LIve Life; Love One Another

A reading from Galatians 5:1,13-25 KJV for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. Walk in the Spirit and love one another.

The LIght Is Jesus The Christ

John 3:16-21 KJV

The Light That Saves And Comforts

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

                                                                    (John 3:16-21 KJV)

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

The light who is Jesus the Christ has come into the world. He came so that we do not have to live in the darkness; but, to live in his light. He is the light of hope and comfort in the darkness of the world surrounds us. He did come into this world; after all, to save us. 

It is truly good to find rest in him; in his light.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Live In The Light Of Christ

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:20-21 KJV)

As I age it seems that I need more light in order to see clearly. I need really bright light in order to read. The light of a very bright lamp is needed in order for the words on a page to be revealed to me. 

Likewise, the light of Christ reveals what is right in front of us. It reveals the truth about those things that are often obscured from our vision. Our egos can overshadow the truth and reveal only what we wish to see. Our egos demand that we go not into the light so that we can be comfortable doing exactly what we want when we want regardless of how damaging that might be to ourselves and to others.

Live life in the light of Christ so that you might see the way to living in peace with God our Father; our Lord Jesus the Christ, and with one another.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

No Law

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

                                                                             (Gal 5:18 - 23 KJV

There is no law against being nice. There is no law against caring for others. But, there are both God given laws and man-made laws about doing otherwise. 

Some not so joyful or peaceful consequences often follow breaking these laws. 

It is just so much easier to be nice and do what is right; do what is good for you and for others and we will all experience a whole lot less turmoil and drama in our lives for it.

May God help us all not to spitefully use or abuse others in any way. And, may His love, joy, and peace be with us always!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Empowered To Share The Good News

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

                                                                                        (2 Tim 1:6-10 KJV)

A whole lot of Christians tend to think that they are paying their pastors to be the evangelists. It is true pastors are called to be evangelists sharing the Good News of the Kingdom through Jesus the Christ. But, it is fallacy to think that not all Christians are called to share this Good News.

"But, I'm too shy." "I don't want to push my beliefs on others." "I can't." "I don't know how." "I am afraid of what others will think of me." "I might be bullied for my faith." Those are all really feeble excuses for not doing what we've been called to do. 

I listen to people lifting up, bragging about, and defending the sports teams and the politicians of their choice all of the time. But, who lifts up Jesus in their every day conversations? There are a few. But, not so many as have actually been called. The truth is that Jesus is absent from many of our daily conversations.

Christians have been called to a holy calling. We have been anointed with the Holy Spirit so that we might be empowered to live out our calling. There is no reason to fear sharing the truth of Jesus Christ. God has not given us the spirit of fear. He has given us a spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

This spirit of power and love inspires to share the Good News with others so that they too might live life in the light, who is Jesus the Christ.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

The Light Shines In The Darkness

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 

                                                                                 (Eph 5:8-14 KJV) 

The sun has not yet begun to shine this morning. I rose a whole lot earlier than I would have liked as at 4 am I woke up to find that we had run out of propane. I curled up under an extra blanket; but, didn't stay there long. Although we live in Florida, it can get pretty chilly at night. So, I put on my robe and went and connected the other propane tank and got the heat going again. I was up so figured I may as well start moving and do something.

It may be dark outside; but, that does not mean we should hide in the darkness. Even in the dark a light always shines. There have been many times that we lived in the darkness of the world. But, it do not have to be. We do not have to cower in the darkness. The light of Christ shines at all times and in all places. The light of Christ is with us always to show us the way; to show us the way of fruitfulness to the glory of God our Father.

"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

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

Ultimate Concern: Last Day?

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. (1 John 2:18-19 NKJV)

Was it the last hour? I guess that depends on what John meant by last hour. Most people today appear to believe the last hour is when the world will come to an end and Christ will come again; not necessarily in that order. How long did John figure the last hour was going to last, anyway? I do not know the answers. I do know that unless the world ends before then, my last hour on earth will be when I breath my last breath. The world did not end in St. John's day or any where near it. Many people today also believe that the world is about to come to an end and that we are indeed in the last hour. Way too many preachers focus their whole ministry on it. Maybe we are in the last day. Maybe we aren't. In the whole scheme of things, does it matter? Is our ultimate concern really the end of the world? 

Yes, we know that many antichrists have come. There are many who dwell so much on the "last day" that they forget that Christ is with us even now. They forget to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God; the Kingdom for you through Jesus Christ. They dwell so much on the signs of the times that the Good News of salvation through Jesus is often neglected. This causes me to wonder if these fearmongers are some of the many antichrists that were predicted to come. If not, why then are they not preaching that Jesus was crucified, died, and yet lives again? They preach as though he were still dead and will rise again or that maybe he's in hiding someplace. Do they not believe that he truly lives and reigns today? Do they not believe that he lives in and through all who believe in him? Why are they not preaching that the Kingdom of God has indeed come to all who believe instead of worrying about the end of this world? 

Yes, this world is a mess! There are days I would like to see the last day. But, it will come when God decides it will come. In the meantime; let us rejoice that we have been reconciled to God our Father, in His Kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord! Let us rejoice and share the Good News. God is with you!

God's Peace - Pr. J