Thought of the Day !!

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.
                                                         1 Corinthians 13:3-7 (The Message)

Love never gives up

     A lady sits anxiously waiting for a call or letter.  Her husband has gone overseas to some country she has never heard of, in a war that she never wanted to happen.  He is listed Missing in Action.  But she will not give up.  There is a bond between herself and her husband that won't break until the day he arrives at her door and she finds herself in his arms.
     A crowd cheers on a handicapped boy who is so close to the finish line.  Even though the race has long been over, the other runners come back to encourage him.  When he sees that no one else has given up on him, he finishes the race and is celebrated just as if he were the victor.
     True love never gives up.  Just look at the father of the prodigal son.  Do you remember in the story how the son takes everything and leaves?  But when he comes back, the father sees him from far off and is filled with compassion.  I have to believe that the father was always looking over the horizon.  He never gave up.  
     Look at Jesus.  He had every right to give up on the motley crew that he had surrounded himself with.  They never understood, they were always saying dumb things.  Yet it was because of his love for them that he never gave up.
     Is there anyone that you've given up on?  Is there anyone who you need to give a second chance?  Remember that God doesn't give up on us.  So we should learn from the Master of Love.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed.  "If you want to, you can make me well again," he said.  Moved with pity, Jesus touched him.  "I want to," he said.  "Be healed!"  Instantly the leprosy disappeared--the man was healed.
                                             Mark 1:40-42 (NLT)

The gospel says nothing about this man except that he was a leper.  But we know that lepers in that day and culture were outcasts.  They were at the lowest class level.  They were unclean, and if you touched one, you would be unclean as well.  If this were not bad enough, they had to walk around wearing certain clothes that distinguished them as being different and yell out "unclean, unclean" so that all would know what they were.  

Most believed that these people were sinners and had gotten themselves into this situation by the way they lived their lives.  Most people thought them unworthy.  Most people thought them to be different and repugnant people that were no good ---- and often up to no good.  

But not Jesus.  Can you see these poor people in your mind.  Picture them.  Take a good hard look at them.  Do you have pity for them?  Do you feel sorry for them?  Jesus did.
 
Now think about those in our culture today that fit that same mold.  Those whom you may think are outcasts, or different, or unworthy, or no good, or up to no good.  Who are those people today?  Can you find yourself feeling sorry for them?  

Jesus does.  Those are the ones that Jesus most wants to heal.  He said that He came to heal the sick, not those who were well.  And He wants us to help Him help them.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.
                   Philippians 2:9-11 (NIV)

Is there any more powerful word in this world than the name of Jesus?  I've been listening to this song by 7eventh Time Down over and over since yesterday.


Just Say Jesus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84LSLk3hfD4

Life gets tough and times get hard

And it's hard to find the truth in all the lies

If you're tired of wondering why

Your heart isn't healing

And nothing feels like home

Cause you're lost and alone

Just screaming at the sky

When you don't know what to say

Just say Jesus

There is power in the name

The name of Jesus

If the words won't come

Cause you're to afraid to pray

Just say Jesus

Whisper it now or shout it out

However it comes out

He hears your cry

Out of nowhere he will come

You got to believe it

He will rescue you

Just call out to the way

The truth, the life

When you don't know what to say

Just say Jesus

There is power in the name

The name of Jesus

If the words won't come

Cause you're to afraid to pray

Just say Jesus

There is just one name

Strong enough to save

There is just one name

There is just one name

Jesus

When you don't know what to say

Just say Jesus

There's still power in the name

The name of Jesus

If the words won't come

And you don't know what to say

Just say Jesus
Have you been struggling?  Are you in a valley?  Jesus has been there.  He was abused and accused, lied to and cheated on, abandoned and forgotten, tempted and betrayed, beat to a pulp and crucified.  You name it, He's been there.  And through it all he had to the power to defeat sin and death.  He had the power to forgive.

When Jesus is in your heart, you can have that power too.  He said that after He'd leave this earth that we would do even greater things than He did.

So when you struggle in this life, when you get down on yourself, when you find it hard forgiving or living out the life that God has for you, call on the name of Jesus.  There is none more powerful.  Just say Jesus.  Fall in love with the name.  Proclaim it.  Have no shame in it.  Say it.  Jesus.

In the love of Jesus,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.
                                        James 1:2-4 (NLT)

Trials and trouble that come our way can be thought of as building blocks.  They make up who we are.  Or maybe I should say how we handle them defines us.  When there's a difficult time in your life, you are surely not going to laugh and jump for joy because there's something wrong.  But you can look back at these occurrences and see how you can grow from them.  Remember that God is always at work teaching us if we will just listen.  And it's during our own failures and the times we seem to hit bottom that we not only need God the most, but that we can learn the most.  

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

                   He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

                              Luke 10:25-28 (NIV)

A mentor of mine once told me that he thought we had made the Bible more complicated than it really was.  What he meant was that we tried so hard to make sense of everything that wound up adding to a much simpler concept of Christianity.  To this I would agree.  At its core, Christianity is all about these two commands.  Love God, and love each other.

But oh how we can complicate things.  Take the Roman Road way of salvation for instance.  This is taking verses from Romans and sharing them with people to lead them to Christ.  It’s all good stuff.  It tells us that we’re all sinners, which we are.  It tells us that the penalty for sin is death, which it is.  It tells us to confess with our lips and believe in our hearts, which we should.  And then a prayer asking for forgiveness is repeated and the person is supposedly saved, which might or might not be the case.

Let me suggest that you don’t have to worry about the confessing with your lips or being baptized or asking forgiveness etc.  What if our faith was totally wrapped up in loving God (Jesus & Holy Spirit) with all our hearts, souls, strength and minds?  What if we taught people to seek a loving relationship with Jesus and fall deeply and madly in love with Him just as King David had with God the Father? 

Let me suggest one more thing.  If people fall in love with Jesus everything else will come.  Jesus told us in John’s Gospel that if we love Him we would obey Him.  Therefore if we love Him we will have the desire to confess Him.  If we love Him we will desire to be baptized.  If we love Him we will trust Him as Savior and follow Him as Lord and repent as he commands.

A friend in seminary used to jokingly say, “I just love Jesus” when we were razzing him.  The wonderful thing was that this was a true statement for him, and it needs to be for us as well.  If we love Jesus then all other things will fall into place.  Now it’s time to radically fall in love with the God that radically loves you.

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice!
                                        Philippians 4:4 (NLT)
It's all about perspective.  Think about Paul's perspective.  He was in a Roman jail.  And before that he was on board a ship that shipwrecked.  Before that he was in prison for years in Caesarea.  Before that they mobbed him in Jerusalem.

Paul had not had a lot of good luck for some time now.  But his words to the people were not words of anger, revenge or even depression.  They were words of encouragement to the Philippians.  He said "be full of joy in the Lord...rejoice!" 

Wow, what a perspective!  We can complain when our hair isn't cut the way we wanted or the person driving the car in front of us isn't going as fast as we want or we don't get the service we desire out of the young man we hired to cut our yard.  Compared to what Paul was going through, what do we have to complain about?  Yet we do. 

Let us take on Paul's advice to rejoice instead of being down or upset about the things in this life that don't go our way, but will soon enough pass away.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me—I'm too much of a sinner to be around you." For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
                                                         Luke 5:8-10a (NLT)

This comes after Jesus told Peter to take the boat out into the deep waters even after they had caught nothing all night long.  When they did, they let down their nets and caught so much that it almost sunk two boats.

Peter had had some faith in Jesus…enough to go out into the deeper waters and waste his time trying to catch fish again.  But when the miracle happened, it dawned on him just how powerful Jesus was.  At this point Peter falls on his knees before Jesus understanding for the first time his own sinfulness and low standing before Jesus. 

One of the first things we must do before going deeper in our faith journey with Christ is realize our place.  I love singing the songs about Jesus as our friend like "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".  I absolutely love the fact that I am able to speak to Him as a friend or a big brother.  But Peter illustrates the fact that Jesus is much more.  He is God incarnate.  He is to be worshiped.  He is all powerful.  And when we stand before Him, we must realize the need for our change.  We must realize how great our sin is and how He is the only one powerful enough to take that sin away.  He has the unique quality of being a friend and at the same time a Lord.

We must not look flippantly on our sinful nature, making excuses like “we’re only human” or “at least we’re not as bad as so-in-so".  We’re not to make excuses before Jesus, but instead to apologize and ask for help. 

When we do this, God hears, Jesus walks with us, the Holy Spirit strengthens us and our voyage to deeper waters of faith starts to become a reality.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

When (Jesus) had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish." "Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again."
                                          Luke 5:4-5 (NLT)

Jesus has been teaching the crowds from a small fishing boat that was rowed a little ways into the cove.  He finishes his teaching, looks to Peter and says, “Go to the deep water and catch some fish”.

What must this have sounded like to Peter?  I can only imagine.  I can see Peter wanting to say, “Uhh, Jesus, hey man, you know…you may know a thing or two about preaching or carpentry.  But I’m the fishing expert here.  I won’t tell you how to preach and you don’t tell me how to fish.  Deal?”

But he didn’t.  He had every reason not to want to go back out in the boat.  He’d been out all night fishing.  He had to be tired, wanting to get home and get some food and some sleep.  And on top of all that, the nets were now clean and would have to be cleaned again. 

The excuses are always there for us to not do what we need to do or what God calls us to do.  It’s too hard…I don’t have the time…I’m busy that day…I’ve got to work…I don’t know what I’m doing…etc.  But Peter does something amazing.  In the midst of all the excuses that he could’ve made, he chose to obey.  We can all learn a lesson from Peter here.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
                                              Luke 5:1-3 (NLT)

Jesus’ popularity was growing.  He began his preaching in the synogogues, but then expanded this teaching to the masses.  A similar thing happened to John Wesley, the father of Methodism.  He was heard to say that he much preferred the comfortable surroundings of a church with a pulpit, but it was in the fields where he preached where souls were saved.

Jesus began field preaching so as to save souls as well.  His pulpit was a boat.  This would’ve been a good solution to the crowds pressing in on him.  Preaching from the boat here on the Sea of Galilee with the backdrop of a rising shoreline and a nice easy sloping hill would make a natural amphitheater with very good acoustics. 

The key here for both Jesus and John Wesley was that they understood that often times you have to leave the comfortable surroundings of the church (synagogue) if you want to reach people and make a difference in the world.  Will we take a lesson from them?  Will we be willing to leave the walls of the church and bring the gospel to people outside?  Or will our faith be practiced on Sunday mornings and maybe Wednesday nights when we gather together in the comfortable surroundings of our sanctuaries?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
                                                               Ephesians 4:17 (NIV)

What does it really mean to say that we are Christians?  Does it mean that we go to Church?  Does it mean that we were baptized when we were kids?  Does it mean that our grand-momma was always in church and prayed for us?  Or does it mean more?

It means more!  It means that we accept Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior.  It means that we not only put our faith/trust in him for our salvation, but that we change.  This change comes about because he now abides in us.  This change is proof of his presence in our lives.

According to Paul, it is a must that we change.  He insists that the Gentiles, whom he is speaking to in this passage, must no longer live as they did.  We must not let our "old ways" begin to take control of us again once we've accepted Christ.

And he doesn't say "Well, you ought to do better" or "Maybe you should act right" or "At least you're not as bad as others".  He writes that he INSISTS that we change from our old ways, the ways that dominated our lives before we knew Jesus.

Are there ways that dominate your life now that are contrary to the ways of Jesus?

In the love of Christ,
greg 

Thought of the Day !!

...the LORD says, "Turn to me now, while there is time.  Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don't tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead."  Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  He is eager to relent and not punish.

                                                            Joel 2:12-13 (NLT)

As I read this passage this morning I felt led to break it into two closely connected thoughts.  The first thought is that we need to realize that the time is now...not tomorrow or next week...but NOW to connect with, reconnect with, or get closer to God.  We don't know when the end of this world will come.  We don't know when our days on this earth will be over.  And if we don't come to Jesus in a repentant attitude now, we just might lose our chance.

How many of us are putting off changing the part of our lives that don't align themselves with the will of God?  How many of us have decided that God would be okay with this or that sin or area of my life that is sinful.  How many of us believe we can't change to satisfy God or don't want to because we don't have the faith to believe our lives will even be better if we do?

The prophet Joel has the same message for us today that he did in his own day.  Turn to God now while there is still time.  Change your attitudes and behavior, not out of simple obedience to some moral law but because your hearts are given fully to God.

The second thought that came to me this morning was that when we make that decision to turn to God (or back to God or more fully to God), He is so full of compassion that it doesn't matter how far we've been from Him.  He will still wrap His arms around us and love us and protect us.  He has no desire for us to be lost or struggling spiritually.  He has no desire for any of His children to wind up in Hell.  His greatest desire is that we all live for Him and for each other in harmony.  And I believe that is what Heaven will be like, which is what we're being trained for right now.

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.
                                                             Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

I've got this verse of scripture tacked to my bulletin board in my office.  Sometimes I need to look at it when I feel like I'm failing at something or nothing seems to be working out like I had planned.  I look at it to remind me that I can accomplish anything that is within God's will for my life with the help of Jesus. 

Is there ever anything in your life that you feel would be God's will for you, but you just can't do?  With God anything is possible.  With Christ by our side we can do all things.  We can forgive.  We can find peace in a troubled life.  We can bring joy to others...and ourselves.  We can accept the calling that God has placed upon our lives.  We can take that step of faith.  We can survive on less income.  We can trust again.  We can...we can...we can...do all things with Christ who strengthens us. 

If you're living your life for yourself and trying to build it up alone, it will all fall down, and you will fail.  If you're living your life with Christ by your side and allowing Him to guide you, you can do anything.

So the question is, will you allow Christ to be your guide through this life?  If so, you will accomplish much.  And one day you will realize this...even if that day is not today. 

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  And Amen for that.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other."
                                                   Zechariah 7:9-10 (NIV)

Zechariah is reminding the people that they were created to care for each other, to love one another, to not only act out of this love, but also think about each other out of this love.  We can get caught up in how we're supposed to act, but as Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, it's not only our actions, but also our attitudes that are important.  We are to keep ourselves from doing evil towards one another and to keep evil out of our hearts as well. 

I once read that we can't be right with God and wrong with people.  If you think about it, that sums up not only this verse, but also the teachings of Jesus.

In the love love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the LORD, God gave him success.
                                                                  2 Chronicles 26:5 (NLT)

We can learn three things from King Uzziah here.  Number one is that he sought God.  We can seek what's pleasing to us in this life and surround ourselves with things that will pass away.  Or we can seek the Lord and be blessed in much greater ways.

The second thing that we learn from King Uzziah is that he learned from Zechariah, a godly man.  Uzziah was sixteen at the time that he took the throne.  He could have believed himself invincible, one who could do no wrong.  But he chose to take wise council of a man who spoke for God.  How easy it is to always go our own way and do it our way.  But Uzziah understood that he didn't know it all, and that God could use others to guide his paths.

Lastly we learn that because Uzziah sought guidance from the Lord, he was successful.  When we seek (and listen to) guidance from our Lord and Savior Jesus, we will be successful.  Notice that I did not say that we would necessarily be wealthy, influential or successful as measured by worldly standards.  But we will be successful nonetheless.  We will find the comfort and joy of God here on this earth and store up for ourselves treasures in Heaven where moths and rust won't get to them and no one can take them away.  This is true success. 

Seek the Lord's council through godly men and women.  Learn to live in accordance with God's desires.  And be truly successful for all eternity.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
                                    Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

Isn't this an outlandish command by Jesus.  I mean how can we be perfect?  We're the ones born into original sin.  We're the ones who keep messing up this world of ours.  We're the ones that still need a Savior.  How in the world can we be perfect, Jesus?

As we look at this seemingly impossible statement, lets put it into context.  It comes immediately after Jesus teaches to love our enemies (another seemingly impossible statement).  When he tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, he's not saying that we can be like God in a perfectly sinless way.  He's telling us to love like He does.  

John Wesley spoke of Christian perfection, and this is exactly what he meant by it.  We all need to strive daily and pray for the gift of perfect love.  When we see things from His point of view instead of our own, we will be able to love like Him.  In this way, perfection can be achieved.  

It's up to you.  You can become perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, loving God and neighbor more than self.  Or you can be less than perfect, loving yourself and a select few more than others.  With perfection, comes God's sense of happiness and joy that anyone can have, no matter what their economic or social level is here on this earth.  So it's time to choose.  I choose to strive for perfection.  How about you?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his;

        we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
                                                                  Psalm 100:3

 

We live in a world of my, my, my and take, take, take.  Our society teaches us to strive to be the best we can be.  In our country we're taught that we can do anything we want to do.  We're raised going to school and college to better ourselves.

 

All these things have one thing in common.  The emphasis is on ME.  It's not bad to do things for ourselves, but we must remember that this life is NOT all about us.  When it all boils down to it, we aren't even our own.  We are God's creation; we are His people. 

 

Let us live as His people, enjoying life, but putting Him first and serving others.  It's then that we'll find true joy.  

 

In the love of Chrsit,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

...in the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
                                                        Matthew 5:16 (NLT)

Here we see Jesus teaching us to let our good deeds "shine out for all to see".  Yet a mere chapter later in this Gospel he will teach us, "Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven."  Is he saying one thing and then changing his mind?  No.

We are not to do good to others so that we can be seen doing good and receive the glory for ourselves.  As people who are in love with Christ Jesus, we will have the desire to do his will, which so often is doing good deeds for others.  And when we do them out of our love for Him, giving God the glory, we will make our Father in Heaven proud of us.  When we do them so that the glory comes our own way, He will look down disapproving on us. 

Do good deeds so that others will know the goodness of God and not the goodness of you.

In the love of Christ,
greg