Monday Morning Encouragement - 7.25.16

Good morning!

One of the best gifts I have received was a gallon of Dale’s Seasoning. (Bless you, Vicki Gurley!)  I will not cook a steak without marinading it in Dale’s for at least a few hours. I know the directions say 20 minutes, but… come on! 20 minutes? That’s not long enough for me to get my yearly dose of sodium. When I eat my steak, I don’t want to taste beef; I want to taste Dale’s! 

Vicki learned of my love for Dale’s when I was preaching on Colossians 3:16 which has my favorite image of our relationship to the word of God, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” Allowing the word to dwell in us richly is like marinating your life in the truth and grace of God. Sure, you can soak your life in the Bible for 20 minutes or so and you will surely receive some benefit from it. But if you want your life to “taste” more like Jesus than yourself, then you need to let the word dwell in you richly. 

This is really the only way for us to become like Jesus Christ. It takes time for us to be transformed into his image. And the transformative agent is God’s word. The longer we submerse ourselves in Christ, the more the grace and truth of God will flavor our lives. 

This is also the only way we can be effective at discipleship. The next phrase of Colossians 3:16 tells us what to do with our Word-saturated lives, “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom…” All Christians have a responsibility and obligation to help one another know God and walk in His ways. The flow of teaching and influence is not only from the top down, but also from one “average” Christian to another. 

All of us should be making disciple-making disciples. In order to do that, we need God’s word to dwell in us richly, transforming and flavoring our lives with the tastiness of the gospel. 

So, go get you a big dose of the saltiness of Jesus! Meditate on the word and marinate your heart in it. Take your time. Let it sink in deep. Then go be salt in your world for the glory of God and the gospel! 

Blessings!

Pastor Chris

Monday Morning Encouragement - 7.18.16

Good morning!

‘Active listening’ is a counseling technique where you listen to someone and repeat to them what he/she said in your own words. It is meant as an exercise to improve communication since many conflicts arise in relationships because of misunderstanding or bad communication.

A wife says, “Please take out the garbage” but her husband hears, “When it is convenient, please take the garbage out.” So, she walks back in the room an hour later to see the garbage still in the house, and the battle is on! 

Prayer is ‘active listening’ with God. He speaks perfectly and with power, and we should respond in faith by praying for His will to be done. Much of our frustration in our prayer lives comes, I think, because we have not really been listening to God and we end up praying for results that He does not want for us. 

But He does give us a marvelous promise about having our prayers answered!

John 15:7

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

The beauty of the promise here is that we can receive whatever we ask for. This is truly one of the most amazing promises in the Bible! It is nearly beyond belief. But…

There is a condition to the promise. The condition is that we must abide in Him and His words in us.

By faith we dwell in Christ. And because of this relationship, we devour God’s word as the food for our spiritual life. When the word of God is in us, it will continually transform us; changing our desires, hopes, and plans.  The result of this transformation by the Word is that our prayers will line up with God’s character and revealed will for us. So, of course God will grant you whatever you wish since your wishes will be for His will to be done. 

The lesson here is that a key ingredient to having your prayers answered is to have the word of God dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:16). Prayer and the Word should always be together in the Christian’s life. God speaks through His word. We listen, allowing the Spirit to transform our hearts into Christ’s likeness. Then, we respond in prayer asking God to do the very things He already wants to do. He will then do whatever we want. 

Abide in Christ today. By faith, keep going back to that fountain of Living Water and nourish your soul with the Word. As your heart is transformed, ask God to great and mighty things for your eternal good and for His glory! 

Blessings!

Pastor Chris

Monday Morning Encouragement - 7.11.16

Good morning!  

“Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.” The disciples may have wished they knew this little saying before they asked Jesus their question in Matthew 24. 

As the time for Jesus’ crucifixion draws near, He is teaching his disciples on the Mount of Olives. He is encouraging them with the promise that though He is about to depart, He will return and take them to be with Him forever. That is certainly good news! 

But that promise did not seem to be enough for the twelve, so they pulled Him aside and asked what signs should they be looking for before He returns. 

Jesus’ answer was probably not what they expected. Basically, He says that MANY false teachers will lead MANY astray; there will be MANY natural disasters and wars; they will be persecuted and put to death for Jesus’ name; MANY will fall away and betray and hate each other; and  ‘because lawlessness will be increased, the love of MANY will grow cold.’ (Matthew 24:12)

Wow… That sounds bleak. And frankly, that sounds familiar! 

It is a chilling reality to think that MANY will fall away and have their love grow cold. I certainly don’t want to speculate as to the eternal spiritual condition of those who grow cold or who they might be, but I do know that we don’t have to be among that number! 

The hopeful promise Jesus gives at the end of that list of ‘signs’ is “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). He doesn’t explain what that endurance means, but in the context I think He is reminding us that we must stoke the fires of our hearts through the power of the Spirit to produce a love for God that is ‘hot’ and will not be extinguished by the coldhearted secularism that closes in around us. 

This is why the warning of Revelation 3:14-22 about lukewarm hearts is so necessary for Christians. We must not wait until our love is cold before we sound the alarm of our faith. We must be vigilant for even slightly tepid hearts so that we once again return to our first Love and allow the white-hot glory of his holiness and grace cleanse our hearts, fanning into flame the Love we knew at first. 

Don’t be offended at the suggestion you might be lukewarm (For we ALL are lukewarm in some regard). Instead, be terrified that your heart may be cooling even one degree from your previous love for God. Those who endure to the end will be saved. And enduring in this day will require a mighty work of God to inflame our affections for Him alone. 

Be on the lookout for the sin that abides so nearly, that pours cold water on your life promising refreshment only to have you find later that it was extinguishing your passion for Christ. He is the only source of the life-giving refreshment you seek. Go hard after Him today and He will faithfully lead you to the end where He will save you ultimately.

Blessings!

Pastor Chris