Grace For The Journey

  There is a wonderful verse in the book of Joshua that offers God’s people profound comfort, security, assurance, and encouragement: “There failed not any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” (21:45).  What a powerful testimony to the faithfulness of our God!  When He makes a promise, He keeps it – past, present, and future.  As one wise writer observed, “God will keep all His promises whether you believe them or not!”

So . . . what do you need to believe God for today? The list of His promises is long enough to fill a thick book!

Feeling Anxious?

God promises in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Feeling Guilty?

God promises in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Feeling Fearful?

God promises in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Feeling Financial Strain?

God promises in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Feeling Stingy?

God promises in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Feeling Hopeless?

God promises in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Feeling Alone?

God promises in Matthew 28:20, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God has promised to meet all of your needs.  However, it’s important to understand He has not promised to provide all of your wants and desires.  You may want a new car . . . but you may not need a new car.  You may want a bigger house . . . but you may not need a bigger house.  You may want a higher paying job . . . but you may not need a higher paying job.

It serves the Christian well to think about the promises of God daily and rest in the truth that every promise made by God is both ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).  John Piper writes, “The question that God asks us is this: Are you living in the fullest enjoyment of God’s YES to you in Christ Jesus?  Or to put it another way: Have you said yes to all of God’s YES to you?  Is there any of God’s YES to you to which you are saying NO or MAYBE or NOT NOW?”

Remember, if you are not standing on the promises of God, you are not standing on solid ground!  You are standing on shifting sand and will continually be at the mercy of the strongest wind that is blowing at the time.  Let the truth that God has never broken a promise – and never will – cause you to build your life on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.  Nothing in the universe can shake this foundation.  You have His Word on it . . . His Word that was true then and now!

This is God Word For Today …This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest & Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Yesterday was Palm Sunday: the day we remember our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on the foal of a donkey . . . knowing full well that His way ultimately would lead to the cross. The Bible spoke about this day in Zechariah 9:9. In that verse the prophet declares, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold, your king comes to you; He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Let’s look at this passage at little deeper for a moment. The first thing we learn is the overwhelming humility of the Lord Jesus Christ! He didn’t ride into Jerusalem on a nobleman’s stallion or in a conqueror’s chariot. Jesus rode on the foal of a donkey, so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled – the Scriptures He wrote (2 Timothy 3:16). And He wrote into the script the most unlikely of animals that would carry the King of kings and Lord of lords upon his back.

You will remember that the people were filled with excitement and enthusiasm; they made it known to all who were in earshot: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they cried. “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 21:9).

Hosanna means “save now,” and that is exactly what these people were anticipating: salvation now from the repressive rule of Rome. The people also made their joy known to all those who could see, greeting their King by waving palm branches and laying them as a covering for the path He was riding on.

The Bible says in John 12:12-13, “The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Palm branches were symbolic of goodness and victory in that day. Revelation 7:9-12 describes how the saved from every nation will raise palm branches to honor Jesus. During Holy Week, the people were waving branches to honor the Messiah, eagerly anticipating a smashing triumph over the hated Roman oppressor . . . not a triumph over sin. They were expecting a political leader and military messiah who would restore Israel to her former glory. They gave absolutely no thought to the notion of a Suffering Servant who would come to take away the sins of the world.

Just five days later, when the people realized that Jesus would not be expelling the Roman oppressors, their shouts of praise turned into screams of condemnation: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21). Before the fresh-cut palm branches had lost their healthy green color, the people were seeking the death of the One who had come to give them life. However, Jesus was undeterred. He was on a mission, and He would not let anything stand in His way – neither the applause of men nor their condemning cries. He was in the center of the will of His Father . . . and in a few days He would be hanging from a cruel cross, bleeding and gasping out His last agonized breaths.

Regardless of where this finds you today as we move through Passion Week, take some time to reflect on the One who came in unimaginable humility to conquer both sin and death so that you might have eternal life. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:2, “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It will lead you to raise your voice in thanksgivings, praise, and celebration over what Jesus has done!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

(“Hallelujah! What a Savior,” by Philips Bliss, 1875)

This is God Word For Today …This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest & Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Next week is Passion week – the time when we focus on the work of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The Bible teaches that everyone must go the way of the cross for salvation and daily surrender.  Here is the most important truth about the cross every Christian has been called to bear: It is not a cross of your own making; God has assigned it to you!

The Bible says in Luke 9:23-24, “Jesus] said to them all: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

The audience our Lord was speaking to knew well what this meant. In the Roman Empire, a condemned criminal or captive was forced to carry the beam of his own cross to the place of execution. Jews and Gentiles alike had witnessed this ghastly scene countless times as condemned men dragged their crosses through the streets of the city.

The Bible reiterates this truth in Matthew 10:38 when Jesus says, “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.”

The Christian cross is not a choice; it has been prepared by our Lord, and we are to take it up as a badge of honor – not a burden of horror. Each day we are commanded by Christ to submit our shoulder to that beautiful beam, which is designed to crucify the self and exalt our Savior.

Jesus led the way in cross-bearing for every Christian to follow. “Christ suffered for you,” the Scriptures explain, “leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). What better way to identify with the Captain of our salvation than to carry our own cross on the way to glory?

Make no mistake; as it was then, it is also today. The Via Crucis [Latin for the Way of the Cross] is the way of safety and security because our Savior has gone before us. We need not fear nor faint as we tread its thorny paths, because they lead us to our Lord. As we have surrendered to Christ, we must surrender to our cross, bearing its burden by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we follow the Crucified One, we too must be crucified as God conforms us into the image and likeness of Christ.

So . . . do you accept the calling of your cross today? Divine will says it is for God’s glory and your good. Let those two truths strengthen you under the weight of your cross as you make your way, by God’s grace, to the Celestial City where the One who carried the cross before you waits to greet you with open arms and nail-scarred hands.

This is God Word For Today …This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest And Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  The Christian has been saved for service. Notice that I did not say “saved by service.” We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and we have been saved for service, not by it. If you’ll recall yesterday’s blog, I said that we have been saved from our isolation and saved to community; today I add the truth that we have been saved for service of God.

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, “But as touching brotherly love you need not that I write unto you: for you yourselves are taught to love one another.  And indeed you do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren that you  increase more and more.”   Paul taught the believers to serve one another in love.  The church has much we can show the world about servant-hearted, sacrificial love and ministry.

God has paid the ultimate price for us through the blood of His precious Son, Jesus Christ. Yet we are not called by God to serve Him out of a sense of duty, but rather out of a sense of devotion . . . out of a heart that beats with love and thanksgiving. Our service to God is to be rooted in gratitude, not guilt, and we are to be the hands of the Holy One. This is illustrated by the following story:

At the end of World War II a group of German students volunteered to help rebuild an English cathedral that had been severely damaged by German bombs. As the work progressed, they were concerned about a large statue of Jesus, whose arms were outstretched and beneath was the inscription, “Come unto Me!” The hands were completely destroyed, and as hard as they tried they could not mend them. So they decided to let the hands remain missing and changed the inscription to . . .

CHRIST HAS NO HANDS BUT OURS!

What a wonderful solution these students devised! Christ has no hands but ours! That is a wonderful truth that should provide all the motivation we need to live for Jesus. The truth is, we will all give our lives for something. Some give their lives to their careers; others give their lives for fame and fortune; still others give their lives over to their hobbies.

So . . . what will you give your life for? Will it be to expand the cause of your kingdom . . . or His kingdom? Will you be pursuing your agenda . . . or the agenda of the Almighty? Remember, Christ has no hands but ours. May our hands stay engaged in the work of expanding His kingdom throughout a fallen and broken world, as fallen and broken people who are saved by God’s grace and called to a life of joyful, selfless service.

This is God Word For Today …This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest And Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, do you know what happened when you said “I believe”?  You were engrafted into the body of Christ and immediately went from believing to belonging.  As someone has said, “you were saved as an individual, but you were saved to community.”

This truth is troubling for many in a society that prizes independence and individualism.  We live in a culture where the demands and desires of the individual trump the demands and desires of the community, group, organization, or family.  It is not uncommon to hear new believers admit that they fear losing their independence to the church; they’ll say things like, “I love Jesus but not the church” and “I am spiritual but in no way religious.”  When people say such things, they are actually asserting that they have no interest in giving up their own personal rights, desires, wants, and preferences to anyone, including their family members in the church.  It is the clear and present evidence of a self-centeredness that has a stranglehold on them.

I’m a pastor, and I have heard a great many horror stories of believers who have been hurt by the church.  It has been said – all too often with complete justification – that the church shoots its wounded.  Christians can be mean and hurtful.  I know; I’m part of the church, and the church is made up of broken, fearful, hurting people just like me and you.  Yet, the church is the body of Christ, and we simply cannot have the Head without His body.

Jesus intended our salvation to be worked out in the context of community.  Remember, history (His story) ends with a wedding (Revelation 19:6-9), and I have never seen or officiated at a wedding with only one person present.  A wedding is a celebration of hearts being united to beat as one, and this is the environment God has created for His people in His church – to live, love, work, grow, serve, suffer, and rejoice for each other.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.  If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”  On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,  and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.  If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

This really is good news!  If you have acknowledged that you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself and asked Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, you belong to something that transcends your own life; you are part of the family of God.  Maybe your church family is a little messed up and a bit dysfunctional but Jesus loves them and died for them – all of them – and you are to love them . . . yes, even lay down your life for them, just as Christ loved you and laid down His life for you (Ephesians 4:32).

Keep in mind that the church is the only organization in the world where membership is limited to those who are unqualified for membership.  We get in only because of the One who sought us, bought us, and brought us in.

One last important point: it is only as a member of the body that you will ever get to truly know your Savior.  You see more of Jesus the more you see, interact with, and relate to the ones He came to save.  You also see more of yourself the more you see, interact with, and relate to the ones He died to save.  As someone has said, “Everybody who belongs to Jesus belongs to everybody who belongs to Jesus”  (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).  Believe and belong; it’s worth the effort!

This is God’s Word For Today …This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest & Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

 Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  At first glance, you might be thinking I am referring to the time-honored practice of flipping a coin.  This coin toss is used to start football games in determining possession at the beginning of the game.  Sometimes it is used to decide an issue between two parties; “I’ll flip you for it,” someone might say.

Let’s see what our Lord says about heads and tails:

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28:13, “The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them.”

God promised to place His people, Israel, in power and privilege above all others if they were obedient.  Yet how often they chose the way of the “tail” and not the “head” by doing what was right in their own eyes.

But this is not what God want for His people!  Because of what Jesus has done for you in His perfect obedience – in both life and death – this promise, indeed “all the promises of God in [Christ] are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Inasmuch as God is pleased to bless His people materially, we must receive this promise in the deepest spiritual sense.  All those who are in Christ are above all those who are not in power (lacking the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit) and privilege (not adopted as a child of the Most High God).  The lowliest Christian in the eyes of the world possesses this power and privilege because of Jesus.  It is the Lord who makes us “the head and not the tail,” and for that we must be eternally grateful.

One of the best ways to show our gratitude to God is by living out practically what we are positionally.  We are to represent the One who laid His life down for us to this fallen and broken world.  When we live in a way that consistently reflects the God who recreated us we will …

• Live gratefully
• Serve sacrificially
• Love unconditionally

When Jesus transforms the heart, He also transforms the head and the hands.  Now, I am not speaking about perfection in practice, but I am speaking about progression in performance.  It’s what theologians call progressive sanctification, where we are being sanctified progressively by the same grace that saved us throughout life.

Paul sets forth this truth beautifully in Ephesians 4:22-24, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

We will make an eternal difference in the world by being different from this world. Because we are not what we once were, we are not to live as we once lived.  Jesus has raised us from death to life and in doing so, given us the grace to “put off” the old self and to “put on” the new self.

We are to be accurate representations of the One we represent.  When we are, we make the Gospel attractive.  God alone saves, but He uses means to do it.  One of the means He has ordained to use is the way we preach the Gospel with our lives.  When we live, serve, and love like Jesus, we make the Gospel attractive and provide an accurate picture to others of the God who saved us.

This is God Word For Today …This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest And Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  When you said, “I believe,” what did you expect would happen next?  Did you expect that by faith in Christ you would live a life free from pain and suffering?  Did you think Jesus saved you so that you could be happy, healthy, and wealthy?  If you did, you heard it from someone who was not teaching the whole counsel of God.  To be sure, once we have been saved, we are happy (happiness is a by-product of our freedom), healthy (we have been raised from death to life), and wealthy (we are now in possession of the riches of Christ).  But along with this “good news” comes some pretty sobering news too!

The Bible says in Romans 8:18-23, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” And in Philippians 1:29, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake . . .”

Clearly, if you were expecting a life without pain and suffering you had the wrong expectation!  And wrong expectations can lead to a life of frustration and fear, guilt and grief, disappointment and disillusionment, anxiety and anger.  That is why the Bible tells us that only the truth will set us free (John 8:32); and the truth is that we are sinful, broken and messed up people living in a sinful, broken and messed up world.  Sure, Jesus came to set the captives free, and when He returns He will make all that is crooked straight.  But our freedom is not fully realized; the crooked is not yet straight; and these things won’t occur until we get beyond the grave or until He returns.  On this side of heaven, Jesus made it clear that “You will have tribulation,” no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

Because of this truth, it is best for us to approach pain and suffering like the apostle Paul, who considered the sufferings he was going through in this world not worth comparing with the glory that would be revealed to him in the next.  When we ignore the reality of pain and suffering in this life we ignore it to our own peril.

What is remarkable in reading the writings of Paul is that he considered suffering for Christ as much a grace and gift from God as it was to serve Christ.  Paul even boasted in his suffering because it more closely identified him with the One who had called to Him on the road to Damascus and saved him.

Those who tell us to expect a crown of glory when our Lord received a crown of thorns are not telling us the whole truth.  Now, I am not minimizing pain and suffering, but I want to make it clear that trials in this life are an incontrovertible and unpleasant reality – one that is better to receive than from which to try and escape.

So . . . what did you expect?  God promises in His Word that He will always give us the grace to handle anything that comes our way, telling us that His grace is sufficient to meet our every need (2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:13).  Remember, nothing – nothing – happens to you that doesn’t first pass through His nailed-scarred hands.  Your Savior is with you in your storm.  Your Prince is with you in your pain.  What more could you ask or hope for during the little time you have in this life compared to the glory you will experience forever in the next?

This is God Word For Today …This is Grace for your Journey

… Rest & Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

The Bible says there are three kinds peace in this world.  There is a peace that comes from knowing God.  In Romans 5;1 the Bible says, “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”   When we have peace with God we will enjoy the peace of God.  The Bible says in Philippians 4:7, “… And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”   As the peace of God rules our hearts, the Bible says we can “live in peace.”  The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13;11, “Finally, brethren, farewell.  Be perfect (complete, mature), be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace.”  When we have peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and we experience the peace of God in our hearts, then we will have the power to live in peace in all our relationships.  The problem with the peace efforts of the world is that nations and individuals are trying to live in peace without knowing peace with God or the having the peace of God.

Today, I want to focus on that second kind of peace – the peace of God.  On a scale of 0 – 10 (with 0 being “non-existent” and 10 being “breathtaking”), how would you rate your daily experience of the peace of God? If you are like most of us, the number probably fluctuates throughout the entire range as you go through your week. Today’s word of encouragement is dedicated to helping us all crystallize our own “personal peace plan” in order to maximize our daily experience of the peace that passes all understanding that God promises to us in Scripture.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

If you are a student of the Scriptures, you are probably quite familiar with these verses. I certainly have preached on them, and I have prayed through them more times than I can count. Yet how often I still find myself needing to lay hold of this promised peace! How often I find myself being …

Delivered by God’s mercy

And

Still Doubting God’s might,

as if He cannot handle what I am currently going through. These are the times when I need another dose of Gospel sanity to slay the dragon of doubt.

To be sure, the God who created order and beauty out of chaos can surely meet my need for personal peace, regardless of what I may be facing. And this passage from Philippians provides us all with the only personal peace plan that really works. The key to crushing our anxiety about anything is found in the truths of the Gospel, and not in the bottom of a bottle . . . or a package of pills . . . or the countless other ways we try to dull our stresses and distresses in life. That is why we must remind ourselves of the truths of the Gospel every day – no wait … not just daily … but moment by moment.

The Gospel frees us to boldly come before the throne of grace and come face-to-face with the living God. He invites us through His Word to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). In Christ we are granted access to the One who created all things; who controls and sustains all things; who is capable of handling all things. In Christ we are handed the key that unlocks the door leading to the pathway of peace.

Anxious about your finances? Pray with thanksgiving and present your requests to God. Unsettled about your career path? Pray with thanksgiving and present your requests to God. Disillusioned about your parenting? Pray with thanksgiving and present your requests to God. Stressed in your singleness? Pray with thanksgiving and present your requests to God. Worried about a prodigal child? Pray with thanksgiving and present your requests to God. Overwhelmed by obstacles in your opportunities? Pray with thanksgiving and present your requests to God.

Remember this: the Bible never tells you what to do (imperatives) without first telling you who you are and what have in Christ (indicatives). Going back to the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Philippians we read this: “To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”   (Philippians 1:1-2)

The Bible tells us who we are first before it tells us what to do because the key in doing is found in remembering and relying. God’s personal peace plan is rooted in our remembering who we are “positionally” in Christ before we can begin living out His commands “practically.”

You may ask, “What am I to remember about my position?” The answer is that if you have trusted in Christ’s atoning work on your behalf, you are a child of the Most High God and He will give you what you need (Matthew 6:25-33)!  Remembering that each moment of the day will go a long way toward conquering your anxiety … and anything else that threatens your peace.

This is God Word For Today … This is Grace for your Journey … Rest And Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

 Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  The other day, a member of our church family asked me, “Pastor, what makes a good work good?” In a word, the answer is God. The eighteenth-century pastor and author Abraham Booth provided one of the best definitions I have ever seen when it comes to good works: “To constitute a work truly good, it must be done from a right principle (the love of God), performed by a right rule (the will of God contained in the Scriptures), and intended for a right end (the glory of God).”

The world is full of people doing “good things” that help many people – They feed the hungry; they cloth the naked; they provide shelter for the homeless. Yet even though a work benefits another, it is not truly good unless it is being done for the glory of God. It is a Godward motivation that makes a work good, a work rooted in the love of Christ.

The Bible tells us in 1 Chronicles 28:9 about a statement David made to his son, “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with whole-hearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.”

When we are doing good works in an attempt to broker God’s favor and secure His blessing, there is no “good” in that work at all. The work has become all about us rather than God. It is living under the umbrella of legalism: working (serving) to gain favor or avoid consequences. Regardless of how “good” a work might be in the eyes of the watching world, when it is done from a legalistic motive, it is void of anything good, because it becomes all about the one doing the work rather than the One it is to be done for.

Only the truths of the Gospel can free us from self-serving motives and move us to serve our God out of a heart that overflows with thanksgiving for the promised blessings already received through grace. The more deeply we grasp the truths of the Gospel, the more deeply we are able to serve God out of a loving heart that beats to expand God’s kingdom . . . rather than our own.

When we are working to expand the kingdom of God, every work we do is a good work. Every work matters at this level of living, because our hearts have been oriented away from self and toward our Savior. Now when the hungry are fed it is a good work. When the naked are clothed it is a good work. When the homeless are given shelter it is a good work. Everything is a good work when God is in it and the heart behind the work is doing it out of a grateful response to the grace of God that has been poured out in the past and promised in the future. By the way, when we work in this way it becomes Gospel-work because we want others to know our Savior like we do – it will lead us to not only show God’s love but to share His love and life too! It makes us as concerned for the eternal state of the soul as the temporal state of the body.

This is God Word … This is Grace for your Journey … Rest And Rejoice In The Wonderful Truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

One of the easiest verses to remember is also the shortest verse in the Bible. John 11:35 says, “Jesus wept.”   As we approach the calendar observance of the last week of Christ – commonly known as Passion Week, I’d like to discuss this verse, plus another example of the witness of His weeping.

John’s two-word account of Jesus weeping might seem a bit strange to those who know the context of the story in which it falls. It was the occasion of the death of Christ’s friend Lazarus. Jesus had received word that Lazarus was sick, yet He delayed two days before going to him. Jesus explained to His disciples that He planned to raise Lazarus from the dead in order to glorify the power of God. As He stood outside Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus knew that in mere moments He would raise His beloved friend from the dead.

And yet He wept. Why? I believe it was to show us just how much our Lord hates sin. It is sin that has brought death, disease, and destruction into the world. Jesus had come to atone for that sin . . . both with His sinless life and His sacrificial death on the cross. And yet, in spite of His perfect, eternal knowledge of His plan to redeem the world, Jesus wept, giving stark witness to just how much God is grieved by our sin.

Let’s look at another time when the Lord of glory was moved to tears. In Luke 19:41-42 the Bible says, “As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

As Jesus was approaching Jerusalem during His Passion week, He wept again. The compassion of the Creator of the universe is simply striking! The depth of His care and concern for fallen, sinful, broken people is overwhelming. Jesus weeps because He knows how sin has wrecked everything that was good. Nothing has been left untouched by the hideous blight of sin. Creation itself groans to be redeemed by our Lord and Savior (Romans 8:22).

The hearts of God’s people had grown cold, callused, and closed – their unresponsive hearts lead them to be resistant to the Good News of the Gospel Jesus was preaching. The Pharisees and religious leaders had become “blind guides” (Matthew 23:24) to the things of God. The apostle Paul explained it this way: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of which believe not, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Jesus wept – at least twice that we know of – as He surveyed the terrible mess sinful man has made of His world. Why? Because Jesus has a heart that overflows with compassion for all people, including “blind guides” like you and me. That is what we all are before we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord and He gives supernatural sight to the blind, raising us from death to life. Jesus is the One the prophet Isaiah spoke about who would come and “proclaim peace and salvation to Zion” (Isaiah 52:7). Do you know this peace? Have you received it by grace, through faith in the only One who can meet you in your place of deepest need?

The witness of the weeping of our Lord and Savior should be a source of great encouragement to you today. Jesus cares about you deeply. Jesus loves you intimately. Jesus forgives you continually. Remember, on His way into Jerusalem, He knew what awaited Him on the Hill called Calvary, yet He refused to stop one step short of going all the way to the cross for you and all those who transfer their trust to Him.

This is God Word … This is Grace for your Journey … Rest And Rejoice In This Wonderful Truth

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”