Year: 2015

Your Account 

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Philippians 4:17
“Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.”

As this letter comes to a close, Paul is careful to thank the Philippian church for their generosity. On numerous occasions they had sent aid to Paul, enabling him to continue in the ministry. Although he was not their pastor, they placed a high value on the activities he was undertaking for the kingdom, and sent financial support, as he took the Gospel around the world. Because of the sensitivity of the subject of giving, Paul is careful to sandwich it between two very important ministry principles.

 Philippians 4:11
“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content . . .”

Paul was not looking at ministry as a way to make a living, or live a comfortable life. He saw the ministry for what it actually was, the call of God to bring the message of salvation to a dying world. As a result, he learned to be content in whatever condition he found himself. At times, Paul saw large numbers come to Christ and was able to focus his time and energies exclusively on ministry, since the church provided for his physical needs. Other times, whether by need or principle, Paul chose to work with his hands to provide for his needs, so as not to be a burden to others. In doing this, he learned he could be content with the call of God when things were comfortable, or when they were difficult.

Philippians 4:19
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Often, when we hear preachers talk about giving, they make it sound as though the driving force behind ministry is money. They seem to imply, if you don’t give, the work of God will not continue. In a subtle way, they are saying God needs your cash because He cannot finance His own endeavors. Paul did not see it that way. He believed God would always supply what was needed for what He calls us to do.

Philippians 4:17
“Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.”

Paul’s reason for discussing giving was not to manipulate the people into giving more, or to help finance a vision that he was developing. Instead, he was actually concerned for their personal growth. Knowing God would always provide for His own needs, Paul saw giving for what it truly is, an opportunity to trust the Lord, and grow in Christ. The same is true whether we are giving of our time, talents, or treasure. When we come to the place where we are willing to say “I am going to take however little or much I have, and give it to the Lord” It is then, that we are investing in things that are eternal. As a result, we begin to experience growth that we have never had before. Whether it is money, or serving in one capacity or another, do not look at giving to your local church as a burden, but as an opportunity to grow. As you step forward in faith, trusting yourself and all you have into the hands of Jesus, you will find that you begin to bear fruit in your life like never before. Serving Jesus with all you are, and all you have, is the fast track to growing in Christ and storing treasures in the life to come.

Pastor Jim

 

Pride Before A Fall 

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Isaiah 14:13
“For you have said in your heart:
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north; . . . ”

Here, in Isaiah, we are given the details behind Satan’s fall. Before his ruin, Scripture describes the devil as the mighty angel Lucifer, who served Jehovah loyally. Isaiah explains it was pride that turned Lucifer away from God in rebellion. This pride manifested itself in exalting his desires above the desires of God. That same sin has been stumbling the servants of God ever since.

Eve sat alone one day in the shade of the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’. Her whole life had been spent enjoying the benefits of being in a relationship with the Lord. All that changed when she began to desire that which was forbidden. It was not long before that desire led her to exalt her ways above the ways of God.

David, staring out the palace window, was struck by the beauty of Bathsheba. Years of faithfully following and serving Christ, were suddenly in jeopardy, as his heart began to long for the wife of another. Once his own ways were exalted above the Word of God, it was only a matter of time before desire became action, and his life took a downward turn.

Achan is not nearly as well know as Eve or David, but his life similarly illustrates the danger of exalting our ways above the ways of God. Achan dwelt alongside Joshua as Israel entered the Promised Land. Upon entering the city of Jericho, God gave instructions concerning the spoils of war; Israel was not to loot the defeated city. Achan however, saw three items God had forbidden, and desired them for himself. Once his desire took root, it was not long before he took hold of that which was forbidden, and it cost him his life.

We could go on and on with story after story, of those who chose to exalt their own ways above the ways of God, only to find their lives were destroyed as a result. It is worth noting, Eve, David and Achan, not only brought ruin to their own lives, but also negatively impacted the lives of their loved ones. Perhaps the words of James best expresses the danger of placing our own desires above the Word of God,

James 1:14-15
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.”

Every time we sin we are exalting our way above he ways of God. It is for this reason Jesus declared that in order to follow Him, we must deny ourself. Instead of doing what seems right in your eyes, or what your emotions are driving you towards, take time to consider the ways of God and exalt His word above your ways.

Pastor Jim

 

Shaky 

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Isaiah 13:13
“Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger.”

Recently, I was driving with some friends, some of whom were from California, and others from Florida. It did not take long for the subject of hurricanes to come up. As we described our experiences of boarding up windows, stocking up on supplies and even evaluating our homes, one of the Florida folks said, “but at least we know they are coming, unlike those California earthquakes.” As you can imagine the conversation then switched to what it is like to have the ground we believe to be solid, suddenly begin to roll underneath your feet. Fortunately, we reached our destination before the conversation became more grave. Suffice it to say, it is a pretty eerie feeling when, what we believe to be solid, suddenly begins to shake;  proving our foundations are not what we thought them to be.

Isaiah speaks of a day when God will shake the whole earth. Everything in which mankind falsely places trust, will be shown to be unstable. Only those who have built their lives upon the solid Rock of Christ, will be able to stand. A time is coming when everything man trusts in will prove to be shaky: politics, governments, economies, even the environment, will go through cataclysmic changes, as God pours forth His judgment on man, for rejecting His word and His way of escape. At that time, only trust in Christ will be a firm enough foundation to hold us.

Have you placed your trust in Him?

Pastor Jim

 

Beware of Dogs 

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Philippians 3:2
“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!”

Warning signs are all around us, cautioning us to beware of potential hazards. These signs warn the floor is slippery, the curve, sharp, the beam is low, or the dog is mean. As I sit here writing, my teacup reads, “Careful, the beverage you are about to enjoy is extremely hot.” Which seems obvious to me, since I did not order an iced drink. On the beaches in our community, there are signs warning of what to do in case of a tsunami; although we have never been hit by a tsunami, and experts tell us that the likelihood of such an event happening is almost zero. Because these warnings are so commonplace, we can become desensitized to them, and miss the ones that really matter.

Paul’s warnings are not to be taken lightly, as he tells us to be on guard against dogs, evil workers and the mutilation. He is using a common writing technique, where repetition is used for emphasis. He is not saying there are dogs, evil people, and mutilators to be aware of, but describing a certain group of people, using all three terms. He warned the Philippians to beware of those who would cause them to take their attention off of Jesus, and focus on works, as the measurement of their relationship with Jesus. Writing to the Corinthians, he put it like this,

2 Corinthians 11:3
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

When you came to Christ, you began a relationship with Him based upon His infinite love for you. You responded to that love by crying out to Him as Savior and Lord, and you began to follow Him. By reading your Bible, you learned of Him and were blessed by Him. You loved to be around others who loved Him like you did. Worship was amazing, as you expressed, in song, your gratitude and praise. People asked, “What happened to you? Why you were so different? Why you were not doing the things you used to do? Why you seemed so happy, even though circumstances might be quite difficult?” You were in love with Jesus, and enjoying the simplicity of Christ. But then, ever so subtly, you began to be lured away from the joy of salvation and simplicity of following Christ. Your relationship with Him began to be treated like a series of responsibilities; devotions, church attendance, service. Even sharing your faith, began to be treated like duty, rather than an expression of relationship.

If that has happened to you, allow me to use the words of Christ to the church in Ephesus, as a means of encouragement,

Revelation 2:5
“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works”

It is time to go back to those first works; that time when you simply loved Jesus and wanted to please Him. When you read the Bible, not to check off the reading card, but because you wanted to hear Him speak to your heart, and guide your life. When you told others about Jesus, and bragged about how He spoke to you every time you attend church. How He wants to do in others, what He is doing in you.

Be careful not to be drawn away from simply being in love with Jesus, and enjoying the relationship you have because of the Cross.

Pastor Jim

 

The Well Of Salvation

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Isaiah 12:3-4
“Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.
And in that day you will say:
“Praise the Lord, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted.”

Isaiah paints a beautiful picture to illustrate salvation and its benefits. He writes it is like a well from which the waters of life can be drawn, and the child of God can be filled with joy. He goes on to say that we should declare this to all people.

In many parts of the world, the center of village life is a community well. It is the place people gather daily to retrieve the most essential ingredient for life. Without water, they will not survive a week. The atmosphere around the well is often very joyful. People tell stories, and express love for one another, as they await their turn to fill their buckets. Isaiah is using that to illustrate the joy found in relationship with the Lord.

When a person comes to Christ, their sins are forgiven and a relationship with God begins.  However, the benefits of being a child of God do not stop there. We also become part of a community with those who have come to Christ. We gather together, around the waters of life, and seek to encourage one another to continue to follow and serve our Savior and Lord.

Be sure to gather at the well of salvation today. Take your time, and spend it with Jesus. Then look for opportunities to share with others, the things Christ is doing in your life.

Pastor Jim

 

Peace 

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Isaiah 11:6-7
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”

In beautiful, poetic fashion, Isaiah describes the conditions of the world after Christ returns to set up His kingdom. His purpose is to make all things right by establishing a rule of righteousness and peace. One thing is clear, in thousands of years of human governments, man has never been able to rule in righteousness or peace. Even today, with all of our advances, war continues to stain the face of the earth.

While the Bible clearly promises the return, and righteous rule of Christ, it also promises righteousness and peace can rule in the life of all who will receive Christ as Lord and Savior. The Bible refers to Jesus as the Prince of Peace and life. When we allow Him to rule in us, and we live in accordance with His Word, we will find that even in the midst of turmoil, we can have joy and peace.

My prayer is that you will let Christ be king in your life, and live to follow Him.

Pastor Jim

 

Others 

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Philippians 2:17-18
“Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.”

Prior to the death and resurrection of Christ, the prescribed manner of worship of God included an elaborate system of sacrifices. Every morning, every evening, and on prescribed dates throughout the year, animals were offered as burnt offerings to provide atonement for the sins of the people. Each of the sacrifices pointed in one way or another to Christ. As the Son of God, His death provided more than all the offerings could ever do. Peter wrote,

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, . . . ” 1 Peter 3:18

It is not difficult to see a portrait of Christ in the Passover lamb, the scapegoat, or the sin offerings, but what of this drink offering? Did you notice, Paul does not refer to Christ, but to himself as this offering? The drink offering, described in Numbers 15, was designed to accompany the various offerings. If a person brought a free will offering to the Lord, to express thanks to God for who He is, and all He has done, they were to include a jug of wine as a drink offering. This offering did not provide atonement, but accompanied the offering, making the aroma that much sweeter, as it was laid upon the altar. Paul saw his role in the life of others like that. He realized, each individual must present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord, but he would spend his life helping to make the sacrifice of others sweeter.

As we follow his story throughout the New Testament, we see he exemplifies what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. His whole life was about living for Christ, as an example to others. He spent his time, effort, and energies ensuring the Gospel was declared, and the Christian was well equipped to live for Christ. He risked his comforts and even his life, to bring the message of salvation to those who had never heard.

How do you suppose our impact upon the world would change if we saw ourselves as a drink offering, being poured out on the sacrifice of others? What kind of influence could we have for the kingdom of God, if we looked at ourselves as being in the lives of others, to help them come to Christ, and grow in Him? Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” 2 Corinthians 12:15

Let’s determine to live like that, impacting all around us for heaven’s sake.

Pastor Jim

 

Improved 

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Isaiah 10:20-21
“And it shall come to pass in that day, That the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.”

Israel was facing the threat of annihilation. Years of wandering from the Word and ways of God had led them to the brink of destruction, as Assyria mounted their troops in preparation for an all out attack upon them. As bleak as things appeared, God gave a wonderful promise regarding how this judgment would impact the people. Those who walked through this discipline would one day return, having learned to no longer depend upon men, but upon the Lord.

The discipline of God is never without purpose. He does not chasten us with outbursts of wrath but with a calculated approach designed to win us back to Himself. Twice we read of the purpose of His chastening:

Proverbs 3:12
“For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”

Hebrews 12:6
“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”

When we wander from the Lord and begin to travel down a path that will lead to our own destruction, the love of God will force His hand to reach out and draw us back. Sometimes, this hand has to come in the form of discipline. Sometimes, this hand delivers the consequences of our actions, but always, this hand is designed to win us back to God, while removing the things that once led us away.

If you are in the midst of difficulties caused by turning from His way, and living according to your own way, perhaps it is time to change direction. The first step is to stop. Stop walking down a path that God cannot bless and will bring His correction. The second step is to turn. Turn around and begin to take strides toward what you know to be pleasing to Him.

Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, it is an expression of His love. He is jealous for you, always desiring what is best for you, both for now and for eternity.

Pastor Jim

 

When He Comes 

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Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder,
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

This is one of the most well known verses in Isaiah, and perhaps in the entire Bible. It is a verse which predicts the coming of the Messiah, seven hundred years before His birth. In this verse, we have a detailed description of the Savior of humanity. We are told a Child will be born, who is in fact, the Son of God.

This verse was originally penned in the midst of extremely dark times in Israel’s history. Externally, they were facing the threat of destruction. The Assyrians began to expand their empire by conquering the nations adjacent to Israel and Judah. Internally, the nation became increasingly immoral. They lost site of the principles upon which they were founded, had wandered from the Lord, and invited the false gods of the surrounding nations into their borders. In earlier chapters, Isaiah describes these conditions by explaining the culture had begun to “call good evil and evil good.”

It is not difficult to see the similarities between Isaiah’s day and our own. Nations are facing the continual threat of terrorism, stemming from the same area of the world where Assyria once ruled. In addition, the tide of immorality is on the rise. It seems to be almost a daily occurrence, where some judge or legislator seeks to impose their personal immoralities upon the rest of us. We are being forced to accept sinful behavior as normal. We are even considered to be bigots, if we suggest that certain lifestyles are unacceptable to God. The Bible is looked upon either as an antiquated fairy tale, or viewed, like many interpret the constitution, as a document that changes to fit the times.

The ambiguous and shifting moral codes being pushed upon our culture are producing all kinds of social chaos. Yet, our leaders refuse to recognize the real cause of the social chaos is immorality and godlessness. We, like Israel, have pushed God out of the way, and as a result, we are experiencing what many call “the wrath of removal;” where God seems to have taken His hand of blessing off of us. We are suffering the consequences of removing God from our lives.

I am so glad in the midst of those dark days, God promised to send His own Son. The Wonderful, Counselor, and Prince of Peace has come to make a way for our sins to be washed away, and a relationship with God restored. Anyone who will receive Christ can have a brand new start in life, and have the hope of heaven. I am also very  glad to know the Savior promised to return. The predictions concerning the first coming of Christ were fulfilled to the letter, and there are three times as many promises of His return, than there are of His incarnation.

The great hope for humanity is found in the pages of God’s Word.

Pastor Jim

 

What Happened To Me? 

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Philippians 1:12-14
“But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”


As Paul is writing this letter to the church in Philippi, he is chained to a soldier and sitting in a Roman prison. He was incarcerated, not for making foolish decisions, choosing the wrong path, or getting in with the wrong crowd. His imprisonment was due to a rising hostility in the Roman world towards the message of the cross. We might say, Paul was facing difficulties outside of his control. Life is like that. Even when we decide to live pleasing to the Lord, we still face hardship, difficulty and opposition. It interests me what Paul has to say about the results of his hardship.

“The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, . . . ”

In the midst of the storm he was facing, Paul realized that while it was creating hardship for him, it was also creating opportunity for others to come to Christ, or grow in Christ. He wrote of how the palace guard had come to know that his chains were in Christ. Rather than whining in prison about how unfair life was, Paul used his circumstances as a chance to tell others about the forgiveness of sins found in Jesus. While it is always easier to speak of Jesus when we are experiencing the blessings of life, the message has an added impact when it is shared through the backdrop of suffering. What a thrilling experience it must have been for those guards, to meet a man who was in prison and was actually innocent. Instead of hearing him complain, and play the blame game, they listened intently as he shared about the love of Christ, and the way of salvation. In Chapter 4, he mentions that the gospel message even reached into Caesar’s household, and many were won to Christ.

“. . .most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

In addition to the spreading of the Gospel, Paul’s attitude during difficulty, also had a great affect on believers. Those who were once timid and reserved, regarding their faith, found a new sense of boldness to share. A revival broke out in Philippi as one man mustered the courage to share with another about the unsearchable riches of Christ. The most effective evangelism is not through giant rallies, but through one person sharing the love of Christ with another. Evangelism has its greatest rewards when you and I will speak the Word, without fear, to our neighbors, friends, family and co-workers. As we muster the courage to invite them to church, or strike up a conversation with them about the Cross, we demonstrate our genuine interest in them.

Paul saw his circumstances as a backdrop, in which the message of the Cross would have an even greater impact upon those around him. How about you? What is your attitude in the midst of the things you are currently facing? Do you see them as the chains of Christ and use them as an opportunity to share the Gospel with others? There is a world in need of hearing the message of Christ, and we are His mouthpiece. Pray that Jesus would open new doors for you to share His love with others. Who knows what kind of revival might break out, as other believers are stirred to boldness, as a result of your step of faith.

Pastor Jim