Thought of the Day !!

Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.
                                                                         Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)

Today we can be proud and boast about ourselves or humble not bringing attention to ourselves.  We can complain about others or be patient with them.  Which do you think Jesus would do?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.
                                                                 1 John 1:9 (NLT)

I don't know about you, but I can come up with any number of excuses why I've done some of the things I've done that are contrary to God's wishes for me. They go something like, "I really didn't mean to..." or "It wasn't meant to go that way..." or "I had a right to say..." or "It really wasn't my fault.  I just got caught int he middle" or "It's only human nature to feel that way."

I imagine you could add your own to the list.  But I read somewhere that God doesn't care about excuses.  All He wants is confession and then to forgive. 

When we have sin in our lives we can find ourselves feeling guilty and so it's more difficult for us to face God.  So confess what's wrong in your life and ask for God's help.  He would much rather forgive you than punish you.  That's because our God is a loving God.  

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

  My heart rejoices in the LORD!
  The LORD has made me strong.
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
  I rejoice because you rescued me.
                              1 Samuel 2:1 (NLT)
Does your heart rejoice for the Lord?  Or is your day filled with all the negative things surrounding you? 

I wake up each morning and before I get to the office I have listened to a song called "Good Morning" by Mandisa.  The song lifts my spirits by helping me realize just how good of a morning it is.  God has awakened me.  He has given me breath.  He is prepared to protect me from my worst enemy, the devil.  And more importantly, He has given me a purpose.  For this my heart rejoices in the Lord.

Hanna, the mother of the great prophet Samuel from the Old Testament, rejoiced because she had been barren, but God had given her a son.  Her enemy was her husband's other wife who used to make fun of her for having no children.  But at the time she sang out this verse, God had blessed her with a son and would later bless her with more children. 

May your heart rejoice in the Lord as well.  If it's difficult finding something today to rejoice about, give God thanks that you are alive.  Then ask how He can use you so that you will be blessed as you bless others. 

Rejoice today.  The alternative would be to be sad or angry.  Which is more fun?  Which will make for a better day?  Rejoice in the Lord!

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.
                                                                        2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, it means that He is the one who rules our lives.  He becomes our center instead of ourselves.  By God's grace, we change in that respect.  All aspects of our lives may not immediately change.  There very well could be many things about our past lives that we have a hard time giving up, or simply don't want to stop.  This happens when people have accepted God's grace but are still clinging on to their old lives.  

We have to choose though.  Jesus teaches that we cannot serve two masters.  Only one can come first.  Does that mean that once we become Christians, God expects us to quit all our sinful behavior cold turkey?  I believe that God knows how hard it is for us.  And all He expects us to do is try to live for Him instead of ourselves.  When we do that, and ask for His help, He will help us work things out.  He's not looking for perfection out of us all at once.  He is, however, expecting us to try.  His grace will be sufficient when we fail.  And He will guide us to perfection in time.

If your claim is to be a Christian, but your life is the same as before, maybe you should re-evaluate your claim.  Remember, Christian means to be Christ-like.  Are you really making your best effort to become Christ-like in ALL aspects of your life?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Andy Stoddard, a friend of mine who is a United Methodist Pastor in Petal, MS, shared this devotional this morning.  After reading it, I thought it was the perfect "Thought of the Day !!" for today.  May you be blessed by it.

In the love of Christ,
greg



I really want the Lord to judge “them” for their sin.

Whoever “they” are, and whatever “they” are doing, I want Him to get them. After all, they deserve judgment. I mean, look at what they are doing! God, go get ’em!

Now, for me and I my sins, I want grace. I want forgiveness. I want God’s mercy for the mistakes that I make every day.

For “them” and their sins, I want the holiness of God to come and smite them for the mistakes that they make. For me and my sins, I want the grace of God to smooth over the rough edges of my life and remind me that I’m His beloved child, no matter what.

So, to recap, I want judgment for them, and grace for me.

All of us as Christians are tempted to live that way. To think that we are the righteous and they are the sinners. We as Christians are sometimes (most times) tempted to live a life of judgment.

Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 14:10-12:

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Paul says who are you to pass judgment on another? And in our society, we like that verse because it lets us off the hook. We can say, “Don’t judge me!”

But Paul is really saying this: we are not to judge each other, because ultimately, we will all stand before a truly righteous judge one day. One day, we will all give account to God for our lives and what we do.

This passage isn’t a “get out of jail free card” but a reality check card. We don’t judge because we are not worthy of being a judge. Only God is.

Because of that, I want to live that graceful life that is given mercy for my sin, as well as your sin. Only God can judge.

None of us are good enough to judge.

But, God is.

And how does He respond to our sin? Grace.

May we respond the same way to others and their sin.

And may we all seek to live our God’s grace and life in our lives.

Thought of the Day !!

My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people more than others?
                                                                   James 2:1 (NLT)

The real problem is that we can show favoritism by neglect.  I will be honest.  I will favor my wife over others.  I will want to spend more time with her and show her love more often.  But this scripture is not about having a favorite person or persons in your life.  It's really about neglect.

We might be tempted to favor people with money, power, prestige or celebrity status over those who have little or can do little to help us.  But our faith is a faith of love for each other regardless of status.  

We can begin this by doing away with our preimagined ideas about status.  Don't automatically think that just because of the way a person is dressed or how many places they've got tattooed or pierced or where they live that they are less important than other people.  

God loves each of us.  He created us.  And we are all special to Him.  I think He'd like for us to put away favoritism and show His love to everyone.  

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
                                                                             Isaiah 43:2-3 (NIV)

We are precious in God's sight.  He promises to be with us through the troubling times in our lives and to lead us out of them if we will allow Him to.  This is one of the greatest promises that God offers us...to not abandon us.  People often times abandon Him.  But even in the case of those, He never forgets them and accepts them back if they wish to come.

As His children, we should emulate this kind of behavior.  I once knew a lady that didn't care much for the Church.  That is, until her father was on his death bed.  When she saw how her parent's church members gathered around, supporting and showing love to the family, she was changed.  And she began going to that church.  In her deepest hours of need, she found something out about God.  She found out that He would never abandon her.  Our God is not opposed to presenting Himself in tangible ways.  You might not hear Him speak through a burning bush, but you just might through other people.

Life is supposed to be about relationships with God and each other.  It can be as long as we realize that God will not abandon us...and we commit ourselves to never abandoning Him or each other.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
                                                                          Hebrews 13:2 (NIV)

In today's world of suicide bombers, rapists, killers, muggers, thieves, etc. there may be very little desire to entertain strangers.  As if the real world stuff wasn't bad enough, we then turn on the TV or watch movies that are more violent than ever.  And we believe we have to think of our safety and those with us when a stranger comes up to us looking for a handout.  

It used to be ok to pick up someone on the side of the road who needed a ride.  But how many are willing to pick up hitchhikers today?  And then, of course, there's all those out there that are trying to take advantage of us.  There are people who don't want to work for a living and would rather con people and work the system.  

And still the Bible teaches us to entertain strangers.  Jesus says that those who give the hungry something to eat and the thirsty something to drink, who welcome the stranger or visit the sick or imprisoned, will be the ones who will have a place with the King.  

Sometimes we just have to step out on faith and ask God to protect us.  At other times we have to use our common sense.  Cell phones can be used to call for help for someone on the side of the road (instead of stopping) if we're not sure.  If somebody comes to us each week needing money for gas to get their momma to the same doctor's appointment, we can say "No more".  We can buy the gas for them (instead of giving cash) or help them find a job.  The truth of the matter is that even if we're being conned, duped, taken (or however you want to put it) nine out of ten times, we may entertain an angel once.  Or to put it another way, we may entertain Christ.  For He said if we do for the least, we've done for Him.

I, for one, would rather be duped 9 out of 10 times and do the work of Christ once than let my Savior down.  

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
                                                             Judges 21:25 (NLT)

I just finished reading the book of Judges and this is the last verse of the book.  It's a sad summary of the state of the Israelites at this time.  Throughout Judges Israel continually falls away from the Lord by worshiping other gods and doing whatever they decided was good.  Sooner or later God would take His protection away and they would be defeated. 

Even though His children acted like spoiled brats, God still loved them enough to raise up a Judge to come to their rescue when they cried out to Him.  But as spoiled children can often do, once things got good again, they began thinking of themselves instead of God.  And the cycle would continue.

It's easy to get caught up in ourselves and our own lives and forget that God has a plan for us that goes beyond ourselves.  Like spoiled children we can place our own lives, or our families' lives ahead of everything else and dismiss those in need whom God places in our paths. 

Are we any better than those who worshiped idols if we neglect God's will for our lives?  Are we any better than those who sought to disobey God's commands if we don't faithfully seek out God's desires for us?

In those days Israel had no king.  As Christians we claim to have a King.  But our claims are only justified if we follow where He leads us and become what He wants us to be instead of doing whatever seems right in our own eyes.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
                                                                    Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

I like to say a "Good morning" to God each day as I wake.  It just seems to get the day started better.  But as the scriptures say, we can also lay our requests before him after we wake.  

They also say that we are to wait in expectation.   There are two key words here, "wait" and "expectation".  Don't expect God to fix all your problems with a single word or motion right then.  God works in His own time, sometimes immediately...but more often later, teaching us patience.

Even though we shouldn't expect God to answer us immediately every time we come to Him, this doesn't mean we shouldn't expect Him to listen and respond.  He hears every word that you breathe or think.  I shudder to think of all He's heard me say (good and bad).  And He does respond in His way and His time.  

So each morning (or anytime for that matter) don't forget that God is listening.  Give Him thanks and praise first.  Then lay your requests before Him.  And then wait in expectation.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
                                                                    2 Peter 2:1-3 (NLT)

Beware of false prophets (teachers, preachers, etc.).  Jesus told us this.  Paul warned of them in his letters.  And Peter is writing the same here.  Some will try to get your money, while others will try and lead you away from the Truth.  These who are leading people away from the truth are being guided themselves by the devil.  Some of their own free will, while others have been trapped and fallen into temptation. 

But either way, these false prophets are condemned by God.  Test all things that they say by scripture.  And when they use scripture to back things up, look it up yourself and make sure they are not taking it out of context with the Bible as a whole.  And above all, pray for protection from the Holy Spirit so that you do not fall into their traps and become condemned yourself.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
                                                 Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

I don't understand all of God's ways.  I don't even understand all of my own ways; why I do the things I do or why I don't do them.  I don't understand why I feel the way I do sometimes.  But that's okay.  We aren't meant to know everything.  As a matter of fact, when you find that person that claims to know all God's ways and can answer every question under the sun, stay away from him/her.  I'll guarantee you that there is something false going on.  I was once taught that most important sentence a pastor can know is "I don't know."

If we were meant to know every little detail of God and His ways, there would be no room for faith.  Faith is an act of dependence.  God's desire is that we depend on Him.  He wants to be there for us.  He wants to guide us.  Of course when we think we already know the way, we guide ourselves.  That's when we get lost.  It is by faith that we stay on the right path being guided by the Holy Spirit, trusting that He will not steer us wrong.  Even though we might not be able to see what the outcome of each day's path may bring, we travel because we're certain that God will not lead us astray.

In this life you have to put your faith in something.  Some will have faith in themselves.  Others will have faith in something this world teaches them.  But the ones who will find true life are the ones who will have faith in God through His Son Jesus. 

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

     As he (Saul) was nearing Damascus on this mission (persecution of the followers of Jesus), a brilliant light from heaven suddenly beamed down upon him!  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"
      "Who are you, sir?"  Saul asked.
      And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!  Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do."
                                                                  Acts 9:3-5 (NLT)

Two separate thoughts today...or more like two separate questions to ponder:

1) When Saul was persecuting the early believers, he was doing so without even knowing this Jesus that they were following.  Question one today is simply, "Do we?"  Do we really know the Jesus that we follow, or have we just heard about him?  Please don't dismiss this question with a quick "yes, I know him".  If the answer is to the positive, you might follow it up with questions like, "Just how well do I know him ?" or "Do I know him as well as he would like?" or "Do I know him as well as I would like?" or "Have I neglected to honestly get to know him as well as I know myself?"

2) Paul persecuted people he really knew nothing much about.  He thought he knew that they were misled and that they were causing problems with his organized religion.  And this was the basis of his persecution.  The question for us today is simply, "Who might we be persecuting...or judging...without really knowing them?"

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
                                                                 Colossians 3:17 (NIV)

When we do something in God's/Jesus' name, it means that others know what we're doing is because we belong to Him.  Many good deeds are done everyday by people of all faiths and backgrounds.  How will people know that your words and deeds are done in the name of the the Lord Jesus?

One way is to make it known that you are a Christian.  We are not to boast.  But when we're not afraid to bring Jesus into conversations with others, they will begin to get a clue.  When we're given praise, we may give a humble reminder that we would be able to do nothing without our Lord and Savior.

What I get from this scripture is that we should be speaking and doing deeds that are Christlike, but that we should also be letting others know why we do them.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

This morning I reread the story of Gideon from the book of Judges (Chapters 6-8).  It's the story of how God used a man who was the least from the his tribe, which was the smallest, to conquer the great Midianite armies.  God seems to have a way of making heroes out of the most unexpected people.  King David began his life as a shepherd boy.  Paul was a persecutor of Christians before becoming the great evangelist.  Even Jesus started out in a lowly manger in cave full of animals.

This is the story of how God used Gideon and 300 men to conquer an army of thousands.  Afterwards, there must have been great rejoicing.  The people even wanted to make Gideon their king.  Gideon did the right thing in turning them down.  He told them that the LORD would rule over them. 

Gideon did, however have one request.

     However, I do have one request—that each of you give me an earring from the plunder you collected from your fallen enemies." (The enemies, being Ishmaelites, all wore gold earrings.)
     "Gladly!" they replied. They spread out a cloak, and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered from the plunder. The weight of the gold earrings was forty-three pounds, not including the royal ornaments and pendants, the purple clothing worn by the kings of Midian, or the chains around the necks of their camels.
     Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.
                                                           Judges 8:24-27 (NLT)

An ephod was a linen garment worn by priests over their chests.  This one evidently was adorned with gold.  It was most likely made with good intentions.  Gideon probably wanted it to be a reminder of what God had done for them.  But soon this good thing became something that the people placed before God. 

Often times we can have good things in our lives that we cherish.  There is nothing wrong with this.  I actually believe it is a good thing.  But just like the Israelites, we must be careful not to worship even the best things in our lives, placing such a great value on them that we forget what God's intentions for them might be. For example, God might have given you a child that you love beyond all comprehension...a very good thing.  Of course if your attention to this child becomes so much that you lose focus on God, you have begun worshiping him/her.  In churches the worship style can become so important that people feel it would be a sin to change and not do things the way that "we've always done them", forgetting that worship is not about them but about God and how God can reach all people. 

The same can go with just about anything; jobs, lifestyles, possessions, etc.  We must realize that everything we have and do is a gift from God and must take it's place behind God's will.  You can enjoy the blessings of this life without worshiping them.  So be blessed and enjoy.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

The earth is the LORD's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
                                                                         Psalms 24:1 (NIV)

Give thanks today for all you have, for all you have is on loan from the Lord.  He is the one who created everything.  So all you have - your possessions, your talents, your relationships, your body, your soul - is His to share with whom He pleases.  They have all been handed over to you for a period that we call a lifetime (except the soul, which is eternal).  So the question is this.  What will you do with what you've been loaned?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."
                                                 Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)

As a reminder of yesterday's sermon I chose to summarize a few thoughts from this verse.  First of all, when we are down and out or just struggling with some things in our lives, Jesus tells us to bring these things to Him.  He wants to give us rest.  Of course this is not the kind of rest that allows us to sit around and take it easy while Jesus does all the work.  Instead he told us that we could yoke ourselves (or harness ourselves) to Him.  A yoke distributes the load evenly, which means that He will take on the load with us.  He will see us through and make sure that we don't have anything that we are not able to get through.

He wants to teach us to be like He was when he walked this earth.  He wants us to be humble and gentle at heart just like Him.  Doing this will lighten our load because we rid ourselves of the heaviness of pride or anger or unforgiveness etc. 

So when we are yoked with Jesus we find the rest that he wants us to have.  This is more than mere physical rest.  It is rest for our souls, a deep spiritual rest.  This is a temporary rest that will build us back up to go back to lives of service to Jesus and to others. 

In the love of Christ,
greg