Simplify

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

I like things that are simple. The older I get, the more I really want things to be simple so that I can understand; see the big picture, a see what is really at the heart of the matter. Simplicity is a good, good thing.

We often look at the Bible, look at issues of faith, and think that they can be too confusing. They are too complicated. They can’t really be understood. And there are many, many things in the Bible, many things in faith that are hard to understand. One of the things that we can struggle the most to understand is this. What does it mean to be a Christian? What does the Christian life look like, what are we supposed to do as Christians.

Paul in the book of Galatians spends time going to the heart of the matter for the Christian faith. He really wants to simplify the understanding of what the Christin life should be. Look at what he writes today in Galatians 5: 13-14:

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.”

Yep. That’s a good, simple word. He gets to the heart of what the Christian life should look like in regards to how we are to treat others. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the laws about how we are supposed to treat each other, all these things, they are simplified here.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

That’s it. That’s the heart of the law. That’s the heart of the faith. As Jesus reminded us, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all of our mind, our soul and strength, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

That’s the heart of what this whole Christianity thing is about. Love God. Love neighbor. That’s the Gospel, that’s the law, that’s the faith, simplified.

Today, don’t worry about the complicated things that you can’t understand. Focus on this. Love God. Love neighbor. The rest will take care of itself.

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!

We are One

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

In Jesus, we all are equal. We are. There is such an equality with Jesus. An equality of need. An equality of grace. An equality of calling. We are all equal.

We all, me, you, all of us, we stand in equal need of salvation. None of us are perfect. None of us can earn it, none of us will get it right. We all need grace. We all need Jesus. We all need His mercy.

And what we find in Jesus, is we find that grace and mercy is there for all of us, no matter who we are, where we come from, any of that. We all find that His mercy is there, waiting for us, no matter what. No matter who we are, what we have done, any of us.

We find Jesus there.

So if we are equal in need and equal in grace, we are equal in worth. Listen to what Paul says today in Galatians 3: 27-28:

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

In Jesus, there is not male or female. There is not Greek or Jew. There is not slave or free. We are all one.

No matter what. No matter what barriers, differences, or distinctions the world tries to place on us, in Jesus, we are one.

No matter your race. Your views on things. Your wealth (or lack of). Your job. Any of these things. If you are in Jesus. If you are a believer. If you are saved through Jesus, then you are my brother or sister.

You are. In Jesus, we are one. Through Jesus, we are one. Because of Jesus, we are one.

Today, I love you like family. Because through Jesus, we are. Today, may we as the church, may we live as one. Because through Jesus, that’s just what we are.

Detours

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Ever had life all planned out? Knew what you were going to do? Had a schedule, had an agenda, had it all figured out?

And something happened that blew all of that out the water?

Ever had to take a major detour? Yeah, most of all of us have at some point in our life. That’s part of life. Something that happens all the time. It’s part of our human experience, something that we each go through.

It’s even something that Joseph and Mary went through. There were some very unexpected detours that they had to take in Jesus’ early life. Listen to what happens today in Matthew 2: 13-15:

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

We see that they were in Bethlehem, but they they had to flee to Egypt to escape Herrod. We don’t really think about this, the chaos this would have caused to Joseph and Mary. Joseph had a job waiting for him back home. They had a life planned out. They were going to be faithful, they were going to follow God, but they knew what life would be about.

And now this. Now they have to run away to Egypt. They were being faithful. They were doing it right. And life still made a detour.

Why? Because God had a plan. He was going to call Jesus back out of Ebphy, just as He called the Israelites out of Egypt. God had an amazing plan for Jesus in this.

What may have looked like a detour to Joseph and Mary was part of God’s divine plan for Jesus.

Today, the detour you face may not be that. It very well may be part of God’s divine plan for you.

You just have to trust. God has a plan. He knows what He is doing. Even if we don’t know what He is doing.

These detours, they aren’t that. They are something greater, something bigger.

Today, trust. God will use your detours in amazing ways. Ways you can’t even imagine.

Today, may we trust in the detours of our life.

The Greatest Gift

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Today I was reading a passage that we have heard many times, a passage that we’ve probably all heard a lot of sermons about.

It’s the story of the man that’s paralyzed and his friends bring him to Jesus. It’s a great story. I read it as found in Mark 2: 1-12. There are so many things that I like about the story. The way that the friends are willing to do anything to get their friend to Jesus.

How Jesus heals the friend and impressed with their faith.

His response to the Paraphrases and religions leaders.

But today, something jumped out at me that I didn’t notice before. Look at what happens in the end of this story in verses 8-12:

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic — “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

What is the greatest gift this man gets? His healing? Well if you look at the text, the healing isn’t there for its own sake, but it’s there to show and prove that the greater gift was given.

The greatest gift Jesus gave this man wasn’t His healing. It was that Jesus forgave His sin. That’s the greatest gift that Jesus gave to this man, He forgave him for all that he had ever done.

That was Jesus greatest gift to this man.

And that’s Jesus’ greatest gift to us. Forgiveness. He has forgiven you. In spite of everything that you’ve done, you are doing, you will do, if you repent and confess, you are forgiven.

That’s the greatest thing ever. That’s where true healing begins. True healing in our lives, in our families, in our relationships, in our families, in even ourselves, that’s where it begins. With forgiveness.

With God forgiving us. And our realization that God has forgiven us.

And then we forgive others.

Today, in Christ and through Christ, you are forgiven.

That’s the gift He wants to give you today.

Will you accept it?

It All Comes Down to Grace

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Ok, today’s reading is one of those passages that you need to get. Really, this is one of those readings that is just key. Understanding this is so important to your faith, to your life, to your view of God, your view of yourself, everything, everything, everything.

Listen to what it says in Ephesians 2: 8-10:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Dr. Barry Bryant was one of my main professors in seminary. And Dr. Bryant used to always tell us this – “You tell me what you think about grace, and I can tell you what you think about everything else.”

Grace is so key to faith. It is so key to understanding God, us, our calling, our salvation, our Christian walk. Everything.

Look at what it says today. We are saved by grace. Not by works. So no man can boast. We are not saved by anything that we can do.

Seriously. You need to understand that. You aren’t saved by your actions. You don’t have to “do” anything. “Doing” something isn’t the key, isn’t the point.

If there was something that you can “do” to save yourself, Jesus came for nothing. It’s all on Him. All on Him. All on Him.

Not your actions. Your faithfulness. None of this. It’s all grace.

We are saved by grace through faith. You have to understand that.

But then, look what it says. We are created for good works. Wait, what? We aren’t saved by works, yet, we are created for them?

Yep. You were created; you were made for a relationship with God. That relationship starts with grace. You are saved by grace.

And then, once we come to saving (or justifying) grace, grace doesn’t end there. Grace isn’t just God’s mercy of salvation towards us. Grace is the empowerment of salvation.

So, we are saved by grace (not by works) but when we come to faith that same grace that saves us then compels us to be faithful. To chase after God. To know Him. Serve Him. Follow Him. We must. We have to.

Grace demands it! We need to understand that, as well!

We are not saved by works, but we are created for works.

We are saved by His grace and saved for His work. All by His grace.

His grace saves us.

His grace calls us.

His grace empowers us to work.

Grace.

You tell me what you think about grace, and I can tell you what you think about everything else. Grace. It all comes down to grace.

Open Our Eyes

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Sometimes we need to have God open our eyes. We can miss so many amazing things. We can miss the beauty of creation. We can miss the simple joys of life. We can miss the things that God wants to show us, the things that God wants us to see.

We can miss His truth. We can miss the things that in life that are true. Things that are good. Things that are pure. Things that are noble.

We can miss the things, the real things, which we need to see.

Now, I don’t think we miss these things because we want to miss them. We miss them because we are busy. Or we aren’t looking for them. Or our attention is elsewhere.

We just don’t see.

Today we need to pray for our God to open our eyes. Open our eyes to see what is really real. Open our eyes to what we see in Ephesians 1: 16-20:

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

We need to have our eyes opened (or I like how it says here, the eyes of our hearts enlightened) to know the hope that we’ve been called to. The riches of our inheritance. The greatness of His power to us.

We have so much power at our disposal. We have so much strength on our hands. We have so much that we can do. We have the very God of all of heaven on our side, working with us; working for us, calling us.

We have hope in every situation. We can believe, no matter how dark it is. We can have peace, no matter how bad it may seem. We can live, even when we don’t know how.

We have all these things. All of them.

Not through our power or might. But through Jesus. Through His power. His might. His strength. His grace.

Through Him.

It’s there. We just have to open our eyes to see it.

Today, may He open our eyes. May we see what we can do; what we can be, all through Him.

Today, may we see things, as they really are. May we see.

If We Have Jesus, it’s Going to be Ok

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Yesterday we read on of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, today we read another. Today, we read in Revelation 2: 8-11 the letter to the church in Smyrna. Listen to what it says:

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

A couple of things that jump out to me about this letter, and many of the letters in this first part of Revelation. First, notice this part at the beginning – “I know your tribulation and poverty (but you are rich).”

What does it mean to poor and what does it mean to be rich? We think of wealth in terms of possessions. To be rich means to have much, to be poor means to have little. Here, we see John say – you are poor. But you are really rich.

Why?

Because you have Jesus. If you have Him, and you are poor (in the world’s eyes) then you are really rich. If you don’t have him and are rich (in the world’s eyes) then you are poor.

Our worth, our wealth, it never comes from material possessions. It comes from Jesus. I have always liked the quote by Patrick Meagher – “Some people are so poor, all they have is money.”

Today the people are reminded. Yes, you are poor. But you are rich, because you have Jesus. That’s a great reminder for us today. If we have Jesus, we really have all we need.

And the second thing that jumped out to me is when he says, you are going to be tested. Don’t give up, don’t quit.

Sometimes we can think that if we face opposition or troubles, then it’s not what we should do. We are reminded here – no. When are being faithful. When we are doing right. When we are trying, we will face opposition. It will happen.

Don’t give up when the times are tough. God is good. God is there. Don’t quit. He won’t leave you, no matter what.

In all of this, if we have Jesus, it’s going to be ok.

Remember Your First Love

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

I jokingly say that I will not teach Revelation until I’ve been a church for five years. I’m almost done with my fifth year here at Asbury, so I guess I may have to teach it sometime soon! LOL.

Revelation to me in an interesting book, there’s always a lot of debate about the middle part, and that’s where most of the attention goes. But to me, I really love the beginning and the end. In the beginning, John is writing letters to seven churches from Jesus, letters that bring encouragement and challenges to the churches.

The end, of course, shows us a picture of eternity and what it will be like when we come the wedding feast of the Lamb, when Jesus comes for His church.

Today’s passage comes from that first portion, the seven letters. Listen to what it says to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2: 1-5:

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

I love that reminder. You’ve lost your first love. For so many of us as Christians, that can happen to us. We love Jesus. We really do. We have been affected by His grace. We have seen His mercy. We have tasted His goodness.

We know it. We really do. We know how good God is. We really do.

And we forget. We just forget. Life gets busy. Things happen. We know our first love.

And we forget.

Today, remember your first love. Place Jesus first in all things. When He is on the throne of our hearts, all things work out, somehow. When anything else is on the throne, even the good things, they will in crush us.

When Jesus is first, things just make sense. When anything else is in first place, things (in time) will fall apart.

Today, remember. Remember. Remember your first love.

Do What We are Told

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Holly and I have two kids that we both just adore. They keep us busy; they keep us full of life. They really are just true joys, and I can’t put into words how much I love my kids.

I jokingly say that they are smart like their mama and pretty like their daddy. But, they actually are really great kids. But, being as smart as they are (yes, I’m biased) they love to ask questions. They want to understand. They are always asking, why? Why? Why?

This is something that every parent understands. Every kid wants to know why.

And at times I resorted to an answer that I swore that I’d never use – “Because I said so!” I need you do this, just because!

I thought about this common parenting issue when I read what Jesus said today in John 15: 12-14:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

He says – this is my commandment. Do what I command! This is what I want you to do. No questions. No arguing just do it.

Love. Love each other. There is no great love than to lay down your life for your friend.

And Jesus said – you are my friends, if you do what I command. Love. Love other. Love as Jesus loved us.

Love. That’s the only thing in life that can change someone. Yes, intellect can affect. Yes, righteousness can make an impact. Yes, passion is of great power.

But you really want to change someone? Love them. Love has the power to change people in ways that we will never, comprehend, ways that we really can’t even understand.

Jesus changes us through His wants to us to the same. Love each other, through His love.

Plus, when you love them, you don’t just change them. You change you.
Love changes them. And it changes us.

That was His command to us. Love as we are loved. And if we do that, we really can change the world.

God With Us

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

One of the promises that we hear in this season is this Immanuel. God with us. And we think of that most during this time. We associate that with Christmas. We think of it Jesus. With Mary. With Joseph.

And that is the truth of Christmas. God is with us. Listen to what we are told in Matthew 1: 20-23:

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)

We hold tight to those words. We love those words. And those words are at the heart of Christmas. But here’s the beauty of that. Those words aren’t just for Christmas. Those words are always. And forever. And for all our lives.

God is with us in this season yes. But God is with us throughout all the year. God is with us in our good times. God is with us in our bad times. God is with us in our victories. God is with us in our defeats. God is with us when we feel healthy. God is with us when we are sick.

God is with us when we are laughing.

God is with us when are crying.

That’s Christmas. God entered into our world, into our lives, into our good times, into our bad time. God entered into our world. Into our day-to-day.

To show us love. To show us grace. To save us.

That’s the truth of Christmas. That’s the truth of today. God is with us. No matter what you are facing today, good or bad. God is with you.

That’s Christmas. That’s what it’s all about. Remember that. God with you. Today. He loves you and is with you today.

No matter what. That’s Christmas.

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