Do What Is Right

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 NRSV)

Sometimes, a whole lot of things going on in the world around us do not seem the least bit honorable or just. It can be difficult to switch our focus to good things; to things worthy of praise when children are being attacked for political purposes; and, when elected representatives smile as they sign the bill to kill babies. And... there is much worse going on in the world. It seems the devil has taken way more than a foothold in this world. 

There is much good in the world. God has made it that way. But, the devil is working pretty hard at making it not so. Think on and focus on the good things and fight the good fight for the good of all people.  

Yes, it is most necessary for Christians to engage in the battle against evil speaking the truth for the good of all people. But, we must also always remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood. It is against the devil and his minions. The battle can be horrific. But, it must be fought. It will be fought with words and hopefully those words are based on the Word of God. If not, we will lose our part of the battle. We must trust Him to be with us throughout the battle. He will arm us so that we might do His will, doing what is honorable and just in the face of much adversity.   

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

                                                                                   (Eph 6:10-18)

The battle cannot be won without much prayer. Think and pray and act on those good things that please the Lord. Ask and we shall receive the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to proclaim the truth, act justly, to do what is pleasing in His sight so that He will be glorified and praised in all the world. It is not easy. But, it is right. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Unfruitfull Works of Darkness

"Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."  Eph 5:10-11

You're in a bind, again?! We all get in binds sometimes. We can step right into traps without even considering where we're placing our feet. Sometimes we step into those dark places on purpose thinking that we're not going to get lost or trapped. Stay away from the unfruitful works of darkness so that you might live your life in the light.

Here's a suggestion from St Paul. "Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord." Quit working so hard at trying to please the world. You will just find yourself in darkness if your goal is to please the world and live according to the world's ways. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek out what will be pleasing to the Lord and you just might find yourself walking in the light and participating in His life; real life.

May God guide you in His light.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Speak The Truth!

"I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—" (Rom 9:1 NIV)

"I am speaking the truth in Christ - I am not lying..." These words of St. Paul never fail to bring a smile to my face. I do believe that St. Paul was actually telling the truth. However, it reminds me of a young child swearing that they are telling the truth when they are not actually tell the whole truth. They are telling their own version of the truth which is not truth.

It is good when we can say with Paul I am speaking the truth, my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit. But, sadly that is not always the case. It is difficult to know when someone is actually speaking the truth and so we must depend upon the Holy Spirit within to help us to discern the truth. Not long ago someone who often chooses to make up their own version of the truth told me. "There are two sides two every story and then there is the truth." That probably is pretty true. But, in that particular case her side of the story was actually a third side and still not the truth.

Paul's truth in Christ, sometimes hurt people's feeling. The truth is not always pleasing to hear. It may make us many enemies; but, we must still speak the truth in love. Hurt feelings are nothing compared to a lost soul. May God help us to always speak with integrity for the good of those whom God loves.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Words Of Our Lips

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

                                                      Psalm 19:14 NIV

Our faith; what we believe, is evidenced in the things that we say and do. Do we promote God's will even as we pray that His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven? Or, do we promote false gods of this world by what we say and do? 

Those things that we profess that we believe should agree with the things that we say and do in the various aspects of our lives. When we say that we believe one way and purposely do something else; we not only become traitors to God; but, to the words of our own lips. We cannot teach others to live in God's way that He might be glorified while we live in a way that contradicts what we say.

May God help us to live with integrity; that the words of our lips and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in His sight and glorify He who is our Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Bless That Which We Say And Think And Do

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart    
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
                                              (Psalm 19:14 NIV)

As we go through this day and all the days following let us consider if what comes out of our mouths is actually pleasing to the Lord. Would we dwell upon it; would we say it if God Almighty were standing next to us? He is, you know! He hears and see all things that we say and think and do. He knows if we are tearing up the Body of Christ. He knows if we are ripping apart His children. He also knows when we are lifting them up for His glory.

May the words of our lips and the meditations of our hearts; all that we say and think and do be acceptable in His sight at all times and in all places.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Deeds Of Darkness Exposed

"Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."  Eph 5:10-11

You're in a bind, again?! We all get in binds sometimes. We can step right into traps without even considering where we're placing our feet. Sometimes we step into those dark places on purpose thinking that we are smart enough to be able to avoid getting lost or trapped. 

Here's a suggestion from St Paul. "Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord." Quit working so hard at trying to please or be like the rest of the world. You will just find yourself in darkness. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek out what will be pleasing to the Lord and you just might find yourself walking in the light and participating in His life; real life.

May God guide you in His light.

God's Peace - Pr. J

God's Will; Not Ours

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

Those things that may please man do not necessarily please God. Often when we as human beings made decisions or even offer an opinion we do with our personal best interests in mind. But, God who is merciful and just considers a bigger a picture; a picture so big that we cannot fathom it.

In order to even begin to grasp God's will there must be, by the power of the Spirit of Christ, be a transforming of our minds. Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be better able to have a better sense of how we are to glorify God.

A general rule of thumb that I have used when making decisions is this:  Will it glorify God or is the purpose to glorify me? When making decisions for the church the rule is this: Will it glorify God or is it meant to satisfy and glorify the church on earth? You see, we will usually pick what is most comfortable for us. Without the transformation of our hearts and minds, we will most often decide to take short cuts. There were no short-cuts for Jesus on the road to Golgotha and it was not a comfortable and easy journey. But, what Jesus did, he did for the sake of many because it was his Father's good and perfect will.

Only those who have had a genuine renewing of the heart and mind, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are able to begin to discern our Father's good and perfect will, for without the transformation that is brought about by the Holy Spirit we will always decide for ourselves. Without the Spirit of Christ to lead us on our journey's, we will most often take what appears to be the easy road.

May God empower us through the Holy Spirit to know and do His good, pleasing and perfect will for His glory!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Bless The Words Of My Mouth

"May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14 NIV

Anyone who has heard me preaching has heard this prayer of David before. It is the verse, that we pray, in some form, before the sermon at any and almost all of the Worship services that I lead, whether it is Sunday Worship, a funeral, a wedding, or whatever the occasion.

I begin every sermon with this prayer and I end it with a prayer, as well.  I have been told that it is not necessary to pray at the beginning or the end of the sermon and I seriously did think about listening to those directions. But, found I could not. You see, I need God's help.  In fact, I need, we need, God to speak through me; because no one needs to hear what I have to say; but, what God wants you to hear. 

At, the beginning of each service, as I face the altar, I also usually pray something to akin to: "Send your Holy Spirit that your people might hear your Word, your will for them, and not mine." Sometimes, that prayer is only one word: "Help." I depend upon the Spirit of God to open the ears of each of the hearers so that everyone might hear God's word, his will and not mine for you.

One of the rules I follow in sermon writing is never talk politics. I cannot even begin to imagine myself endorsing a candidate from the pulpit! I've been asked about this by a few people as there are  some who seem to think this is the preacher's job.  However, the pulpit is for preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  It is not for promoting a partisan view of the kingdom of this world. In regards to preaching politics, I am confident that it would definitely be my political views that would be expressed and not God's. 

Sharing the Good News of the Kingdom through Jesus Christ is not about pleasing man.  It is about pleasing God. In fact, often, people will not always be pleased with the message.  Sometimes the very same sermon that will bring comfort to one hearer, will bring conviction to another.  That, my friends, is the work of the Holy Spirit.  God knows who is going to be at Worship on any given Sunday and He knows what they need to hear.  And, if they have ears to hear, they will hear just what He wants them to hear.  Thanks be to God!

It always amazes me when people tell me after the sermon that they were so moved when I talked about..... (whatever it was they heard).  I don't tell them, I didn't actually say that.  If that's what the Spirit wanted to say to them, if that's what they needed to hear, then so be it.  And... the glory belongs to God!

Help us LORD!  May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts and minds always be pleasing in your sight, O' Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

God's Peace - Pastor J.

Renew Our Minds

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

What does this mean? How are we to be transformed by the renewing of our minds? We cannot perform this feat. It is not within human capabilities. The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, renews us and regenerates our very being so that it is not we; but, Christ in us, (Gal 2:20) who transforms us so that, through us, any service that is done does not conform to the standards of the world; but, is pleasing to God and in accordance with God's good will.

Paul urges us to offer up our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. I wonder if that can really be called a sacrifice when what we receive is much greater than ourselves. For in this sacrifice, we receive the Spirit of Christ. We are transformed so that we might come into closer communion with God our Father and our Lord Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

May God bless us all abundantly by showering us with the Spirit of Christ.

God's Peace - Pr. J