Service In The Lord's Army

2 Timothy 2:1-13; All who believe are called to serve in the Lord's Army.

Praise God!

Psalm 149 KJV

Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.

Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;

To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.

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Praise ye the Lord for He is an almighty God. He lifts up His children. He takes pleasure in them. Let all of the saints joyfully give thanks to God and give Him all glory for all that He has done and will do.

Trust that His promises are and have been fulfilled. He loves you now and will love you always. Rejoice in His glory!

God's Peace - Pr. J. 

Be Released From Your Prison

Be Released From Your Prison

 

Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.

And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.

When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.

And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. 

                                                                             (Acts 12:5-11 KJV)

Locked in a cell; yet, freed by a miracle of God. God sent angels to unlock the doors of Peter's jail cell and to lead him out safely. If he can do this why would we doubt that miracles can happen and unlock any chains of bondage; whether physical or spiritual, that we might find ourselves in through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord?

Peter thought he was merely having a vision; maybe imagining his escape,  from prison. But, he was not. In Christ, we too are released from the bondage. Receive the truth, who is Jesus the Christ. Trust him to free you and let those chains of bondage fall to the ground.

May God bless your day and lead you to freedom in Christ.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Prayer and Proclamation; Don't Forget Praise!

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
                          Col 4:2-6 NRSV

Prayer, praise, and proclamation; that is my evangelism strategy. As Paul closes his letter to the Colossians he reminds us to be diligent in prayer and proclamation. Devote yourself to prayer. Pray that God will open doors for the message so that mystery of Christ may be proclaimed. We don't need a program. We just need the grace of God in order to do His will.

Years ago, my congregation was involved in a multi-congregation effort to do more evangelism. We met quite a few times to talk about evangelism among ourselves. As I drove home with two of the congregation's "delegates" to this consortium, we discussed the fact that we were driving quite a distance and spending an awful lot of time talking about evangelism and not actually doing any evangelism.

The truth be told we had these many meetings and had come to the conclusion that we were not of like minds. Leaders from various congregations did not trust one another; everyone seemed to have different and personal agendas, and we were not working well together. We talked a lot at every meeting; but, we never actually got to the point of proclaiming the mystery of Christ. We never got around to doing any evangelism. We had been too busy trying to figure what kinds of evangelism programs would work best. On that drive home we agreed that we already knew in our hearts what we needed to do.  That we would quit wasting time, energy and financial resources talking about evangelism. We were determined to get back on track and put our time and energy into doing the ministry we had received from the Lord. Rather than just talk about it, we would get on with the business of evangelists: praying, praising God, and proclaiming the Good News through both word and deed. We presented this to the council. The motion was approved. By the grace of God, we continued to grow both in Christ and in numbers.

The growth that happened though, did not happen because of one or two or even three people. In this closing section of Paul's letter; he reminds us that he had many co-workers in the gospel. They proclaimed the Good News with one heart and mind. Those who heard the Gospel were encouraged to share it with others. There were no special programs. They did not discuss strategies. By God's grace, they prayed that God would open doors and proclaimed the mystery of Christ clearly to the glory of God. And... the church continued to grow both in Christ and in numbers.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Salty

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Col 4:3-6 NIV)

Being seasoned with salt has a variety of meanings today. For a younger generation than I, it may well mean being disrespectful; even a bully. Being a bully is not being salty. It is evil. Salt; after all, has been used over the generations in many cases to drive away what is evil; to purify; to preserve.

When I was growing up, I was taught that being "salty" meant to be a unique personality; a character. He or she spoke the truth, not to hurt anyone; but, because it was the truth. They lived and spoke in a way that was true to themselves and the truth is that not everyone understood them. Being salty means to me speaking and living the truth in a way that will benefit others by  bringing others to Christ.

Salt is not just a seasoning. It has numerous uses. I use it to chase ants and other bugs out of my yard. A little salt sprinkled on an ant hill will convince those pesky pests to find a new location for their home. But, salt is also a preservative. It helps to keep our food from rotting away. It helps to keep food consumable for a long time to come for our benefit. A little salt is a good thing. Too much salt, as in the case of bullying, can destroy.

Likewise, conversations seasoned with a little salt can help the soul from developing rot from the inside out. Paul wrote to the Christians in Colossia that they were to season their grace-filled conversations with salt.

Yes! Yes, indeed! We ought to make sure that our conversations are filled with grace; but, not just grace for the sake of not offending. We cannot lie for the sake of grace because that is no grace at all. We must proclaim the truth and sometimes the truth will make us sound just a little salty as the lies of the devil are uncovered. It is the truth, who is Jesus the Christ, that will make us whole. Our words and actions should always be full of grace; but, we cannot forget to season them with a bit of salt when necessary. And... it is often necessary so that the mystery of Christ can be proclaimed most fully. As it has been said: grace, grace, and only more grace is no grace at all. We cannot accept anything that will lead others away from faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot say that it is all good. Not everything is good; so sometimes, we need to be reminded to season our conversations with salt so that the truth can be proclaimed and the truth will set others free to be children of God.

May God help us to season our words and our actions with enough salt that the truth, who is Jesus the Christ, will be proclaimed so that those who hear will know the truth and the truth will set them free.

God's Peace - Pr. J