During this time of year, I often hear the phrase Jesus, the reason for the season,” but I would go further, Jesus is the reason for life. Without His birth, His life and His sacrificial death our lives are meaningless. His lineage, nature, place of birth, where He would be raised, His career, purpose, the specific manor and nature of His death, His resurrection, all were told in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before His birth. How could you not believe? His life changed the dateline and history forever. Every day of His life was a fulfillment of scripture and a reason to believe that He was truly, “God in flesh.” The following is a composition that beautifully describes the uniqueness of the life of Jesus, it’s called “One Solitary Life” and gives a fresh perspective of the simple, yet impactful life He lived.
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the Navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.
As we prepare to celebrate our Saviors birth, be encouraged about your life and family. Those who lived and watched Jesus could have never predicted His impact and may I say that the impact that you are having on your kids and family is greater than you could ever imagine too. Often we look at what we’re not doing, what we lack and how inconsistent we are but I challenge you this Christmas season to talk about the possibilities, the dreams and the great benefits that are yours because of one simple solitary life. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.
Over the past month I’ve taken notice that many retailers are returning to age old tradition of being closed on Thanksgiving. I’m glad to see this trend because over the past few years it has seemed that Thanksgiving was disappearing, being discarded by greed and materialism, the very opposite value that Thanksgiving is all about. In a time that is so filled with anger and hate I think it’s important that we take time to pause and re
it makes us aware of the assets, options and features available to us daily. Although a church or pastor can help guide and influence someone’s decision, its leaders of homes that ultimately make the decisions as to what their spiritual values will look like and the atmosphere of their homes. Want a carnal home? Feed the flesh, make worldly events a priority over God’s house and pursue pleasure at all cost. Desire a home with God’s presence? Start every day with sincere and passionate prayer, fill it with songs of praise and worship and look to the Bible for instruction and wisdom to guide your choices.
words you will use when the fresh rain of God’s Spirit falls fresh on you and your home. Will you join with me as we hit the dog days of summer and pray that God will send a storm of His Spirit on you and the Life Community? Let’s pray, not for a passing shower, but a Holy gully washer! Jesus, open up the windows of heave and pour out your Spirit here Sunday after Sunday, in us individually and in our own homes. Give us times of refreshing, saturate us until we overflow!
We too must decide what battles are important. As a Spirit filled Christian I have simplified my battles down to four dynamics. First, I believe the Word of God is infallible and that it needs to be read regularly and with a desire to know Jesus, not theology, not religious tradition or facts. Paul said it well in Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him…” Second, I believe that Jesus is God, that He spoke the world into existence, robed Himself in flesh and through Calvary, offers us the opportunity to have His Spirit live in us. I believe He wants us to humble ourselves and repent, identify and acknowledge His work on Calvary through baptism in His name and He wants us to know we have overcoming power by having His Spirit inside of us by initially speaking in a language we do not know. Third, I believe that prayer is the most powerful tool a person has. We never completely defeat sin. Prayer is the tool that must be used every day, it is the power that keeps our flesh under control and gives the Spirit influence and the power it should have in our lives. Finally, I believe that we must live Godly and Holy. While our righteousness is as a filthy rag, God calls us to live distinctively and modest. This is reflected in our desire to please Him, reflect Him in every part of our lives including our attitude, appearance, actions, spirit and motives. There will always be hypocritical religious accusers just as there were in Jesus’ day. There will always be those making accusations about the latest issue, trying to bring chaos and conflict into your life. Settle who you are, choose your battle wisely and decide what accusations are worth your time and energy and let God be God in your life.
re was a traffic jam in our backyard, too many birds and not enough perches at the bird feeder. Observing the traffic jam I noticed that birds can’t hover, they can flap for a few seconds but then they have to fly to a branch or land. My observation taught me that birds, well at least most, are created to soar, to fly, not hover. If you’re a bird and you want to hover then find a brisk wind and fly into it and let it lift you…otherwise move on, you were created to fly.
My God is big! Nothing is to difficult for Him, nothing surprises Him and there is no situation that stumps Him. My God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above what I could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). A blind man asked for sight, no problem, God makes a little mud and suddenly blinded eyes see. A petition by a parent of a grievously ill girl, no problem, “I’ll come and heal her.” A cripple on a stretcher is dropped down on a cot from a roof, no problem, “He forgives his sins and then, oh yes, says “take up your bed and walk,” and he does!
and our first introduction to him is when he suggested as a potential candidate for the position of an Apostle. It is noted that Matthias had one notable quality for Apostleship, he was faithful. Up to the point when he was chosen to be a part of the twelve we don’t know one thing about him other than he had been with Jesus. The Bible says that from the time that Jesus baptized John until the time that Jesus ascended, Matthias had been there. He was there, in the shadows, listening, watching and observing. He had one necessary and required quality, he was faithful. We don’t know of one message he preached, one miracle he preformed, we only know that he was faithfulness and loyalty, he was consistent. As far as we know, Matthias was not chosen based on his skill, knowledge, ability. The highest calling in the New Testament was to be called an Apostle and when it came time to choose the twelfth Apostle, the quality that got Matthias noticed was that he could say was, “I was there.”
We have an area where five trees are grouped together. Two were planted five years ago when we moved into the house. Today one of those trees, a maple, is the tallest in the yard. The other is a spruce, its growth has been slow and steady, but regardless of the season, it never loses it beautiful green color. Between those two trees sets another tree we just added a couple of years ago, a birch. When it was planted it was half the size of the maple but in just two years it has nearly caught it in height. To the left of those three trees sets yet another. It’s the newest of the trees, an ash, not nearly as impressive as the others right now but some day if it survives the seasons it will be the tallest tree in the yard. In front of it says the fifth and final tree. It is one of the oldest but the shortest of all the trees, a cherry tree. Today none of the trees look very impressive, four of them appear to be dead and the spruce has lost its shine, but don’t be deceived, they are very much alive, its just all the growth is happening under ground. In a few weeks they will explode with life! Colors will explode, new branches will appear and some will even have flowers blooming and produce. Though they differ in variety, mature differently, have varying shapes, size and color we call them all trees.
ell. Wow! The well had been preserved for over 2000 years. What an accomplishment. Today, 2000 years later if you would go to Israel, you could still go to Jacob’s well. It’s small, well protected and there is very little water, but it is still there.
The first time Rex Frederick walked into Life Connections there was no way I could have imagined the influence he would have on my life and the church. He had a great smile, was friendly but seemed a little cautious. He asked a few questions, talked to a few people and then left. I wasn’t sure if he would be back but he did come back, this time with Bonnie and his family and from that point on they never stopped coming. I don’t exactly remember when he made the decision to make Life Connections his home for his family, but when he did, he became a part of its very fiber.
seems to linger, whatever the circumstance, we are left with one choice, endure. How do we endure a season? I get my encouragement from David. Sometimes we think that David lived a life without difficulties but it’s obvious that he too dealt with difficult seasons. Think he wasn’t discouraged where he wrote, “I will bless the Lord at all times” or wasn’t overwhelmed when he said, “I cried to the Lord?” How did he survive the season? He trusted God (Proverbs 3:5) and waited. So how do we endure? We hit our knees and spend time with God, we come to church with praise in our heart even when our flesh doesn’t want to and we read God’s Word and take courage in His promises. Will it make the current season go away? No, but it will give us the strength to endure until God brings the change we are anticipating and know is inevitable because we have read His Word. Now bring on the flowers, patio furniture and cookouts, I’m ready for spring!
Seasons, we all face them, but as we walk through each one we must understand that God is “working all things together for our good, according to His purpose.” There are two important things to see in the verse Paul wrote in Romans 8. First, God works all things together for good. If you were to taste the individual ingredients it takes to make a cake there would be many ingredients that we would say, “yuck, that taste horrible,” but when they are mixed together “the yuck” becomes yum. So it is with life, while individual moments may seem like a “yuck,” when God gets done putting them all together it will come out as a “yum.” Second, notice that Paul said that is the good was according to His purpose. The good is not always what we would ask God to do, but trust Him, His purposes are better than our dream.
September is Month of the Family at Life. We kick things up a notch and fill the month with lots of activities and special services. This year’s Month of the Family kicks off with three days of prayer and fasting followed by special services for both our men and women. We close out the month with a fresh commitment to God with Communion. There are lots of activities too! Our ladies have a trip to Brown County, the men a Monday Night Football Night, our Youth have a Paint War and Kids Connection has both a crazy hat day and creative cupcake day. There is so much going on that we actually close out the Month of the Family in October! It all ends with our famous Chili Cook-Off where families throughout the church bring their best chili…or hottest chili and its judged by our newest members. Lots of fun games for the kids, our annual volleyball tournament and, of course corn-hole and a hayride! I hope you’ll make plans to be a part of all the activities and get connected to your church family.
We live in a time when much of society is looking for something that is genuine and authentic. They have seen so much fraud in so many areas that they have become skeptical of almost everything. They have seen government officials lie, big business’ swindle and church leadership fail morally. No wonder they question everything and long to see something that is truly as it says it is. George Barna recently stated that more important than great music and dynamic oratory in churches, many are looking for a church that is real in living its faith. So what is required to be authentic? I believe what it will take to draw people to Life is when our daily life matches the faith we profess on Sunday. So how do we get there? As God said in Deuteronomy 6, we must love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. I believe we must become people who desire to live filled with the Holy Spirit, are willing to be led by the Spirit and attempt to walk in the Spirit daily. That means we will have a desire to read the word of God so that we know what pleases Him, that we will submit our lives to the Word and that we will spend time with Him in prayer daily, seeking His direction for our day. Loving the Lord and living in relationship with Him will cause there to be an aura about us, one that reflects His glory. Also, by living with a consistent prayer life we will have an aroma about us; one that only comes by spending time in humble submission and seeking His will for our lives. When this happens no longer will people see a religious person, but a Christian as was described in the book of Acts. When authentic Christianity, empowered by the Holy Spirit takes place in our life and world, there will be an impact that can only be described by looking at the disciples in the books of Acts. Their authenticity caused a skeptical and callused world to say, “these are they who have turned the world upside down! Lets be authentic.
I was privileged to watch Team LC run the 500 Mini Marathon Saturday. As we were watching my mind went to verse where Paul said, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” It was then that it occurred to me, everyone in the race has one goal; the finish line. It didn’t matter how they ran, some were slow, and some walked, some ran bare-footed, some were in wheel chairs and I even saw a person who was blind in the race. The outfits were colorful as a rainbow, there were costumes, army fatigues, one ran in a firemen’s suit and I even saw several in tutu’s, but all ran with one purpose…to finish.
Perspective is so important. It’s how we see things and more importantly, how we see God, His Word and His love for us. Many things influence perspective; upbringing, attitude and education just to mention a few. Why are there four gospels in the New Testament? Perspective. Each author witnessed the same event, the life of Jesus and the cross, yet each book is written so differently. Luke, as a physician, writes from a perspective of compassion and spends much time talking about how Jesus helped women and children. Mark, writing on behalf of Simon Peter, wrote about the actions of Jesus. Matthew wrote with a love for his heritage, his perspective was all about showing that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah of the Old Testament. John’s perspective was making sure that everyone knows that Jesus is God in flesh. How we see God, His Word and how we worship is often dependent on our perspective. That’s why sometimes God has to change our view of Him and ourselves. Sometimes He has to change our perspective and let us see how great His grace and mercy is while other times He must humble us so that we see our need and dependency on Him.
Today as we reflect on God’s blessings and grace on our lives, lets not forget that there are many around us struggling with recent events that impacted their lives in traumatic ways. Though they may nor be near to us, let us remember those in Russia who have lost children,dreams and innocence; and those in Florida and the Caribbean that have suffered great loss of home and life. Remember too, the families of those who pave paid the ultimate sacrifice over the last few years to make our world safer.
I love the verse above; as long as the ark, presence of God, was in the house of Obed-edom they were blessed. The desire of our hearts should be to have the presence of God in our home. As we go through the month of the family and draw our hears toward God and family, I thought some might enjoy this acronym.
In an hour when there are fewer and fewer who stand up for principle I enjoyed the words of Zell Miller. While affiliated with his political party for years Mr. Miller understood that he had a greater allegiance than to an organization, club or party; he understood he had a responsibility to his heart, his values , his family and before God. While many will criticize his actions, I am here to applaud him. It takes courage in this hour to stand fro principles, values and truth.
Michael Phelps, his face is plastered everywhere. Eight medals, six which are gold and two bronze. He is the new icon of American swimming. But what draws my attention to Michael Phelps today is what he did outside the pool. In an era of sports when it seems that less emphasis is placed on sportsmanship and team and more on individual success, we saw a wonderful gesture of kindness and sportsmanship this week.
Watching the pageantry, splendor and parade of ancient mythological Greek gods at the opening of the 2004 Olympics brought the above verse to my mind. While the ceremony was beautiful to watch, it was sad reminder of a society that once was great but lost its morals, direction and worshiped any god a mind could imagine. Paul steps on Mars Hill 2000 years ago to a lost people and proclaims, “Him declare I unto you.”
Sometimes it’s good to know what’s expected of you spelled out in black and white. No questions, no hidden agendas, just follow the instructions and everything turns out right. Micah writing for God, gives us just such a statement in Micah 6:8. When asked what is good, gives us the following:
Over the last ten days I have done battle teaching our daughter how to ride a bike. Having gone through this process once already I should have it down to a science. To win her over I had to gain her confidence and trust. Little by lite it came. At first my hands could never leave her, then I could let go for a few seconds and finally she decided she could go it alone. Why I had to do is let her see that I was not going to let her crash and I wasn’t going to leave her when she was unsure of herself. Once that battle was overcome, the balancing and riding were a breeze.
“Dad, what am I supposed to wear,” but when he see me everything changes. Seeing my kakis and blue dress shirt he quickly says, “never mind Dad,” and off he runs. A few minutes later he returns with kakis and a blue dress shirt on. Needles to say, you couldn’t hold the pride and joy I felt in my heart. He wanted to look just like his dad.
With the progress of modern society has come he never ending modernization of our homes; the latest kitchen appliances, computers, game systems and surround sound equipment. With each an instruction manual is given. Generally, we discard it to the side, tear open the box and a half hour later ask, “where are those instructions?