February 26, 2023

What The Good Samaritan Teaches Me About Love

We often think of Jesus’s Parable Of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) as a story about what it means to be a neighbor.

But in it’s complete context, Jesus teaches that being a neighbor is about loving and He uses the Parable of The Good Samaritan to give us an example of what love practically looks like.

The Samaritan did not give the man on the side of the road 5 dollars, he didn’t take him a plate of food and then left, he had compassion (Luke 10:33 σπλαγχνίζομαι – moved to a place centered in love), he loved the man as himself, and attended to the man, made provision for the man at his own expense until the man was well (Luke 10:34-35).

He entered into a relationship with this man, and continued in it as his keeper (Genesis 4:9).

I often see the need and say, “But, Lord, there are so many, the need is so great. I can’t possibly meet the need of so many.”

The problem is not the scale of the need (Matthew 14:16, Mark 6:37, Luke 9:13), but the distance of my heart from a place of love, therefore my lacking compassion, and my using the scale of the problem as an excuse to pass them by and leave them where they are (Luke 10:31-32).

My problem is I want to get back to my life –to my treasure, where my heart is also (Luke 12:34, 1 John 3:17).

But, there is no other life (John 14:6, Luke 12:15).

Life is receiving the love of Father through His Son and in like manner loving God back through loving the family of God and seeking to grow it by loving my neighbor (1 John 3:14-16).

The life I want to get back to; being successful in business, buying nice things, enjoying myself and being approved by men, is all a deception (1 John 2:16), and it is hindering me from living the true life, enjoying the true riches and being approved by God.

This isn’t just about the materially homeless and downcast. It is also about the spiritually homeless and downcast that I encounter every day at home, at work, in the course of daily activity.

They need care that Jesus has given us the capacity to give.

I repent Lord. Help me to comprehend the width, depth and height of Your love so that I may love as You love (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Enter in.

Continue.

Love until those Christ died for and now live for are well.

#perfectourlove

February 24, 2023

The Bible Is The Means, Not The End

Photo Courtesy of Ben Lockett – Flickr

There are many people who know the Bible well but don’t know our Lord at all.

That’s a trap that is easy to fall into, especially when we make the Bible like the bronze serpent that was given to lift people’s eyes upward to the Source of their salvation (Numbers 21:5-9), a foreshadowing of Christ (John 3:14), but instead they made it into an idol (2 Kings 18:4).

The Bible is like the frame to an interdimensional portal. Even though it’s beautifully constructed, its primary value is not its physical attributes –the words on the pages, but the bridge to another dimension that it facilitates.

From before time, the Father has purposed to establish means for you to be with Him (Matthew 25:34).

God is spirit (John 4:24), intangible, and imperceptible (unless He reveals Himself, we cannot reach or know Him) and His Word is among the first means He uses to make Himself known in a physical world, in a tangible, perceptible way (that we can grasp with our senses) through the expression of His Word in the Holy Scriptures recorded in our Bible.

The Bible is not the end.
The Bible is the means to the end.
Yet, what God reveals as recorded in Scripture is vital and we cannot arrive at the end without it.

There are many doors (ideas, philosophies, religions, lifestyles, paths etc.) but there is only One that leads to life and without the benefit of what God has already revealed as recorded in Holy Scripture, you will not see it properly and will miss it.

The Bible is vital.
But, the Bible is not the end.
The Bible is the means to the end.

The Bible is the frame to the portal.

Jesus is the door (and the bridge aka The Way).

The Father and His Kingdom is the end.

We’re not getting anywhere without the Door. So, the Door is the principal thing.

To those who have been granted ears to hear, eyes to see and approach the frame (Bible) in faith, the Door will appear.

Blessed are those who can see the Door! It is a marvelous, glorious thing to see the Door!

But we must still enter in.

Receive what the invisible God made visible through the Holy Spirit so you could perceive Him –which is the frame, Scripture, which points to the Door, Jesus Christ.

ASK, humbling yourself, confessing your deafness and blindness and He will give you ears to hear and eyes to see.
SEEK, searching diligently, believing God is and the Door will appear.
KNOCK, believing what God has revealed through Scripture and in these last days what He has spoken to us by His Son who came to us in the flesh, and the Door will be opened to you.

Don’t just stand at the Door.

Don’t be like the hypocrites who

stand outside pontificating about the frame,
won’t go in themselves and won’t allow others to,
striving about words,
straining a gnat and swallowing a camel,
always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth,
putting on shows based on their fleshly interpretation of the frame,
having a form of godliness but denying its power,
flattering ourselves with vain, empty, self-serving practices of legalism.

Don’t just stand at the Door.

Enter in.

But we can’t take anything with us.

I have to leave my identity behind.

I have to leave my pursuits behind.

I have to leave my possessions behind.

I have to trust Him for everything.

As we enter in, The Way transfigures us because no flesh can enter the Kingdom of God.

As we continue, The Way becomes narrower and narrower, forcing us to put things down and take things off, until all that can pass is a pure heart and spirit before God.

Believe.
See the Door.
Enter in.

When we enter in:

stepping out on what He reveals,
continuing along The Way in obedience,
allowing Him to conform us to the image of His dear Son,
yielding everything in our lives that is not like Him for Him to cut away,
exposing ourselves to the light, confessing sin and allowing Him to cleanse us from sin;

God becomes real to us. God is spirit so the manifestation of His reality is spiritual. There is a knowing. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit confirming that we are His (Romans 4:16-17, Galatians 6-7).

What is the evidence? How do I know that it has happened?

Love. (1 John 4:12)

You will love as He defines it. It is unmistakable and unlike anything on earth (John 13:35).

I have not attained. I know only in part. I have much growing to do. So, I press.

Join me.

Don’t just know the Bible, know God.

Enter in.

Know God.

Love.

#PerfectOurLove

February 22, 2023

Did you know there is a group of men, who meet every week to pray…

Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.

Did you know there is a group of men, who meet every week to pray for the students, families and staff of every school in Starkville and Oktibbeha County? And by every school, I mean every school: public schools, Headstart, Starkville Academy, Starkville Christian and Mississippi State University.

Today, those men went to be with our neighbors in Louisville, MS who are grieving from a devastating act of violence.

To our surprise, we were met by hundreds of men who had come together from all over with hearts torn for this community.

Chief Sammy Shumaker, spoke to the assembly and gave us a call to arms as men. He likened the challenges we're facing to a football game. He said [I paraphrase],

"The main problem I see, is that we (men) have taken a hit in the game that rocked us. We tapped our helmet to come out, which we need to do sometimes to regain our composure or recover, but the problem is we never returned to the game. However, we still have an opponent, the game hasn't stopped and women have come off the sidelines and put on your helmet and shoulder pads, taking hits they weren't designed for.

We need to go get our stuff back and get back in the game."

What a word.

And then, Will Hill, Mayor of Louisville, Mississippi called the assembly to prayer.

A pastor and dear brother of mine, Johnny Buckner often says that our response to the Word should be indicated by a change in your posture.

So, I got on my face, repenting of our loveless attitude and negligence towards our neighbors, asking that God move on the hearts of the men to make Himself known, not only to them but to the children, families and schools of Louisville and Winston County.

When I pray for a move of God, I never know exactly what it will look like but I know it will happen because He hears us when we pray from His heart (aka in His name). And, when I position myself through the activity of obedience, sometimes I get to see it.

And today, I saw a move of God.

It was remarkably unremarkable.

No fanfare. No loud voices. Just men standing, mostly in silence, together.

The spirit was quiet, committed, unified.

They stepped up. They organized. They planned how they would come together every week for their community.

As I write this, there is the sound of a mighty rushing wind all around my office.

May God add such that are being saved. And, may they turn the world upside down.

Pour out Your Spirit, Lord! Bring us to repentance that we may enjoy times of refreshing that come from You, together.

Amen.

February 17, 2023

When conversation becomes a courtroom, it is also dangerous to…

Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, February 17, 2023.

When conversation becomes a courtroom, it is also dangerous to serve as the prosecution because that's the spirit of Satan who is the accuser of men before God (Revelation 12:10) and if as a witness, I must be careful not to mischaracterize someone because God hates a false witness (Proverbs 6:16–19).

When conversation becomes a courtroom, it would be wise to call a recess and make every effort to take the conversation out of the courtroom where you're opponents and back to the courtyard as friends.

Note to self as a lesson from marriage.

"Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny."
Matthew 5:25-26

#perfectourlove

February 15, 2023

Spiritual Roots Produce Real World Fruit

I am grieved by the world. I desperately want to change it, but…

Spiritual roots produce real world fruit.

The suffering I see in the world is due to bad spiritual roots.

If I don’t get the spiritual right, all that I hope to do in the world will just produce more bad fruit.

Therefore, nothing is more important than seeking, establishing and strengthening roots into what is good and perfect.

I believe God is what is good and perfect. I believe Jesus is The Way. I believe when I focus on Him, good fruit in every area of life (government, community, enterprise, family, relationships, physical health, mental health, understanding and resources) will follow*.

*To distinguish this from false health-wealth prosperity gospel or name-it-and-claim theology, (which I hate) these are not things I believe to get but byproducts of the fruit that I produce, by the grace of God, as an effect of believing. The fruit is Love.

I cannot put effect before cause.

For now, as a sapling in Christ, I weather the storm, seeking to be a tree planted by the water, using adversity to drive my roots deeper and deeper into God, trusting Him to make me a mighty tree, that I may shelter others from the stormy blast and feed them with fruit from The Tree Of Eternal Life who’s leaf never fades and is always in season.

I am grieved by the world. I desperately want to change it, and this is how.

I seek to put down good roots and from that bear good fruit.

This is a caution to myself to not allow the pain of the world to distract me, to constantly pray and to maintain the proper order of operations.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
James 1:16-18

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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February 15, 2023

Ministry Begins At Home

No matter how involved in the community I am and all the good works I appear to do, I cannot glorify God if I’m neglecting my home (1 Timothy 5:8).

My ministry must begin at home because anything else is a misrepresentation of God.

Consider how the Godhead relates:

how the Father relates to the Son (Isaiah 42:1, Matthew 3:17, Mark 9:7, John 10:17-18),

how the Son relates to the Father (John 5:30, 8:29, Hebrews 1:3),

and how the Holy Spirit facilitates it all (Genesis 1:2, John 16:13-15).

They are true to Their love and commitment to each other ABOVE ALL (Deuteronomy 6:4).

THEN, They extend this inconceivably wonderful communion to others (John 17:24).

Every relationship, including Christ’s relationship to the Church, branches from that –the love They shared at “home” (John 15:9).

Love branches properly.

Love begins at home.

It’s like fire. It cannot warm those afar off without warming those nearby.

Love seeks incessantly to prosper, purify and perfect all who come in contact with the vessel carrying it, beginning at the vessel’s home (Acts 16:31).

Without that love, all else is just posturing (1 Corinthians 13).

Actually it’s worse, it’s saying God (Love) is something that He isn’t. It’s heresy.

Everything God ordains; marriage, family, ministry, reflects Him.

This informs my responsibility to my wife, children, parents -first.

Ministry of Love begins at home.

“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” -1 Timothy 5:8

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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#perfectourlove

February 12, 2023

I got angry and sinned today.

Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, February 12, 2023.

I got angry and sinned today.

I confess that I allowed my anger to drive me to speak to someone in an unloving way.

I repent and have sought reconcilation.

Ephesians 4:26 is huge!

"Be angry, and do not sin"

We're not commanded to not be angry. Think about that.

Anger is not a bad emotion.

It can be very appropriate.

We're told "be angry" AND "do not sin".

The key is not to allow anger to control you as it did me today.

Moving forward I will start by acknowledging my feelings and stopping and saying out loud,

"I am angry."

It's weird, but this is a combat tactic of disruption and creating separation.

It allows me to then decide how to direct that feeling in a way that is helpful and not harmful.

Remember when anger first appears in the Bible? This was God's instruction:

"Sin lies at the door.
Its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
-Genesis 4:7

To those who can accept it, sin is being unloving. Always. Conversely, love is the fulfillment of the law of righteousness. (Romans 13:10)

We should learn from the instruction of the Father, the example of Jesus Christ and the tutelage of the Holy Spirit to "possess our own vessel" (1 Thess 4:4) and RULE, commanding everything in our lives, including our emotions, to further the interests of Love.

I have not already attained, but I press.

#PerfectOurLove

February 8, 2023

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #6 – Alex Romanov

In week 6 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for Alex Romanov.

This guy loves me.

How do I know?

I just know.

There’s something about his spirit and approach to me that conveys it.

The first time I met Alex was at the gym. I’m trying not to die on the bench press and he walks up, handing out these little strips of paper with Scripture on it.

That’s right. Our first encounter was him “Bible thumping” as some might call it.

But Brother Alex could and should teach a class on witnessing.

His spirit and approach was that he was sharing someone dear to him with someone dear versus giving something to someone that he thought they lacked.

His example is how we should all witness:

Love God.
Love people how God loves you.
Then witness (share Him with them), because it’s not witnessing until I’ve done the first two.

I am grateful for his witness. So much so, that I now I seek him out asking, “What’s the Word, Alex?” (VeggieTales insider joke)

I am delighted to share the dear gift of Christ with such a dear brother. Thank you Brother Alex for the rare and precious gift that gets better the more you give it away. I love you too.

I’m thankful.

#52WoG

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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February 6, 2023

True Riches

God is doing a wonderful and difficult work of tearing down and building up in my life.

He’s making an all out assault against things that separate me from Him (many of which I’m still clinging to, but day-by-day am learning to let go) and He is building up those things that make for my peace.

Here is a beautiful and unexpected revelation from Luke 15-16 that cuts me deeply. I pray it blesses you and draws you nearer to God as it is presently doing for me.

Family reunion.

This is what makes God happy.

The heart and desire of the Father is to be with His children, regardless of how they were lost:

whether they were lost because they wandered (Luke 15:4-7),
whether they were lost due to a failure of those who were supposed to keep them (Luke 15:8-10),
whether they were lost because they rebelled (Luke 15:11-24),
whether they were lost because their hearts were hardened due to self righteousness (Luke 15:25-32).

The heart and desire of the Father is to be with His children (Luke 15:20,32).

Everytime even one is restored, there’s a party in heaven (Luke 15:7, 10, 22-24).

This is what makes God happy.

Then Jesus makes a point about leadership and the religious establishment (Luke 16).

We can make God happy by pointing His children to Him, but we won’t because we’re lost!

We won’t commit ourselves to the work that pleases the Father because we’re enslaved to another master: our love of money (Luke 16:1-13).

As a result, we embezzle the resources the Father gave us for His work and spend it on ourselves to our own hurt, forfeiting the “true riches” (Luke 16:1-13).

Even in that there’s grace. In this series of parables, Christ is being about the Father’s business. He is working to please the Father and His admonition is to restore us to Him!

He is teaching what makes for our peace (Luke 19:42).

What I’m learning is that I’d be richer, more at peace, by laying down my life (possessions, power and position) to secure brothers and sisters in Christ, resulting in me having less materially but us having everything together, sharing Christ in God forever –gaining the true riches (Luke 16:9-11).

Jesus clearly teaches:
to love God, I must hate money (Luke 14:26, 16:13),
that we are to trade in our earthly treasures for heavenly treasures (Luke 12:33),
that we are to use money for eternal purposes (Luke 16:9).

But what does the scripture say of Christ?

The Father loves the Son because He lay down His life for the sheep. (John 10:15-17)

Consider Christ.
Repent.
Follow Him.

This is the journey I find myself on in the footsteps of Christ. I am striving to finish the race and endure to the end.

Please pray for me.

#TrueRiches #PerfectOurLove

February 4, 2023

Faith Is To Go Before

So much of faith is
going in spite of,
in spite of my desire,
in spite of my instinct

My INSTINCT IS to wait on God to provide then GO WHEN the path is clear

When FAITH IS to GO BEFORE the path is clear and watch God provide in the process

Faith is to go in the direction of God’s will before it makes sense

to go before I see it,
to go before I’m ready,
to go before I think I can,
to go before I’ve figured it out,
to go before others understand,
to go when I don’t want to,
to go before I feel like it,
to go before it’s easy,

to go believing God (God’s way is better than my way),
to go seeking His will,
to go forsaking my will (until His will becomes my will),
to go making all I am and all I have available for His purposes,
to go trusting Him to achieve His purposes (with all things, including what I’ve given to Him) –even if I don’t live to see it

Faith is to go, believing God, that He is good, His Way is good and that He wins.

Joy is the evidence of my confidence.

#faith

Paul Luckett

Proceed with caution. Visibility is limited.

Category Archives: Faith

What The Good Samaritan Teaches Me About Love

The Bible Is The Means, Not The End

Did you know there is a group of men, who meet every week to pray…

When conversation becomes a courtroom, it is also dangerous to…

Spiritual Roots Produce Real World Fruit

Ministry Begins At Home

I got angry and sinned today.

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #6 – Alex Romanov

True Riches

Faith Is To Go Before