Posts Tagged ‘Sunday rest and reflection’
Dear Friends,
Jesus calls all of us His friends! We are not slaves or servants, but friends. Our Father’s plans have been revealed to us, and we have inside information that gives us great encouragement and hope! In the end, we win, and even now we can rest in the victory of the cross paid for by Jesus Christ! Today is a day of rest for God’s people! Find a family of God (church) and join God’s people in worship, prayer, and hearing His word!
In our reading of the Chronicles this past week, God delighted in showing his grace to King David and Solomon. He brought rest to the kingdom and nation He dwelt with. They enjoyed a reign of peace while Solomon built the temple. All their enemies were at peace with them during the building process. Nations sent workers to help build the temple. There was favor and good will among the people and leaders as they focused on the job at hand. People gave willingly and generously and had to be stopped from giving because so much came in!
We have such blessing in our King Jesus! He gives all His people rest each day. We live in the Sabbath rest that is ours through His atonement. We have no enemy that can snatch us from His hand. He causes everything to work for good for us who love Him. We are all co-workers in His kingdom with many of the nations who are becoming friends of God. There is unity and favor in the true body of Christ and real generosity toward the work of God. We are such a blessed people to live in the church age when Jesus is building His temple! The gates of hell will not stop it or prevail against His mighty church!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings in the Glorious Name of Jesus Christ! What a beautiful season of the year! Spring is in full swing here in Kentucky and gardens are growing, trees are full of leaves and flowers are blooming everywhere! New life is springing forth as we have passed Resurrection Sunday and move toward Pentecost Sunday! I pray that you are enjoying a day with God’s people and resting in His great love and care!
Reflecting on this past week’s reading and all that transpired in the history of Israel and Judah, I remembered a small incident that relates to the resurrection that is worth noting. Elisha the great prophet of the time of 2nd Kings had died and was buried. Later a band of Israelites were burying a man when a group of Moabite raiders interrupted their grave digging; they threw the body of the man in the tomb of Elisha. When the dead body touched the bones of Elisha, the man came back to life and stood on his feet! (2nd Kings 13:20-21)
We remember that Elisha had a double portion of Elijah’s spirit granted to him. He was powerful in ministering the miraculous and had himself raised a woman’s son to life. It is hard to understand, but the power of God must still have been present in Elisha’s bones.
We now have the Holy Spirit residing in us and our bones are also charged with resurrection power. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will also quicken our bodies and raise us up in a glorified body! Our bones may be aging and we may have aches and pains, but we who have had contact with the body of Jesus Christ have already been raised and seated with Him in the heavenly realms! (Ephesians 2:6) We are just waiting for the final fulfillment! God is so good to give us glimpses of our future and strengthen our faith in resurrection!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings and blessings on this wonderful day of rest! I pray that you enjoy time with God’s people in worship, prayer, and receiving God’s word. God has a passion to meet with His people and enjoys delighting in them when they gather in unity and worship! He inhabits the praises of His people!
As I reflect on the reading for this past week, a section that I didn’t write on comes to mind. It is the story of Ahab and Jehoshaphat coming together to fight the King of Aram in 1st Kings 22. As they prepare for battle, Jehoshaphat suggests that they consult the Lord first of all! What a novel idea! The king of Israel brought four hundred men who claimed to be prophets and inquired of them. To a man they backed the King of Israel.
The King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, was still not satisfied and asked if there was not a prophet of the Lord that they could inquire of. Ahab answered that there was one more prophet, but he always prophesied something bad! (1st Kings 22:8) His name was Micaiah. The reason he was a bad prophet was that he did not tell the king what he wanted to hear!
This time was no different; Micaiah, asked for his opinion and told to tell the truth, gave a different word than the other false prophets. He told of Ahab’s death on the battlefield because of the deception of the false prophets! This not only infuriated Ahab, but made the false prophets angry, too. What a bad prophet Micaiah was! He was imprisoned and slapped by one of the other prophets.
What kind of word from the Lord do you like to receive? Are you critical of the preacher when he preaches a convicting word from God? Do you get angry or tune him out? Do you decide not to go so you won’t have to listen to that “bad preacher” anymore? Blaming the messenger will only make matters worse! Hopefully you adjust your attitude and listen even when it is not what you want to hear!
God bless you with ears to hear what the Lord is saying to His church! In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings on this day of rest and reflection! May the Lord bless you with refreshing as you worship Him and honor Him by listening to His holy word! Your pastor has a word from the Lord this day that you and your family need to hear and heed! Please don’t miss out on being in the presence of the Lord as His people gather for worship today!
As I reflect on the reading of this past week, yesterday’s reading about Saul’s partial obedience comes quickly back to mind. I find that I, too, can make excuses like Saul did and seek to justify my own way of obeying God. Saul easily got rid of all the damaged goods, but kept the best. He still felt that he had obeyed the Lord’s instructions because he had won the battle and had gotten rid of most of the goods. When confronted, he said he was going to offer the rest as a sacrifice to the Lord. This sounded like a good idea, but was not in line with God’s instructions to destroy everything! What difference could it make if they would be offered to the Lord as a sacrifice? They would still be destroyed?
God doesn’t take pleasure in sacrifices and offerings that are made in disobedience! Our sin shouts loudly against us and grieves God’s heart! He really wants His people to simply obey! This is the best sacrifice we can give Him. A heart of obedience to fully comply with His word brings God more pleasure than any other sacrifice!
As you chose what path you will take today, reflect on your heart! Are you being obedient to what God has shown you is right? Are you completely following God’s instructions, or making up your own rules and thinking God will understand your intentions? Read 1st Samuel 15 again and reflect on Saul and his great loss because of rebellion and idolatry. In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings on this day of rest and reflection! I hope you are attending the church of your choice and fully giving yourself in worship and service to our God and Savior Jesus Christ! We come together to lift up His name and celebrate His love for us and sacrifice for our freedom.
Jesus loved us and demonstrated that love by giving Himself for us totally on the cross of Calvary. His act of obedience to the Father stands out as supreme love. We can only worship at such a display of selfless giving for those whose acts of rebellion put Him on the cross. We respond to His love as we worship and gather together to listen to His word.
The Israelites of Judges show us our selfish and carnal nature. We are so like them as we selfishly go our own way and mix with the cultures around us. We easily worship other gods, mainly ourselves! We can be filled with the Holy Spirit on Sunday and and filled with lust and revenge like Sampson on Monday! We can see miraculous deliverance one day and forget God the next! We end up doubting God’s love for us and looking for love in all the wrong places!
God really just wants our hearts! He desires that we respond to His love and live a life of love each day. Faith works through love! It is not the law or a set of rules that we must follow to earn God’s love or keep to prove our love for Him. We love Him because He first loved us! We love Him and others and that is the fulfillment of His law! Love does no wrong to a neighbor! Love never fails! It is so simple and yet so profound!
Allow your day to bring to mind ways to love God. Practice His presence in all your activities this day. Rest in His love for you! Be refreshed in your souls by His amazing love! Loving You as Christ, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings! Our faith brings us to another day of rest in Jesus Christ! He conquered our walled city of self and the walls fell outward. His love entered and we were overcome! Our “Joshua” advanced on us with the presence of God, in the Holy Spirit. His army went ahead, trumpets blaring, banners flying and worshiping their way to victory, speaking to the walls with a mighty shout! Each member of the army was armed with that powerful sword of His word and followed the Presence! The old man was slain and the goods of the city devoted to God! We were among the spoil, more precious than silver or gold, iron or bronze!
Like Rahab, we had prostituted ourselves but were drawn by members of God’s army to plead for mercy. We trusted in the scarlet cord of Jesus’ blood to save us from destruction. We gathered our loved ones in a blood-marked room. We waited in faith and heard the shout. The earth rumbled, walls fell, but we were kept safe. We were brought out and joined to the people of God with great joy! What a joy it is to be conquered by God! What a celebration it is to march with the army of God and be armed with His Presence and holy Word!
Take time today to celebrate with God’s people (army) and arm yourself with a sharpened sword (Word)! He is worthy of our faith and worship!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings and blessings in the Name of Jesus Christ! He is our peace and the One who brings us blessings! He bore the curse of the broken law of God on our behalf and we now are in a place to receive blessing.
As Moses repeated the history of the last 40 years, he continually brought to their memory the need for these younger survivors to carefully listen to and obey God. Moses defines this obedience as loving God. (Deuteronomy 11:22) Love always brings blessing! When you love someone, you desire their best and do what you can to see that they have the best. God initiated this love relationship because He alone is love.
Moses set up the case for obedience and loving God as a choice between something good and something evil. To obey was the choice for blessing and to disobey was a choice for a curse. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28) If they chose to disobey, that would mean that they followed other gods and were unloving and unfaithful.
Man has an impossible task in perfect obedience in himself because of the sin nature. (Galatians 3:10-11) We are prone to disobey and go our own way. We end up following other gods and under the curse. The curse is God’s decreed reaping for disobedience. When we know His law, we are responsible to keep it. We fail in our own strength because of sin and rebellion. Who will deliver us from this terrible curse?
Thanks be to God, He has Himself! Jesus Christ was made a curse for us. All the curses written against us were nailed to His cross and taken out of the way! (Galatians 3:13-14) He redeemed us so that the blessings of Abraham might come on us! Instead of obedience to the law, we inherit the promise of the Holy Spirit received by faith! The Holy Spirit is our down-payment of the blessings to come! (Ephesians 1:13-14) Blessings that are beyond what eye can see and ear can hear are awaiting those who love God and know Him through Jesus Christ! What a day of rest we can enjoy today and in eternity! In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings on this day of reflection and rest in the ultimate refuge, Jesus Christ! I am so thankful today to have a refuge from the enemy of my soul! God alone is my refuge and strength! Take time today to worship with a body of believers and to study the precious Word of God.
As I reflect on the reading of the past week, I am again reminded of Moses’ death for his sins. Moses represents the Law of God. God’s law can only make us aware of sin and show us God’s holy standard of perfection. The law ultimately brings all of us to death if we do nothing else but read it. All of us are born under the rule of “Sin” or “Satan” as our leader. The law exposes that truth. We must change “leader” in order to be free from the penalty of death and eternal separation from God.
We need “Joshua” to take us to the promised land of our inheritance. God has provided His Son, Jesus Christ, as our “Joshua”. He is more than able to lead us into our full inheritance. He was lifted up like the snake on the pole to be our remedy for sin. Sin was put to death on that cross as Jesus took the penalty for us. All who will look to Him will live. We change our leader to Jesus Christ, and the great news is that He is alive! Death could not hold Him! He has the keys of death and hell! He is alive forever and we can live forever as we make Him Lord of our life!
Thank God today for the wonderful gift of salvation and for your new leader! Jesus is the Good Shepherd who will take you into the full inheritance of your heavenly Father!
In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends and Lovers of Jesus Christ,
“I love Jesus Christ!” I can say that without shame or fear today because of a secure relationship with God through Jesus! I know Him and trust His Holy Word! It is wonderful to have a love relationship based on truth and trust. This relationship that I have has been growing for many years and is stronger today than yesterday. It is because I am constantly seeking to know Him better and to understand His love for me as expressed in His Word and by the Holy Spirit. (1st John 4:13-16)
Because of my relationship with Christ, I can also love others. I am growing in my ability to be a loving husband and father as I learn and experience Christ’s love for me. I am learning to love in truth as well as in deed. (1st John 3:16-18) Christ demonstrated His love for us by dying for us! (Romans 5:8) (1st John 4:10)
In our reading this past week, God demonstrated His love for His people by counting each one of them and giving them work to do. God showed His love for His people by living in the center of their camp and manifesting His glory to them. He showed His love by giving them leaders like Moses and Aaron who would model obedience and pray for them. He loved the people by leading them and then by giving them rest. He loved them by placing His Name on them by the blessing of Aaron spoken over them! He loved them by feeding them manna each day and providing water from the Rock! What a caring God we come to know as we read His word!
I love you! Thanks for being my friend! Take time on this day celebrating love, to tell those you love how much you care for them. Be sure to tell God how thankful you are for His love, the source of all true love! In His Love, Pastor John
Dear Friends,
Greetings on this another day of rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. He shed His blood on the cross for us that we might be freed from sin, guilt, and eternal death. His blood was the only sacrifice that could actually make atonement for our sins. Our church family celebrates the Covenant Meal of Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month as a way to remember the powerful blood and its work for sinners.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11)
God laid out some strict rules for blood sacrifices to cleanse Aaron and the priests who handled the sacred duties of meeting with God and interceding for God’s people. Aaron’s sons died before the Lord when they carelessly neglected to follow God’s instructions about how to approach Him. They offered strange fire before the Lord and died instantly! (Leviticus 10:1-2) There is some implication that they had been drinking alcohol and were impaired when they did this. (Leviticus 10:8-10) They neglected the blood sacrifice of a sin offering and paid a terrible penalty.
God chose blood because the life of a creature is in the blood. Blood is an amazing creation. Our blood carries food and oxygen to each cell of the body. It also picks up waste products and they are filtered out of the blood by the liver. Our blood carries clotting agents if we are wounded and antibodies in the blood attack disease organisms and protect the body from attack. Our blood contains everything our bodies need for life. When we lose a certain part of our blood, we die.
Christ’s blood is powerful because He alone was without sin. His blood was not tainted by original sin. His blood carried the power to cleanse us completely from the penalty of sin and the power of sin to enslave us. Take time today to think about the blood of Christ and its amazing power. Holy Communion reminds us of this special sacrifice. Have a great day of rest and reflection!
Cleansed by His Powerful Blood, Pastor John