"Rejoicing In Sickness"

  This writer is a little behind. This has been a week of fighting a terrible respiratory infection. I am just able to write. However, in all the sickness, great lessons are learned. It's amazing when you don't feel well how one can still  make progress.

  It starts with prayer! I had more people drop me a note or an email saying they were praying for me. What a thought. It was wonderful to think that many are bringing you before the Father asking to help on your behalf. Prayer is so beneficial.

  It moves into the area of thought and meditation. My mind was constantly on some Scripture to dwell on and draw from. In the process of ill health, my mind was still productive.

  It finally goes into thankfulness. So many times I take my health for granted as I am very rarely sick. It is these down times that I realize the blessings because so many cope and deal with health issues almost daily. So in the end, I have learned..."Rejoice in the Lord, always, again I say rejoice!"

"Thanksgiving"

  I'm not one to jump on board with what everyone else is saying or doing! I guess I'm a little cautious and there is a reason for that. John writes: "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (I John 5:19) Right there speaks volumes about being careful when everyone is on board with a phrase or idea because I realize the possibility behind it.

  That leads me to this. Over the thirty plus years of preaching/teaching, I have never allowed a season to dictate what I preach. Those who know me in Jefferson City know that I never preach according to the season. I might make a reference but my lesson is not about the season. I have a hard time letting the season mold me into what needs to preached. I'm not speaking there is anything wrong with it but I just never have done that.

  I personally enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday as my favorite of all. It isn't tied to 'stuff' and doesn't drive people into a state of panic. It simply is a time for family. For some, it can be painful as they have lost a loved one and it reminds them of what use to be. However, let me encourage you, it is a great memory to have that the Lord gave you years with someone. What a life of memories you built and be thankful. Imagine what life would have been like without them? Our memories were given to us for that reason. Dwell on the things that are true and honorable. Dwell on the the pure things and those things that are lovely. The things that are excellent and praise-worthy, dwell on these things. Paul said that in Phil. 4:8. If we will just do this, the God of peace will be with you (Phil 4:9). But in all, let's not be thankful seasonally. That's not the heart of the Lord. Let's be thankful continually because we belong to the Lord! Have a great holiday. See you on Monday! God's blessings.

"Looking To God"

  It's a great passage of comfort that the Holy Spirit wanted us to hear through the apostle John: "...and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin." (I John 1:7) How does the blood of Jesus continually do that? By our willingness to walk where the Lord lives, in the Light and willingly confess our sins to be forgiven! Too many seem to spend time finding excuses or justifying their actions when they need to be willing to confess them to Jesus. "That's just the way I am!" or "That's the way I was raised!". Maybe "You need to accept me for who I am!" or "That's the way I am wired!". When we have finished with our little discourse to why we did something, why we have talked ourselves into the state of mind that we had no choice but to sin, we find ourselves not responsible! We have too much to say for ourselves!

  We hear Jesus speak in Luke 18:9-14 of the Pharisee who trusted in himself compared to a lowly tax collector who knew himself! The Pharisee prayed to himself. The lowly man confessed before the Father asking for mercy. The Pharisee took pride in his religious works. The tax collector stood at a distance and couldn't even look up into the heaven above. One had so much to speak. The other had nothing to say for himself. One called on his religious goodness. The other called on his failure to be taken away.

  When will we learn? When will we take sin seriously? Just ask the Father how serious He takes sin? Just look to Jesus and see the seriousness of sin. Sins of speech. Sins of thoughts. Sins of anger. Sins of the flesh. Open sins and secret sins. Sins of the ears and eyes. Subtle sins. The Father calls us through the Son: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." (I John 2:1-2) See yourself as the redeemed. See yourself in the Light of Jesus. See yourself rescued from your sins. But don't excuse yourself when you sin. We have more than the gift of God. We have been given the life of God through Jesus our Lord!

"If God Is For Us"

  "If God is for us, who is against us?" (Rom. 8:31) Is this true? Is God really for us? The God who spoke this huge creation into existence and set in motion all the intricate details? The God who flooded the world in man's history? The God who parted the waters for His people live? That God is for us? How can we be sure?

  "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32) The proof is resounding! God delivered His own Son for us. Not my child. Not your child. God didn't demand from us. He delivered His Son! If God would go that far, what about giving us anything else we need to make it to His goal for us eternally? How much does He want to help?

  "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also interceded for us." (Rom. 8:33-34) God justifies (acquitted) because of Jesus dying for us. Jesus not only died but was raised, sitting with God and interceding for us. GOD JUSTIFIES THROUGH JESUS!

  "Who will separate us from the love of God?" (Rom. 8:35) What will you let separate you? Because times get tough? You lose a job? Will you let that separate you? Your mate walks out for someone else leaving you pained, will that separate you? Your health fails? Will that separate you? How much does the love of God for you mean?

  "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." (Rom. 8:37) In reading all this, what is left for us to say?

 

"Sin's Struggle"

  Sin is a struggle for the one wanting to do right and find in their lives failure. It can wreck havoc and bring one into a terrible state of mind. To go back and tell the Father over and over you have sinned for the same thing, wanting, desiring and insisting that it won't happen again only to find yourself defeated. What does one do? Where do they turn? How does one find the power to overcome?

  This may be a little over-simplified but the answer is found in Jesus. It's always Jesus. Paul, before he came into Christ Jesus, was serving the Father under the Law. He tried to what is right only to be defeated. It created within him confusion and a down-trodden spirit (Rom. 7:14-24). He simply couldn't understand why when he so desperately wanted to serve God but found himself doing the sin that he hated so much. It wore him out! But there, in his hour of desperation, the time to quit and give up there came hope in the form of Jesus.

  For those struggling with sin beating you down, remember the Lord wants to help. The answer is found in allowing the Lord to help. It is realizing that the Lord doesn't want to condemn you, push you away into eternal condemnation without hope. He wants you to see that He wants to deal with your sins! To go through the pain and agony of the cross to throw you aside in your struggles is not the Lord Jesus or your heavenly Father. God wants all to come to repentance and salvation and the cross speaks that in volumes!

  Remember the time in your life when you didn't care at all about the Lord? Remember when you just openly embraced sin and loved to sin without even knowing you loved it? Did the Lord reach out to you and want you in that condition so He could forgive and cleanse? When we struggle with sin, knowing the Lord does care and love us now in His Son more than ever, and we fail, do you think He wants to save you? Does He still stand for you? We know He does! Why would anyone, under any circumstance think about quitting the Lord because they struggle with sin? That's when we embrace Him the more, shouldn't we?

"Trusting Jesus"

  Jesus was known for His doing good and helping. His healings were many and His doing the unnatural was over-whelming at times. Walking on water? Jesus is the Son of God and His lives today. But whatever one knows about Him, Jesus also spoke the truth. There were the "Truly, truly" statements. There were statements against the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Jesus could always be depended on doing what is right and speaking what is true.

  When Jesus spoke He didn't speak just to speak as many do today. He didn't talk empty religious rhetoric with a "Praise the Lord " here in front of everyone. No, Jesus spoke the truth that came directly from His Father about His Father. Jesus not only spoke the truth but He loved the truth from the Father that He spoke.

  If I might encourage you today, trust in Jesus to reveal the Father to you. Listen to His words as Jesus will show us the Father. When one comes to know Jesus, they come to know the Father (John 14). Jesus assured His own apostles of this and assures us as well. Too many are making Jesus into things that He isn't. Too many are speaking things out of place and making the Father into something He is not. Too many are abusing the Holy Spirit not realizing He too is the Spirit of truth. 

  Christ is the exact representation of the nature of the Father (Heb. 1:3). Jesus spoke the truth and many were upset by it but it didn't change the truth. Too many are defending their denominations teachings and not Christ's truth. Too many are defending their traditions and not the truth from Jesus. Too many just blindly follow what they have been taught without looking into the truth of Jesus the Lord. This Lord and Christ sent men into the world to speak His truth for which it cost many of them their lives. That shows how many hate the truth. But these men knew their Lord and believed His truth above all. Trust Jesus! Trust His word! Trust Him to show you His Father! Trust Him to teach you the truth and receive His truth with all your heart. Your life will change.  

"Believe God's Word"

  Take your time and read Psa. 119. There you find 176 verses of great insight. What I want you to focus on is God's child David in regard to the word of the Lord, the teachings of the Lord in his life and mind. God's word, the truth of His word should have first place in our listening to Him. But there is something else. We find people all the time that read and study from the word of the Lord yet they miss the truth. Jesus knew there were people who studied Scriptures and missed God completely (John 5:39-40). The reason is they aren't seeking the truth but using the word as something not intended by the Lord. The lawyer who came to Jesus asking what he could do to inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25-28). Jesus pointed the man to what the Scriptures taught. Somehow he had missed it! If one isn't careful they can miss (or I can miss) the truth in Scripture because our hearts aren't believing what is written but adding what we already know to what we read and the Lord doesn't reveal the truth from that point. Peter urged his fellow-Christians to desire the pure milk of the word of God to grow out of the fleshliness of envy, malice and the like (I Pet. 2:1-2).

  For people to dismiss the Scriptures and the study of them by taking off on some man's book or idea didn't learn to do that from the Scripture! Be wary of those who point to man, who point to man's writings to draw one closer to the Lord. Be wary of those who use the word of God to win an argument! Be wary of those who use the Holy Word as simply knowledge to put others down. Let me remind you, it is possible to be able to quote Bible and be a reprobate. Didn't we learn that from the Pharisees? The devil did it to Jesus!

  It was the Lord Jesus who opened the mind of His disciples to understand the Scripture (Luke 24:45). That tells us that the Lord is in control who gains. Those with pure motives, pure hearts, seeking for His righteousness and truth are the ones who gain. I know someone reading might think I am writing as if I have it all together. I am pointing that I continually search, keeping context and desire the truth from His word. When someone shows me something I may have missed or misapplied, I diligently seek out what is shown to see if they are correct. I'm not afraid to be wrong! Understanding comes from the Lord. It was Jesus instructing a Samaritan woman that true worshipers will worship both in spirit and truth. It's these that God seeks out (John 4:23-24).

  Love the word. It's okay to read books but do not let a man or his writings over-ride the Holy Spirit inspired writings of God. Let the Scriptures mold your thinking. Let the Scriptures dwell in your heart and mind. Let the Scriptures be trusted above all else. When we trust completely God's word, we are placing our heart into His hands, calling on Him to reveal Himself through His word. That's much deeper than quoting or head knowledge!!