us.  We are here for God and the great plans He has for us that allow the world to know Him.

Paul exhorts Timothy to always be ready for the questions that will come his way in  2 Timothy 4:2.  “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season . Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” (NKJV)  We need God’s grace in order to be ready no matter how we feel, what our circumstances are, or what the world thinks.  We need to know how to share the truth of God, even the rebukes that should be shown with love.

Walk in God’s grace and love knowing He will help you be the person you were meant to be and show the world who He is.

Tough Love

In my last post I talked about showing God's love.  We must do this, but God's love is not all rosy and nice.  Some of it is pretty tough and even feels offensive.  As believers we need to use the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know when someone is ready to receive the tough love.

The Bible feels offensive because it is Jesus reading us.  Even as we are reading it, He is right there pointing things out to us.  We are only offended when it points out a thing we know is true, but we do not want it to be true.  We want to have things our way.  Peter felt both the blessed love and the tough love, so let's take a look of how Jesus dealt with this boldest of disciples.

Let's look at how Peter gets it right first.  Matt 16:13-20, "When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.  (NKJV)

Jesus was reading his disciples when asking them this, just like He reads us through His word.  Peter, the one who is always boldly speaking out, gets it right.  Jesus rewards him by saying he is blessed because he listened to what the Holy Spirit told him rather than his flesh and blood.  Peter is even told he is the rock that the church will be built on.  That what he binds on earth is bound in heaven and what he set loose will be loosed in heaven.  Talk about a great pat on the back showing you got it right.

But the next verses show where Peter turns around and gets it wrong.  Just like him we do the same thing and Peter had Him right there even in flesh and blood.  We still have Him here in the Spirit, so we cannot use the excuse that Peter had an advantage.  We just get in the rut of thinking He cannot be right there because we do not see Him or feel Him.  Love goes far beyond that because it is not based simply on feelings no matter what the world wants to think.

So what did Peter boldly do that was wrong?  Matt 16:21-23, From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.  Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"  But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  (NKJV)

This time Peter is thinking that his life would not be the same if Jesus actually died.  He could not see what the spiritual side of things were because what would he do if Jesus was dead?  What would happen if they did not have their leader and teacher?  Jesus calls him Satan and rebukes him.  Ouch!  Even later Peter says he will never deny Jesus and even as Jesus is being beaten he catches Peter's eye after Peter denied him three times.  With that Peter realized how badly he had messed up and repented of what he did with tears.  Peter learned each time because he was willing to let Jesus read him.

In the world we are to show God's love, including the tough love.  However, we must always speak the truth as the Holy Spirit directs us.  If we do that, then even the tough love will strike home.  Sure people will walk off offended, but if you say what the Spirit told you to, which will line up with God's Word, then the seed will be planted.  We should not be scared that people will be offended even if we tell them the truth in a loving way.  Maybe they will miss the truth if you do not speak up when prompted by the Holy Spirit.

So are we Christians letting Jesus read us as we read His Word so that we can mature?  Sure Jesus will even make us offended if we want to stay in the flesh.  How much so a worldly person we are led to tell the truth to?  It is not an easy road, but if people know we care about them, they will listen.  Do not stop loving people and spreading the truth the way Jesus wants us to.

Show God's Love

The world needs to see the truth of who God really is and why He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die for us.  If we are not showing the love that God did in sending Jesus and that which Jesus showed to the masses during his ministry, then we are doing it wrong.  People will see it immediately even if they never heard of Jesus before in their lives.  Our choice of actions will always speak louder than anything else and show the truth of who we really are.

Sure there is plenty of sin and lifestyles out there that do not fall in line with God's will for the world, but we are not to make them feel condemned for it.  All of us are sinners and no sin is greater or smaller than another.  Sin is sin.  However, what we Christians need to remember is how we were adopted into God's family by accepting Jesus as we were at the time.  Romans 8:1-2 states, "Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (NIV)  If He does not condemn us upon accepting Him, how are others going to even learn this truth if you first condemn them for their sins?

Sure God is going to judge sin for everyone in the end, but we are not to be judge and jury here on earth.  Most people are not going to see you as a loving person if you go for the sin first.  Each of us must reconcile ourselves to God through Jesus by our own choice.  Then if we pursue the relationship with Jesus the truth about sin will be revealed to us.  Each of us will understand this and grow in it at different rates.  So we should not even be condemning other Christians just because they have not learned to see things the way we have learned to through Christ.

I find it sad that churches actually send people out to disrupt funerals of service people just because of some disagreement with the war the US got into that caused the death.  Would you want someone yelling about things they don't like outside the funeral of one of your family members?  I know I would want to slap a few people upside the head if I saw them doing it.  That reaction I would like to do is not the one I would do because slapping them would just make it worse and definitely does not show love.  But this is what I thought when I read about this happening to a friend of mine last fall.  A really close friend of his died fighting in Afghanistan and a local church came out spewing hate against what the war stood for during the funeral.  No wonder my friend still does not like and trust Christians.

The people that made me know they were real Christians were the ones who treated me like a friend even when I did not believe and even admitted to dabbling in occult and magic.  It felt more like them getting to know me first.  My talking of my beliefs opened up the path for them to tell me about theirs.  These few friends were the ones I sought out immediately upon returning home after the weekend at mom's where I did accept Christ.  I knew this was a real thing and I knew I needed real Christians around me to help me understand it.  Sure I knew at least forty other so called Christians, but it was these few ladies that I met before accepting Christ that made me want to have what they had.  I had to get plugged into their church.  I still remember how happy they were when, after knowing me a little over two years, that I told them I accepted Christ and needed to go to their church.

I thank God every day for the true Christians He put in my life.  God knows what He is doing and where He will get us to see His truth and love.  The day the truth lit up my world will always blow away anything I thought was the truth before that.  This past weekend marks my eleventh anniversary as a Christian.  It all started out with Christians who bothered to show me love rather than lambasting me for being mixed up in the occult and other empty beliefs that I knew deep down did not cut it.

God's love is described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails." (NIV)

So are you showing the love of God or striking out with condemnation?  Let us think before we act to be sure what we are showing the world coincides with God's Word.

We Are Overcomers in Christ

1 John 5:4-5 NKJV:  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

When we receive Jesus Christ into our hearts not only are our sins forgiven, but we are made new.  We are a child of God starting out on a new life.

2 Cor 5:17 NKJV:  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

As a Christian we must believe what God says we are.  He created us and knew us even before we were conceived.  His words are the truth we should be clinging to no matter what the world wants to say about us.  God does say we are overcomers.  Not only the first verses I listed above say it, but also 1 John 4:4 NKJV:  You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

God gave us the power to overcome Satan and anything that would distract us from being what God intended us to be.  This power indwells within us as the Holy Spirit, our counselor and helper here on earth until Jesus returns.  If we stick to God's truth, His Holy Word, the Bible, then we will indeed overcome no matter our circumstances.

So we come back to choices again.  Satan cannot do anything to us unless we allow him to.  We must believe that with God's Holy Spirit indwelling us we can win over Satan just like Jesus has.  How does the Bible tell us we can beat this greatest adversary?

James 4:7 NKJV:  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:8-9 NKJV:  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

If Satan can get you distracted from focusing on Jesus and the Word, he will pull you off track.  So stay focused on what God says.  The world is not for Jesus.  They want to see Christians fall.  They will try to make you feel like your acceptance of Jesus is the wrong idea.  Stay focused on Jesus.  Peter even walked on water while focused on Jesus.  As soon as he got distracted by the world around him, he began to sink. 

Our circumstances and our past do not determine our future.  God has already made our future.  All we have to do is believe that Jesus is the way, the light and the truth and follow Him while telling the devil to take a hike.

God Wants You

Sadly most of us don't get it that God wants us in a relationship with Him.  Until we see an inkling of what He is really like and understand Him, it comes across as Him giving us a rule book and then wanting to punish us whenever we mess up.  To confuse matters worse I have met Christians that made me feel Bible thumped.  That it was God's way or the highway.  This is the truth, but does not express anything about the loving relationship God uses to teach us why His way is better.

First, God starts off by giving.  For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 (NIV).  Many people know this verse so well that the depth of it may be lost.  If we read on we learn more of what God intended.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:17-18 (NIV).  The last part is the truth that feels more like a good ole Bible thump, but Jesus came to give us the chance to be reconciled once more with God.  If God did not love us, why would He bother sending His Son here in the first place?  He could have definitely changed the world to something else in the blink of an eye with one voiced command.

To push this show of love further Jesus died on the cross for us.  He was cut off from the Father as He took on all our sins as He became the final sacrifice of blood atonement required by God.  Now He is risen up to heaven again to be our advocate before God's judgment seat.  And until His return we have the Holy Spirit as a counselor until we also get to go home to heaven.  Why would Jesus bother doing this if He did not love us?  Sure it is sometimes a tough love, but I honestly would be worried if I wasn't corrected when found doing a wrong.  How else do we learn?  If we had to learn about life and love without guidance, where would we be?

Yes, God has rules, but so do our earthly parents.  There are some things in the natural realm of this world that are the law regardless of what we think of it.  Gravity makes us fall.  Fire burns.  Lack of oxygen makes us suffocate.  These are things we take for granted as unchangeable truth.  God is also unchanging so His laws won't change either.  His laws are not there to condemn us, but to convict us into realizing our way led into something bad.  And just like with real parents, God is waiting for us to voice our confession about it and He will help us through the Holy Spirit to learn how not to do it again.  He knows everything about us even before we do it, but His love allows us to have the chance to confess and make things right again.  He doesn't mind that we fall down a few times in the learning process.

God has a reason for His laws so that we may know light from dark, good from evil.  We may not get it all at once, but life is a learning process, a growing process.  Step by step we learn and slowly unravel the awesome mysteries of God and His creation.  We have the choice to walk with Him in a loving relationship or go our own way.  I'm finding the adventure of this life far more fulfilling with Him than without no matter what the circumstances are.

It's Your Choice

We all want to make changes in our life, but what we choose will prove what we really want.  It's the New Year and we all tend towards wanting to make resolutions of how to change our lives for the better.  However, how many of those resolutions have we failed at?  I know I failed at quite a few.  One excuse or another would come up for why not to keep a resolution.  Those excuses were nothing more than a way of hiding the fact the choice was made not to fulfill the resolution.

God gave us free will so we have this wonderful ability of choosing.  Of course, this means we must take responsibility for our choices.  Only we can decide what we will or will not do, like, read, eat, etc.  We are great at making excuses in order to not feel responsible for our choices.  Worse, we play the blame game, which is nothing new since Adam and Eve started that game in the Garden of Eden.  Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, but neither had to eat the forbidden fruit unless they chose to.

"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;" Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJV).  This verse is within Moses' speech to the Israelites to remind this new generation that would cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.  He is reminding them that they are the ones who choose if they will be blessed by God or not.  This new generation saw their elders destroyed in the desert for not following God's way, so they knew God blessed those who followed His commands and let those who turned away reap the unfortunate consequences.

Again, only we can decide what we will do.  Even not making a choice really is making a choice.  Every choice we make holds us to the responsibility associated.  Every choice will take some work if it is a worthwhile choice.  For anyone to follow God they first have to choose to do so and then they must work at what will keep them on that path, which is daily study of God's Word.  If you want to lose weight, you need to change your diet and exercise.  If you want to write that novel burning within your muse, you need to learn how to write and then start actually writing.

God isn't going to force you to choose Him.  No, if He wanted things that automatically chose Him, he could have made some robotic life form.  He definitely finds ways to appeal to you through nature, other people and even through our own created circumstances.  It still is our final say whether or not we choose Him or our own way of living.

Jesus never forced His disciples to do anything though he definitely encouraged them to step out in faith no matter what they thought the cost would be.  Let's look at the story of Peter when he walked on water.

Matthew 14:25-31 (NIV)

Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.  "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them:  "Take courage!  It is I.  Don't be afraid."

"Lord, if it's you" Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," He said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

Here Peter chose to join Jesus in His realm of miracles, but then let the windblown waves distract Him from that very miracle.  At least, he made the choice to get out of the boat.  How many of us are missing out on miracles with God by not getting out of our comfortable boat?  How many of us Christians are missing out on a real relationship with Jesus because we choose to be too busy?  How many people are missing out in knowing our God because we have not made Him truly known versus what the world view would say?

I used to be one who would not choose God due to the skewed view I had of Christians.  Then I met some that I knew had it right even if I really did not know what that right was.  They chose to live by God's rules and would confess when they messed up.  When I accepted Christ, I knew which Christians to go to in order to stay plugged into Jesus and learn what I had to do. 

So here I am nearly 11 years later still confessing I have a relationship with Jesus thanks to those willing to share Him with me and due to my own way having never worked right.  I stand with Joshua in saying, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether gods of your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

What choice are you going to make?

Christmas Story - Herod and the Magi

This is based on a sermon of my pastor, Robert Englehardt.

Matthew 2:1-20

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"  

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him."

14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."  

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." 

19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead."  NKJV

We don't hear this part of the Christmas story often, but it is very relevant to today.  We are still right in the middle of the spiritual war of good versus evil; Satan versus God.  Satan is still allowed to roam in the world, but God also gave man dominion over the earth.  Sure Satan is out there, but with the Holy Spirit of God we can bind him up and stop him.  It's our choice whether we use the power of dominion granted us by God to stop Satan or to let him run rampant over us.

In the story of the Magi they are so glad that the star leads them right to Jesus.  We should feel as they did when we meet Jesus and accept Him into our lives.  They decide not to tell Herod where Jesus can be found due to a dream that they know was divinely given.  This stops Satan in his tracks for a moment in using Herod to destroy Jesus.  We can do the same today by following God's leading.

Of course, Satan is not going to relent until the final day he is tied in chains and thrown into the fiery pit.  So Herod sends men to kill every boy in the town of Bethlehem that could have been born since the date the wise men told him they first saw the star for the King of the Jews.  He went straight from being angry at the wise men not coming back to murder.  There was no way he wanted this new born King of the Jews thwarting his authority as the current ruler appointed by Rome over the Jews.  So there were many innocent little boys, ages estimated from new born to two-years-old, killed all due to one man's desire not to lose his position of authority.  We have seen similar stories all over the news about people murdering innocents for various reasons.

The first example of sin leading to murder is Adam's sin leading to ejection from the Garden of Eden.  It was followed next by Cain killing his brother, Able, with a rock out of pure jealousy over God liking Able's offering better.  Cain just grabbed what was available and used it to end Able.  He even contemplated it ahead of time because he lured Able out into the field with him.  It's man's heart that leads to such deeds and they will find a way to commit the act no matter what means it takes. 

Another example is David with Bathsheba.  He sins by taking her himself and then sending orders to make sure Uriah, her husband, dies on the front lines of battle.  All of this because David had sinned, knew it and could not get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba in order to cover for her pregnancy.  At least David repented of his sin by confessing it to God, but Cain never did that.

Now Joseph is a man of God and when he gets a dream to take Jesus to Egypt, he gets up in the middle of the night and off they go without waiting for daylight.  He obeyed the message of the angel sent by God and thus Satan's plan to take out Jesus via Herod was foiled.  Another example of how following God's lead takes us out of danger into safety even if we must move out of our own country to a foreign land for a time.  Today we may not have to move to a new country, but we will be moved out of our comfort zone in order to step out in faith with God.

So who is Satan after today?  Which innocents murdered may have been the next great threat to Satan for their strong faith in God?  What has the world lost due to us letting Satan in and pushing God out of the picture? 

There are still many battles to be fought no matter how close to the end times people may say we are.  Which side are you fighting on?