Ready for the party?

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

What a glorious moment that will be. But just like any great party or wedding there is a lot of preparation to do.

Think about it; all the calls, checks you have to write, checking with the performers, arranging the flowers, the cake, call the photographer, tuxedos and on and on. Some people plan weddings for months!

So what are we doing to plan and prepare for the glorious wedding that awaits for us? Will we have oil in our lamps or will we be unprepared?

We just have to trust Him

Psalm 56:4
In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

I'm in awe with the wisdom of the founders of this country as they used scripture when first minting our money; In God We Trust.

This is a good verse to have if you have any stress over bills. Many of you know that I have quite a bit of financial stress right now but as I pay my bills this is a great verse to stand on.

In God I trust, I will not be affraid of these bills. What can mortal companies do to me? God will provide a way, he will deliver me and take me through this valley.

We just have to trust Him.

His everlasting love

Psalm 103:17-18
From everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children -- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

I'm reminded of what Jesus said; "if you love me, you will keep my commandments"

I like to think of that verse more as a promise rather than a commandment. In other words, I think he is saying, "if you love me with all you heart, soul and mind, if you don't love any worthless idols but keep your heart affixed on me, then I will partner with you and help you be obedient"

I have to really think of it that way because I desperately want his everlasting love but if that depends on my own ability to be obedient I am doomed!

Rejoice?

Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

In other words, if you have something to celebrate, invite your friends!

If something troubles you, don't go at it alone.

Its happened to me a couple of times in my life. Someone was hired, I helped train them on the job and then later they became my boss.

And I'm to rejoice when I get an invitation to their promotion party??????

Yes. What profit would I get from not rejoicing?

How much is your life worth?

Acts 20:24
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me -- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

You just got a call... Its a job offer, you will have all the money in the world. Nothing will be out of your reach for you will have all the resources you will ever need. All but one... Your new job will be with a foreign government which requires that you renouce Jesus Christ and hold up Allah as your God.

In the face of a huge contrast, most of us would admit that compromising our relationship with Jesus Christ is not negotiable. We would immediately recall Jesus' temptations in the wilderness and reject the offer because we have something of much greater value.

Now here is what gets me. We can all probably agree that this kind of decision is far fetched. However, how about much smaller scale decisions?

There are many things of much lesser value that we often turn to and away from God to pursue. Perhaps we take advandtage of the knowledge that he is always faithful. Thinking, we are not really renoucing Him, just having some fun for a little bit.

So here is a twist on today's verse:
How much is your life worth?
Would you trade it for a cup of soup like Essau?
Or will you keep it pure for the sake of the Gospel?

Who condemns you?

John 3:17
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Thanks be to God! If he wanted to condemn us we would have met fire and brimstone a long time ago!

Instead, he came to release us from the law of sin and death. This makes me wonder something....

How often do we walk in the knowledge and realization of this? Or do we often walk worried about condemnation? If He didn't come to condemn us the why worry so much about the condemnation we receive from others?

As the word says, if He is with us, who can be against us?

Quick, slow, slow

James 1:19
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

While this verse is very practical we are so prone to do the exact opposite.

We can go back to Proverbs for some help in this department: death and life are in the power of your tongue and you shall eat the fruit of it.

If we think of that before we open our mouths it will change our speech! The bottom line, do we speak death or life into situations?

Then there is anger. God is sure slow to anger with us! Maybe we should be more like him!

Honor is not always sugar coated...

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

As I read this verse I think of the droves of people who get in their car every Sunday morning and go to church. Many of these people, full from a steady diet of spiritual junk food they are so stuffed by the time they get to church they only have room for a diet coke version of God.

Where I'm I going with this? When Sunday morning is the only "good" thing in someone's spiritual diet it is no wonder that this verse is so difficult for many.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we should not only live to honor one another above ourselves but part of that is to encourage one another into a deeper relationship with God.

By helping each other draw near to God, surely we honor each other with great blessing. However, in this society, honoring our neighbor has become some notion of staying out of their business. Yet your neighbor may need you to honor them with tough questions or challenges that bring them closer to God.

To treat me with honor means to rebuke me when I need to be. It does not mean to puff me up even when I am on the wrong path. Honor is not always sugar coated, it can be tough yet an act of great love and compassion on your brother.

How is Mr. Jones doing?

Romans 15:2
Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Wow. We live in an America who is full of self indulgence. We don't want to help our neighbor because we are caught up in envy wondering how they just bought a new boat! Our minds are filled of thoughts on how we can possibly get ahead of the Jones' next door.

This verse urges us to do the opposite. It is telling us we need to walk up to Mr Jones and offer to help him clean his new boat!

I have neighbors in my subdivision that I have never spoken to! Next time I see them walking down the street I should think Romans 15:2!

Do you have any neighbors you should build up?

How will you use your freedom?

Galatians 5:13
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

Many times when someone brings up Romans 7 (what I will not to do I do anyway) it is to somehow justify their inability to keep from indulging their sinful nature.

The devil would like us to confess that we are an utterly hopeless sinful person. However, that's only true when we separate ourselves from the Holy Spirit who gives us the power and grace to live by the spirit and deny ourselves the repetitive indulgance in sin.

Its pretty clear to me, we either invite the Holy Spirit to work in us so that we seek selfless pleasure from serving others and doing His will or we crawl back to our own selfish nature and seek to pleasure our flesh neglecting the needs of our brothers and laying a path of destruction.

How will you use your freedom?

Divided we fall!

1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

This is a concept of power that works both in the heavenly realm as well as demonic.

Think about it. When the enemy has no divisions and it is perfectly united in mind, it can wreck havoc in our daily lives. The enemy understands this concept well, an important question is, do we understand this?

Even in the family unit division will rob us of the power that has been delegated to us. Saint Peter tells us that if husband and wife are not in agreement their prayers are hindered!

Likewise, as brothers in arms, we must find common grounds that we can stand on and build strongholds from where we can launch attacks against these demonic forces that aim to get us off our path and ultimately destroy us.

What are you?

Romans 15:5-6
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This message is to all of us! Lutherans, Methodists, Pentacostals, Baptists, Catholics, Anglicans, etc.

The day we live by this verse when we are asked what we are we will no longer say "am a Lutheran" or whatever denomination you belong to. Instead we will say "I follow Christ Jesus therefore I'm a Christian."

Think about it, will the "spotless bride" have a Lutheran arm, a Pentecostal leg, a Baptist shoulder, etc? That's a ridiculous idea.

How can there be a spirit of unity among ourselves when the spirit of denomination and division is still alive and well?

What are you?

It's our choice!

James 3:17-18
The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Do you consider yourself a peacemaker or are you prone to be embattled in wars? In the last few days I haven't felt like much of a peacemaker. I've been embattled with all kinds of stuff and last night was the height of it all.

In the midst of deep thinking about the whole situation I found myself harvesting all kinds of unrighteous demonic thoughts. In a moment I thought, "God, I've been drifting from you these last few days..."

It like getting caught in a current and before you know it you are far from the shore and feeling very unsecure.

I think the key in this verse is in what are we sowing? We have both heavenly and demonic wisdom at our disposal, which bucket of seed will we put our hand into and sow?

It's our choice!

Who do you work for?

Hebrews 6:10
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

This is a great verse that shows the promise of God to be with us. But stop for a second, there is a condition in this verse!

What happens if we don't work for him and if we don't help his people? I believe this is why God created teenage sons. To give us a perfect illustration of how selfish and lazy we can be when it comes to doing his work and helping his people.

I look at it this way, its not about just belonging to the "born again" club or society. Its about delighting Him with our hard diligent work to accomplish His purpose.

Go to work!

He guides us...

Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth and riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out.

The other day I stumbled across a radio station that had someone talking about God's plan. I was deeply disturbed because he kept saying that the fall of man changed God's original plan and that God had to come up with an "alternate plan" to provide a path to redemption. He said this often and the words "alternate plan" really bugged me.

This verse shows us that God has no alternate plans. He is sovereign, always in control, always knowing everything that happens and He also knows everything we will do. We are his workmanship set on a path made for His purpose. Even when we go astray God is in control! The depth of His control is something we will never figure out until the day we meet our maker.

Today we must yield to Him and let Him be the one that guides our path, after all, He is the author and finisher of our faith!