Evening blessing and prayer

/ The Pastor

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. [Numbers 6:24-26]

I use these verses every week as a benediction to close worship. I started this “routine” mainly because that’s what was in our worship book, but I continue because of the beauty of these words. And what a wonderful words to ponder as we close our day:

Blessing
Keeping
Our Lord’s shining face upon you
Graciousness
The Lord’s countenance
Peace

Beautiful ~ Wonderful ~ Awe inspiring

Meditate on these words before you fall asleep. Ponder their meaning. And then give the Lord thanks and praise as you receive these words of blessing tonight.

And then may your dreams be peaceful, your sleep be restful and your body rejuvenated.

Oh God, thank you for another day. Thank you for the many ways you bless your children throughout the day. And thank you for the peace we can have through Jesus Christ. Amen

Have a blessed night and (God willing) I’ll “see” you tomorrow.

The Pastor -|—

Words

/ The Pastor

I sent this out to my church devotion/Bible reading email list yesterday and thought I would also share it here as well:

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ESV)

This verse has been running around in my head and heart today (and still is as I share this) I’m not sure why, it just is. What has captured my attention is that words are vitally important and could have eternal significance. What words are you saying to people today? Do they glorify God? Just imagine, God could be using you today to share the Gospel with someone so be mindful of your words.

And then I would like to add:

You just never know who you are going to meet who doesn’t know Jesus. You just never know who you are going to meet who needs to hear the Gospel proclaimed to them again. You just never know. So let’s watch our words and bring glory to God.

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ THE War on Terror

/ The Pastor

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [Galatians 5:16-17]

We are at war.

No, I am not talking about the war on terror but it is close. This is the war against the flesh; sinful desires. And this is a war that has been going on since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden in Genesis 3. And it is a war in which Satan is relentless for he knows what he is up against: Weak human beings.

The problem for many is that they don’t realize they are at war. It is hard to fight a battle if you don’t arm yourself. But worse yet, you are not going to fight a war unless you first declare war. You need to be ready and that means knowing who your opponent is, where the war is being fought, what is at stake and what your assets are.

Opponent ~ Satan
Location ~ The flesh
What’s at stake ~ Your soul
Assets ~ Jesus

Your biggest weapon in this “war on terror” is walking in the Spirit; staying close to God in Jesus Christ. That means staying in scripture; being in prayer; living a life of worship; studying the Word; having regular fellowship with believers. If you arm yourself in such a way, you are giving yourself the upper hand, not because you are so smart or strong but rather, through faith, you are submitting to the one who already fought the battle and won the war.

That’s right, the war has already been won, but the battle still goes on. It’s a backwards way of doing things but Satan is still trying to take down as many people as he can before Jesus comes again to claim his prize once and for all. But don’t despair, God is not throwing you to the wolves in the interim. You are here to glorify God in this life and bring others to him. You’re not alone.

Fight this battle with the flesh as you walk along side the one who has won the war for you: Jesus Christ. Declare war on Satan and realize temptation is all around you. Stand strong and hold firm to hope of the resurrection.

So go into battle today, ready and willing to fight, all to the glory of God.

Praise be to God and Amen!

The Pastor -|—

Good night God

/ The Pastor

Loving Father, as another day comes to a close,  I lift my thanks and praise to you. You are a glorious, creative and compassionate God. You are wise and faithful and Holy.  You are patient and grace-filled and forgiving. You are a God worthy of our adoration.

And now, as I prepare to close my eyes, please watch over this body. May any evil spirits present be cast away in the name of Jesus. May You protect my family. May You place your hedge of protection around this home from the evil one. And if death does demand my life tonight may you take this soul up into your loving arms. If it be your will that I wake up tomorrow morning may I be well rested and ready to live another day glorifying your holy name.

Gracious Father, I lay my life in your hands; entrusting my body and soul to you. All praise, glory and worship to you, Holy Father, through Jesus Christ my risen Lord and Savior. Amen.

Good night God 🙂

The Pastor -|—

Something out of nothing

/ The Pastor

One of the many joys for me as a pastor is seeing God create something out of nothing. No, I am not talking about anything magical here but rather the Holy Spirit bringing about a sermon when I had nothing.

Often times I enter Thursday not knowing where I am going with a sermon. I know the text, since I am preaching through the Gospel of Mark, but I don’t always know what the message is. And there are many times when I am anxious about this even though I know I shouldn’t be; even though I know I should trust God.

Today was such a day.

I did my reading and note taking before “relocating my office” to my favorite coffee shop down town. I do this every Thursday (for the most part) and at the same time. I set up my computer, ordered my lunch to be brought to me at 11 AM, got my coffee and scotcheroo and off to work I went. This is my routine.

As I started writing I noticed that my fingers started flowing across the keyboard faster and faster and with purpose. The message started to materialize in front of me like a Star Trek transporter. And as the message became clear I got more and more excited and felt more and more guilty. I was excited as the Spirit was working through me to create this message but guilty that I didn’t trust God enough to not be anxious about it. I have been a pastor for 10 1/2+ years and God has not let me down. Every Sunday I was scheduled to preached, I preached a sermon. Never once did I show up on a Sunday morning with nothing.

And God does this in other ways in our lives; creates something out of nothing:
~ Opportunities to share our faith
~ Opportunities to serve one another
~ Faith where there was no faith
~ Purpose where there was hopelessness
~ Life where there was death

If only I had the faith to see this more often.

Oh God, increase my faith and sharpen my eyes to see you at work in this world.

Praise be to God!

The Pastor -|—

 

Morning devotions ~ A Prayer of Holiness

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. [Ephesians 5:3-4]

Holy God, I thank you that my eye lids opened to see this day you have made. I thank you that I am here in this world to glorify you. I thank you that you are using me to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But I need help; we need help.

There is so much filthiness around your children. So much impurity, sexual immorality, crudeness and foolishness. There is so much temptation and Satan is too strong for us.

Forgive your Church.
Strength your Church.
Purify your Church.
Send out your Church.

May this filthiness not be named among us and may we flee from its presence. May we run to you and may we seek refuge in your arms. Then, Oh God, lift us up that we may give you praise and speak of your goodness and holiness and grace and love. May we proclaim with boldness the death and resurrection of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins.

May we be holy as you are Holy.

Loving God, this task is too great for us and if it were left up to us then we would certainly bring it all to ruin.

May you be glorified and praised and worshiped; through Jesus Christ our Lord I pray, Amen.

May God bless your day as you strive for holiness and serve Him.

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ What you really need to hear

/ The Pastor

And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” [Matthew 21:21-22]

Oh how these verses have been misunderstood and misapplied.
Oh how these verses have been abused and therefore have caused many people to go astray.

If you believe right and have enough faith you can get what you want and “live your best life now”. This is the mantra of the prosperity gospel (not THE Gospel of Jesus Christ). The likes of Joel Osteen have championed this theology and have garnered many adherents, thus leading many people astray. And the reason these prosperity theologians are so “successful” is that this message is something people think they need to hear.

Give me the secret to success.
Tell me how I can be happy now.
How can I feel fulfilled?
How can I live my best life now?

Everything is about this life, now, and nothing about the life to come. It’s about manipulating and controlling God to get what you want. Throw in talk of Jesus and faith and you have enough to trick people into thinking this theology is legit; from the Bible.

Lord have mercy.

But what was Jesus really teaching in Matthew 21 about faith and prayer? Was he giving us a magic formula to get what we want out of prayer?

Absolutely not!

Two things are being shown:
(1) You may have faith, but you still doubt.
(2) If you truly know God you will ask according to God’s will, not your own. It’s then that you receive what you pray for.

The big difference here is that it is not about your happiness now (your will) but your eternal joy (God’s will). It’s about aligning your will with God’s will. It’s about humbling yourself and admitting that you are a sinner. It’s about realizing that without Jesus you can not get out of this world alive. It’s about realizing that you are meant to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This life may be crappy but you still can have joy; that is if you believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior.

So don’t be fooled by false prophets and self-serving prosperity theologians by trying to reach for and cling to happiness in this life now but rather place your faith in Jesus Christ and cling to the hope of the resurrection. Don’t be fooled into thinking that it is about how you have faith rather than who you have faith in.

Jesus is life and salvation and therefore the source of true joy. That right there will give you peace. And THAT my friends is what you really need to hear.

Have a blessed day enjoying God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Be nice and love…EVERYONE

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. [Luke 6:35-36]

Wow, that’s a tough one. Love my enemies? Do good to them and lend to them? Expect nothing in return? This seems to be asking a lot. And why should I do all of this since my enemies have very little interest in loving me or doing good to me or even lending to me?

In a culture of, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, we are not used to returning good for evil. If someone hurts you then you withhold love and goodness as a form of punishment. But more than that, we often withhold love and goodness as a way to protect ourselves from further injury and pain. We have a tendency to distance ourselves from our enemies

But this is not the way of the Gospel.

Instead, Jesus says love your enemies. What better way to proclaim the Gospel than to show love to those who are not expecting it or to those the world is not expecting you to show love to. This is the whole “heaping burning coals on their head” (Romans 12:20-21) thing; that we should not be overcome by evil but over come evil with good. A tall order. A difficult task. An awesome command.

Lord have mercy and help me.

But consider something else: Who are we to call people evil when we ourselves are evil? That’s right, God shows love and goodness and mercy to you and me; filthy sinners; evil; enemies of God. God sent Jesus to die for us because we are evil and sinful. God did not withhold his love from us even though in the economics of this world he had every right to do so. This, my friends, is what makes God’s love through Jesus Christ so amazing…

It’s undeserved.

Therefore, what better way to show God’s love than to love those we consider enemies, because who knows, we might win a new friend. Better yet, we might win a new brother/sister in Christ.

As God loves you through Jesus Christ, love one another…EVERYONE, to the praise and glory of God our Father.

Have a glorious and blessed day 🙂

The Pastor -|—

You can’t replace scripture

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

As I was browsing Twitter this morning, I came across an account I follow that had a picture of two theology books and a cup of coffee. The caption of their photo was this:

“Pretty much the perfect way to start the day.”

I get the coffee part and even a good dose of theological reading but immediately I noticed something missing.

Do you see it?

For me the perfect start to my day is prayer and then some Bible reading along with my cup of coffee and then later on, maybe some theological reading. So I responded to that Twitter account saying that the Bible was missing. The response I just received (as I am typing this post) was:

“There is so much Scripture in these books we could probably repiece the original manuscript together!”

Really? To which I responded:

“I get what you’re saying but these still can’t replace scripture itself.”

What I believe they are trying to say is that those books were excellent resources but they are only excellent resources because of what makes them excellent resources. So therefore, without the Bible, that picture is lacking.

Maybe I am being too picky but I just don’t want the Bible minimized and hopefully I didn’t come off as judgmental. Maybe it was an innocent mistake but if it was an oversight, does that say something? Am I over analyzing?

So now, as I get ready to hit “post” I received this response from that account:

“Definitely. I have my ESV on my phone…”

Praise be to God for that. Then let’s highlight, promote and put it out there:

The perfect start to your day?
~ Prayer
~ Scripture
~ (and of course) coffee 🙂

Rant done…have a great day.

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Prevailing

/ The Pastor

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. [Acts 19:20]

Sometimes I get the feeling that the Word of God is taking steps back. I watch the news (and that might be my first problem right there) and read the paper online and I see this world continuing to sink deeper into depravity. I see chaos all around and therefore plead with God, “Come, Lord Jesus and end it all.”

Here are just a few of the things I have been noticing:
~ With the rise of ISIS one wonders if this war can even be won. It’s scary.
~ Racism seems to be on the front burner again. Not that it ever left but it seems to be garnering more headlines now.
~ With continued court battles over marriage, it seems that traditional, biblical marriage is gone forever and families seem to be falling apart.
~ The prosperity gospel seems to be taking a stronger hold among many people as they strive for happiness now instead of eternal joy.
~ The holiness of God seems to be slipping into only a theological concept for many.

And I could go on, but that would get too depressing. Looking around; how does one not wonder what God is up to.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

But then I read the book of Acts. I am also reminded of Isaiah where he says that God’s Word WILL NOT return to Him empty. But more importantly, I am reminded of the cross. You see, God’s Word has already prevailed. Jesus has already won. The forces of evil and darkness have already been defeated. ISIS and racism and hatred and war and Satan may have their day, but that’s it.  God’s Word has prevailed and will continue to prevail.

And so I pray, “Come, Lord Jesus” so that those who do not know may find their hope in the Lord. Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.(Psalm 30:4-5 ESV) Morning is coming, my friends. Hold on and know that the Word of the Lord has prevailed through Jesus Christ.

Praise be to God!

The Pastor -|—