July 7, 2010, 1 Corinthians 1

Key Verse:

“He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

(1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

Central Truth:

When the world is fickle, God is faithful.

WHAT DO YOU WANNA GET TODAY ?

Watching our kids teaches me so much about myself. I get excited about what they are excited about. But it’s funny. What they are excited about can change so quickly. They are so influenced by friends, family, TV, and school. They totally have to have a scooter, then a hula-hoop, then a doll that acts real, then a monster truck like the real one, now the Sky Ball, and on and on it goes.
I was thinking though, how fickle our kids, and I, can be. They HAVE to have this certain toy at Walmart or the DS game that everyone is talking about. They love that song on the radio. Then they get the toy or game or hear the song too much and are tired of it. The toy they begged for is broken and on the floor the next month. Fickle. Love it, then tired of it, and then they have a new love.

I’m the same way; aren’t you? I love something and have to have it. If it’s clothes and I get it, I wear it; then after hanging a while in my closet it seems “old.” Maybe for you it’s exercise, diets, TV shows, relationships, cars, jobs, recreation, or even church. You love it, then you get tired of it, and move on or get lazy or unmotivated. Our culture is full of change and media making us think we need the next, new, best thing.

All of this just reminds me that we serve a totally UN-fickle, totally FAITHful God. He doesn’t love us one day, then get tired of us the next. He doesn’t have faith in us, then when we mess up, give up. He doesn’t want to trade us in for the newer, better model! He does not look at you, listen to you over and over, and then turn his back feeling tired of you.

He is faithful. This verse promises He will keep you strong to the end. He has called you into fellowship with Him and never tires of you. He loves you, is there for you, and is faithful to you. I’m so thankful we have a steady Rock to lean on when everything else changes and fades away!

June 22, 2010, Romans 6

Key Verse:

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

(Romans 6:1-4)

Central Truth:
To live, is to die and to die is to gain. What Christ offers us requires much more than just a prayer and a dunk. Christ calls us to die to ourselves AND our sins for Him.

Where do YOU stand?

Ok...The whole book of Romans is just an incredible book. Prior to chapter 6 Paul is explaining to the Romans the Gospel. He tells them that their "law" and "rituals" don't save them (e.g. circumcision). They too are sinners and will be judged accordingly regardless of their obedience to the law or the amount of foreskin on their body. Paul also goes on to explain what dreadful, awful sinners we are. He even says that "all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory."

GOOOOOOOOD NEWS . . . . . .

We are saved by grace! Though we are undeserving and full of sin, God's grace is more than enough to cover us and make us right before him. But here is the problem! Many of us (and the the Romans did too) think that "well, if this grace is sooooo good, then i can go on sinning without going to Hell....because I'm covered." But Paul explains in Chapter 6 why that dog just won't hunt. Christ died for our sins, and once we choose Him, we choose to die to our sins as well. We cannot continue to go on living in our sin and think it's OK. Now granted, we are going to screw up. But Paul is talking about the blatant, continual sin that we have never relinquished to Christ. For example . . . if a man is having an affair on his wife and then comes to know the Lord for the first time, he must repent this to God, his wife, and his lover and move on . . . never to cheat again. He cannot continue to go on sinning and expect that things are OK. He never died to this sin, and therefore, He never died to Christ.

I don't believe you can lose your salvation, but I do believe there are many people who have never received it . . . simply because they never truly allowed God to consume their life; they never died to Him.

Have you?

June 21, 2010, Romans 5

Key Verse:

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:1

Central Truth:

How great is Jesus that He came to die for our sins even when we did not deserve it! And how greater still is His gift of love now that we are justified through His sacrifice.

JUSTIFIED

Wow. This chapter delivers some pretty good news. First, peace in Christ; we stand in grace, we rejoice in hope, and even our sufferings are to be celebrated because they serve to build our character and make us stronger. And secondly, even though sin entered the world through one man (Adam), our righteousness comes from one man (Jesus!) too.

I imagine a sort of two part triangle graph. The first triangle is Adam and his sin. It flows from the small point of the triangle down onto all mankind and from it death onto all mankind. The second triangle is Jesus’ gift of grace. It pours down from the point of the triangle onto all who would accept it. “For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19
My Life application bible has an entry that breaks it down like this: As children of Adam we have ruin, sin, death, separation from God, disobedience, judgment, and law. As children of God we have rescue, righteousness, eternal life, relationship with God, obedience, deliverance, and grace.
I am justified through faith. If I trust in God and His promises through Christ and scriptures, I am saved or absolved from guilt. The more I struggle with temptations and sin in my life, the more Grace will be poured down on me. So I live in the peace of His presence, but I also face the daily challenges that help me to grow more like Him. In those challenges, I have the love and grace of Jesus Christ, and that can help me through anything.

June 18, 2010, Romans 4

Key Verse: 
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 

(Romans 4:4) 

Central Truth: 

What does God owe us for the work that we do while we are on Earth? (Stay with me, I promise it's not as depressing as it sounds!) 

GETTING PAID 
I love when our kids get done doing something that we ask them to do, just regular routine chores at that. Just the other day, our son came in after brushing his teeth and held out his hand in front of us. I just gave him the traditional slapping of the hands, "five," but still there he stood. Again, I gave him the "five," and stood he still stood there staring at me. Finally, I just had to ask, "What is it exactly that you are holding your hand out for?" The classic six-year old response followed, "Daddy, you owe me a dollar. I brushed my teeth just like you told me to!" 

Wow!? A dollar just for brushing his teeth, and I surely don't remember telling him that I was going to give him a dollar for brushing his teeth. He just expected it to happen, and I can just imagine his thought process, "I do what you tell me, which means I obey my mom and dad like the Bible says, and that's my job. I should get paid for doing my job. Where's my dollar?" 

At this point, you can't help but to laugh. Poor thing. Even though we go to work every day to buy the toothpaste, the food, the clothes, provide a house, and pay for the dental appointments that help him keep teeth in his mouth, he should still get paid for brushing his teeth, shouldn't he? After all, it takes so much time and energy to brush your teeth. Right? 

See, my son was in the mind set that I owe him something for every little thing that he does. He tried to justify a reward with an agreement that I wasn't really buying into. But, he figured that he could talk me into giving him that dollar. And, I had to break his heart and tell him that isn't the way it works. 

As Christ followers, we can't do things and expect that God will reward us for each and every little thing that we do. We can't just do "Christian" things (go to church, read the Bible, etc.) and expect to earn God's favor and our admittance to Heaven. That is just not the way it works. I really like how The Message version of Romans 4:5-6 reads: 

If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we
don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for
you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you
could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—
well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by
God. Sheer gift.
You see, God doesn't owe us anything. We can work all day long down here on Earth, and it won't do us a bit of good if we haven't accepted Him into our hearts. God doesn't owe us anything, and you won't be able to talk your way into Heaven by listing out all of the wonderful things that you have done on Earth. All He wants to know is that you accept the gift that He sent when His Son died on the cross and that you put your trust and faith in Him. What a gift! That's the biggest pay day that you could ever have for not doing any work at all! 

If you haven't placed your faith in Him and you are still trying to work your way into His favor, stop right now and ask Him to come into your life. The hard work is already done! 

June 17, 2010, Romans 3

Key Verse:

For all have sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard.

(Romans 3:23)

Central Truth:

Jesus took the fall for all of our sins.

ARE YOU GOING TO ACCEPT THIS GIFT?

Christ took OUR punishment on the cross. Have you really ever stopped and thought about that statement? The Bible teaches us we were all born deserving of Hell. Jesus took all the future sins and burdens upon himself for us when He died on the cross. Wow. Why would he do that?

My 6 year-old son once asked, "Why did Jesus do that for us?" I said, "He loves us so much and wants us so much that He did that. Isn't that awesome?" And, he then says, "That's kinda crazy." I agree. I know, personally, I sometimes do stuff not pleasing to God, and I think: "He knew I would do these things, and He still did all that for me?" It's a hard concept to tackle.


Then, here's the even crazier part. When we choose to trust in Jesus and ask him to forgive us of our sins we will be saved. Again, "all have sinned and fallen short of God's standard," but God in His overwhelming grace finds us not guilty when we accept Him. Simple as that. No work, no accomplishment, no check list, and no good deed will ever get you to Heaven. I often hear other people say, "They are good people; I believe they will go to Heaven" or my favorite, "A loving God would not send anyone to hell." God does not send you to Hell, you chose it by rejecting Him.

So, I just keep saying it, "All have sinned and fallen short." But, what a gift we have in Jesus to be made whole. The whole concept of salvation is blown out of proportion by the world. Certainly, it can't be that easy to receive salvation? It is. There is only one God, only one way to Heaven. You have a gift, it is free. You better take it and tell others about this gift as well.

June 16, 2010, Romans 2

Key Verse:

“So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”

(Romans 2:3-4)

Central Truth:

Our judgment of others is an affront to the immense grace and mercy that God has poured out on us.

GIVE WHAT YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN

“I can’t believe she did that!”

“Oh, that makes me so mad! How could he be so inconsiderate?!?!”

“That sure was a stupid thing to do…now I’ve got to stay and fix their mess.”

Some days people make choices that we don’t agree with. Well, maybe I should say most days. And all too often, when they make those choices, we just can’t seem to understand why they behave the way they do. For example, have you ever gotten really angry at someone for a decision they made and how it affected your life? Now, has anyone ever been irate with you because you made a similar decision? “What are they so angry about?!?! Obviously, they just didn’t understand my heart!” you say.

Exactly.

There seems to be a double standard here. We tend to judge other people by their behaviors, but then judge ourselves by our intentions. We can’t understand why someone would be so angry with us because it was our desire to be helpful, while at the same time we choose to be angry at someone else because they chose to do something that, in our opinion, wasn’t right.

This can actually be broken down into one of the basic skills we learn in science class as children: the difference between “observation” and “inference.” For a refresher, “observation” is only what we can actually see; “inference” is making an assumption based on, you guessed it, what you’ve observed. When we judge someone we are making an assumption based solely on the observed behavior of that person. We’re assuming we know what’s going on (and you know what it means to “assume,” right?). There will always be other information that we’re lacking. We are so quick to say that we know what someone meant to do without knowing the whole story, yet we are offended when someone does the same to us.

The thing is we all do this at one point or another. We pass judgment on others without knowing their heart. We can be critical, picky, and even condemning at the drop of a hat. Paul was clear that we will experience God’s judgment for this lack of love and patience with others. He goes so far as to say that we are showing contempt for the grace that God gives us during these circumstances. Ugh, that hurts. My judgment against others is an affront to God’s patience and the immense amount of grace and mercy He has poured out on me.

I am so thankful that God doesn’t judge us the way we tend to judge each other. Paul says in verse 2 that God bases His judgment on truth (He knows the whole story) and that means He includes our status as a child of the King. Due to the audacious gift of his own life, we are given grace and mercy beyond our wildest dreams. Isn’t it about time we showed some to others?

June 15, 2010, Romans 1

Key Verse:

" . . . Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God."

(Romans 1:1)

Central Truth:

You are set apart, chosen.

DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE ?

Paul knew absolutely who he was. I'm not talking about social standing and family names. I'm talking about a man chosen, set apart for the Gospel of God. Stop right now. Think about that. What does that mean? Because, you know what . . . . ?

So are you.

You are chosen.

Set apart.

For the Gospel of God.

Our calling is not just to be "good" or even holy men and women but to be set apart FOR the Gospel of God. The one thing that is all important is that the Gospel - the truth about the love, grace and redemption given us in Christ - is a reality that we are to proclaim. Why else would we be left here after salvation? If our fellowship with Christ will not be known in all of its fullness until we get to Heaven, why do we not go straight to Heaven after accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord? One reason is central - so that others may know. We are to be the messengers - the proclaimers of the reality of the Gospel. Without us, people do not have a representative of Christ.

So what does that mean for you for today? Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in who we want to appear to be, who we are striving to be, and who we "should" be that we forget who we truly are. Really, the only thing that is important is that we are chosen to be His representatives. We have all "represented" something at some point - be it an organization, our school, a product, whatever. We've had bumper stickers, t-shirts, and monograms to let everyone know; we brag on our school's teams, stats or what our product can do for you. So I ask, what are you doing to "represent" the Reality of the Redemption to others around you? Do you find a way in conversations to let others know what Christ has done for you? Do you "represent" Him well in your relationships? at work? at school?

Challenge:

"(Insert your name), a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God."

Put that on your mirror, on your dashboard, whatever, and make it your prayer that you will KNOW in your heart that this is who YOU are and live that with urgency.