Bitten

Have you ever really thought about how people treat each other?

The Bible gives this great picture of the shepherd and the flock. Jesus is the great Shepherd. Believers are His sheep and follow Him. Beware sheep have teeth!

“Bites” come in all forms - Rumors, gossip, lying, any way you can tear down ones character, and unforgiveness. Petty to big things cut, but death can occur by thousand paper cuts.

Christians must be masters of forgiveness. The lack of it manifests over time when we:

-        hold back, we remember past hurts, and shut down others.

-        make lists and labels concerning people. We view them as “land mines”, and make excuses not to do things with them.

-        plan revenge, gossip, and want to punish those who have hurt us.

Before you know it you’re “done”...

But Jesus said, "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:32-34

Offering forgiveness heals your wounds. As God for the strength to do it right now. Put a smile on His face. Amen?

Openings

The book of Jeremiah teaches us great lessons on the nature of God and His relationship with people. It is said that Jeremiah had the ministry of opposition. Do you ever feel like when you take a stand for Christ all you get is attacked? Be encouraged God is with you, and if you are being faithful then you put a smile on His face. That is what counts.

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest '? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.… John 4:34-36

God said, “Don’t focus at the opposition – that’s my job. Focus at the opportunities.” Always keep your eyes and heart open - it's harvest time! Amen?

God's Love

Do we love God with our heart, mind, body, and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves? 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, Love is patient, love is kind…

Are we showing these attributes of God as a sign to the world around us? Here’s a test. When you are holding a drink in a cup and you are bumped something usually spills out, right?

What happens when we’re bumped? You know – when something doesn’t go right or the way you want – someone makes you mad, etc.. You get bumped. So what comes out of you?

Know this -what spills out of us is really what is in us!

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:8-9.

Let’s work and focus on what is in us so we’ll know in advance what will spill out. Amen?

Not Done Yet

There is a beautiful passage found in Psalm 71:14-18 that tells us how we should live our lives, and share what God has done.

As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long—though I know not how to relate them all. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.

Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

Look what is said in the next verse about sharing with younger generations.

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.

Those of us that are older should take special note of this verse. We feel sometimes as we get older that we’ve done our share, or we’re ready to “sit and soak”. This is not Scriptural! Craig Groeschel says, If you are not dead – then you are not done!

The conversation goes both ways, and we both have things to teach each other. May we tell of the great things that the Lord has done.

Amen?

Died or Dyed

I heard someone say the other day, "Dead is Dead". That's kind of blunt, but that's what it comes down to for all of us. Will we choose to devote ourselves entirely to Someone who’s alive and can bring us vitality, victory, fruitfulness, and freedom? Or will we keep trying to hold on to our old existence – something that’s dead and ought to be buried?

We are spiritually lifeless without any connection to God. Baptism in the Spirit is a universal reality for Christians. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.– 1 Corinthians 12:13

We can die or we can be dyed by Jesus Christ. We are different and are living in a different environment after we accept Christ – we are now the color of Christ!

Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit comes to stay.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.– John 14:16-17

He thinks with incredible wisdom and intelligence, because “the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10)

All believers can be alive and over-flowing with the Spirit if we choose.

What are you choosing this day?

Be wise - be anointed - be alive in Christ.
Amen?

Three B's

Israel is about to be dominated by Egypt in Exodus 1:11-14.  "So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly."

This gives us a great illustration of the 3 B’s of sin.

A. The bondage of sin.

v. 11, 14 This new Pharaoh is a picture of Satan, the toughest taskmaster you’ll ever have. He’s shrewd and such a deceiver. V. 10 shows this clearly, “let us deal wisely with them...”

B. The burden of sin.

v. 11 There’s no greater burden than the burden of sin, and no greater blessing than having that burden lifted. The OT has 3 Hebrew words which are translated as ‘forgive.’ One means to send away. One means to cover. One means to ‘lift away.’.

C. The bitterness of sin.

v. 14 It may be fun for a while, but it always ends badly, and with regret. Proverbs 9:17-18: "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!" But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

There is pleasure in sin, for a season. Like the moth to the flame, like a bug to a zapper, like an insect to fly paper, saying I want to taste that sweet honey, and then we realize we’re stuck! You think you can have a little sin, and then you realize the sin has you! Make today your day of freedom - ask God to forgive and repent of your sins.

Amen?

Waiting

We moved out to our 23 acre mini farm in Ohio the Spring of 1987 the grass was growing and the flowers were blooming. I never saw anything more lovely and green in my life! We had a big storm the second night we were there that knocked our electric out, and wondered how many more we would have to endure that Summer. The answer ended up being zero. It never rained again. By mid Summer everything looked to be dead or dying, and the ground started to crack. The ground became drier and drier even though I tried watering and watering. It didn’t seem to help, but then I noticed my hard work had not gone to waste. Something was indeed growing! The soil was fertile... for weeds! The dry and dusty ground was indeed a fertile place.

Even in good weather when plants are thriving, the weeds grow and spread much faster than the plants I desire to keep. It’s as if the weeds need very little to germinate and grow. I think the same thing happens to us. God brings us to a dry and dusty place for the purpose of creating something beautiful. Sometimes we think nothing will grow in the place God has put us because it feels like a dry and barren desert. But that’s not true!

The soil God has planted us in is indeed fertile ground. It is a soil in which God desires to nurture us through our struggles and drive our roots deep. God’s desire is that we would trust Him and bloom with thanksgiving, praise and joy even in a desert. Too often we respond to His nurturing by giving back a bumper crop of weeds in the form of complaint and doubt.

If this is where you find yourself look with new eyes today and see God's hand. It's there.