Monthly Archives: December 2011

Transformed

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You were not created to stay the same. We, as Christians, we created to be changed. To be transformed. To be different. To be changed.

That is reassuring. Because none of us are perfect, none of us are as we ought to be, none of us have hit the exact mark that God would want us to hit.

We are all lacking, all imperfect, all as the old saying goes “missing the mark.”

That doesn’t mean that we should be satisfied with our imperfections. It doesn’t mean that all is perfect and we should be ok with where things are wrong. We shouldn’t.

Because we were not created for that. No matter where you are; no matter what has happend in your life; no matter what is going on, God has a plan for you that is more than you can dream or imagine. God has a plan for you that is bigger than your heart’s desire. God dream for you life and and peace and grace.

And God is going to transform you to bring it into being.

Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Our job is to be faithful. To read. To pray. To worship. To be part of His body and put ourselves in a position to be changed. And He will do the rest. He will change, transform and clean us up.

Today, be faithful. Follow Him. And He will have you where He needs you to be. God is good. You are loved. May He transform us and make us into His image!

Getting Ready – Go Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, December 11, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is the third sermon in our Advent 2011 worship series “Getting Ready.”  In this sermon we talk about how we have these mountains in our lives. And the reason we have these mountains is so that we we can go. And tell the story of God’s victory from these mountains.  The text for this sermon is Genesis 12:1-3.  Also by clicking on these verses you can see my notes from the sermon as a note in the YouVersion online Bible.   You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking the link below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

CLICK HERE

Getting Ready – Go. And Tell

A Prayer of Confession

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I read this prayer this morning on a site I use in the morning for my daily devotional. It really resonated with me today.

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,

We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;

Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,

That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,

Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Going through the Motions of Religion

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Normally I reflect upon some daily suggested scriptures that can be found in our weekly Salt and Light bulletin at Asbury.  Today, though, in my own personal devotional time, I read a verse from Matthew 23 that really resonated with me. I wanted to talk a litte about it. Sorry for going off the board!

In Matthew 23, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees. They were the religious teachers of His day. They were the ones that thought the law and were the authorities for most people on what the law required and how a person of faith was supposed to live.

They wanted the people to keep and live by the law, because they were afraid. They remember what happened in the past when the people didn’t keep the law. We see in the Old Testament God say – if you keep the law, you will be blessed and have this land. If you don’t keep it, you will lose it.

The people didn’t keep it. They did their own thing and went their own way. And because of that, they lost the land. So, the leaders associated it, keeping law = land. Breaking law = losing land.

So, they were going to keep the law. And they added to the law their own laws as safeguards. They were’t going to take any chances.

So, when Jesus comes and does things they perceive as breaking law, like healing on the Sabbath, they go crazy. No! You can’t do that! No! Stop it! The reason they go so agree is because they were afraid. They had misplaced keeping the law for the point of faith.

And we see Jesus correct them today. Listen to what He says in Matthew 23:23-24:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

He said that they had kept parts of the law, but had missed the weightier and more important parts. Justice. Mercy. Faithfulness.

They had “right actions.” But they hadn’t given God their hearts. They were going through the motions of religion. But they had missed the point of it all.

Today, God doesn’t just want you act religious. He wants control of your heart. Because if He has your heart, He will have your actions.

Today, don’t worry about being religious. Worry about giving Him your everything. And if He has your all in all, He will have you actions. Today, don’t worry about going through the motions of religion. Today, make sure you are giving Him the faith of your heart!

And when He has that, you will have all you need!

A Turning From

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This morning, as I was praying and reading, I read a verse that I’d read a good many times in prayer in the morning, but it had never really stood out to me, until today. I ready from Psalm 38, and in verse 18 it says “I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.”

And that got me to thinking. I spend time in my prayer time confessing my sin – Lord I’m sorry for this, forgive me for that. That’s healthy. That’s what God wants us to do. The Bible teaches us confess our sins, and He is faithful and just and will forgive us.

But this verse in Psalm 38 hit me, I am sorry for my sin. And I thought, huh. Am I really sorry? Do I really feel sorry for the sins I’ve committed against God and against others.

Huh.

And then I read in today’s reading from Matthew 3:11-2.  Liste to what it says:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Today,  John the Baptist came saying that he comes with water for repentance but Jesus was coming with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And so these things all tumbled around in my brain this morning and it became clear to me. I (and we) are called to than just confess our sin. We are feel that since of sorrow over wrongs done.

And we are to repent (i.e. turn from) these things.

That thing in your life, that thing that causes you pain? That hurts you? That hurts your family? That thing is not God’s will for you. God’s will for you is something good. Something life giving. Something that will bring you joy and peace and life.

God wants good things for you. Really.

The reason why He wants us to feel sorrow and turn from our sins is that these things aren’t life giving. They are life draining. And God wants to give us life.

Today in our lives, may we turn from the things that take away life, and turn to the things that give us. May we feel sorrow over wrongs done, but feel joy over forgiveness offered.

God loves you. Really. He does. May we turn from the things that turn us away from Him. And turn to the things that turn us to Him.

He is good. And His mercy endures forever.

What to do When Tempted

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There are some things that we are all going to face. There are certain things that every human that has ever lived throughout history has had to face or deal with.

Hunger. Exhaustion. Sadness. Joy. Pain. Wonder. Love. Anger. These are all human emotions, human experiences. Everyone reading this, no matter where you has felt, or will feel these things.

There is another thing that is common to humans. Temptation. Everyone of us in the world will face temptation. Each of us will. It is what it is. It is part of the human experience. We see today, in Matthew 3: 3-4, that even Jesus faced temptation.  Listen to what happened:

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

We see the devil come to Him and tempt Him. This is one of the three temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness.

So, if the devil tempted Jesus, who was, you know, the very son of God, do you thing we will face temptation? Of course we will. You will be tempted. It will happen.

So, what do we do? What do we do when we are tempted? Look what Jesus did. He quoted the Bible back to the devil. He had a firm foundation of scripture that He recite in the time of temptation.

What do we need to do when tempted? First, a verse of two either written down, or even better, committed to memory that you can call up in times of temptation.

For example – James 4:7 – Submit yourselves therefor to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Know that through the power of the Holy Spirit in your, when we stand upon faith, temptation will flee.

Hebrews 12:4 – In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your own blood.

These are just a few, and here is a list of some good verses that may be a help in times of temptation.

And second, pray. When you face temptation, pray. As God to help you. Strengthen you. Uphold you. Be with you. And He will. Turn to Him when you face temptation. And He will be there.

Today, temptation will come. What will you do about it?

Getting Ready – The Gift Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, December 4, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is the second sermon in our Advent 2011 worship series “Getting Ready.”  In this series, we talk about the things that we have to “get ready” for with Christmas.  In this sermon we talk about getting ready for the greatest gift of all, God’s gift to us of Jesus Christ.   The text for this sermon is Matthew 1: 18-25.  Also by clicking on these verses you can see my notes from the sermon as a note in the YouVersion online Bible.   You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking the link below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

CLICK HERE

Getting Ready – The Gift

Because of the Tender Mercy of our God

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In the passage today that we are reflecting upon, we see Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, praise God for what God is going to do through his son. We know from the story of John the Baptist, that he was a man that, shall we say, lived outside the norm.

John lived away from it all, and he lived a life with a singular purpose – to point the way and prepare the people for the coming of Christ. He was the baptizer, out by the river, calling folks to righteousness, calling them to repent, calling them to follow the path of God.

And calling them to get ready for the one that would save the people from their sin. Calling them to salvation.

Why? Why did John do this? Why did God call him to this, and why did God give Zechariah and Elizabeth at their advanced age this child that would grow into this man? Listen to what Luke says in Luke 1:74-79:

that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

We see – because of His tender mercy. Because of His mercy, God gives light. Because of His mercy, God gives hope. Because of his tender mercy, God gives the freedom to serve.

Look at what it also says in verse 74 – we might serve Him without fear.

God desires today that you serve Him, but not out of fear. Out of love. Out of grace. Out of His tender mercy. He loves you. He gives His son for you. He gives us each folks pointing the way to Him.

And He wants us to respond. To serve. To love. To care. To obey. Because of the tender mercy of our God we have been given grace and salvation.

And He wants us to serve Him without fear. Today, and each day, may we do that!

When, Not If

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When we pass through the waters, with God with us, we will not drown.

When we pass through fires, with God with us, we shall not be consumed.

When. Not if.

Isaiah 43:1-3 is one of my favorite passages of scripture.  Listen to what it says:

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

I first really heard this passage of scripture when I was a camp counselor at Twin Lakes Camp outside of Jackson, MS when I was in college. And at that point, this became, for me, one of those passages that I come back to over and over and over again in my life.

I love it. Because of what I stressed above. When we pass through the waters. When we pass through the fires. Not if. When. When we do it.

We will be ok. It will be ok. We won’t be consumed. We won’t be drowned.

For He is the Lord our God. He has called us by name. By name. He knows your name and has called you by it. He has redeemed you. You are is. He is the holy one, your God. He loves you.

So, when, not if, you pass through the troubles and the trials of life, He will be there with you and for you. He will not leave you. He will not forsake you. You are His. He is yours. He loves you.

So, today, if you are going through the fire, and through the water today, He is with you. He has called you. You are His.

And if you are going through the waters, know that you will. It will happen. You will face these trials and troubles.

You will be ok. He will not leave you. You will not be overwhelmed. For you are His. Never forget. Remember. You are His.

Even in the fire. Even in the water. He has redeemed you. You are His.