In Week 4 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a welcome visit.
Sunday night I receive a text, “Hey Uncle Paul, I was wondering if I can come over there tomorrow and we can watch the college football national championship together”
My nephew is a son to me. He is so dear to me. Of all the things he could be doing, to think he’d want to spend time with here with us…
It brings tears to my eyes, even now.
Because there’s no where I’d rather be.
I’m grateful.
#52WoG
How is the one sitting on the throne of your life doing? How is that government working for you?
If you’re weary of unjust, oppressive, and ineffective government, and are yearning for a better homeland—a government of righteousness, with the peace, harmony, and wellness that results—the good news is “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.
My previous king constantly led me to death and disappointment. He was corrupt and an unwitting vassal of another kingdom.
I’m referring to my former self.
But now, I couldn’t be more pleased with Jesus, my Savior and King.
He leads me well.
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”
– 2 Corinthians 2:14
The triumph He always leads us to is experiencing the kingdom of God more.
I commend Him to you.
Denounce your government, and defect to Christ: Repent.
Know this: it’s not easy. It is the hardest thing you will ever do.
Defection will make you an enemy of the state. It costs everything, but His kingdom is unquestionably worth it.
In Week 3 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for our sons’ honor.
This past week, we celebrated our queen’s birthday.
Without my prompting, knowledge, or involvement, our sons coordinated all the moving pieces that made for a beautiful weekend. They demonstrated attentiveness and a keen understanding of their mother by cooking meals she loved.
We talked, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company all weekend long, interspersed with delicious food lovingly prepared.
It was already a gift to have our loved ones with us, but to have them near and loving on each other as a celebration of a beloved’s life… well, there’s no greater honor.
Seeing the men our children have become, as evidenced by how they honored the first lady of their life, fills me with great joy and hope.
I’m grateful.
#52WoG
Jesus was not afraid of the cross, He resolutely accepted it.
It was the cup that gave Him pause.
“He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’”
— Matthew 26:39
The cup of wrath—the just penalty for all sin, incomprehensibly terrifying cosmic destruction—is poured out on a single point: the Lamb.
It is an event so massive, it reconstitutes time.
We observed the spectacle of the cross over two thousand years ago.
But, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.
And, it covers sin that will be committed any number of years from now, before His return.
The penalty is necessary because the Kingdom of God is perfect.
All sin must be negated. All corruption must be purged.
The equation is balanced. The problem is solved. His accounting is perfect.
Therefore, for our debts to be forgiven, someone has to pay them.
There is but one payment for sin: death. And, it is Jesus who pays it.
Who can withstand God’s wrath? Who else could die countless deaths in an instant and still survive?
God can.
It’s why a Jesus who’s just another man who had some good things to say, won’t do.
It has to be Jesus, the only begotten Son of God (begotten meaning having the same nature as whatever begot), who pays the debt. He has to be God, because God is the only one who can.
Which brings me to my ultimate point: my sin, even though it is forgiven, is not without cost.
Every sin I commit hurts Jesus. Every sin I will commit will hurt Jesus.
He dies for my sin. Every. Single. One.
No one who truly loves Him would wantonly add to His suffering.
On this point, I begin to realize the gravity of my sin.
I love Him. The last thing I want to do is hurt Him.
Help me, O God!
#gospel
You can’t just have bits of food and call it communion.
Communion is more than a meal.
Jesus is Communion.
He is an active participant. It is not communion without Him.
We bring Him.
And we bring Him by sharing in a way that answer questions such as:
When was the last time you remember being in His presence? What did He say? What did He do? What was He like?
What part of Jesus are you bringing? His Love? His teaching? His prophecy? His wisdom? His healing? His service? His joy? (1 Corinthians 12:8-10,28 Romans 12:6-8, Galatians 5:22-23)
In addition to sharing sacrificially, we must come prepared to overcome whatever divides us to reveal His Oneness (1 Corinthians 11:17-27).
This shows forth His death until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).
That’s communion and is what I will make every effort to enjoy today.
#communionneverends
There is a difference between our belief and the belief that saves.
The belief that results from human effort, such as that which comes from reason, argument or because we like an idea, is not the same belief that accompanies salvation.
The belief that accompanies salvation comes from seeing a Savior. Flesh and blood cannot reveal that to you. That only happens when God does you a great kindness and decides to introduce Himself, allowing you to see Him and making Himself known.
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’”
— Matthew 16:17
You know when the belief that comes from above happens as it always results in “falling down” and repentance because you’ll really see yourself in light of the woefully obvious contrast between Him and yourself.
“So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.’”
— Isaiah 6:5
And yet there’s another progression. Belief is not the same as faith.
Belief is a divine revelation of the Word received by a divinely prepared heart. Faith, the life that results and moves according to the Seed, is the fruit.
Life requires movement; it is the power of God, and the children of God born according to His seed is propelled by it.
“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
— Philippians 2:13
It’s all grace—the entire process from belief, to faith, to works, is God’s kindness, wisdom and working—removing any cause for boasting so the glory is His alone!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
— Ephesians 2:8-9
If this has not happened in your life yet, this is not a condemnation but a kindness. You now know what to ask for, so you can humble yourself, ask, seek and knock (pray, read and actively wait in humility). (Luke 11:9-13)
The humility part is the most important. You can’t demand it any more than you can demand the reciprocation of a love interest. Your posture must be, ”You’re worth it Lord, as long as it takes”, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)
#grace #savingfaith
Oh! How beautiful!
“For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.”
—1 Corinthians 10:17
We are one bread.
Communion is more than eating bread and drinking wine.
When we participate in communion, we partake of the Bread of Life which is Christ (John 6:48) and we drink of the wine of His blood (John 6:55), then we BECOME communion—we become what we eat—Christ.
Our Catholic brothers and sisters are on the right track with transubstantiation, except what becomes the body of the Lord isn’t the bread or the wine, it’s us.
Hallelujah.
We are called to communion as a celebration and revelation of the oneness we have through Christ—through the consumption of His person: His body and His blood where we become one with Him so that we too are bread and wine that others can consume to be brought into communion.
What this practically looks like is us breaking bread as believers in remembrance of Him, with the expectation of union with Him and through Him.
Then we take it out, breaking bread with others: over breakfast, over lunch, over dinner, with the expectation of sharing Christ so that they may taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), with the hope to draw them into Holy Communion.
Let’s walk this out together. Let’s break bread with one another with the full expectation to share the Lord bodily.
And, let’s do as our Lord commands, let’s not fail to discern the Lord’s body by showing partiality—only inviting those from who we stand to benefit, but also invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and be blessed (Luke 14:12-14).
Communion never ends.
#communionneverends
*Art Copyright Mike Moyers. “Lenten Labyrinth”, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
See the full sermon, “Communion Never Ends” here: https://youtu.be/btUcr_DHL3E
Sometimes I feel bad for being beat to hell, for being sad, and not being happy about it.
It feels like if I were just better—if I were more holy, if I were more thankful, if I were less selfish—the pain shouldn’t affect me, that I should be happy and able to carry on as though I’m not in pain.
But, I am so thankful for the moments of humanity in the Bible, especially that of Jesus,
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”
— John 12:27-28
“My soul is troubled…” This is so deeply helpful to me. It, and passages like it, show me that I can register the full range of human emotions and still honor God.
The key, Jesus demonstrates, is loving God, desiring His Kingdom and concentrating on God’s glory—not allowing the feeling to make me put down my cross or cause me to deviate from the path of Calvary—dying and living again for the reconciliation of everything in my sphere.
I don’t have to be happy, but I can be honest and honor. I can carry on doing the things that are profitable for the purpose I am sent.
In that, there’s help, there’s rest, and there’s always joy.
“Father, glorify Your name.”
#sometimesithurts #buttheresalwaysjoy
Sometimes it hurts.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
— John 16:33
Christianity is not some magic protection against misfortune, being mistreated or things going wrong. And, I can’t do enough good things to prevent bad things from happening to me.
Jesus called John the Baptist “the greatest one born of woman” (Matthew 11:11).
Not a good one, the greatest.
He’s walking in his calling. He’s innocent, having done nothing wrong.
Yet he’s sitting in prison, about to be murdered by having his head cut off.
In this account in Matthew 11, John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to Jesus.
Does Jesus respond to John the Baptist’s wrongful imprisonment by some heavenly miracle to release him?
No.
Not in this case, at least. (Acts 12:5-16, 16:25-34)
How does Jesus respond?
“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.'”
– Matthew 11:4-5
What is Jesus doing?
He assures him.
In other words, Jesus tells John, “Your hope in Me is not in vain.”
Jesus is fortifying John’s soul.
A vicious lie, a half-truth at best, often peddled by the industrial church and Cultural Christianity is “Everything will be alright,” as to say, “Things will eventually work out the way I want them to in this life.”
We’ve been deceived to believe that our heavenly conversion exempts us from the earthly consequences of sin being in the world. (John 16:33)
But, disaster, hardship, violence, injustice and suffering can and does befall believers as it does people throughout the whole world. (Romans 8:22)
At this very moment there are believers who are:
losing their jobs,
not able to keep the lights on,
losing their homes,
terminally ill,
disabled,
suffering abuse,
persecuted,
hungry,
in prison,
grieving,
dying
…
And, it may not be resolved on this side of heaven.
Suggesting otherwise is a complete denial of people’s suffering or implies that they are somehow doing Christianity wrong!
But Christianity is not about denying pain, escaping reality, or pretending everything is fine.
It’s not a coping mechanism or an exercise in cognitive dissonance. It’s real power. (2 Timothy 1:7, 3:5)
Sometimes there’s simply seasons of suffering.
God is completely able to change any circumstance.
But, He may choose not to. (Daniel 3:16-18)
What we can always be assured of is His purposes will be achieved.
And, His purposes are good. (Romans 8:28)
And, you, your suffering and everything concerning you are accounted for in His good purposes. (Matthew 10:30)
Regarding seasons of suffering, a part of God’s good purposes is making your soul able to weather them all. (Matthew 7:24-26)
A part of His good purpose is to make you like His Son-steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. (Philippians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 15:58)
That’s all well and good, but back to John, what good is a steadfast spirit or assurances when I’m about to get my head chopped off?!
If there’s not anything beyond the here and now, it means nothing.
But, if what we believe of Jesus is true, it means everything.
And, it is on this point where the sheep and goats are divided. (John 10:26-27)
Goats may follow up to a point as long as they’re getting what they want.
But, sheep follow to the end. (Revelation 2:10)
Here is where true faith is revealed, or the lack thereof which is not for condemnation but is an opportunity for reevaluation and repentance. (2 Corinthians 13:5)
In the darkness of the eleventh hour is where we’re confronted with what we truly believe and who we will ultimately serve. (Luke 22:61, John 21:15-19)
Here is what Jesus says in His eleventh hour,
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?
But for this purpose I came to this hour.
Father, glorify Your name.
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.'”
– John 12:27-28
Suffering is not only allowed sometimes to test and to steel us, but it is in the darkness of the eleventh hour where we can shine the brightest, giving glory to God.
When we are asked for “a reason for the hope that is in you,” (1 Peter 3:15), it is usually in dark, difficult places.
If you can bear it, John is being glorified. Just as we are being glorified when we choose, as disciples of Christ, to commit our lives, including our suffering to God’s purposes. (John 17:22)
“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
– Romans 8:16-17
When we commit it to Him, God achieves His glory through us. (Romans, 12:1, 2 Corinthians 4:7-11)
This is how our glory mainly appears in this life. (Matthew 5:16, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Revelation 3:8-11)
So, horrible things can happen to me, and sometimes I can and should seek deliverance from them, but whether I am delivered or not, I have to decide whether I will commit it to Him, whether I will follow Jesus to the end.
And this is the end: the whole world delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God where we will enjoy Him together without hindrance forever in complete safety because Jesus is King. (Isaiah 11, Romans 8:21, Revelation 22:3-5)
My hope is to see a glimpse of the Kingdom now, but my ultimate hope is not here. My ultimate hope is to be a part of its full consummation with you in the world to come. (Psalm 27:13, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, Hebrews 11:16, Revelation 21)
When we confront hardships, including death, Jesus assures us as He did John the Baptist.
“Though you may not see it, the Word is true. I’m liberating the world.”
“Your work in My name is reconciling people from darkness to light.”
“Your hope in Me is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Therefore, I must strive to follow Jesus to the end, and embrace the path even when it is marked by hardship and suffering.
#sometimesithurts
Church service after church service.
Bible study after Bible study.
Book after book.
We read.
We read.
We read.
We hear.
We hear.
We hear.
How many times have we heard a Word from God and said, “Ooh that’s good!”, only to revert five minutes later back to the way we were before?
So, how do we make it stick?
How do we lodge what we’ve read or heard of God’s Word in our souls, so our hearts stay lifted and the heaven it brings remains on earth?
We eat.
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
— John 6:53
And what does it look like to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ?
Jesus gives us an example:
My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
— John 4:34
Jesus is soul-food.
“For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.”
— John 6:55-57
To “eat” is to make what you’ve consumed a part of you by walking it out—application is mastication.
Because, faith without works is dead.
The problem is we don’t eat it, we lick it.
We get a quick taste, say, “Ooh, that’s good!”, and immediately abandon it for the next thing that commands our attention.
“Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
— Mark 4:18-19
We don’t drink the Word deep by dedicating time and space to it, sitting with it, exploring it and attempting to live it out. As a result, it never becomes real to us and nothing comes of it.
It’s just an idea that someone has to get us excited about over and over again.
“These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”
— Mark 4:16-17
But, those who received the Seed and bear good fruit, the ones in whom the Word took root, they operate after their own kind, Jesus—the true vine.
What does that look like?
It looks like people taking up their cross and following, Jesus.
It looks like people concerning themselves with what Jesus concerned Himself with, preaching the gospel, seeking above all the Kingdom of God and its righteousness.
It looks like the ministry of reconciliation, making straight the path for the lost to be reconciled to communion with God through Jesus Christ.
Listen!
Luke 9:49 gives an account of the disciples who came across a man who heard Jesus and immediately got to the business of waging war against demonic occupation, and confronting them in the name of Jesus.
The problem was, he didn’t go to seminary, he wasn’t ordained, he wasn’t known among the establishment and the disciples forbade him.
But how did Jesus respond?
“But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.’”
— Luke 9:50
Why?
Because he was showing us how to make the Word stick.
He took up his cross and followed Jesus.
He got after the Father’s business.
He walked it out.
He ate.
We should do likewise.