On Wednesday mornings, I teach one of the most fun Bible studies I’ve ever taught. I teach our Older Adults here at St. Matthew’s a Bible study based off the classic book Hard Sayings of Jesus. Now, if anyone has … Continue reading
I tell folks one of my problems in life is I believe this stuff. Like I really believe the things that Jesus tells us. I believe that He’ll be true to His word, that He will care for us, lead us, guide us, and help us be where it is that we need to be, and go where it is that we need to go.
I truly believe that we can trust Him, no matter what. He’s got a plan bigger than us. Our job is to follow the leading of His spirit, and trust completely that He knows what He is doing.
A conversation arose among the religious leaders after the church was born in Acts where they were trying to figure out what to do with these Christians. Listen to what happens in Acts 5: 34-39:
34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. 35 Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”
Verses 38-39 nail it to me. If it’s not of God, it will die away. If it is of God, nothing can stop it. Nothing.
If it’s of God, it can’t be stopped. That’s why I try not to worry too much about things that I really have no control over. It is not of God it will die away, but if it is of God, then it won’t be about to be stopped.
Well then, how do we know the difference? How do we know if it’s of God, or if it’s not? That’s where we have to learn to listen. We have to learn the voice of the Good Shepherd. The sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd. They follow His voice. The know it. They can hear it. And they go where it is that the voice leads.
That’s our greatest task, perhaps. Not to know where the road ends, but to follow the voice down whatever road it is that it is leading us. God knows the roads. God knows the plans. God knows the directions.
We can trust. Really. We can trust. God knows what He is doing. Our job is to follow. It it’s of God, it won’t be stopped. Our calling is to make sure that we are listening to the voice.
Today, let’s listen. And let’s follow where He is leading us.
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Life is made up of choices. Some are really big. Some are really small. But so much of life is about choices.
You know what one of the things is that I love most about God? He trusts us. I know that sounds crazy, like a huge mistake. After all, don’t do things wrong? Don’t we get in trouble? Don’t we choose wrong?
Yeah, we do. We get it wrong, a lot of the time. We make those wrong choices. We blow it. It happens. And then you know what else happens?
The sun sets. The sun rises. And it’s a new day. A new day full of choices and possibilities. A new day to be faithful. A new day to follow after God. A new day to see exactly what it is that God will do. And what we will do. Listen to what happens today in Deuteronomy 30: 19-20:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
God tells the people as they go into the Promised Land – choose today. Choose life, choose death. Choose.
He gives them that choice, because He trusts them.
And He does you today as well. Today, you will have lots of choices. Some big, some little. Some you’ll get right. Some you’ll get wrong.
Listen to God. Listen to His voice in His Word. In prayer. Through others. Listen. And follow wherever it is that He is calling.
Because of all the choices you have to make, this is the most important. Will we listen to His voice? And will we follow it? Because if we make that choice right, everything else falls into place.
Today, may we be faithful with the choices we make. God trusts you, He loves you. Follow Him where He leads.
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I wanted to share something with this morning that we talked about last night at Bible Study at Asbury. I love our Wednesday nights here; we have lots of adult small groups that meet across campus, youth worship, and children’s activities. It’s a really good time.
But last night we are in the process of working through Romans and started talking about the law, keeping the law, doing right, grace and all kind of things.
And I began to talk about our lives, and the thing that should really matter the most in our lives is God, and then from that, other people. I don’t live for myself, I live for God.
And I want my life for God to influence others for Him. So, on one aspect, I really don’t care what others think about me. Really, I don’t. I don’t live for the approval of other people. I live for the approval of God.
But, I also don’t want my life, the things I do, I don’t want these things to harm others or harm their faith. I want my life to be a blessing to others. Not a harm.
Listen to what Paul says in Romans 14: 13-15:
Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died
Our faith is not about actions. By what we eat, or by what we drink, these things don’t save or condemn us. What Paul is talking about is food sacrificed to idols. Here is a pretty good explanation of what that is.
But what Paul winds up saying is this. What you eat or what you drink, those aren’t big deals. They don’t save or condemn you. But, you want to make sure that by what you do, you don’t harm others.
Your life is a witness about God to others. We live for God’s purpose and His plan. He is our concern. But we never want to harm others.
In short, we don’t just live for ourselves. We live for others. We live for God. We live to make a difference.
And today, you do. You can make a difference. Let your light shine, let your life make a difference. You can. You can make a difference. You can make an impact. You were placed here to do it.
Live for God’s glory. Live to impact others. Live to take His word with you.
You can do it.
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, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!
Every day, life is full of choices. Every day. We make choices to do things or to not do them. Some choices aren’t that important, and some choices are very important; they may change the course of our lives from that point on.
We make choices every day of our lives. About work, play, money, faith, family, everything. There are choices that we make. Sometimes, we don’t realize how important a choice was until after we have even made it.
Jesus, preaching His first public sermon in Matthew, talks about choices. Listen to what He says in Matthew 4: 13-17:
And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The choice He talks about is at the very end. This is the choice He lays out. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The choice He is talking about is repentance. See, that’s what repentance is. It is a choice. It’s a choice to turn away from our stuff, our sin, our mistakes, and a choice to turn to Jesus.
And here’s the cool thing. Each day is a new day. Each day is a new start. As important as yesterday was, it is now done. It’s over. Don’t worry about it. Today is the day that the Lord has given you.
Yesterday’s mistakes don’t have a bearing on today’s choice. Today, we choose. Will we choose to turn away from the things that will only bring us pain; will we choose to turn to Jesus and find strength, mercy, hope, and life.
We have the choice to make today. We do. We can choose which path to walk down.
Today, Jesus says, repent. Choose to follow me in the big things; choose to follow me in the little things.
Today, may each of us choose to follow Jesus with all that we are.
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, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!
Sometimes we don’t know what to do. We don’t know what decision to make. We don’t know what road we should choose. We don’t know what door we should open.
Sometimes we just don’t know what we should do. We are at a loss. We just don’t know.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all had that happen. We all can be unsure.
What do we do? Listen to what it says in James 1:5-6 when we are unsure:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
James tell us this morning that when we are unsure and don’t know what to do, what we should do is this. Ask God for wisdom. Ask Him for help. Ask Him and allow Him to lead us to what we should do. I think that this verse shows us that there are two main things that we should in these times of indecision and uncertainty.
First, ask God for wisdom. Ask Him for help. Stop trying to figure it out on your own. Stop trying to think that you’ve got all the answers and have it all figured out. Ask God for help. Really. I know it’s simple. But do it. Stop. And seek His face.
Many of us do that pretty well. The second can be a little bit harder.
Second, have the confidence of belief that God is going to give you that wisdom. Believe it. Claim it. Know it.
Have faith. Even when it’s hard, challenging, or doubtful. Believe. Trust. Hold fast. He is going to give you wisdom. He is. He promised. He has assured us in His word that He will. Trust in it.
Trust in Him.
Believe.
So, today, if you are in a situation where you don’t know what to do, ask God for wisdom. And believe, truly believe, that He will give it. And hold fast, until He leads you in the way that you should go.
He will not fail you.
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.
Jesus lets us make choices. He respects our free will. He will call us. He will let us answer. And He will let us make the choice that we make.
Today in the text we read, we see how Jesus lets us make choices each day. Listen to what happens in Luke 9:57-62:
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
In this text, we see three different people have a conversation about following Him. The first tells Jesus that he will follow Him. Jesus says that in following Him, this man will have to make some real sacrifices. Now scripture does not say, but is implied that he didn’t follow.
Two others are given the chance to follow, but each comes up with a reason or an excuse that he cannot follow. There is a reason why they cannot follow.
And what does Jesus do? He lets them make that choice. He lets them decide what they want to do. He lets them live with choices that they make.
He doesn’t chase them down. He doesn’t make them follow Him. He doesn’t force them into a relationship with Him. He lets them choose. He lets them decide.
And He lets them live with the consequences of that choice.
Today, Jesus is calling you. He’s calling you to love Him, follow Him, serve Him, and serve others. He is calling you today. He wants to know Him.
He wants you to make that choice.
But, He will respect your choice. He will not force you. He will let you choose.
Today, what will you choose? Will you choose to follow? Or will you not. Will you choose to follow Jesus in each moment of your life today? Or will you choose to say no and follow you own will and own way.
Today, we have choices to make. What will we choose?
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.
Each day is full of choices. There is nothing unique about that.
That’s the way that’s it’s always been.
In the Garden, Adam and Eve had a choice to make about eating the fruit. They chose to disregard what God had commanded, and they ate the fruit.
Noah had a choice to listen to the voice of God and start building the ark, even when his neighbors probably through he was off his rocker.
Peter and the other disciples had a choice to make when Jesus told them to “Follow Me.” The chose to follow.
The rich younger chose not to follow.
Choices are all throughout scripture. Choices run all throughout our lives. We have choices to make. We have choices to make today. Listen to the words of Joshua:
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Today, we have a choice to make. Who will we serve? Will we serve and seek after God? Or will we serve and seek after what the culture tells us we should be about?
Will we choose to be faithful? We will choose to disobey?
Will we choose to follow God’s path? Or will we choose to follow our own?
We will choose to listen to God’s voice? Or will we choose to listen to the voice of the evil one?
Today, I have choices, you have choices. I can’t make your choices for you, you cannot make my choices for me. We each have choices to make today.
What will we choose? Will we choose to serve and follow God? Or will we choose to disobey?
Today, the choice is ours.
One of the things we hear a lot with faith is this – we don’t know which way to go.
We don’t know what decision to make. We we don’t know how to proceed, what to choose, what to do.
And, we don’t just hear that, do we? We experience it. Everyone one of us today, reading these thoughts, we’ve experienced that feeling. We’ve experienced that struggle. We’ve experienced that moment of looking up to the heavens and shouting – God what do I do!?!
We are not alone. One of the reasons why I love the Bible is that it contains every emotion, every thought, every feeling we go through. You and I are not the only folks in the history of creation to not know which way to go or to understand where God is taking us.
Many, many, many Christians through history have felt that and experienced that. We are not alone.
And, this problem will not stay forever. Today, if you are struggling through a decision, through a problem, through a choice,listen to what God says this morning through Isaiah:
He will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.
God will tell you. God will speak. God will show you.
He will. It will happen. You can trust. You will know what to do.
So, today, if you are trying to make a decision, if you have a choice to make, perhaps the thing you need to worry about isn’t that choice. Perhaps the thing you need worry about it is listening.
Are you listening to God? I’m not asking are you telling God what you’d “like” to do. But, are you making yourself quiet? Are you blocking out all other noises and voices? Are you making yourself still?
And listening for the voice of God?
He will speak. He will lead. He will show.
Today, if you are in the midst of a choice, listen. Listen. God will speak. God will lead.
Today is a day of choices. What will eat for breakfast? Will I drink two pots of coffee, or just one? Will I wake up my children while sleeping to annoy Holly, or not? (I will not)
What will I choose to do? How will I choose to live?
Who will I choose to serve?
The book of Joshua ends with this scene of choices. Will the people choose to serve God, or will the choose to serve false idols. What will they do?
Joshua had already given them a choice and said that he and his family would serve the Lord, no matter what the others will do.
And then he laid it for people – choose. What will you do. The people responded in Joshua 27:
21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
Joshua says, if you are going to choose to serve God, you must do two things.
First put aways those false gods. Put away those things that draw you away from God. Put away those things that keep you from serving and following. Put them away.
If I want to follow God, I mean, really follow God, then I need to put away things that keep from following.
Today, what in your life keeps you from following? What is it in your life that keeps you from following God as you should?
And the second thing is incline your heart to God. Spend time with God, listen to His voice through prayer and scripture. Seek Him. Walk with Him.
What will we choose today? How will we choose to live? What will we choose today? Will we choose to follow? Or will we not? The choice in our hands.
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