Thought of the Day !!

Those who are stealing must stop stealing and start working. They should earn an honest living for themselves. Then they will have something to share with those who are poor.
Ephesians 4:28 (NCV)

I remember when I was younger and at my mamaw and papaw's house. I was playing out in the yard. I walked next door because something caught my eye. There in the dirt lay some matchbox/hot wheels sized cars. One in particular caught my eye. And I figured since it was out there in the dirt that nobody wanted it. So I looked around and asked if anybody cared if I took it. Seeing as how nobody was around, no answer to the negative came. So I picked it up, and even though nobody said I couldn't have it, I ran as fast as I could. ---- Yes, put the handcuffs on me. I was a ten-year old thief. I just wonder if the statute of limitations has run out yet?

Anyway, we get things by many different ways. We may be given them, earn them or maybe even come by them in a dishonest way. But the fact remains that we will have accumulated a lot of stuff over our lifetimes. Who thinks that they have now, or have had before more than what they needed? Yeah, me too. How many people think that they have shared enough with the poor? Yeah, me either.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
Luke 4:1-2 (NRSV)

We've all been there. Since Adam and Eve ate from that dreadful tree in the Garden, we've all been tempted. Even Jesus was tempted. He'd gone to the river and was baptized by John the Baptist, having the Holy Spirit come upon him then. After that the bible states that the same Spirit led him into the wilderness (desert – NIV) to go through temptation. So when we are being tempted, we can know that Jesus even went through that and knows how we feel.

The temptation of Jesus by the devil was threefold. One was the temptation to turn a stone in to bread so that he could feed himself. One was the temptation to control the kingdoms of the world by worshiping the devil. And the last was to prove he was truly the Son of God by putting God to the test. (see Luke 4:3-13 for the rest of the story)

But all three of these can be seen as one major temptation for Jesus…one in which the devil would try continuously throughout his ministry to use against him. It was the temptation to take the easy way out over God's way.

The devil tries his best to convince us all to do this very same thing. We fall into this temptation when we allow ourselves to conform to the world instead of being transformed by God's will for us. It may come as a temptation to do what's popular instead of what's right, or it may come as a temptation to settle or a temptation to become complacent in our faith.

All these things are much easier than doing what God wills us to do and being what God wills us to be. But God has our own best interests in mind. We may ought to remember that when we fall into the temptations of the devil that he has HIS own interests in mind...not ours.

Following God may not always be the easy way. But it sure is the best way.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Search for the LORD and for his strength; continually seek him.
Psalm 105:4 (NLT)

Yesterday a friend gave me a gift. It was a book of devotions called Jesus Calling. I went to the devotion for August 26 and it was great. It spoke to me about how our days can be messy. But if we will continually seek God's face and detach ourselves from the world's disturbances, God will bring us peace. He will allow us to see with His eyes.

Today, as your day becomes messy, seek God's face and allow Him to see you through.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Romans 1:16 (NIV)

How many of us are ashamed of the gospel, or the good news of Jesus Christ? Will we speak about this message openly at any time and any place (even when there are no church members around)?

Many of us go to church on Sunday and are comfortable being complacent Christians throughout the rest of the week. We don't deny Christ. But we also do nothing to promote Him.

Would you rather be a complacent Christian or an on fire Christian? One is easier. The other brings you and others closer to God.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

God, who calls you, is faithful; he will do this.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NLT)

God calls each and every one of us. He first calls us into a loving, self-giving relationship with Him through His Son Jesus. And then He calls us to what I call secondary callings. Some are called to preach. Others are called to be missionaries. Still others are called to care for others in various ways like being doctors, dependable workers, good stewards of other people's resources.

Some of our callings may be vocational like those called to be nurses or social workers. Other callings are short term like the calling placed upon one's heart to visit or pray for someone or stop and pick someone up on the side of the road.

No matter what we're called to do though, God will be faithful to us to help us live out these callings. He starts something special in our lives and helps us to complete whatever it is. What has God called you to do lately?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
James 5:13 (NLT)

James asks if we're suffering. If so, we should take these sufferings to God in prayer. Hand them over to Him. It ain't easy. I know as much as anybody how difficult it is to let go of some things. But if we can learn to be totally dependent upon God, it is possible.

James goes on to ask, "Are any of you happy?" Well...if you are...he says act like it. Actually, he says to "sing praises." How many of us get so excited about what Christ has done, is doing and will do for us that we can't help but sing?

As you go through your day, keep in mind that God is with you wherever you go. He isn't there to "keep you straight" sort of speak. He's there to lovingly encourage and help you through whatever comes your way. So when the victories come your way, don't forget to include him just as you did when you felt like defeat was almost upon you. He will be by your side through both.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1 (NRSV)

John goes on to say that any spirit that confess Jesus is from God and that any spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. There are evil spirits in this world that try to manipulate people by deception. These are from the devil. There are also good spirits, often referred to as angels, that help people. If one were to hear a spirit, one could know the truth by whether or not the spirit acknowledged Jesus.

But what about people? False prophets have been around since Old Testament times. Kings would often times surround themselves with prophets that would tell them what they wanted to hear. These were false prophets. There were also the prophets of Baal, a pagan God. These were false prophets. But the scariest ones to me are the ones who claim to be from God, but are working out of deception.

Jesus told us to beware of false prophets (Matthew 7:15-20) and that they would claim to come in his name (Matthew 24:5). These are with us today. So how do we test whether or not they are from God. Test them, not by what they say, but by the fruit that they produce and how their lives are lived. Don't believe anything that goes against what they Bible teaches. Confirm your theories about them by sharing your concerns with other good bible based believers. And by all means, pray about it.

I wonder how many false prophets are out there today leading people along the wrong path with teachings that are what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. I wonder how many lead people into even more selfishness instead of closer to God.

Test those who try to persuade you one way or another. Test me. But when you find those Godly leaders that can help you come closer and closer to God. Listen and learn from them because they are the ones that have been given a gift from God. Don't worship them. And remember that they're not perfect and won't ever know everything. But ask God to bring you to those who will lead you to Him and not those who will lead you astray.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9 (NLT)

"Jesus is Lord" was the earliest confession of faith for the Church. They didn't need a bunch of Creeds or sets of beliefs because this was really all that mattered. The Greek word used here for Lord is "Kurios", which is the same word that the Roman Emperor would use when he would say that the people were to call him Lord. It's the same word that is used over 6000 times in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) when referring to the name of God.

So when the early Christians claimed that Jesus was Lord, they were setting him right up there with where the Roman Emperor wanted to be and where the God of Abraham was. They were in essence saying the same thing that the author of John claimed when beginning his Gospel by writing that he was with God and that he was God.

When we honestly make this claim, we are stating that he is the only one worthy of our worship, our time, our efforts, our lives. We will either be enslaved by the love of self, leading to love of what this world offers, or a love of the Kurios. Making this statement claims the latter.

Believing in our hearts meant something much different in the early Church. The heart was not a symbol of love and romance. It symbolized the core of one's being. And to believe with our hearts that Jesus was raised means that we believe this in the core of our beings. It's not simply an intellectual belief. It's what motivates us to live our lives.

If Jesus had just died, we'd have a dead faith. But the resurrection was the surest sign that Jesus was and is the Kurios. And this leads us back to Jesus IS Lord...not Jesus WAS Lord. If he died, he would have been. But since he defeated death, he not only lived...but still lives as well.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

O magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
Psalm 34:3 (NRSV)

Our lives are chances to magnify God. They come in large and small ways. With every breath we take, we have a chance to glorify God or thank Jesus for what he's done. With every move we make, we have an opportunity to put love of neighbor into action. Yes, every second of our lives are filled with chances to magnify the One who first loved us. But we must choose. What will your words and your actions say about your choice today?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.'

"Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?'

"And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,* you were doing it to me!'
Matthew 25:34-40 (NLT)

(For I was hungry and you fed me)
• You bought food and donated it to the local food pantry.
• You shared your lunch with me when I sat outside your office, instead of calling me a bum and telling me to scram.
• You took me some place and paid for me a meal.
• You invited me to a potluck at your church and said not to worry about not bringing anything, there was plenty.
• You gave me a couple of dollars when you saw me on the side of the road.
• You worked at the local soup kitchen where I had a hot meal.

(I was thirsty and you gave me a drink)
• I worked for you out in your yard on a hot summer’s day and you brought me a cool glass of lemonade. You told me to visit your well and take all I wanted.
• You saw me in the form of a child at a school outing and noticed that when all the other kids got drinks from the concession stand, I stood off by myself, and you brought me a coke.

(I was a stranger and you invited me in)
• I knocked on your door and asked to use your phone to call someone to come and pick me up because my car broke down, and you did not send me away.
• I came to your church and you made me feel welcome. You spoke to me as if you were excited that I was there.
• I was the one trying to get my license at the courthouse that looked confused. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I didn’t speak very good English. And you took time out to make sure I went to the right place.
• I was the one at the amusement park that was lost, and you stood with me until we found my parents.
• I was the one in the doctor’s that was trying to hold back the tears. The expression on my face gave me away though, and it was very noticeable that I was frightened. You are the one who laid your worries aside and came to me and offered comfort.

(I was naked and you gave me clothing)
• You gave your spare coats to the downtown mission, and because of this, I stayed warm even though I had to sleep on the streets at night.
• My home burned down and among other things, you donated clothes to my children and me so that we would have more than what was on our backs when we got out of the house.

(I was sick and you cared for me)
• I was in the hospital and you came by to cheer me up.
• When you heard that I had the flu, you made a pot of soup and brought it by.
• When I got hurt, you offered to take me to the Emergency Room.
• When I was sick, you prayed for me.

(I was in prison and you visited me)
• You came and visited me in jail, knowing that no one else would.
• You took part in the prison ministry so that I would know I wasn’t forgotten that that Jesus still loved me.
• When I got out, you did not avoid me at the store or the bank when you saw me coming your way. You did not judge me as a worse person than yourself.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
1 John 4:20

We can't love God and hate others. It's as simple as that.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

"What a weariness this is," you say, and you sniff at me, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in the flock and vows to give it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished; for I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is reverenced among the nations.
Malachi 1:13-14 (NRSV)

Malachi was coming down on the priests about accepting poor offerings and bringing them to the Lord. The command by God was to bring the first fruits, not what was left over. They were supposed to sacrifice the best of their flock, not the straggler that couldn't keep up.

Today we live altogether differently because of the shed blood of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. We are saved by God's grace and not how many offerings we can present or how well we can live. But does that mean that we're not still called to make offerings to the Lord?

Paul writes in Romans that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices. We are to give our hearts and our lives to Jesus as offerings to God. But the question that we ought to consider is this. Are we living in a holy and acceptable way (or trying to anyway)? Or are we living for ourselves and giving any leftover time and money and energy to God? If it's the latter, are we any different from those priests that Malachi was coming down on so long ago?

Give your first fruits to God because He wants to bless them and bless you. When we give ourselves to Him and His service we find joy abundantly.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus' glory and the two men standing with him. As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, "Master, it's wonderful for us to be here! Let's make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But even as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them.

Then a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him."
Luke 9:32-35 (NLT)

We don't have to go to mountains to experience the Holy Spirit. God will speak to each of us IF we give Him the chance. But as important as listening to what God has to say to us is, we must also do what He says.

Let me use myself as an example. I've been to revivals where I got all "revived". I felt the Spirit. I felt like God was speaking to me. I felt like I could change the world. Have you ever been to one of these? Or maybe it was a spiritual retreat or camp?

Well to finish my story, I got all siked up and almost immediately after the revival was over, I went home and became that same person who attended on the first day. Nothing changed. It's like going on a "Holy" roller coaster ride. When I got to the end, I simply got off.

We must understand that God speaks to us things that will help us or help others. He doesn't just say things for the heck of it. He wants to enrich each of us. His best words of advice for these disciples was to listen to His Son.

So lets listen, opening not only our ears, but eyes and other senses so that we may hear God speaking to us. And then lets remember that listening is worthless without doing what we're called to do.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV)

There are some who try to run away from God. They try to run away from responsibility, or possibly the moral implications of their actions. Jonah comes to mind. He didn't like what God was calling him to do, so he went the other direction. We're just like Jonah if we fool ourselves into believing that God doesn't speak to us and that this or that ministry is for someone else. God is always with us and calls to us regularly. Will we try to hide or will we accept His calling upon our lives?

Then there are those who find comfort from the fact that God is always with them. When we learn that God is not an angry Parent ready to discipline us for the least little thing, but is instead a loving and caring Parent watching over us, we will see God more clearly.

When understanding that God is omnipresent (ever present; present everywhere), there should be a mix of respect for our Creator to do as He sees best for us to do as well as a sense of security that only a parent can lend to a small child.

Go with God today, for He is already going with you.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
1 Peter 2:4-10 (NLT)

God promised to build a great nation out of Abraham’s descendents. When Jesus came he proclaimed that all who would believe in Him could be a part of this fellowship that was promised to Abraham. And Paul brought this message to the world.

So here we are. Many generations later we are added to the list of a whole host of others who have been a part of the royal priesthood of believers. Our qualification for membership – we must believe. Our dues – they are our lives. And as we give our lives over to Jesus, we become part of something much bigger than you and me. We become a small stone in a spiritual temple that’s made up of all the saints.

We are all priests that get our instructions and our formation from the foundation, or the cornerstone, which is Jesus Christ. And as such we are to go into a darkened world and change it (instead of letting it change us).

You have the choice. You’re either a member of God’s kingdom of priests or you’re a creature of this here world that’s ruled by the devil. It’s one or the other. Which will you choose?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness.
1 Peter 2:2-3 (NLT)

Peter tells us that we must crave pure spiritual milk. Now there are two things that jumped out at me here. First of all there’s this phrase “pure spiritual milk”. Well, what is it? You could say that it’s the Word of God, it’s the wisdom of God, or it’s the Truth of God. And I think you’d be on the right path with any of these. But to put the phrase in context here where Peter has just warned us to rid ourselves of various things, I would have to say that the spiritual milk he’s getting at is the gifts that allow us to combat these things. It’s the power and strength to overcome selfishness and move towards self-giving love. The pure spiritual milk that all born again Christians must crave is the gifts that help lead us to the purity of a new life in Christ.

Secondly, Peter says that we MUST choose the pure spiritual milk. We must choose that which will lead us to maturity. And we must wait patiently for this. This is part of the reason people have a hard time choosing the lifestyle of a true Christian. They want everything right now.

We live in an “instantaneous society” that expects news as it happens, quick returns on our investments, and instant retrieval of information. Plus our children have to grow up much faster as they watch after each other while both parents work. Therefore full maturity is demanded quicker than it should be for some.

But maturity is a process. It’s not instantaneous. It’s a process that takes time. And it takes more time for some and less time for others. Rather it’s a child’s maturation or the maturing of a Christian, we have to remember that it is still a process. And so that’s why baptism is just the beginning and not the ending of our salvation story.

Salvation isn’t defined simply by one moment and then that’s it. Our salvation as Christians is a process of being formed into the image of Christ where we make mistakes…are forgiven…try again and again…looking back every day saying to ourselves, “I’m not where I should be, but I’m farther along than I used to be.”

We can do this if we crave the pure spiritual milk that God has to offer us.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
Isaiah 50:4 (NIV)

I know how hard it can be to get up in the morning sometimes. But whether the alarm clock goes off and we jump out of bed, or we wear out the snooze button, we are waking each day to a new and glorious day that our Lord has made. There are so many possibilities for it at that moment. It can be a day where we make a difference...where we share the good news of Christ...where we help someone out of a jam...where we notice the beauty of God's handiwork.

At that point we don't know that we're gonna fail or wind up frustrated at the end of the day. But we ought to know that it's God who is there when we awaken. And it's God who will show us the opportunities to succeed. He's there when we wake to speak to us if we will only listen.

Let today, and everyday, begin with your Lord, and you'll soon find out that they all start getting better.

In the love of Christ,
greg