pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Monthly Archives: January 2015


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Even Then

John the Baptist preached repentence in preparation for the coming of Jesus.  John spoke the truth and ended up in prison, soon to be killed.  Jesus too went forth proclaiming the good news in spite of the opposition He faced.  Peter, Paul, Luke, and many others did the same in spite of Jewish and Roman persecution.  The New Testament is full of examples of proclaimers of the good news.

We too are called to proclaim the good news.  Just look – we have lots of fine examples to follow.  But these folks are the ‘greats’ of our faith.  They are not little old you and me.  By golly, there were all called by God and/or spent time with Jesus.  Wait – that’s us too.  We are called by God, empowered by Jesus through the presence of the Holy Spirit, tasked with spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.

Sharing my faith is just fine on Sunday morning or in my small group.  At Youth group?  No problem!  Here in the early morning at my kitchen table?  You bet!  But what about with the man down on his luck that stops me on the sidewalk?  And how about when two groups at church are disagreeing over some issue or choice?  Even when a fellow believer seems to be a bit wayward?  Yes, in all cases we are called to be sharers of the good news and to live our lives following Jesus’ example.  He IS with us in those times when we are uncomfortable and in those times when we need to share a hard word.  May we receive His power this day to do His will in our world.

Scripture reference: Mark 1: 14-15


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Always Working

Does God change or does He always remain the same?  I think the answer is both.  The qualities of God do not change.  God always loves us, always longs for a relationship with us, and always works to bring us into or back to that relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, His Son.  God loves good, wants justice for all, and seeks for His people to love Him and to love neighbor.

The city of Nineveh was full of vice, sin, evil.  God wanted to restore them, to see them repent.  So He sent Jonah and he proclaimed God’s message to the people.  The people repented and God had compassion on them.  Their actions changed their outcome.  Some would say it all went according to God’s plan.  But if the Ninevites would’ve kept to their evil ways…

God acts much the same way in our lives.  In His many attempts to love on us and be in relationship with us, He sends us Jonahs to help us make good choices, to help us walk in His ways.  We hear this voice in the Bible, in sermons, in conversations with Christian friends.  God also speaks to us through the Holy Spirit.  When we fail to heed to these voices, God just finds another voice or another way to get our attention.  Some people spend a long time trying to ignore God and His messages.

In this we find another way that God never changes: He so wants all of us to enter into His eternal kingdom.  He spends our whole lifetime if necessary working towards that end.  Again, I say thank you God!

Scripture reference: Jonah 3: 1-5 and 10


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Plugging Away

It has been said that God is the god of second chances.  He is also the god of third, fourth, fifth… chances.  If it is in His plan for our life, He will keep sending messangers, whispers, nudges, and so on.  God is a god of many things, but giving up is not one of them.

The first time God spoke to Jonah, he bolted and ran away.  After several events that proved God was still right there, Jonah is called a second time.  This time he goes to Nineveh to proclaim God’s message.  This second chance is a second chance for both Jonah and Nineveh.  God did not give up – He persisted so that His plan would come to fruition – both for His servant and for the city.

How often are we like Jonah – ignoring or questioning or running from God’s call?  We can be pretty good at all three forms of avoidance.  Sometimes we think we are too busy.  Sometimes we think our time would be better spent over there.  Sometimes we question if that person or cause is worthy of our time and effort.  The root of each is that we think we know better than God.  But, thankfully, He does not give up.

Our god of second chances keeps coming around, keeps working to mold us into who He wants us to be.  Like Jonah, I am glad that God keeps plugging away, because His ways are always better than my ways.  Thank you God!

Scripture reference: Jonah 3: 1-5


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Growing Closer

There are times when we know we have been graced by God’s presence or when we can sense that the Spirit’s presence has been with us.  At other times we feel as if we were part of something that was led by God or was truly done in His name.  In these times, the existence of God is without question.  We have these moments to fall back on for strength – to remember when doubt begins to creep in or when fear rises up.

Our experiences with God also provide us with a filter or lens to look at future encounters with or through.  With each experience we come to know Him more.  With each encounter we come to recognize Him quicker.  All of this adds to the depth of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

The more God is revealed to us, the easier it is to hear His call.  As our experiences grow, we come to discern His will better.  We grow in our ability to separate His voice from all of the other voices that call out to us.  God’s promise to draw near to us as we draw near to Him is lived out as we choose to make time for Him and to walk daily with Him.  On this Sabbath day, may we draw very near to God.

Scripture reference: John 1: 47-51


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Come and See

Our world is full of good people, good places, good institutions and organizations.  We all know many of each of these.  But if someone says there is a good new restaurant in town, we only partially believe it.  If they describe their wonderful experience and the food, then our belief increases some.  Yet it is only after we have gone there ourselves that we really believe what we were told in the first place.

All people, places, … want to have a good reputation.  This includes churches.  When a church says they love God and neighbor, preaches from the Bible, and so on it must be found to be true when one visits the church.  If a church says they love their neighbor, then there must be evidence of that.  In many ways, we need proof to believe something.

When Jesus called Philip, he simply said, “Follow me.”  Something inside Philip knew to go and follow this man.  He sensed it.  sometimes we have the same prod of the Holy Spirit – we just know to act.  But when Philip tried to get his brother Nathanael to folow Jesus, he was skeptical.  Philip’s repsonse was simply, “Come and see.”  The long version is: come and spend time with Jesus and you will see that He is the Messiah.  As Jesus says to each of us today “Come and see”, how will you do just that?  Blessings on you rjourney!

Scripture reference: John 1: 43-46


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Temples Bought at a Price

Imagine you are making a batch of cookies.  You mix the butter, sugars, and eggs together.  You fold in the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Next you stir in the chocolate chips.  Lastly you add in a cup of mustard.  You then spoon out your dough.  Yes, I know, you are stuck back at the mustard.  Why?  Because it would ruin some perfectly delicious cookies!
Paul remind us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Once we enter into a personal relationship with Christ, the Spirit dwells within us.  In 1st Corinthians 6, Paul is addressing the sexual immorality that has crept into the church there.  It is the mustard that has been added to the mix.  For Christians today, we all struggle with sin.  No one follows the ‘recipe’ that Jesus provided 100% of the time.  We all struggle.  Our vices and temptations may vary, but we all struggle.  Whatever our fancy, these sins add the wrong ingredients to our lives.
Paul also goes on to remind the Corinthians and us that we were all bought with a price.  He calls us to remember the physical and emotional price that Jesus paid for the forgiveness of our sins.  His body and blood were a gift to us all for the redemption of our sins.  Paul wants the Corinthians and us to see our physical connection to Christ and to realize the price paid to keep that connection open.  Once we enter into that relationship, our body is joined to Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  He urges them and us to live to honor that connection.  May we honor God in all we do and say, bringing glory to His name!
Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20


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God’s Sacred Child

In the middle section of Psalm 139 we catch an amazing picture of God and His relationship to us.  We see the power and omnipotence of God in the words that speak of our own creation and in those that remind us that God’s thoughts are more vast that the grains of sand.  We also see a God who saw each of our unformed bodies and wove us together.  We are also told that all of our days are ordained and are written in the book of life.

Our God is a big god.  Yet how easily we slip into doubt and how easily we think we can do it on our own.  The cares and concerns of this world can become our focus.  In this struggle we often turn inward and seek our own solutions instead of turning upward and seeking God.

Our God is also a god of details.  He knows each of us from our very beginning to our last day.  His hands formed us.  His thoughts surround us.  If we choose to live with these things as our focus, then we easily turn to God in times of stress, pain, anxiety.  We easily walk in His strength and comfort.  We are wonderfully made and loved deeply.  May we live as God’s sacred child this day and every day, trusting in our Creator and walking in His ways.

Scripture reference: Psalm 139: 13-18


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He Knows. And He Still Loves.

God knows each of us intimately.  Simultaneously that thought can be comforting and alarming.  There is nothing we can do to change this – it is just the nature of the God to know His creations that well.

Psalm 139 speaks of God knowing our thoughts from afar, of being familiar with all of our ways, and of even knowing our words before we speak.  God is so in tune with us.  God is that best of friends who can finish our sentences for us.  And He is so much more!  All of these things can bring one great comfort.  To know that God is so connected to us is amazing and wonderful.

He is also that connected when we are lesser than we can be.  God is also there when we sin.  He is there when we think about sinning.  And he still loves us.  That is amazing.  No matter our unkind thoughts, our misdeeds, or our out and out sins – God still loves us.  The psalmist ends verse six with the admission that all of this is too wonderful for him, almost inconceivable.  This is true for us too.  And what is our repsonse?  Thank you God!  Thank you for loving even me!!

Scripture reference: Psalm 139: 1-6


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He Is Good

Have you ever gotten a word from God or one of His messengers that was hard to hear?  Have you ever struggled with the direction that God is trying to lead you?  Ever tried to be the one in control?

All of these are easy questions to answer.  We wrestle all the time with these issues because we like to be in control and we do not like to be wrong.

Samuel and Eli give us great insights into what it means to be honest when it is hard, to be open to God’s word even when it brings bad news, and to accept where He is leading us.  Samuel reveals to Eli that God indeed plans to carry out His plans against Eli’s house.  Eli responds with these words: “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.”  No groveling for his sons’ lives.  No anger towards God.

For us life can get so busy that it is hard to slow down enough to hear and process what God would like us to hear.  Yet we must.  Sometimes when we do so we question – you want what?  Go where?  Sometimes the news is hard to share – it may cause conflict or call something into alignment with God’s will.  In all cases we must be faithful and willing to hear God’s call and to walk in the way He is leading us.  We must remember that He is God and that all He wants for us is good.

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 3: 10-20


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Can You Hear Me?

In 1st Samuel 3 the Lord God called out to Samuel three times.  Finally Eli realized that it was God calling out to Samuel and he instructed Samuel to lay down and respond to God the next time He called out.  The young Samuel did not discern that it was God’s voice that he was hearing.

In our day and age, when there is so much noise all around us, it too can be hard to discern the voice of God when He calls out to us.  At times it is so easy to hit the snooze button, to plop down in front of the television, to read a magazine instead.  On other occasions it is easier to cross over to the other side of the street, to simply look away, or to make some excuse.

There is a reason though that God most often speaks in a still, small voice.  It is so that we have to be paying attention to hear and so that we have to make it our choice to respond.  God is a god of love.  In love, there is no forcing the issue.  There is only that still, small voice calling out to us.  Sometimes it is even hidden in the eyes of one in need or in the words of a friend.  Sometimes it is of the Spirit.  In all cases we must be listening and we must reply as Samuel did: “Speak Lord, you servant is listening.”

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 3: 1-9