Why are you fighting?

God is good to us even when we don't deserve it. Thank goodness for the grace of God. I don't know where I would be if I were still running away from God. The Bible is full of people that God prepared, whether they were aware of it or not, to be perfect for what God needed them to do. God made David a shepard so he could be king. David had to become a shepard to his people and to learn to watch over them and care for them. So during all those hours of watching sheep graze and protecting them from wild animals David was learning to be like Jesus (who hadn't come yet). Moses was raised by the pharoh as if he was his own son. He received the same education and was exposed to the same culture and training that the sons of the pharoh received. He would have been exposed to diplomacy, ceremony and, of course, public speaking. Moses asked that Aaron actually speak the words. He didn't have the confidence to do what God was asking; he still had doubts about what God would do for him. When he eventually committed himself to doing what God wanted him to do then his life changed for the better. Can it really be that easy? Do we just have to follow God's word and live as He wants us to? Yes and no. Yes we have to follow God's word but it's not easy. The stumbling block is that we all fall short of the glory of God because we have all sinned. Because we have all sinned we need to come to God. Only God can forgive those sins in the darkest place of your soul. Be willing to give all things to God; He wants everything from you. God has good things planned for all of his children, are you willing to step up and give up control to your loving father in Heaven?

David in Psalm 98

Psalm 98 (NIV) A Psalm



1 Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn— shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.



Verse 1:

David is expressing the joy of someone who has truly come to know Christ in his heart. David has been forgiven of many things in his life; among his offenses are lusting in his heart and murder. Because David has been forgiven of so many sins he can be justified in thanking God for all that God has done for him. What an amazing testimony David's life must have been to the people all around him. Today we can read about what happened in his life but that's not the same thing as being a member of his family or a close friend and actually seeing the change in his daily life. Imagine for a minute if your brother or sister had gone from a life of crime to studying for the priesthood. If you haven't noticed any difference in their behavior you would be skeptical, with good cause; Imagine though that they seemed completely different from what you had known before. What a wonderful testimony that would be for everyone around him/her. It must have been wonderful for all of those around David to see come back to God and back to his old way of life after heading down the wrong road for so long.

Verse 2:

2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

My first thought when I read this was that David was in an almost unique position to "go ye therefore and teach all nations". He was a king who loved the Lord dearly. I'm sure that back then David mentioned the Lord in many different ways in the course of a day. I imagine him saying things like "what a glorious day the Lord made for us today to ..." (fill in the blank). It would have been unusual for someone back then not to know about a certain god so I'm sure that they would have asked. David would then be able to tell his guest all about his loving God. David could testify in person but also indirectly when that person returned home. Upon returning home they would talk about their trip and what had gone on since they had last seen each other, much like we do today. Back then traveling wasn't an easy event. It would take a long time to get from one place to another either you walked or you went by boat. It must have been quite a news flash to hear about this new god of David's. I can only imagine the reaction that it must have caused when other people from far away lands heard about this God of Israel.

Verse 3:

3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

I'm sure that David grew up hearing all the stories of the Exodus and what life was like before under Pharoh in the time of Moses. I'm sure that David is also giving thanks to God for forgiving Israel for all of her sins, including his own. At this time the Israelites were still the apple of God's eye. They had not at this point gone so far astray as to lose God's favor. Still the Lord cries out to them daily. Later I'll have to do a post on the Prodigal Son. In verse two we discussed David having the oppurtunity to use his position to testify. I imagine that David was genuinely happy when he saw interest in his God start to grow the world over.

Verses 4-9

4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn— shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

David is calling for an outward expression of the Holy Spirit in those that are saved. I wonder what David would think of some of our churches today. I wonder if David would have had instruments of every type in his church. I bet David would love to have the church rocking every week. How could you even hear a harp over the sound of a ram's horn and a trumpet and all that singing to the Lord? How coud you hear the harp over the sound of the all the rivers of the world clapping their hands on the shore along with the mountains singing their deep bass voices? David, it seems to me, is calling for a loud real spiritual service not something just made of us routine. David wants everyone to be excited about what happens when they attend church. They should be so excited about meeting God that they have to tell their friends and family because they won't be able to help themselves. So why should we, according to the Psalm, be so happy? Because the Lord will be coming to judge the world and to reward his church. He said this even before Jesus came the first time, amazing.

God bless,

Bruce

The Most Misunderstood Commandment

Exodus 20:1-3



1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before [a] me.



As a child I knew this part of the Ten Commandments, as I'm sure that most of us do. It was only recently that I realized that this was deeper then it first appeared. (For the past week I have been trying to convince myself not to write this post. God wouldn't let me get away from thinking about this verse. Finally, at work, third shift, I couldn't deny it anymore. I didn't have a choice; I have to write this now.) I have come to believe that this is the first commandment because it is the root of all the others. Let's look at this way; God has given us a code of behavior to set us apart from the world. If you codify a law you have to set up a clear explanation of what it is contained beneath. All of the other Commandments below stem from that one Commandment.

What is it about this Commandment that is so difficult to understand? In my personal opinion it is the language of our translation. In the time of the Exodus there was a real golden calf that had taken the attention of the Israelites. This calf, this small statue had replaced God in their hearts after He had led them out of slavery. Back in Moses' time it was more obvious if you weren't worshipping God you were worshipping Bail or Aries or some other god. We do the same thing with our homes, our mortages, our rent and our bills. I'm as guilty of it as the next person. Things get so expensive in the world that our focus shifts just a bit; that's all that the Devil needs. If our attention is diverted then we have made an idol of whatever we are now looking at the moment. Back in the days of Moses people worshipped many different gods. Today all the Devil needs to do is to just distract us long enough for us to decide not to give our tithes. I should look up to see what would happen to people who didn't give their donation to their god back then. I kind of remember from High School that horrible things would happen to those that upset the gods. God wants us to tithe not because He needs anything but because God wants to check our loyalty to Him. What happens is that we make ourselves God and that we put Ourselves above God. By paying our tithes we are submitting to the will of God. We are putting ourselves back in alignment with Jesus Christ, at least for a moment. All sin comes from this one commandment. Even if we are faithful in our tithes and offerings we sin in other areas. Why do we sin? We sin because we decide that we have to do something, even if our conscious, the Holy Spirit, tells us that we are doing the wrong thing. God wants us to admit our sin to Him even though He already knows it, for the same reason. God wants us to come to Him and to submit to His love. He wants what is best for us yet we are disobedient little children who think that we know everything. The hardest thing for us to do is to "let go and let God". I know how hard that can be. I struggle with it myself all the time. Every time that I think that I'm making progress I fall on this point. That is why I'm emphasising this point.



God bless you all

There is hope for everyone

From Matthew 25:34-46

34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

It is so easy sometimes to forget our duty as Christians to help the world around us, to be an influence, to live as priests to the rest of the world. Sometimes we are just too stressed, or busy or we are having a really bad day to notice the gentleman on the corner panhandling again. He's there every day rain or shine asking for some change. It's a shame we think "somebody aught to do something about all the homeless in this town". If you think that then maybe you are being called by God to make a change to the life of someone who is homeless. Jesus listed only a couple of things but He could have added much more. We are called to step outside of our comfort zone because we have been saved, not because we want to impress God and "earn" our way into heaven. All that we have and all that we ever will have comes from Jesus Christ our Savior. He went to the cross to take our sins from us; He gave up His earthly life to defeat death. All that He asks us to do is to take up our cross (our assignment) and to make our part of the world a little better place then when we came into it.

I am sure that the people on Jesus' left were surprised to find out that they hadn't done enough to earn their way into Heaven. I'm sure that every week they gave their tithe and went to church. I'm sure from the outside they looked like they had it all together; They might even have been deacons or pastors or elders in their local temples. The problem is that they didn't put into action what they were preaching. We have all done that from time to time. It is a trick of the Devil's to lull us into a false sense of independence. The people on his right are no different then you or I. Sometimes when I walk down the road I will see a homeless person and I just hope that they don't ask me for money. At that point I am like the people on Jesus' left. It's not something that I am proud of but that's the truth of the matter.

When we look at these passages and think about what they mean to our lives we can become concerned that we "aren't doing the right things" to earn our way into Heaven. There is no action that is enough for us to earn our way into Heaven without faith in Jesus Christ. So what are we being asked to do here? We are being called to "go ye therefore and to teach all nations baptizing in the name of the father, son and holy spirit" by putting our faith into action. If we wait for some day to come for someone to do something noone will ever do anything. God has a plan for our lives, for all of us. God will let you know what you are to do for Him through the Holy Spirit urging of you.

If you are reading this and you are searching for answers I invite you to pick up a Bible and to reach out to God. Your father in Heaven knows that you are hurting and He wants you to tell Him. He want you to start a relationship with Him by being honest with Him. The next thing that you need to do is to ask someone at a church that you know about for help. By telling someone that you are hurting and that you have questions you are asking for someone to minister to you. You are not being a burden or putting anyone out. You are like the "least of these" that Jesus is talking about in the passages above. If you are someone who has a hard time opening up to people trust me it can be scary but in the end it will be worth it. I guarentee that what you are feeling will not last forever. God will pull you close, clean you up and will slowly build up your faith bit by bit. It can be a good kind of scary but it will change your life. If you are going through something and your faith has grown as a result please share it with us. It will help someone else's faith to grow more.

God bless,

Bruce

Let's Pray

Lately I've been blessed even though things are not going as I would want them. A rent check of mine bounced, OUCH!. I'm sure that we've all negotiated with God when we felt like He was distant from us. I was in tears for days every time I was alone. I told God, foolishly, that I felt like He had left my side and I even doubted that I wanted to serve Him anymore. I should never have doubted my God. Even during these tough times God has proved to me that He is there. I live in an apartment building that proves that God has a sense of humor as well. (God knows that I have to laugh and that I love seeing the absurd in things.) One of my neighbors is a small old woman who recently lost her son. She seems to know when I need some extra food even though I don't tell her. My next door neighbors the same thing. These people are all very dear and God is obviously using them to remind me just how blessed I really am. I think that we all need to take a few minutes and just sit back and notice all that God has done for you over the last 6 months or year. I swear that God will show you some things you had forgotten about. Please, if you need a prayer leave a post and I will pray for you. If you allow me to I will bring it to my church to pray for you but only if you give me permission. I just want to assure you that God has chosen you for some purpose. I have been praying for over a year for God to show me what to do to bring Him glory; It was in the midst of all that is going on now that I have felt moved to start this blog and to start a bible study in my apartment. I swear that you will get through whatever is going on in your life. Just remember that God is preparing you to take you to the next level so that you can serve Him better. Please, remember that no matter how dark that it may seem, if you're looking at the bottle of sleeping pills or just crying and feeling overwhelmed you need to know that God loves you and He has plans for you to serve your fellow man. If you are feeling helpless this is what I want you to do. Start by kneeling to God and saying a prayer "God help me" when said sincerely is a good start. God will hear you and He will answer you, be prepared you never know how your answer will come. Second, open up your Bible and read for just a few minutes. I believe that God will take that moment to help you. God loves all his children and just asks that we love Him in return. If you need prayer please ask.

God bless you,

Bruce

The Wedding Guest

Matthew 22:1-14; NIV (biblegateway.com)

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
5"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.
13"Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14"For many are invited, but few are chosen."

There is a sign outside a church that I sometimes see that makes me laugh when I see it. The sign says "Many want to serve God but only as advisers". Before we come to Christ honestly and completely in our heart we are like the wedding guest in the story above. We know that we are supposed to do what God wants us to do, but that doesn't seem like fun so we continue to go to church sometimes and even be involved in the church while we continue to live our life " in the world" outside of God's protection. Personally, I was a rock 'n' roller in my previous life. I don't know if I ever understood what God was offering to me. There are so many times in my life that I look back on now and I can see that I was being protected by God's amazing saving grace. I was that man at the wedding banquet who wouldn't put on the wedding attire for the host because what I came with was more comfortable to me. Looking back I don't know if I ever fully realized, even going to church as a child, just what it meant to have God in my life. On December 10Th of this year I will start another year in the faith. A lot of things have happened since then that I just have to thank God for letting happen. I have finally walked over to where the servants are holding my wedding outfit for me to wear. It fits me really well and I have never looked better, I have never felt better either. That doesn't mean that once I excepted Jesus into my heart that I became perfect. I let God have my best that I can give, if it is pleasing to Him then I have been successful. I want to take full advantage of the blessings that God will give me in my life. I know along the way that trials will come; I need to remember that when trials come that God is training me to be successful in the future. At that point I can have a bad time at the party or I can leave. God gave me and you and everyone else in the Universe free will, God will never force us to stay. He will stay where He is waiting for us to come to the party if we so choose. In reality if we no longer hear his invitation or hear His pleading in our lives then we have moved too far away from Him. Even the most vile unworthy creature full of sin can come back to God just by reaching, screaming out to God to come back into your life. Remember as long as we confess our sins He is merciful and just to forgive us. So why wasn't the wedding guest forgiven? He rejected the mercy and grace that was offered to him and he was cast into the fire pit at the end time to be burned up.

God bless

Sin, The Great Addiction

The first sin was in Heaven when Lucifer rebelled against his loving creator and God. In Genesis Adam and Eve fell to the well planned actions of Lucifer. We don't know how long Lucifer had to plan and scheme in an attempt to erect a barrier between Adam, Eve and God. I imagine that Lucifer was very intelligent and had more then enough time to come up with a plan. We all know from that point on that there was a seperation between us and God. That seperation will remain until Jesus comes again. Sin became the most powerful drug in the Universe for the rest of time. Every day people everywhere in all levels of society commit sin. Sin has become so prevelent that it is no longer hidden in our society. Walk outside of any high school and you will hear children swearing, being disrespectful and using the Lord's name in vain. Drive down the interstate and you will see signs for adult bookstores, as well as "gentlemen's clubs". There is, I'm glad to say a solution to our addiction. Jesus Christ can free us from all of those little dark addictions that we don't tell people about. Jesus went to the cross to free us from our deepest darkest addictions. Jesus came so that we can have an answer to the sin addiction. Of course we will still sin, but now we have an advocate who is faithful and just to forgive us if we will just confess our sins to Him. Imagine that, all we need to do is come to the cross with our worthless pathetic dirty sins and he will take them and turn them into something that he can work with. The trade hardly seems fair, we are clearly getting the better part of the deal. The creator of the Universe, our Savior wants us to come to Him as we are so that He can change us into something that can work for His good. Imagine that, and all that we need to do is to except the Holy Spirit into our hearts and to turn away from sin and toward God. Someone said to me that we will continue to fall and to sin but the difference now that we've excepted Jesus into our hearts is that before we were walking away from God; now we are walking towards Him.

God bless

Hosea 4:6

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. "

As children of God we are called to be active, we are to be a priesthood for the World to see. Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. We are called to learn the word of God and to absorb it and to pass it on. Jesus tells us to take up our cross and to follow him daily. The first time we come to God we often come skeptically, at first we just think that we'll see what this church thing is all about. We meet people and, if you're like me, you're a little shy at first, we say the "right things" during the peace or the welcome or whatever the greeting part of the service is called where you are. During the next couple of visits you start to feel more "at ease", these people feel more like family. Now you have the desire to learn more. That is the beginning of what will hopefully be a long and lifelong experience. The person entering the church is doing their part to find out what this whole Christianity thing is all about; It now becomes the responsibility of the people sitting in that church to help the new member out. It will never be an easy thing to do but it is essential to the growth of the local church as well as the world wide church of Christ. At this early stage talk to people, reach out and ask questions about whatever is on your heart. Please pick up a Bible and start to read, trust me it will seem a little weird at first but it will become easier and easier over time. Talk to the Pastor where you are, go to Bible studies and most importantly ask questions.

God bless,

Bruce