Prayers

Deliver Us from our Enemies

1 Aug , 2016  

October 26, 2014

Then the people of Israel began once again to worship other gods, and once again the Lord let their enemies harass them. This time it was by the people of Midian, for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelis took to the mountains, living in caves and dens. When they planted their seed, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and other neighboring nations came and destroyed their crops and plundered the countryside as far away as Gaza, leaving nothing to eat and taking away all their sheep, oxen, and donkeys. These enemy hordes arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count and stayed until the land was completely stripped and devastated. So Israel was reduced to abject poverty because of the Midianites. Then at last the people of Israel began to cry out to the Lord for help.   (Judges 6:1-7)

O Lord, deliver me from evil men. Preserve me from the violent, who plot and stir up trouble all day long. Their words sting like poisonous snakes. Keep me out of their power. Preserve me from their violence, for they are plotting against me. These proud men have set a trap to catch me, a noose to yank me up and leave me dangling in the air; they wait in ambush with a net to throw over and hold me helpless in its meshes.

O Jehovah, my Lord and Savior, my God and my shield—hear me as I pray! Don’t let these wicked men succeed; don’t let them prosper and be proud.  (Psalms 140:1-8)

Please Pray with me

O God our Father, our enemies hate us. They have sworn in their wrath to destroy our nation. Their harassing persecution of believers has turned to grotesque murder. Our brothers and sisters now taste the evil that the enemy of our souls vomits out.

We can see what is coming to our nation. You have said in your Word that our compatriots will turn against us. They will deliver us to the slaughterer and think they are serving a god.

While we still live in peace and safety, open our hearts to those who are living in terror from these implacable evildoers. Give us the burden to raise our prayers daily on their behalf. Now, we implore You, Almighty God to spare our brothers and sisters in Syria, in Iraq, in Iran, in Turkey, in Jordan, in Egypt, in Ethiopia in Libya, in Sudan, in Mali, in Tanzania, in Indonesia,

Please Pray for our Brothers and Sisters

Offer your petitions for others and your requests for your family, friends and neighbors

Personal Prayer

In spite of the evil and terror in the World our Savior is triumphant. It sometimes does not seem so. Nevertheless, God is omnipotent and He is in control. Even those tortured and slain for their testimony of faith in Jesus, even they have the Savior that loves them and has them and us in the eternal security of His hands. No one can pluck any of us out of His hands.

Lift up your hearts in giving thanks to our God for His love for all His children

Personal Prayer

Join with me now in offering the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us, saying

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.

Amen

Sermons

Listening to God, Acting for God

24 Jul , 2016  

 

Exodus 19:1-31:18

April 27, 2014

Moses Brings God’s Words to the Children of Israel

 You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt. You saw how I carried you on the wings of eagles and brought you to myself. Now obey me completely. Keep my covenant. If you do, then out of all of the nations you will be my special treasure. The whole earth is mine. But you will be a kingdom of priests to serve me. You will be my holy nation.’ That is what you must tell the Israelites.”

So Moses went back. He sent for the elders of the people. He explained to them everything the Lord had commanded him to say.

All of the people answered together. They said, “We will do everything the Lord has said.”

So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.  (Exodus 19:4-8)

 

And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the ordinances: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Jehovah hath spoken will we do.

And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto Jehovah. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Jehovah hath spoken will we do, and be obedient.

And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words.  (Exodus 24:3-8)

 

 Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab along with all whom God had gifted with the ability to work skillfully with their hands. The men were eager to get started and engage in the work. They took from Moses all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the Sanctuary. The people kept on bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning.

All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing the Sanctuary came, one after another, to Moses, saying, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work that God has commanded us to do!”

So Moses sent out orders through the camp: “Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!   (Exodus 36:2-6)

Here are separate incidents where Moses brings God’s words to the Children of Israel. They hear and they vow to obey. They have Listened to God, and they swear to Act for God.

In the first incident (Exodus 19:4-8), they had seen God’s power and they swore on the basis of that. “Wow! He made the Pharaoh bow to His demands, and He destroyed the Egyptian army when they came after us. We better agree or we’re toast!”

“OK, God whatever you say, just don’t get angry with US.”

They agreed without knowing what was in store for them.

But this was lip service. They agreed with their lips, but they made no heart commitment. They did not own their vow. They heard God’s words, but did not take them to heart.

In the second instance (Exodus 24:3-8), Moses called all the people together. Then, in their hearing, Moses read all the Law required of them, including:

  1. The Ten Commandments
  2. Laws about treatment of servants—releasing a slave in the Sabbath year, slaves marrying and bearing children, how the slave can become a permanent slave, the Master marrying a slave,
  3. Laws about violence—killing another accidentally or on purpose, killing a slave, injury to a pregnant woman, an eye for and eye.
  4. Laws about responsibility—injury to another, injury caused by an ox, caused by leaving an open pit.
  5. Laws about theft and restoration—the practical penalty of a caught thief, the loss of entrusted goods, one’s fire destroys another’s property
  6. Laws about human relations—fornication, treatment of strangers, usury, speaking ill of the Deity of leaders, timely offerings of first fruits,
  7. Laws about judgments—not bearing false witness, joining a mob, returning stray animals to their owner, not discriminating for or against the poor, reject bribes, giving the land its Sabbath rest.

They have lived under YHWH’s guidance and provision for 3-5 months. This time, they clearly have the knowledge to make an informed commitment. The People of God own the Covenant and swear to obey.

This time, they have a full picture of the Covenant terms. They heard and understood God. Now the ball was in their court. They, as individuals and as a nation, had to act out what God spoke to them.

God had to deliver His Chosen people from the disaster

We all know the story. They blew hot and cold. One generation was zealous for the Law and for God. Two generations later, and several after that, they were indifferent and grew to be apostate. I have never stopped to count the number of times God had to deliver His Chosen people from the disaster they fell into through their apostasy.

What was the recurring pattern, what happened to the Children of Israel time after time? What does this say about God?

In 1 John 4:8 he says, “God is love.” Since God is love, where do we discover what that means?

God is Love, and Love is…

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

  1. love suffers long
  2. love is kind
  3. love does not envy another
  4. love does not boast
  5. love is not conceited
  6. love does not behave improperly
  7. loves does not strive for what is not its own
  8. love is not provoked
  9. love does not retaliate for evil done to it
  10. love does not rejoice in unrighteousness
  11. love rejoices in the truth
  12. love bears all things
  13. love believes all things—love hopes all things
  14. love endures all things—love never fails

Understanding what the love of God means

What is God telling us through the Beloved Apostle John?

We are God’s children and only the man who knows God hears our message; what we say means nothing to the man who is not himself a child of God. This gives us a ready means of distinguishing the true from the false.

To you whom I love I say, let us go on loving one another, for love comes from God. Every man who truly loves is God’s son and has some knowledge of him. But the man who does not love cannot know him at all, for God is love.

To us, the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us has been his sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. We see real love, not in that fact that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to make personal atonement for our sins.  (1 John 4:6-11)

If God loved us as much as that, surely we, in our turn, should love each other!

God gave the Children of Israel His directions how they should live

God spoke to the Children of Israel, giving them his directions how they should live. God speaks to us today, giving us directions how to live.

He has spoken to us in:

  1. the words of the Disciples, who gave us the narratives of the life of Christ
  2. through the Epistles of the Apostle Paul
  3. through the Epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude
  4. most graphically through the death and Resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have listened to God speaking to us. We are listening today. We have completed and continue to complete the first half—we listen to God.

How do we act for God?

How do we complete the second half? How do we act for God?

You have heard it said many times before: we are the hands and feet and voice of our Lord God.

  • Vicki shows us how in keeping track of Mary, and encouraging her
  • Michael shows us how in volunteering to help Ruth in her home
  • Marion demonstrates how in her unstinting hospitality, week after week
  • Dan shows us how in cleaning  the church
  • Gene tells us how by his bringing appropriate little gifts to us

We all can look and point to acts of love we all make to one another. “Behold how they love one another!” is true of us.

Test of our love

What is not evident is how we act out what we have heard from God in the world. Our close Christian group is a secure microcosm under God’s love and entwined with the mutual love we all share. We reinforce one another, not only in our fellowship, but also in our relationships individually with our Loving Father.

The world at large, however, is not mutually reinforcing. There is a distinct absence of Godly love in our culture. Businesses know that the friendly, helpful approach leads to dollars, so they instruct their employees to smile. Nevertheless this is not real love.

Every day we encounter drivers who are ungracious, pushy, erratic, and offensive (it is our fervent prayer that we do not have with them close encounters of the 3rd kind).

We have had to deal with fellow employees, apparently bent on bringing us down. People, who are feeling stress, take it out on others. Bureaucrats who are serving their time for a paycheck couldn’t care less about the public’s problems or needs. The atmosphere in the world is a serious test of our love.

Live out love

To act for God is to live out love. Bless when we are cursed. When you see those without a smile, give them one of yours. Pray for them before, during and after each encounter. Leave them with a word of blessing, whether they like it or not.

To act for God in living love is to be patient and understanding, even when things are not going your way. Recognize that the person on the other end of the phone or behind the counter has not appeared the moment you encounter them. He or she has been putting up with all kinds of people before you arrived and is aware that she or he will have to after you leave. Make you encounter as pleasant as you can. In gratitude, drop a blessing into their lives.

When you cannot get through the bureaucratic labyrinth and your frustration level grows, begin praying and reacquire the peace that Jesus alone can give. Learn to respond instead of reacting. Our immediate human reaction is usually retaliatory and offensive. However, if we refer our situations and emotions to the Holy Spirit, He generates a Godly response. We thus allow our Guide and Counselor to speak love through us.

Love is an action

We have listened to the Old Testament summery of the Law many times.

Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

Perhaps more times we have heard Jesus summary of the Law.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.  (Luke 10:27)

Having listened to this, our act is to love God. Love is not just a squishy feeling in your stomach, which just might be the flu. Love is an action. You love God by:

  • Placing God first in your life—first before spouse, children, family, work recreation, and most importantly, before self
  • Being in close fellowship with His Son, your Savior
  • Speaking to Him daily
  • Studying His Word, written to you daily
  • Following His instructions
  • Being a good example of a Christ-filled life
  • Going into the world and witnessing to His love and blessings

This second half of our topic is the proof of the first. You will act for God if you have truly listened to God. We have a solid base from which to do the acts of love to those in the world, to our families and to our Lord. Go into all the world and make disciples, loving them into the Kingdom of God by presenting Christ to them through word and deed.

Prayer

Our Gracious Father, we recognize we are slow learners. You have taught us this lesson of love in Your Word and from sermons all our believing lives. We confess that even after we have heard your instruction to love, like the Children of Israel, we forget and act out our worldliness.

Thank you for being patient with us and teaching us again and again the truth that love wins. Grant us the wisdom to allow Your love to so pervade our lives that it flows out in acts of blessing and words of encouragement to those who are Yours and to those who are not yet.

Through Jesus Christ our Savior, we pray.      Amen

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Sermons

The Laborer Is Worthy of His Hire,… or Less So

19 Jul , 2016  

Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, by Rembrandt

August 3, 2014

1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’  16 So the last will be first, and the first last.  (Matthew 20:1-16)

This parable of the workers in the vineyard is one of the Parables of the Kingdom.

The Parables of the Kingdom

Jesus likened the Kingdom to at least ten different worldly illustrations:

  1. The Wheat and Tares – Matthew 13:24
  2. The Mustard Seed– Matthew 13:31
  3. The Leaven – Matthew 13:33
  4. The Treasure Hidden in a Field– Matthew 13:44
  5. The Pearl of Great Price– Matthew 13:45
  6. The Net– Matthew 13:47
  7. The Treasures New and Old– Matthew 13:52
  8. The Impossible Debt – Matthew 20:1
  9. The Laborers in the Vineyard– Matthew 20:2
  10. The Ten Virgins– Matthew 25:1

Laborers in the Vineyard

Today we are looking at the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. You just read how the landowner recruited and paid his workers. Imagine the joyful surprise the workers felt when they received a full day’s wage for one hour’s labor. Wow! What a thrill!

“Hey, guys! Let’s come back to work for this guy tomorrow!”

Some will calculate that they can make it a habit to work only an hour and get a full day’s pay. A few others will have a sense of obligation and will come back to work even harder to pay back the generosity of the owner. Some folk are manipulators, while others are honorable.

That is the condition of mankind. Some people will job the system to get as much as they can, while others work the job to give as much as they can.

Our Master is Almighty God. He came into our lives with a blessing and a demand. Like any employer, He expects those whom He employs to give him a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. Our work is the same as Jesus’ work, that is to do the will of the Father; to labor in His vineyard.

Some people he calls early to work. They are privileged to never know life without Jesus. Others he calls as youths. They know a life without Jesus and have tasted the bitterness of sin. Some Jesus calls late in life, even on their death beds. They have seven or eight decades of sin washed away instantly by the blood of Christ.

God, in His mercy, equally rewards each one who turns to Him. Everyone earns condemnation, but receives God’s mercy and eternal life of blessings—love, joy and peace. Billy Graham, after half a century or more of faithful labor in God’s vineyard, receives the same “wage” as the mass murderer who earnestly and honestly repents and calls upon God just before his execution.

Fair is fair

I estimate that the majority of people—believers and unbelievers who read this parable for the first time react, “Hey! That’s not fair!” They agree with the workers who labored in the heat of the day. If the last workers who labored only an hour get a full day’s pay, those who labored all day should get a lot more.

Fair is fair. The 12-hour workers should get a full day’s pay.

The 9-hour workers should get ¾ pay.

The 6-hour workers ½ pay.

The 3-hour workers ¼ pay.

And the 1-hour worker gets 1/12th of a day’s pay.

That’s the just and proper way to pay for workers.

The City of Seattle just raised the minimum wage from $9.32/hr. to $15.00/hr, that is more than a 50% increase. That means that if a burger joint hires an unskilled high school dropout, the owner must pay her $15.00/hour. Well, fair is fair.  The fellow behind the counter has two year’s experience, He knows the job inside and out. After two raises he now receives $12.00/hr. If the owner raises him to just $15.00, he is cheating the experienced worker. In justice for his experience, the owner should be paying $18 or $20/hr. Fair is fair.

Is God cheating the workers in the Kingdom who have always been His chosen people? They have grown in Christ. They have served God and His people for years, some for many years. Are they getting a raw deal because crooks get into the Kingdom on the same basis as the long-term workers?

Of course not! You knew the answer before I finished the question. Well, if this is not cheating anyone, how can that be?

Kingdom of God

Jesus used these Parables of the Kingdom to show what the Kingdom of God is LIKE, not what it IS.

  1. It is like – separation of the good from the bad—No bad thing is allowed in Heaven
  2. It is like – an insignificant thing that results in a world-filling blessing
  3. it is like – a growing presence that permeates everything and affects all
  4. it is like – a discovery that is worth the world
  5. It is like – a beauty that must be possessed and all costs
  6. It is like – choosing the best regardless of kind and discarding the worst regardless of kind
  7. It is like – things that are wonderful and appreciated because they are both ancient and modern
  8. It is like – merciful forgiveness of all, and yet justice to punish all
  9. It is like – a generous reward for Labor no matter how much or little
  10. It is like – being always adequately prepared for a party

Heaven is actually none of these things. It is like nothing we have ever experienced before. It is beyond our wildest imaginings. Paul spoke in his second letter to Corinth, chapter 12, of the man who was given a vision of “the third heaven”.  Paul said, “he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” It apparently was glorious, but he could not express it in human language.

We live in a material world, but we try to understand Heaven, a spiritual world. To do so we must throw out all understanding of how things are. In the first place, Heaven is eternal. It has no time. This means there is no first, second, last.

Heaven is infinite. It has no space. This means there is no distance, no up or down. The physical laws that govern our universe do not apply in Heaven.

However all that is spiritual will be in Heaven. The fruit of the Spirit will be manifested in everyone. Peter talks of our love for Jesus who we cannot see, and of “joy unspeakable and fill of glory”. In the Revelation to the Apostle John, there appears to be perpetual worship of Almighty God. All these spiritual things we, you and I, will experience in God’s Kingdom.

Every believer, whether translated or raptured, will be a part of that innumerable throng worshipping around the Presence of God. Because there is no space, we will not be in ranks, but each will be as close to God as every other. All these spiritual truths will be in Heaven and we will all experience them.

Paul teaches us that we will know fully, as we are also known. God knows us completely. In His Kingdom, we will completely know each and every other person, and they will know us just as completely. Intimacy of relationships will give us all a loving heart for one another. However, since God is infinite and we are not, we probably can never know Him completely. Yet we will have an enormously greater knowledge of Him than we are able to have in this life.

As we begin to expand our perceptions, we can gain an appreciation of the otherness of Heaven. And yet it will not be alien to us who are believers. We have an appreciation of how good and comfortable it will be to be in the Presence of the God who loves us, the Savior who died for us and the Holy Spirit that has been teaching us all through our lives in Christ. There will be a familiarity of heaven, because we will be home at last.

You can see that the rewards in Heaven are magnificent; they are fabulous. All the world’s treasures fade in comparison to the Treasures Old and New in God’s Kingdom. The necessity of differential of rewards for different skills, achievements or number of hours worked shrinks to insignificance. Whether one is paid one day’s pay for two days work or for one hour of work is negligible in the scope of the blessings of God’s kingdom.

There will be no competition for rewards, so God’s generosity will be hailed by all. The love that will be manifested in us will cause us to rejoice in God’s blessings to others as much or more than in His blessings to us.

Our Love for Our Master

When we appreciate the magnitude of God’s blessings that await us, it will cause us to be willing to work unstintingly for our loving Father. Our gratitude will impel us to labor in His vineyard through the heat of the day. Our love will move us to willingly engage in hard, tiring labor.

You see God is a merciful and loving Master, and yet He is a hard taskmaster. He is so because the fields are white unto harvest and the time on this material earth is short. We must work diligently for the night is coming when no one can work.

God hires us on for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 12 months of the year. We get no lunch break, no sick days or weekends or holidays off. But we do get marvelous job security and His retirement plan is out of sight.

Our love for our Master will press us into the work. Our gratitude for His blessing in this life and in the glorious life to come should lead us eagerly to put our best efforts into the work of the Kingdom. In this frame of mind, rewards become immaterial in both senses of the term.

Immaterial, that is, not a concern to us.

Immaterial, that is spiritual, and not material.

Our rewards will be in Heaven; however, just living the life in Christ here and now should be reward enough.

Seek to be a Laborer Worthy of Hire

The days are short and the night is approaching, so our every effort should be bent toward harvesting souls for God’s Kingdom. The time is not far off when the government will seek to put a stop to anyone speaking name of Christ, even in private. The time is not far off when brutal persecution—first fines, then jail, and later torture and death will be the lot of outspoken believers. The time for our proclamation of the Good news of God’s Kingdom is upon us. The time of our service for our Master is here. Seek now to be a laborer worthy of your hire.

When we hold back because of timidity, we will be betraying the sacrifice of Christ. When we fail because we have not tried, we will be failing our Loving Father. While God will save each and everyone he has elected, still he intends for each and every one of us to speak the word in season and out of season. In so doing, we can be God’s instruments to bring others to Jesus and salvation. The act of witnessing, laboring in God’s vineyard, is an exciting challenge. And then when one we are witnessing to turns her heart or his heart over to Jesus, God rewards us with an overflow of His joy unspeakable and full of glory.

“Why stand ye here all day idle? Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you!”

Prayer

Our Gracious Master and Lord, You have commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, making them disciples. We have done so, more or less. Give us the understanding that this world is our temporary field of labor. Here we are charged with being responsible to be diligently laboring to take the good news to those in the world around us.

Holy Spirit, give us boldness beyond our nature so that we can, without fear, tell others about Jesus loving sacrifice for them. Give us the confidence that we will have the words to say. Instruct us in the Scriptures and give us the knowledge to speak in ways that will touch the hearts of others.

Our generous, merciful Father, pour out upon us Your power to be Your workers, eagerly pursuing the labor. Give us the freedom to shrug off negative responses and refusals. Grant us the joy of leading many to Jesus, and then greeting them as new brothers and sisters in Christ.

O God, we are Yours. Make us conformed to the image of your Son our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen

Additional Scriptures

Matthew 20 1-16 Laborers in the Vineyard

John 4:34-38 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

Jesus said to them, “My food is doing the will of him who sent me and finishing the work he has given me. Don’t you say, ‘Four months more and then comes the harvest’? But I tell you to open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life, so that both sower and reaper may be glad together. For in this harvest the old saying comes true, ‘One man sows and another reaps.’ I have sent you to reap a harvest for which you never laboured; other men have worked hard and you have reaped the results of their labours.”

John 9:4 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

“We must carry on the work of him who sent me while the daylight lasts. Night is coming, when no one can work.”

 

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Prayers

Jehovah Jireh

19 Jul , 2016  

September 1, 2013

Jehovah Jireh, God will provide

The Lord will bless your towns and your fields.
The Lord will bless you with many children, with abundant crops, and with many cattle and sheep.
The Lord will bless your grain crops and the food you prepare from them.
The Lord will bless everything you do.
The Lord will defeat your enemies when they attack you. They will attack from one direction, but they will run from you in all directions.
The Lord your God will bless your work and fill your barns with grain. He will bless you in the land that he is giving you.
If you obey the Lord your God and do everything he commands, he will make you his own people, as he has promised. (Deuteronomy 28:3-9)

 

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’
He answered, ‘Yes, here I am.’
‘Don’t hurt the boy or do anything to him,’ he said. ‘Now I know that you honor and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him.’
Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught in a bush by its horns. He went and got it and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham named that place ‘The Lord Provides.’ And even today people say, ‘On the Lord’s mountain he provides.’
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ‘I make a vow by my own name—the Lord is speaking—that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from me, I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants—all because you obeyed my command.   (Genesis 22:11-18)

Pray with me

Almighty God, you are infinite in all ways, and yet you condescend to love and care for us. You have the whole universe to watch over and order, still You have such concern for us that you called us into Your fellowship. You have just as much communion with each one of us as we open ourselves to You.

Father, when we stop to contemplate Your majesty and compare our paltry accomplishments, we are awestruck at the enormity of the difference between Your glory and our lives. We can hardly comprehend the magnitude of Your Gift to us, the sending of Your only and most precious Son to demean Himself to live as we live. We shudder when we become fully aware that Your Son, our Lord Jesus who is and ever was Lord God Almighty, took our place on the cross, bore our sins, experienced in our place the penalty for our sin. He has given us that most precious Gift, Himself.

Before our Savior placed Himself on the cross, in His celebration of the Passover, He included those of us present here today in his blessing of the Disciples, in His declaration of love, in His Communion of His Body and Blood, and in His High Priestly prayer.

We are tremendously blessed by Your love, Your complete acceptance, and most generous gifts. We acknowledge our unworthiness. We can barely begin to appreciate the magnitude of the gifts you have given us.

Because of all you have done in our lives, we open our hearts to give you thanks. Because of all you have given to us we lift our voices in praise.

Speak aloud to God what He has done in your life, giving Him thanks

Personal Prayer

Speak aloud your praises of His majesty for what God means to you

Personal Prayer

Speak aloud, so we who are you brothers and sisters can add our amen to your prayers

Personal Prayer

While these promises we have read were for us, they were specifically granted to God’s Chosen People. This day Jews in Israel are surrounded by enemies who desire to drive them into the sea.

Pray for Peace in Jerusalem

Personal Prayer

America has not only been a bastion of freedom, but also an example for all the world to see how God blesses the nation whose God is the Lord. And yet we have begun turning our backs on YHWH to pursue our own interests.

Pray for God to raise up godly leaders to draw our Nation back to Christ

Personal Prayer

Acknowledging that we cannot live a godly life without the power of the Holy Spirit, and confessing our sins—blatant, secret and unknown to us. Let us before we come to Communion, ask Forgiveness for ourselves and confess our need for Christ.

Personal Prayer

Absolution

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you.  (1 Peter 5:6)

 

The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;   (I Timothy 1:14-15)

 

… that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace.   (Ephesians 2:13)

 

… for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works, that no man should glory.   (Ephesians 2:8)

Therefore, ministering to you in the name of Christ, I declare that your sins are forgiven to the glory of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Join with me now in offering the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us, saying

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.

Amen

,

Glad Tidings

GT—Volume 13 Issue 7

9 Jul , 2016  

“I Want Patience, RIGHT NOW!”

Patient Child w Pigeons

Patience is both an aspect of love and a fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Therefore, it is a most godly virtue.

There I sat looking out of the 4th grade window. It revealed a sparkling blue May sky. It was open to allow the dulcet breeze to waft in. The weather was unusually warm and superb for the Puget Sound region. But there I was stuck in a classroom for two more weeks. I liked my teacher and learning, but I wanted to be out in the fields with Blackie. I wasn’t thinking of all the summer farm work that was ahead. I could only think of the longing to be free. I was impatient for school to be let out and I could enjoy the beautiful, warm out-of-doors. 

Had I been patient I might have thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful late May and early June weather.As it turned out that year, the day after school closed for the summer, the cold rainy Puget Sound weather set in for the rest of June. Work did not wait. Hoeing beans, gathering eggs, lopping heads off chickens and myriad farm chores buried my dreams of freedom in a cold, soggy reality.

Human nature is like that. We are pressing on into the future, too busy looking forward to smell the flowers along the way.

I suspect most people recognize the value of patience. Most people who do not have patience know they need to acquire that virtue, but they are too busy. It becomes a vicious cycle. One does not have patience, because of life’s demands. One knows life would go better it one had patience, but the business of life must not be slowed down enough to acquire it; and so life continues at an increasing pace and the longing for patience gets lost in the dust of one’s speeding into the future.

Drivers are often impatient with heavy traffic. So they change lanes to the one that seems to go faster, only to discover that the car that was behind them in the previous lane is passing them.

I have been traveling a street, and have had another driver speed by me, changing lanes furiously out of sight. A few blocks later, I have passed the furious one at a traffic light.   dove-vector-clipart

Time Waits For No Man

“Time and tide waits for no man.”  St. Marher, 1225

They say that as you grow older time speeds by at an increasing pace. The pre-teen feels it is an eternity until the day he or she has the 13th Birthday! The 18 year-old girl anxiously awaits the day when she will be 21 “forever”. It doesn’t work that way. Too soon after her 21st birthday, she longs to get back to that age. The 80 year-old looks at her husband of 58 years and wonders where nearly six decades have flown.

However, time is inflexible, but is very inclusive. Each person gets exactly the same allotment of minutes in each day. There are always, for each person, 1,440 minutes each day and 365 days each year. The question is how we use them. Profitably used, they can enhance not only one’s own life, but the lives of those connected. Used negatively, they can harm others and will eventually harm oneself. Even wasted time has personal and social consequences.

Time-management

There are always, for each person, 1,440 minutes each day and 365 days each year. The question is how we use them.

Time is a very interesting element of life. We live in an instant of time. Each moment is separate from the one just past and the one yet to come. We cannot touch either the past or the future. We can neither change the past nor the future. Our triumphs in the past gather dust and others forget them all too soon. The future may be predictable but is filled with the unpredictable. The best we can do is prepare for what we expect to come.

In my youth, I read a lot of science fiction. Many authors explored time travel. There was a common understanding that to go back in time to change (perhaps improve) some event in the past can have unexpectedly dire effects on one’s present. The hero in one book determined that atomic power was too dangerous. He used atomic power to go back in time to kill Alfred Einstein. He returned to his own present in his atomic-powered time machine. He was summarily executed for possessing atomic power.

Travel into the future has other hazards. How would someone from 200 years ago adjust to live in our modern civilization? It would be a change that might drive him out of his mind.

It is much better to be patient with the time we live in. Whatever needs improving must be done in the context of our present civilization.    dove-vector-clipart  

On Patience

From John Ploughman’s Journal, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, On Patience:

“Patience is better than wisdom: An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains. All men praise patience, but few enough practice it. It is a medicine that is good for all diseases:”

Speed Limit Whatever

My rationale was that it was fast enough to keep away from those who drove slowly and not as fast as the speedsters.

My driving habit was to drive 5-7 mph faster than the limit. My rationale was that it was fast enough to keep away from those who drove slowly and not as fast as the speedsters. It was within reason, so the police, were unlikely to notice and stop me for speeding.

I was driving at my normal speed one day, when the LORD said to me, “Scofflaw, scofflaw, scofflaw.” (the term for those who scoff at laws). He kept it up until I slowed to the speed limit. I set my cruise control and watched the other divers speed around me. Since that time, I have learned that God can still get you there on time, even when you start late.

All things come to him that waits” is an adage that teaches patience. When you are content to wait and receive in due time what you long for, it removes much of the stress out of life. Impatience leads to worry and worry leads to anxiety, which leads to heart failure. A healthy dose of patience each day can extend your life.

There is another truth: delayed gratification is an indication of maturity. Thus being able to wait patiently for what you desire or need gives you a freedom that impatient youth do not possess. Youthful eagerness to be out of school on a sunny day was foolishness. The world does not work that way. Later in life I had enough experience to know that scheduled times would come around when their time was right, and not before. Being impatient or anxious would not bring them sooner.

“An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains” Charles Spurgeon

What did the English Evangelist Charles Spurgeon mean when he said “An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains”? I have been in the situation where I was trying to accomplish something by a boring, tiresome and repetitious activity. I have said to myself, “There’s got to be a better way.” I then spent time attempting to find a “better way” only to discover the time I wasted could have been better spent patiently doing the repetitive action and finish the task. Sometimes it takes more wisdom to do it the “old fashioned way”, manually, then to try to improve by mechanism or electronics.

Rushing into things actually often delays accomplishment. Whereas, approaching a problem deliberately and with patience gives you a more complete understanding and therefore a better outcome. It is better to exercise patience than to frenetically try to think of another way.       dove-vector-clipart

The Value Of Waiting

chocolate puddingOur society has become an instant society. Instant pudding signaled the beginning. Instead of mixing ingredients, cooking them until they thickened and then decanting them into dishes to cool, cooking labs came up with thickening agents. One only has to mix the pudding powder with milk, then pour it out. As it stands, it thickens. This cuts the time significantly.

In my parent’s generation, the houses they bought were for cash. They saved for a number of years until; they had enough to buy a home. After WWII, the GI Bill and FHA were passed into law, opening up credit to millions of home buyers. My first experience with credit was Mobile Oil that issued books of punch cards that had numbers of gallons. As you turned them in you were billed for the amount.

Metal Charge Plate

First general credit purchases were with metal charge plates issued by department stores.

The first general credit purchases were with metal charge plates issued by department stores. The plate carried the purchaser’s name and address. The plate was placed in a stamper that duplicated the customer’s information in carbon copy on a charge slip.

Diner’s Club was one of the first credit cards. By 1950 Diner’s Club and Bank of America had caught on. Petroleum companies were among the first to issue credit cards.

Diner's Club Credit CardMy first cards were for gasoline. My Income was short and I built up so much debt that I could not pay the monthly balances (you could not roll balances over then). I disposed of the cards and had to write humbling letters to the three companies stating that I would be charging no more gas and be paying $10.00 a month until the balances were paid off. Only one company gave me grief.

This increasing ready cash on credit fueled instant gratification and undercut the virtue of patience. No longer was delayed gratification necessary. “Easy monthly payments” were the rule of the road. There is (in my opinion) a pernicious ad on a billboard in Seattle, “Let your home provide non stop adventures”. This really means you use your home equity loan to buy your fun now and do not worry about the reality of paying it off forever.

Thus the American culture, from individuals to the National Government, has been proclaiming the gospel of instant gratification and kicking the can of consequences down the road. “Live today, for tomorrow we die,” has become the underlying dirty secret that no one will talk about. The lack of patience to acquire what we want, will require us some day to pay the piper.

Patience is a virtue that causes us to wait for the acquisition of both needs and wants. There is a great deal of satisfaction in having finally acquired something that truly belongs to us and not the bank.   dove-vector-clipart

Patience Of Another Sort

The other side of patience is with other people. God created mankind to live in community. While there are hermits and recluses who live comfortably alone, they are the exception. Relationships all around us are from the instant “Your total is $89.25. Thank you, have a nice day,” to marriages of 60 years or longer.

God has created all people unique, both physically and attitudinal. Many are fun to associate with, some are pleasant, some are wishy-washy, and others are very hard to get along with.

It is easy to be patient with those who are fun and those who are pleasant. It takes more effort to be patient with the wishy-washy. And it takes long suffering patience to be in relationship with the acerbic personalities.

God teaches us that Love is patient.

“Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, ” 1 Corinthians 13:4 (Living Bible).

In older translations the Greek is μακροθυμέω, literally meaning “long-spirited”, thus “patient, long-suffering, forbearing”. This combined with kindness is one of the traits of love. This love is that which does not seek one’s own pleasure from another, but gives pleasure to another.

This love is that which does not seek one’s own pleasure from another, but gives pleasure to another.

Two Men with Confrontation

Not returning in kind, but absorbing the bitterness or anger with grace.

So, patience as a trait of love is to bear the acerbity of others with kindness. Not returning in kind, but absorbing the bitterness or anger with grace. A real life situation is one where a person in fury calls you foul names, but you respond by blessing them and praying for their peace. You readily confess your fault and seek their forgiveness. When you are not at fault, you do not assert your right, but patiently bear the brunt of the anger.

Patience comes as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the nine fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of patience is a variation of the same word in Greek as a trait of love. This is an indication that patience is not of human origin, but is a manifestation of God in the lives of people, whether they are believers of not. The image of God is impressed upon all mankind. Tragically for some it is so smothered that evil predominates. In contast, for most people, though they do not realize the source, God’s grace comes through all their worldliness and human desires to bless others.

Each of us have problems of personality. We tend not to see them in ourselves, but can readily see them in others. Some of us are hard to live with.

“Many people are born crying, live complaining and die dlsappointed; they chew the bitter pill, which they would not even know it was bitter if they had the sense to swallow it whole with a cup of patience.” Charles Spurgeon.

Quote Charles SpurgeonThat cup of patience can be administered by a loving friend who is willing to offer patience in exchange for ones tears, complaints and disappointments. People motivated by God can offer this ministry to the hurting world. God has called all people to be in relationship with one another. He has done that so the strong can help the weak; the loving can give to the unloved and the patient can bear with long-suffering the anger and bitterness of the hurting.     dove-vector-clipart

Patience Of A Godly Sort

John 3:16 is a verse of Scripture that most people in our culture know or at least is familiar to them. This signature verse packs a world of meaning, but it can be summed up in “God gave!”

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Romans 5:8

Another explication is in Romans 5:8. Here is the love of God made clear. Even when a person is unworthy of God’s love, even when a person is opposed to Him, God is patient with us. His love is not diminished.

 But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus Christ on Cross

In His love He made provision for each one. That provision is in the illogical, incomprehensible (but true) sacrifice of His only beloved Son to allow us to become able to be adopted into God’s family.

Far above anything we can expect, God’s patient love is present in our lives long past the time when we continue to reject Him. From the Beginning, He knew each person who would be finally open to the Holy Spirit. In His love He made provision for each one. That provision is in the illogical, incomprehensible (but true) sacrifice of His only beloved Son to allow us to become able to be adopted into God’s family.

Jesus, God’s Son in human flesh, wholly God and wholly man, became the sacrificial Lamb of God. In our culture, the concept of a blood sacrifice is strange and even repugnant. And yet, in God’s economy that is the way sin can be cleansed. An innocent victim must die and its blood applied to cover and wash away sin. This process makes the subject clean and worthy to enter into God’s family.

God is patient to await the right moment in each person’s life when that process of applying Christ’s blood to one’s life can occur. He is long-suffering with our rebellion, but he never, never, never gives up on a person. In concord with His Father’s love, Jesus went willingly to the cross and voluntarily bore each person’s sins on His infinite shoulders. When Jesus, the Christ, died, He carried our sin into the grave and left them there when He was resurrected.

He is long-suffering with our rebellion, but he never, never, NEVER gives up on a person.

Therefore, unbelievers have not only available to them for their choosing life eternal, but also the fruit of the Spirit. Love that is patient and kind is available to believers. It is our joy to offer that to the world. The people around us are in desperate need of what we have in Christ. We have the glorious responsibility to teach the wounded where to find healing. We have the high privilege of sacrificing our comfort to bring surcease into lives of the frenetic. We have the precious opportunity of sharing the inestimable and infinite love of God with unbelievers all around us.

God grant us that joy! Hallelujah   dove-vector-clipart

Questions Demanding Answers

This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in one issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.

QUESTION: How can Jesus be both man and God at the same time?

ANSWER: The answer is simple: God ordained it. It is also infinitely complex, far beyond our understanding. God in His wisdom from before He created the world, knew that man would break fellowship with Him, sin and fall away from God. In the counsel of His wisdom and at just the right time the Son of God chose to set aside His glory and without surrendering any of His Godhead, was born fully human.

The infinite God became a finite man without diminishing Who He was as God and without being any less a man. The Son did this because He loves people so very much that He was willing to pay whatever price it took to redeem individual people.

His sacrifice of His own glory, His taking on the burden of all the sins of mankind, His willingness to subject himself to the humiliation of flogging and an horrific death, His willingness to experience His Father’s rejection of Him as sin-bearer, and finally suffer death—real cessation of life—were that price. Yes, the Son of God paid a high price for you and for me.

I cannot conceive of how God could fit into the minuscule frame of a man—physically, emotionally, mentally and into a soul. Yet it is true. This is beyond our ken, as many of the ways of God are. We look at the life of Jesus and we see simply a man was so utterly devoted to God He calls Him Father. However, that is a material perception. Yes, Jesus prayed often, perhaps continually to His Father. Still He and His father were (and are) one. God is a Trinity and inseparable.

There is another mind-boggling truth: As Jesus died on the cross, God died on the cross. He experienced real death, but God is greater than death. In so doing, God destroyed death as it encompassed the Lord Jesus Christ. He rose victorious over death as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

After His resurrection, when Jesus met with the Disciples and others, His celestial body was in material form they could handle. He could eat. Yet, the material world could not limit His body even though it was material (one of our great promises is that we, upon passing through death, the defeated enemy, will have bodies that Jesus demonstrated). Some people believe that the Son of God will always be in bodily form as He was in His resurrection appearances.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that Son of God was, is, and always will be the God/man. He identified so with His beloved creatures that He will always bear us in His image. God honors us over all creation by becoming human and bearing our image. This is a mystery that none of the angels of heaven will ever experience. Thus, mankind is truly the crown of God’s creation!

QUESTION: Who is Melchizedek and what does he have to do with Jesus?

The Holy of Holies

Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.

Holy Spirit, our God and One whom empowers, draw me into Christ. Cause me to yield to His control of my life. I need His cleansing of the sin in my life. I earnestly desire for Christ’s life to be manifested in my life. I cry with Paul, “For me to live is Christ.” I long for that to be true.

I confess the truth to You that “the world is too much with me.” Therefore, O Holy Spirit, I need You to empower my spirit to resist the inroads of sin. Help me control my eyes and my mind. Strengthen my spirit to use those sin-thoughts as promptings to praise the Lord and to immediately confess and surrender again and again until Christ is made manifest in my thoughts and imaginations of my heart.

My Jesus, my Savior, envelope me in Your robe of righteousness, that I may be a light of truth in this world. I recognize that I am not worthy, but You have chosen me. You are cleansing me. Build in my heart a sure foundation to contain your love. Make my heart a fit vessel that does not leak, but does overflow so that Your love that brims will spill over into the lives of those who You bring into my life.

Make me a light that shines as a beacon, drawing men and women to You. Make me into a window, transparent of self that reveals the character of the Savior—His love, His compassion, His patience, His grace.

Make me a light that shines as a beacon, drawing men and women to You. Make me into a window, transparent of self that reveals the character of the Savior—His love, His compassion, His patience, His grace. Use me, my Lord, to fulfill Your purposes in the lives of those You assign as my responsibility. Give me the resources to attract others to You. Give me the boldness to speak Your name, regardless of the cost. Give me the sensitivity to Your Spirit to hold my tongue and allow Your to work in their hearts to perform that glorious heart transplant—removing the stony heart and replacing it with a heart of flesh in love with You.

Father, my God, You have redeemed me from a Christ-less eternity. You sent Your son to save me from eternal destruction. I am acutely aware that before the Holy Spirit’s revelation of Jesus in a way I could not resist, I was hell-bent on the road to everlasting destruction. In Your infinite grace, You chose to adopt me into Your family. You, my loving Father, sent the Holy Spirit to draw me. You my gracious Creator, sent Your eternal Son to die for my sin, You, my empowering God, sent Your Spirit to arouse me to Who You are and alert me to the disaster my life was before You redeemed me.

All glory, majesty, dominion are Yours. All praise, honor, adoration belong to You, Almighty God.

Hallelujah to the One God in three Persons.

 Amen!

,

Sermons

Stewardship of Your Gift

27 Jun , 2016  

May 24, 2015

Matthew 25:14-30

For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey. Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents. In like manner he also that received the two gained other two. But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them. And he that received the five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents.’ His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’

Parable_of_talents

The parable of the talents, depicted in a 1712 woodcut. The lazy servant searches for his buried talent, while the two other servants present their earnings to their master.

And he also that received the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents.’ His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’

And he also that had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter; and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own.’ But his lord answered and said unto him, ‘Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter; thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest.

Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.’

God’s Unique Creation

Each person is God’s unique creation. Even identical twins have differences. God is the Master Creator and Designer. He created each one of us with specific abilities and characteristics and gifts.

Bartolomeo_Montagna_-_Saint_Paul_-_Google_Art_Project

Saint Paul by Bartolomeo Montagna

Because He is a purposeful God with each unique person He had a plan in mind. One day the Almighty said, “I AM going to create a Jew. I will arrange to have him born into a family of Jews that are Roman citizens. I will arrange for Him to have both an extensive classical education in Latin and Greek. He will also be tutored intensively in the Jewish Scriptures. He will have great management ability, be an excellent writer, courageous, zealous, an inspirer of men. His name will be Saul of Tarsus.”

What did Saul do with all these gifts? He used them in his efforts to crush the Jews who became involved in the heresy of believing that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. He worked aggressively to seize these believers in the Nazarene, confiscate their property, jail them and kill many.

Was he a good steward of God’s gifts? Of course not. He misused God’s gifts, causing pain and suffering to God by persecuting God’s elect.

The Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit allowed Saul to misuse God’s gifts only so far, and then Jesus halted Saul and turned him completely around. From a hater of Jesus and His believers, Saul was transformed into Paul, a lover of Jesus and His people. He became the foremost evangelist of the New Testament. Properly using God’s gifts, Paul reached thousands individually and by writing; and brought them to faith in Jesus, Son of God, Savior. Did Paul become a good steward of the gifts given to him by Almighty God? The answer is a resounding yes!”

Each is Endowed with Gifts

495px-Foster_Bible_Pictures_0084-1_Rahab_Helping_the_Two_Israelite_Spies

Rahab Helping the Two Israelite Spies. Illustration from the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us: brief descriptions by Charles Foster

Each one of us here has been endowed with gifts from our Father. He placed them in your innocent baby hands at the beginning of your life. He charged you to use all He gave you, everything in you, even your life itself, all to accomplish His purposes. As the Master in the parable gave talents to his servants, just so God, according to each one’s ability, charges you with the responsibility to turn His gifts unto great results.
To get an idea of the gifts God gives, you can look at the lives of the people God chooses to lead, prophesy, teach and minister. In Scripture there are great examples; King Hezekiah, Rahab and the Prophet Hosea, to name just a few.

Grow Up in Christ

Our Lord has not just saved us and left us on our own to live our lives. He has given us the responsibility to grow up in Christ and to be His ministers to believers and to those who do not have Jesus as Savior.

To show us how to grow He has given us the Holy Spirit. Jesus said He was sending the Spirit who would teach us all things and remind us of all Jesus taught. The Holy Spirit also assists us in our ministering to others. God has given us gifts. They are built into us from conception. They are encoded in our DNA. God has distributed them to individuals. Each person will have several complementary gifts. No one but Jesus has them all.

There are three lists of gifts, manifestations and offices in the New Testament.

Gifts from God (Romans 12:6-13)

  1. Prophesy – speaking forth the words of God
  2. Ministry – serving both God and man
  3. Teaching – instructing and sharing what you know and have learned
  4. Exhorting – preaching and encouraging
  5. Giving – generously sharing time, talents, energy, finances and your life
  6. Ruling – leadership, organizing and motivating others
  7. Showing mercy – sensitive to the needs of others
  8. Loving tenderly & affectionately – building up and consoling as needed
  9. Steadfast in Prayer – Prayer warrior, prevailing in prayer
  10. Diligent – persistent in doing what God wants without sloth
  11. Providing – for God’s people and for others
  12. Hospitable – inviting people into fellowship
  13. Patient –seeing beyond the difficulties of the moment to God’s blessings

Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in our lives (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

  1. Word of wisdom – supernatural understanding
  2. Word of knowledge – supernaturally knowing what you have not learned
  3. Faith – believing beyond hope
  4. Healing – supernatural healing
  5. Miracles – transformation of the natural world
  6. Prophesy – speaking forth the words of God
  7. Discerning of Spirits supernatural knowledge of good and evil
  8. Speaking in Tongues – praying or speaking a language not learned
  9. Interpretation of Tongues – giving the sense of a tongue.

Ministry Offices (Ephesians 4:11)

  1. Apostles – Church planters
  2. Prophets – Proclaiming the Word of the Lord
  3. Evangelists – Leads people to Christ
  4. Pastors – Disciples the saved, nurturing them in the faith
  5. Teachers – Instructing believers and unbelievers in Christian doctrine

Using Your Gifts

All your lives you have been using the gifts your Lord has given you. As you reflect on how you have ministered in the past, you will understand how God was ministering through you.

When I was seeking an executive job, they counseled me to just list my previous employments, and then for each one describe in detail an incident that displayed an ability of mine. In this way, I was able to build a picture of the characteristics that made me fit for the job. It was not until later that I connected the skills I had with the gifting of my God.

Do you like to be with people? That may be the gift of hospitality.

Do you like to encourage people to see the movie you enjoyed or go to your favorite restaurant? That may be the ministry of evangelism.

Do you like to help people understand things? That may be the ministry of teaching.

What you like to do and do well, is most likely the talent God gave you to invest for Him and return the dividends. You can ask one another what gifts they see in you.

Jesus Wants You

Jesus wants you to minister to the folks around you. As you pass someone in the hall, send a silent prayer to your Lord. “Jesus, how do you want me to serve her? How would you like me to pray for Him?” As you go by a room, stick your head in and ask how you can help. For those who want prayer, you can step in and pray for them. Lay your hands on them as you pray.

When you wake up each morning ask, “Jesus what ministries have You for me to do today?” During the day keep your eyes open for opportunities to exercise your gifts. Keep your ears open for the Holy Spirit’s direction.

Before you go to sleep each night pray for the people the Holy Spirit has brought to your notice during the day.

You cannot do everything. You can do something; but you must not do nothing.

And then when this life is over and the Lord God Almighty calls you in for an accounting of your use of His gifts, you can say. “Lord, here are the talents you gave me and here is how I multiplied them.” And He will say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!”

Prayer

Benediction:

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Glad Tidings

GT—Volume 13 Issue 6

2 Jun , 2016  

Slippery Slope

Thirteen Pieces of Silver

Too late! Judas realized his error. His betrayal of Jesus began with a wrong idea of Jesus. Then he dipped into the common purse. Finally, he betrayed his Master for a bit of silver.

As a ten year old,  I went “swimming” with my two cousins. They swam, but I could not, so I waded. The lake was small, but deep. The beach as about ten feet long and about 6 feet wide until it dropped off precipitously. The water over the beach was not up to my knees.

I walked around the lake until I discovered a large, perhaps 10-foot high boulder on the edge of the lake. I climbed up the backside and sat down facing the lake. The boulder sloped to the lake. I moved further out so I could look down into the water. As I leaned forward, I started slipping. The surface was smooth enough so my feet and hands could not make enough friction to stop. I plunged into the deep lake and was in serious danger of drowning. Phyllis and Dale saw my trouble, swam out and pulled me to shore. We all agreed that we would not tell our parents.

I was about 7 years old, hiding in my Dad’s closet (I do not remember why). I bumped against his pants hanging on a hook. Something solid was in his pocket. I reached in and took out a handful of silver dollars and half dollars. I did not think, just helped myself to several handfuls. That weekend I visited my grandmother in Seattle for a couple of days. As usual, she took me Downtown to the premier department store, Frederick & Nelson’s. We always went to the basement Paul Bunyan Room for lunch. I ordered a chicken pot pie. When it came time to pay, I proudly took out handfuls of silver coins and said I’d pay for the meal. Nanny did not say anything. When Daddy took me home at the end of my stay, in the car he handed me a Reader’s Digest open to the story by a man on death row. He told me to read it. The man had begun with petty thieving and graduated to major crime and ended on death row for murder. Nanny and Dad saved me from that slippery slope.

When I was 40 years old, I began cliff and mountain climbing. I did not have proper rock shoes, so I tried to use canvas boat shoes with sticky soles. They were barely okay for climbing up, but really dangerous on slabs. A slab is a sloping piece of rock that you cross with a cliff on one side and a significant drop on the other, a slippery slope. My shoes clung to the surface, but the canvas did not support me and my feet rolled out of my shoes, endangering me. I tried to cross with my toes up hill, but my heels wanted to slip out of the soft uppers. I finally went to a climbing store and bought rock shoes I could not afford.  My life experiences have taught me of the real dangers of slippery slopes.

Let’s Learn From Edwin Markham

“That once abhorred, soon accepted, is finally embraced.” — Edwin Markham

This is a philosophical truth of the slippery slope. Human nature is prone to form habits. “Repetition is the mother of knowledge”. We learn to tie our shoes by struggling at first to make the manipulations necessary. Soon we just have to remember how we learned, and later we do it automatically without thinking.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”  — Misattributed to Joseph Goebbels

Questions about the authenticity of the Bible began to circulate in the seminaries in the 1930’s. Christian denominations began to dispense with the authority of Scripture. By the time I grew up Jesus was discarded as God. Sin was bad, but without a concrete belief in Hell, the consequences of sin were only in this life.

I was raised a moral boy into a young man. In the 60’s, I considered the concept of “free love” immoral. So many of my contemporaries did not have the background I did felt the only consequence of sleeping around was pregnancy. Drug companies introduced the birth control pill in 1960. By 1965, over 6,000,000 women were taking the pill to make sexual relations nearly free of consequences of an unwanted child.

We are far down that slippery slope. Abortions are legal and frequent. Marriage and family formation has decreased significantly. Divorce has increased greatly with its attendant consequences of single mothers, emotionally damaged children, absent fathers. The reality is that those children are much more likely to do poorly in schools reducing their quality of adult life. They are much more likely to have problems with authority, leading to criminal behavior. I hasten to say this is not the direct cause of birth control. It is but one of the symptoms along the drift down the slippery slope.                                 

Decline of Morality

Edwin Markham was right. In the early part of the 20th Century moral Americans abhorred birth control, “loose women” and “libertine men”, abortions, divorce, unwed mothers, and homosexuality. This social stigma, caused a few people pain, but the stigma preserved the intact family and the foundation of society. It fostered emotionally healthy children. It built into the family and society a sure foundation, strengthening individuals.

WWII had a negative impact on the morals of America with the attitude, “Live today, for tomorrow we die!” Further down, the watershed decade of the 60’s made immoral behavior common. The movies played their part as a “hot media”, portraying immorality as normal. Soon even strong moralists were no longer aghast at the bed-hopping that occurred on screen and among the personal lives of the actors. Initially, an actor’s or actress’ career was ruined if their affairs became public. Later, their affairs were “only” juicy gossip.

Quote by Brett Ratner, meetville.com

Brett Ratner is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, film editor, and music video director. He is known for directing the Rush Hour film series, The Family Man, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist.

All of this led to society’s tolerance of immoral behavior. It was something that “those kinds of people did, certainly not in our circle friends.” The Kinsey Reports, on males in ‘48 and females in ’52, at first circulated only among psychologists. Eventually, they came to public attention. They added apparent professional approval to the growing wave of immorality. “Well, if everybody is doing it, it can’t be that bad.” This is the argument that “40,000,000 Frenchmen can’t be wrong” (they can be)!

The next step down the slope was the embracing of immorality. We find ourselves in a society in which the peers of a teen boy or girl think there is something wrong if he or she has not had sex. We find ourselves in a world where we have murdered 58,586,256 babies in the womb as of January 2016. The divorce rate exceeds 50%. 24,647,000 children live in single-parent households; that is 35% of children. Thus, our American society has embraced what we abhorred just 75 years ago. Our society is fragmenting and appears to be dissolving in dissolution.

What’s So Important About Morality?

If you try to put frogs in boiling water they resist strenuously. If, however, you have patience and put the frogs into room temperature water they will swim happily. If you gradually increase the heat the frogs do not feel it and eventually they are cooked and they never notice it.

So, what’s wrong with having a “new morality”? Nothing, unless you want a live frog. The frog could be living happily in an environment that suited his makeup. That was changed when he was put into the pot. With gradual heating he did not suffer from scalding, no pain, but he died.

The “new morality” is like the water in the kettle, it is not what society was made for. It will eventually kill society. Unhappily, this death is not without pain. Men suffer, women suffer, children suffer, our nation suffers.

Society was made to provide stability for families. Without that stability the society itself frays. People become loose ends. Without connections they have no anchor and “everyone does what is right in his own eyes”. Cooperation breaks down and peolpe see one another as at least competitors and at worst enemies.

The “free love” propagated in the 1960’s has been instrumental in breaking apart families and in preventing formation of families. Without the restraints of morality, illicit behavior begins to dominate. It began with questioning the need for marriage, “Who needs a bit of paper?” Today 40% of children are born to unwed mothers. These children will have greater chance of failing in schools and ending up in prison.

The next step down was the breakdown of fidelity in marriage. The advent of no-fault divorce corrupted the marriage commitment, “So long as we both shall LOVE.” Husband and/or wives do not wait until divorce to destroy their relationship. This infidelity catapults the children into an unstable and broken world of divided loyalties, of children blaming themselves for the breakdown, and of manipulation of one parent against the other.

Another step down this slope is the recognition of the “legitimacy of homosexuality. This unnatural relationship defies logic. Men and women were created to fit together sexually to procreate. Homosexual copulation cannot reproduce, so it is unnatural. The body parts do not interchange, so it is unnatural. It corrupts the emotional connection with the opposite sex, so it is unnatural.

Rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, August 2014

Rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, August 2014

We saw the breakdown of society evidenced in Ferguson, Missouri, and copy-cat riots. Many if not most of those people were using the disruption as an excuse. There was no connection between the initial questions over the shooting and the brutal destruction of property and looting. Those store owners had no hand in the incident. The immoral vandals were taking advantage of the police distraction. It became a “get out of jail free” card. Their avarice and destructive behavior were the poster child of the breakdown of morality over the last half century.

The rioters had no sense of responsibility for those local merchants that had been serving their neighborhoods. They felt no compunction at destroying their neighbors’ businesses and livelihoods.

Civil Unrest

Protests and civil unrest in the 1960’s and 1970’s

“They got everythin’! I got nuthin’! They owe me!” This avarice blinds one to the truth that “they” through hard work had earned what they have. The small business owner works long hours and makes enough profit to purchase replacement stock, pay the utilities and rent, put food on the table and save some for retirement. It appears to the uneducated that since they have all that stock, they must be rich. The uneducated do not realize that the stock does not wholly belong to the owners. Some, or much of it is on the shelves on the basis of borrowed money. Only the stock they own outright is their profit margin. When stolen, the shop owner loses the money he paid as well as his profit. If he has borrowed to purchase it, he still owes the debt. Either from ignorance or caloussness, the uneducated do not care, and most likely will not listen to an explanation.

Another immoral attitude is, “I can defraud the insurance company. They’ve got plenty of money. Besides, they have reserves to cover this, don’t they?” The truth is every dollar the insurance company pays out in fraud, comes out of the insureds’ pockets in increased premiums, whether the company has reserves or not. Where do the reserves come from? Premiums paid for by the insureds.

Mother Theresa

Mother Teresa was the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor. Her order established a hospice; centers for the blind, aged, and disabled; and a leper colony.

Our culture has become so lacking in compassion and hardened to the innocent that society not only tolerates but also allows abortion clinics to ply their grisly trade. Practitioners think nothing of throwing out the body parts of dismembered babies by the garbage bag full. Some even sell the parts. People, in general, rarely confront this truth. Thus, they can ignore the logical yearly result of tens of thousands (compare this 58 M with the Holocaust of 6M that horrified the world) of aborted babies killed inside their mothers.

Contrary to the deception of the abortion promoters, science makes it clear that babies are viable from the instant of conception. Those two cells that come together are independently alive, even though they need the sustenance of the mother. Therefore, abortion providers seek to avoid showing mothers the ultrasound pictures that show their baby growing and moving inside them.

One of the carefully hidden prices that women pay for an abortion is the emotional damage to those who have had abortions. The more tender ones, emotionally, overtly suffer guilt, remorse and grief. The less tender become more calloused. Women suppress remorse and guilt. Those emotions are there and come out sideways in depression and other unhealthy emotions.

What’s wrong? Society is breaking down. Our society is developing a culture of lawbreakers—both moral and judicial. It has raised and is increasingly raising children that under-perform, have little or no family stability and are predisposed to destructive lives. Culture is fragmented and people are pitted against one another. The endemic lack of fidelity breeds a lack of trust and an “us-them” mentality. The callousness that this “New Morality’ has fostered has resulted in violent destruction of property in mob action, the slaughter of millions of innocent babies, destructive emotions, breakdown of families with tragic results. Yes, the cost of this “freedom” has been exceedingly high. Yet our culture refuses to acknowledge the truth of the American situation.

None So Blind as Will Not See

In the novel Winds of War by Herman Wouk, Jews deliver to the U.S. President authenticated documents from the Reichstag that proved the Nazi planned to exterminate the Jews. The Americans refused to believe them. The one who obtained the documents and knew the truth, observed, “They will not believe, because they choose not to believe.”

Human pleasure blinds one to the consequences of our actions. The woman who begins drinking in her sorority at college and later indulges in social drinking with others as a young married, is in no danger of becoming an alcoholic. Later, when she carries a flask in her purse, a bottle for replenishment in her desk and begins hiding how much she consumes each day, she has reached the steep slope. Her response to those who raise the question of drinking too much is sincere protestations. She refuses to see the truth that others can, because the drinking gives pleasure, no matter how much is hurts her.

Humans have a built-in survival mechanism that for the most part is a boon. Unhappily it is not logical. The instinct will not discern between good and bad survival. It always protects the emotional well-being. Unless the will is independent and sees the danger and overrules the erroneous self-survival efforts, those erroneous decisions lead the whole person into disaster.

Off CliffThe water is boiling now and we are seeing the results of the slippery slope in morality. Unhappily, we are still sliding down. Our culture is oblivious to the cliff at the bottom of the slope. I cannot tell how far we are from the edge, but it cannot be far. I cannot tell what will be the result of our sliding off, but I know it will be disastrous to our society. Our culture will deeply regret our obliviousness to the slide, and our refusal to stop, turn around and begin to climb back.

BUT God! He is Sovereign!

If we as a culture, as a nation turn back to God, He will save America. He loves people and longs for the best for all. Because He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, God knows what is the best for each person. Putting one’s life in His hand and then following His very real directions for one’s life is the best thing in this world. He knows the end and all that leads up to it. It only makes sense to seek and follow His guidance. He knows when there is a slippery slope ahead and what to do to about it. Rely upon Jesus to save you in this life and ultimately for eternity.

Questions Demanding Answers

I pose a question in one issue.  You have the opportunity to send me answers.  I will publish the best ones in the next issue.  Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.

QUESTION: How much do you love Jesus?

ANSWER: This requires a subjective answer.  Each person will likely have a different answer.

“Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.” — Teresa of Avila (16th century)

Some will know God, but have little passion for Him. I fear most people do not know God, are not even aware that He exists and is the Sovereign Creator of all that is.

God is a Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (contact me for an explanation). Mankind cannot avoid sin. Therefore, no one qualifies to live with the perfectly righteous God. God solved this problem when God the Son became flesh, born of a virgin. To remedy the reality of sin God planned to have a perfectly sinless Person die in the sinners’ place. Jesus was the God/man. His death on the cross made it possible for you and me to be with God. We must trade our sinful life to Jesus for a life of forgiveness. This means that we no longer belong to ourselves, but to God. Once that happens we discover the love of God, the only true love that there is (contact me for more explanation).

Therefore, the first answer to the question is that we must first belong to God before we can love Him.

The quality and degree of love depends upon our relationship with Jesus.

Relationships are built upon shared experiences. The more time you spend with a friend the better you get to know him/her. Beyond that is cultivation. Exchange of complements, gifts, admitting the need for one another, all contribute to deepening of the relationship.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

This is the ultimate test of deep love for another person.

That is exactly what Jesus did for each of us. He died so that we might live eternally. When we become a member (by adoption) of God’s family, we demonstrate the quality of our love for him, by laying our life down for Him. Rarely, it means becoming a martyr for Christ. Regularly, day by day, it means that we put God’s desires for us first. He comes ahead of family, friends, and even (perhaps, especially) self.

The more we develop an ongoing dialogue with Almighty God, the greater will be our love for him. This dialogue incorporates prayers of intercession, (praying for others) singing hymns and gospel songs, praising God’s majesty, praying for oneself. We see people talking to themselves and we think they may be deranged. However, if one lives one’s life talking to God as did many of the saints of the past and many prayer warriors do today, then our joy in God, our love for Jesus and our listening to and obedience to the Holy Spirit will grow, causing us to talk often with the God we love.

QUESTION for next issue: How can Jesus be both man and God at the same time?

The Holy of Holies

Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.

My God and Father, You are so wonderful. You have created all things. Before You actually created, everything was in your mind. It is such a comfort to know that I was in your mind before the beginning of creation. You, the greatest thing in existence, included me in your plans.

My being cannot conceive, nor can it bear the reality of the extent of Your love for me. It is complete, perfectly expressed in Jesus. If You were to suffuse me with Your unfiltered love it would burn me to a cinder. Thus You became a man, limiting Yourself into a form I could see and touch and feel, a form that I could identify with.

I love you my God. I desire to know You more. Open up Your Scriptures to me to learn who You are. Reading truths You present in Scripture will educate me only so far. Therefore, I need to hear from Your Holy Spirit. Jesus said He would teach me all things and remind me of what Jesus taught when He was here on earth.

Father, show me how to love other people more. Give me a sensitivity to them that will bless them. Reveal to me how I am not present to my spouse or my children. Give me the way to be for them and with them. Show me how (beyond my natural abilities) to minister to the people around me. I desire to be a better friend to my friends. I want to share the life that you have for me with those people I meet in business, in shopping and in casual conversation.

Lord God Holy Spirit, our world is in a bad way. We have ethnic strife in numerous places around the world. That is because we as mankind are self-centered sinners. We embrace party spirit, “birds of a feather flock together”. It is Your will that all men be brought together in the spirit of Christ. When He prayed that last time in the Upper Room for His Disciples, Jesus prayed not only for them, but also for those who would believe because those there that night would teach others about Jesus. That chain has continued down to the present.

Thank you Father,  for the Disciples and all those throughout history who faithfully transmitted the knowledge of Your love. Today I believe in You because 50 years ago two faithful men listened to the Lord and witnessed to Ruth and to me. They did not know one another, and yet You brought them to us at the same time.

Now, my gracious God, empower me to witness to those I contact. Give me the words to make them hunger and thirst after Your righteousness and Your love.

O, Holy Lord God, let all the angels in chorus proclaim your Glory. Let all flesh declare Your marvelous works among men. Let all the beauty of Your creation—snow capped mountains, rushing rivers, rainbows, flowers of spring—declare in their own shabby way Your inimitable and glorious loveliness.

Praise God! Praise the Father Almighty! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ the Savior of mankind! Praise the Holy Spirit, our Teacher! All glory to the One God!

Amen!

Prayers

He Makes All Things New

30 May , 2016  

January 6, 2013

Behold! All Things New

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven of God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God: and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.

And he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal: having a wall great and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof. And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.

And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there shall be no night there): and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it: and there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (The Revelation 21:1-7; 10-12; 21-27)

Please participate in this bidding prayer

I will pray a short prayer covering a topic, and then it will be your turn to pray aloud about that topic. Everyone is free to pray. Once you have prayed, please allow others to pray before you pray again.

Pray for this Troubled World

Our Father and our God, the news is filled with evidence of the fallenness of this world. Earthquake and famine, war and economic failure plague the nations. Our Sovereign Lord save us.

Personal Prayer

Pray for Peace in Jerusalem

God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Your Chosen People in Israel are threatened on every side. Deliver your people from those who would wipe them out.

Personal Prayer

Pray for Our Nation and Its Leaders

Sovereign Lord, You are to God of all nations. Exert Your mighty power and return our nation to godliness.

Personal Prayer

Pray for Our State

Come Holy Spirit and enliven the spiritually dead churches in Washington and especially along the I-5 corridor to Christ-centered holiness.

Personal Prayer

Pray for Our Church

Lord Jesus, you have placed Grace Fellowship Church in Maltby and on Paradise Road for a reason. Motivate us to fulfill Your purposes.

Personal Prayer

Before we come to Communion, ask Forgiveness for Yourself and confess your need for Christ.

Absolution

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:” (Isaiah 1:16-19)
“He hath not dealt with us after our sins, Nor rewarded us after our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is his lovingkindness toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:1-12)

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.

Amen.

,

Christ and Culture

Praying for the Church

30 May , 2016  

Author: Steve Gammon, Conference Minister

 

One of the most important things any of us can do for our churches is to pray for them. When Paul wrote to the churches the things dearest on his heart, he often focused on prayer.

Prayers of Thanksgiving

In Colossians 1, for example, there are wonderful lessons on how to pray for the church. In verses 4-7 Paul begins with prayers of thanksgiving. Let me encourage you to join me in praying such prayers of thanksgiving for the faith of God’s people, for their love, and hope, for their response to the gospel that still goes out, and for faithful ministry leaders like Epaphras.

Prayers of Petitions

Then in verses 9-14 Paul presents a list of petitions for which he unceasingly prays for the church—for the knowledge of His will, for spiritual wisdom and understanding, for lives lived “worthy of the Lord”, for bearing fruit in every good work, for growth in the knowledge of God, for strength and power, for great endurance and patience, for joyful thanksgiving to the Father, that they might know that God has qualified them and has already rescued them from the dominion of darkness, that they might know that God has brought them into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, and that they might truly believe in the redemption and forgiveness of sins that is theirs in Christ Jesus!

Paul not only longed for these things for the church! He fervently prayed for them! I want you to know that I am praying for you! And I urge you all to be praying for the church!

,

Prayers

Easter Praise

30 May , 2016  

Maranatha! Resurrection Day!
March 31, 2013

First, let me share with you the traditional Easter greeting.
The greeting:
Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
The Response:
Christ risen indeed! Hallelujah!

We are elated that God’s promise of the resurrection was proven to many witnesses. They saw the death of Christ. They knew that He was dead and buried. And yet, they saw him alive. They testified to us that Jesus was and is alive from the dead. Therefore, we believe in the resurrection. We have embraced God’s promise for us.
But what if – what if it is not true. Paul addresses this question.
“Now if the rising of Christ from the dead is the very heart of our message, how can some of you deny that there is any resurrection?
“For if there is no such thing as the resurrection of the dead, then Christ was never raised. And if Christ was not raised then neither our preaching nor your faith has any meaning at all. Further it would mean that we are lying in our witness for God, for we have given our solemn testimony that he did raise up Christ—and that is utterly false if it should be true that the dead do not, in fact, rise again!
“For if the dead do not rise neither did Christ rise, and if Christ did not rise your faith is futile and your sins have never been forgiven. Moreover those who have died believing in Christ are utterly dead and gone. Truly, if our hope in Christ were limited to this life only we should, of all mankind be the most to be pitied!
“But the glorious fact is that Christ did rise from the dead: he has become the very first to rise of all who sleep the sleep of death. As death entered the world through a man, so has rising from the dead come to us through a man! As members of a sinful race all men die; as members of the Christ of God all men shall be raised to life, each in his proper order, with Christ the very first and after him all who belong to him when he comes.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-23 J.B. Phillips)

Thus, we have reason to celebrate!
Leader: Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
Response: Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
Leader: Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
Response: Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
Leader: Do not be afraid to make the walls ring and the windows rattle
Response: Hallelujah! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

Speak aloud your praise to God the Father. Speak aloud your adoration of the Lord Jesus. Speak aloud your thanksgiving to the Blessed Holy Spirit.

Pause for Prayer

Adoni Sabaoth, Jehovah Jireh, We magnify You for the glorious provision You have bestowed upon us. You came into our darkness and took us by the heart and led us into your magnificent light. You opened our blind eyes to your splendor.
If that is all you had done it would have been ample, since we were lost in darkness without You. What was sufficient for us, was not enough for You. You had far more and abundant riches to bestow.

Pause for Prayer

You not only revealed Yourself to us, You gave us a beautiful and fruitful world in which to live. We offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving for Your amazing generosity.

Pause for Prayer

You not only gave us this abundance, You adopted us as Your sons and daughters, making us family. O how we praise You our glorious Father.

Pause for Prayer

You not only adopted us, but You gave us an exceedingly great legacy as joint heirs with Christ.

Pause for Prayer

You not only made us joint heirs with Jesus, but you gave us the outstanding promise of resurrection, transfigured bodies and eternal life. Your love and openhandedness are overwhelming. We lift our voices in praise of your astounding grace

Pause for Prayer

Having experienced Your love and benefited greatly from Your mercy we lay before you these concerns for others and ourselves, confident that you gladly receive our prayers.

Pause for Prayer

We rejoice in Your resurrection and in the promise that we too will rise. Now, Lord Jesus, we join our hearts together offering the prayer you taught, saying.

The Lord’s Prayer

Leader: Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
Response: Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

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