THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

I must admit that much of my life has been invested in finding answers to my questions. I've always been an inquisitive guy and want to know things. Today I pondered the question, "Why are gas prices still using 9/10th of a penny when advertising the cost per gallon?" It is the only product I can remember that uses a fraction of a penny. So questions like that pop into my mind. But though I may have lots of questions, there is one key question that I should be asking myself. It is "Am I asking the RIGHT questions?" There really are some right questions I should be asking that are truly important. "Do I believe in The Lord Jesus Christ? Am I being renewed in the spirit of my mind? Am I walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh? Am I growing in grace? Does my conversation please my Savior? What more can I do for Jesus?" Are we asking the right questions?

GOT PRAYER?

A year ago last summer I received an envelope in the mail.  It contained a yellow wrist band with my nephew’s name and Psalm 91 stamped on it.  Kent was in Afghanistan and his wife, Tara, was enlisting people to pray for him while he was there.  It was a one year commitment.  I wore the bracelet for the whole year eager to be part of those praying for Kent’s safety and health, and that God would use him in the lives of others.

Two months ago we handed out teal colored wristbands stamped with the words “God’s Man, God’s Glory, God at Work.”  Wearing these bands joins us together as a reminder to pray for three things.  The first is the Search Committee - that God would direct them to the new pastor who would lead CCC.  The second is to make sure we remember that all we are and do is for the purpose of bringing glory to our Lord’s worthy name.  The third is to pray for God’s Spirit to empower us in all our ministries so that we can be fruitful as we pursue His mission in our communities and world.

These bands are not magic.  They don’t pray themselves.  But they are something to remind us to pray.  Prayer is the church’s first work.  Got prayer?

DEVOTION

There are many words in our English language that make us stop and dwell on them for a while.  Devotion is one of them.  I love the sound of it, the meaning of it, and the value of it.   Years ago The Everly Brothers sang a great song entitled, “Devoted to You”.  Maybe you remember it.  Here are some of the lyrics

Darling you can count on me
Till the sun dries up the sea
Until then I'll always be
Devoted to you

I'll never hurt you, I'll never lie
I'll never be untrue
I'll never give you reason to cry
I'd be unhappy if you were blue

Through the years my love will grow
Like a river it will flow
It can't die because I'm so
Devoted to you

Devotion is such a special thing in any love relationship.  We love devoting ourselves to our spouse, our children, to a dear friend.  We can easily connect with the sentiment of the song.  It moves us.  I trust that will be true in one relationship above all others.  May we say to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, “Through the years my love will grow, Like a river it will flow.  It can’t die because I’m so devoted to You.”

UPDATING

I am getting ready to put my home on the market.  The time has come to downsize and get ready to move.  I have owned the home for 8 years.  It certainly isn’t an old home and frankly I think it has a lot of good features.  It’s very livable and comfortable.   But that’s my perspective.  Outside eyes, like those of my realtor see things differently.   I am discovering that my home is in bad need of upgrades for it to be attractive to today’s home buyer.  

It’s interesting to see how many things need to be updated, not just houses, but restaurants, wardrobes, technology and you could name many more.

I have to wonder if my spiritual life needs an update.  Am I living in the same spiritual state I was 8 years ago?  Haven’t really done much to make spiritual improvements?  Am I increasing in His virtues and disciplines?  Or I am just comfortable with the way things were.  Lord, don’t let me get stale but let a fresh work of your Spirit begin in me.

GRACE

Grace is one of the most beautiful words in the world.  It is found numerous times in the Bible, especially in the New Testament.  When Jesus came to this earth John records that He came “full of grace and truth.”

Paul writes to Titus, “The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men.”   He also writes in Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and not of yourselves.”

As Christians we love God’s grace.  Grace is God, authoring the free gift of salvation to all who would receive it.  Grace is God, paying the full price to accomplish our salvation through His incarnation and atoning death.  Grace is God, throwing wide open the doors of His kingdom to all who want to come in. 

Grace is God, giving to us what we neither deserve nor could acquire, namely, a salvation with an incredible beginning and no ending.

As beautiful as grace is, it can have a dark, seductive side.  It can convince us that God’s love is so great it will never run dry, and no matter how we live, God is always there to forgive.  It can lead us to abuse His grace, living casually according to our own wants and desires.  As long as our ticket is punched for heaven, we live on earth with freedom, liberty and a fairly undisciplined spiritual life.

A proper understanding of grace should lead us to embrace God with a growing affection.  We see His grace as a gift that draws us closer to our God, deepens our love for Him and delights in living fully the life He died to give us.  Grace leads us to want Him more than anything else, to die to self and live for Christ. 

Because of His grace God invested His all in us.  I can’t think of any reason why His grace wouldn’t motivate us to invest our all in Him.  Do you?  See you Sunday to celebrate His grace together.

OUR ALWAYS FAITHFUL GOD

This is it.  The day has come.  It is a time of both culmination and commencement, the culmination of a year of preparation and confirmation, the commencement of a new life with Melinda Temple as my wife.  Sept 28^th is the wedding day.  Excitement grows with the hour as I look forward to life with my new bride.  The happiness in my soul at the joy of loving this amazing, beautiful lady is boundless.  Yet in the midst of all this, there is even greater joy to know that the God of the universe, the God who promised to never leave me or forsake me, the God whose will I want to know and walk in more than anything else in life, has chosen this path for me.  One thing I have learned over the years is the truth of Proverbs 3:5,6.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.  The words that thrill me in these verses are the words “all” and “shall”.  We are encouraged to trust him with ALL our heart, even when our understanding is darkened, and to trust Him in whatever path we find ourselves on, for He SHALL direct our way.  There is great peace, comfort and excitement in humbling ourselves in trust before our Great God, acknowledging our full dependence on Him.  I don’t deserve this great blessing more than anyone else, yet I am deeply grateful for it.  But I also have learned that no matter what my circumstances, when I submit all to Him He will direct me, making sure my life unfolds according to His will.  That is my greatest joy and confidence.  May that be yours as well.

UNUSUAL BUT IMPACTFUL

The story of Paul and Barnabas in the Philippian jail is an amazing story.  One of the most unusual parts of the story is that at midnight, after they had been beaten and placed in stocks in the inner prison, a place of highest security, they prayed and sang hymns of praise to God.

When we experience life’s tough blows we may pray, but do we sing praise?  Our humanness would lead us to pray that God would protect, bring deliverance, get us out of this mess.   The praise part may be harder to come by.  Yet it is in the unusualness of this praise time that the Bible states, “the prisoners were listening to them.”  What the other prisoners were hearing was not normal to their experience, but it was impactful.  Both the prayer and praise time made them desire to stick around, even after the earthquake offered them the opportunity to escape.  It is in the hard times that our unusual response with prayer and praise can impact others the most.  Let’s not miss those opportunities.  Though we don’t sign up for the trials and tests of life, waving our hand to God and saying, “Pick Me!  Pick Me!”, they do come.  When God entrusts us with them, let’s pull a Paul and Barnabas and rejoice in the impact we can have.