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Choices, Choices, Choices

May 7, 2012 by Andy Stoddard

Today in Galatians 5:13-15, Paul points us down two roads that we can go down.  Listen to what He says:

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

He first tells us that we have freedom. Today, in your life, you have freedom. You have the freedom to do what you want in your life. You can choose to do right, you can choose to do wrong.

It’s your choice. You can do as you’d like. No one will make you.

Now, Paul today tells us though, that our choices will have consequences. We were given freedom to do right. Paul tells us to love one another. The entire law, all the bible, all we are supposed to do is summed up in that phrases – love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s what being a Christian should result in. We should each other.

Now, Paul gives us the other choice as well though. He says if you bit and devour one another, watch out.

Choosing to love, to forgive, choosing to do what is right, that will result in freedom and life. It may be the hard thing to do, but it will result in life.

Choosing to hurt others, choosing to respond with unforgiveness, choosing to respond tit-for-tat, it may seem like the easy thing to do, it may even seem like the right thing to do.

But it’s not. And it will end in destruction. It will bring harm to you, and to your soul.

Today, you have choices to make. You have been given freedom. Will you choose love? Or will you choose to respond in other ways.

Today, the choice is ours. May we choose the path of loving others, forgiving others, and showing grace.

May we use and use our freedom wisely.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

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To Give Him Glory

May 3, 2012 by Andy Stoddard

Today, in Psalm 50, God tells us to call upon Him in times of trouble. To thank Him and to make our vows to Him. And to call for His strength and might in our times of trial.

Listen to what verses 14-15 say:

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

God says – call upon me. I will deliver you. And you shall glorify me.

He has saved us, literally and figuratively, for that purpose. To glorify Him. To give Him praise and glory.

Because He is worthy of that praise and of that glory. He is worthy.

So, let’s tell the story. Let’s tell the story of how He has saved us. Let’s give voice to the ways that He has changed our lives for the better. Let’s talk about what He has done for us.

Does this mean you have to pin your co-worker or classmate down and make them become a Christian?

No.

But, do your words glorify Jesus? Do our actions bring glory to His name? Do we let our lives honor Him?

Can others tell the difference that Jesus has made in our lives? He has saved us. He has restored us. He has rescued us. He has changed us.

For this purpose. For this reason. To give Him glory.

Today, in our lives, we give God glory through action through, word, action, and deed. He has saved us.

May we glorify Him.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

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Whose Praise Matters

May 2, 2012 by Andy Stoddard

Whose praise are you trying to earn today? Whose approval are your trying to get today?

Your boss?

Your peers?

Your co-workers?

Even your preacher or your church?

Today, whose approval are your desiring?

Listen to what Paul says today in 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6:

but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

Paul said, I didn’t come seeking your approval. I came seeking God’s. I didn’t come seeking the approval of man, I came seeking the approval of God. I didn’t come seeking to earn man’s praise. I came seeking God’s praise.

Your value and worth doesn’t come from what other people think of you. It comes from what God thinks of you.

He loves you. He sent His son to die for you. And He will do all in His power to help you be faithful today.

Today, in your life, whose praise matters to you? The praise of God? Or the praise of man?

Today, seek your worth not in what others think of you. Find your worth in what God thinks of you.

Because, in the end, that’s the only praise that matters!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

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The Way

May 1, 2012 by Andy Stoddard

Jesus Christ is the way to life. That’s it. That’s it.

That sounds too simple.

It sounds too exclusive.

It’s not smart enough. It’s old-fashioned. It’s out of date. It’s simple-minded, foolish, and not at all fashionable in the world we live in.

But it is the truth. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

That’s what He tells us today in John 14:6-7:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus Christ is the way to life. He is life. And life is not found outside of Him. So, today, a simple question for us to consider when we think about this verse.

Do we want to live? I mean, really live? Have life worth clinging to and hanging onto? Have a life worth having?

I’d think that almost every one of us really wants that life.

It’s only found in Jesus. He is life.

So, today, what are we chasing? What are we pursuing? What are we working on/working towards? Is it life worth having? Or is it life that will pass away.

Life is found in Jesus. I know it’s simple. But it’s true. Life worth having is found in our daily, consist walk with Him, through our reading, our prayer, and our study.

Today, may we truly find life worth having. Today, may we have Jesus.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

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Drinking a Poison

April 30, 2012 by Andy Stoddard

In life, people hurt us.

Sometimes it’s on purpose. Many times it’s on accident. But the truth is, in life, we all get hurt. We all get wounded. We all get hurt.

The hurts that are accidental, while they still hurt, at least we can understand that. In our lives, we have hurt others ourselves. No one likes that. But, at least it’s understandable. Not likable. But understandable.

But, what about the hurts that weren’t accidents. What about the ones that are on purpose. What about the folks that have went out of their way to hurt us?

Listen to what Paul says this morning in Romans 12:17-19:

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Don’t repay evil with evil. Do the best to live with honor. Live at peace with others. Don’t avenge yourself or seek revenge.

In short, let go and leave it God. Leave those things to God.

And that’s hard. Our natural impulse is to want to get revenge. Our natural impulse is to want to get back at others. Our natural impulse is not to let go.

But, when we hold it against others. When we seek to get them back, when we hold that grudge, we harden our own hearts.

We don’t hurt them. We hurt ourselves. When we hold a grudge against someone, it doesn’t even bother them.

I’ve heard it said – hold a grudge or not forgiving someone is like me drinking a poison, and expecting it to kill them.

It will only kill me. It will only harm me.

So is it with unforgiveness and grudges. Today, leave them with God. Give them to Him. Let Him have them.

He said He will take care of it in the end. Let’s learn to let go. And let’s trust Him in that.

Today, let’s forgive!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

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Grace, Faith, and Life

April 26, 2012 by Andy Stoddard

I love the book of Galatians. It may be my favorite book in the Bible. It speaks to so many things about faith, about grace, about the Christian lifestyle, about who we are called to be.

Today’s ready reading deals with two of the things we deal with.

Grace and sin.

Listen to what Paul says today in Galatians 2:15-20:

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

First Paul reminds of this central, core fact. We are saved by grace through faith. We are not saved by our works. We are not saved by anything we can do. We are saved by God’s grace made full in our lives.

Our works do not save us. Nothing we
“do” saves us. Only grace, through faith, saves us.

That’s it. That’s the list.

Ok then, what does that look like? We see that in verses 17 – 20. That grace makes us a new person. We are changed. We are different. We are not the same person that we were before.

We are new. We are different. We think different. We act different. We are new.

So, today, know this one face. You are saved by God’s grace which is made known to you by faith. That is what enables and makes salvation possible. That’s it.

But that salvation will change us. It will make us different. We don’t need to be the same. We need to be different. And if we’ve experienced grace, if we’ve experienced salvation and are not changed, how is it with our souls.

Today, we are made new by grace in our lives. Today, may that grace change us and grow us closer to God in amazing and powerful ways!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

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Think About It

April 25, 2012 by Andy Stoddard

There’s the old joke, that really is true, when you ask a man what he’s thinking about and he says nothing, he really means it.

He’s not thinking about anything.

Hard to believe, but true! Sometimes we just turn our brains off!

But, in our lives, we all focus on something. We all have our mind on something. Our minds return to something.

What is that thing for you? Where does your mind return? Where does your mind roam? Listen to what Paul says in Romans 8:5-7 today:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

Those that live according the flesh set the minds on the flesh. Those that live according to the spirit set them minds on the spirit.

Today, is our mind, are our thoughts on the things of flesh, or thing things our God. Where ever our mind and our thoughts are is where we will be.

Today, what do you think about? Today, where’s your head at?

What thoughts feel your down time? What do you feel your minds with? There’s an old computer saying – garbage in, garbage out. Whatever you program a computer to do, it will do. Even if it’s garbage.

The same is true for our minds. Are we choosing to focus on the things of God or the things of the flesh? What are we putting into our minds today?

What are we thinking about?

As we grow closer to God, may we focus on the things of the spirit, and ma we find life there!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

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