3-8-15 Milk and the Word

11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)

Thoughts: The sad part of this verse is it says that the people "no longer try to understand."  this is a very sad commentary on where many are in their faith.  They are comfortable in their faith- comfortable with milk and they do not want to be challenged.  So, many are content with what they learned in Sunday School, and then they cannot figure out why their faith doesn't meet their needs.  They have a grown up life and  a stunted, non-growing faith.
       By constant use, we can train ourselves to be better Christians.  By continual use of the Word, we grow to trust it, and rely on it.  

Prayer: Help me to grow in my nourishment and grow in your grace, O Lord.  

In America- don't forget to set your clocks up an hour 3-7. 

3-7-15 Lord Lord

15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?17Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7)

Thoughts: False prophets- false teachers- false ministers have been around since hte beginning.  But by their fruits we shall know them. Their good works or lack thereof make transparent their heart.  Many can say the word "lord" but they do not live it out.  As James would say, faith in tongue without works in life- are dead.  The works of the Lord are not wowing miracles as much as good, kind, holy living.  Sincerity is not even the most important thing.  Sincerity is seen in living. 

Prayer: Lord, may my life match my heart, match my lips, match my faith.  

3-6-15- Renew/Sacrifice- Body/Mind

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1,2)

Thoughts: Our bodies are not meant to be sacrificed to this world alone.  Our bodies and our minds are to be transformed to God.  This is how 12:1 (sacrificing our bodies to the Lord) and 12:2 (renewing our minds) go together.  We are to give ourselves in spiritual worship- body, mind, and soul to the Lord.  We are not to let our bodies fall back into a comfortable worldliness.  Nor do we allow our minds to drift into a mold that the world has made.  When we control our bodies and minds it is our spiritual or proper worship of God.  The Greek word for "proper" is logokein- which means "God-wise" or "logical to God."  We are not to care how the world tells us to use our bodies and minds.  They would tell us to live for the moment and physical pleasure.  But God would ask us to live for a higher- God-wise purpose.        
      Sometimes this means sacrificing sleep to help a family member or neighbor our of love for them and love for God.  Sometimes it means going two miles when we are only asked to go one- sacrificing our bodily strength and time for another.  Sometimes this may mean giving sacrificially for another- maybe a persecuted Christian in Syria.  Sometimes it may mean a cross.
      Renewing our minds may mean getting off the mindlessness of texting for no reason- or looking at social media until it becomes a blur.  Or changing the web site or channel when something that pollutes our minds comes on.  If Jesus were seeing what you were seeing- would He want you to change?  Instead, ask what am I reading or doing that can cause me to build up the kingdom or my own mind for God? 

Prayer: Lord, renew me body and soul for your glory.  Strengthen me that I may sacrifice for you.

3-5-15 Potter and the Clay

3So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. (Jer. 18)

20But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”^h 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Rom. 9). 

Thoughts: Does the pot have the right to criticize the potter saying, "why did you make me like this?"   The God of creation- the potter- has the right to be the Lord- the molder and shaper of life.  We have creation confusion.  We act as if we created God instead of that God created us.  This is a key question- do you believe humans created God or that God created us?  The answer to that question is not just an intellectual exercise, but it effects who we will follow as Lord.  The person who thinks we made God can manipulate god as an idol or rabbits foot.  But the person who knows God made them and loves them is worth following as Lord.  

Prayer: Lord, you are the potter and worthy of praise.   Help me to remember you are worthy of my life and praise.  

3-4-15- The How and Why of Jesus as Lord

16For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1)

Thoughts: This passage tells us why and how Jesus is Lord.  He created all things (visible and invisible- spiritual and physical).  He existed before all things in time and is before all things in priority.  He is the head of his body- the church.  This is between a fourth to a third of the population.  He led the way to eternal life- the first one through the tunnel of death and the first raised from the dead.  God came down through Jesus and raises us up through Jesus.  It is by his royal blood that peace comes between God and man.  Is there any other compliment that could be paid?  He is Lord of heaven, leading people to heaven, and Lord over his people here on earth.  He is to be given the place of the highest Lord. 

Prayer: Lord, you are my Lord.  You are worthy of my devotion.  You are worthy of all that I am.  

3-3-15 Feed Your Soul

1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3)

Thoughts: The premise is that the people have tasted that the Lord is good.  It is because we serve a good Lord that we should listen to Him and get rid of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, ency and slander.   It is because the Lord is good that we want to grow out of infancy.  We are to crave for the good food- the food that nurtures our souls and challenges our digestion.  The Christian life is not all about easy growth and easy pickins.  The Lord is good- we need to grow in that knowledge and grow in trust of the good Lord. Crave- eagerly desire the things that feed our soul. 

Prayer: Lord, you are good  Help me to trust in that and to be good too. 

Honor the Lord with your body

18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

Thoughts: We are not our own.  No person is on their own.  We are all not just inter-dependent on each other- but we are dependent on God.  We do not control the sun, the moon, the rain, the earthquake, the snow, the tornado, the hurricane.  We do not control our own DNA, our heredity, or fully our environment.  We do not choose things in a vacuum- our bodies that we inherit have certain tendencies built into them.  The person who says no one is in control of them is controlled by their own desire for independence.  They may have a hard time trusting someone else- or having a deep lasting relationship because such a relationship potentially shatters their control.
   Christians know that we have been bought with a price.  We are like slaves bought on a slave market.  The price was the death of Jesus.  As Hosea bought back his harlot-strayed-wife, so God bought us back with the price of the death of his son.  So we have a Lord who tells us to take care of our bodies by not putting them at risk sexually.
    In fact, our bodies are a shelter- a tent- a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.  God has given us His Spirit to live inside of us.  We do not need to defile His Spirit by debauchery. Not only has He bought us, He has blessed us by coming to live in us.   It is an illusion to think we are a rock-we are an island- and do not need to listen and do not affect anyone else.  Therefore- let us honor God. 

Prayer: Lord, help me honor you with all I am.