True Joy!

Isaiah 58: 13 - 14

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, ¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord”…

So many people see the Sabbath as an obligation.

Did you know that it’s a blessing to be received, more than it’s an obligation?

God wants His people to be refreshed and rest.

He has allowed this day to reconnect with Him.

Everything that God does for us is meant to be relational, not obligational.

God mandated this break in the action for us, because we’re constantly rationalizing why we’re so stinking busy.

It’s no wonder why people come to work exhausted on Monday mornings.

Are you exhausted today? Maybe it’s because you failed to pause.

Why do most people even open up the Bible?

Is it to find out what God requires, or is it to discover His heart for you?

Did you take a break yesterday, from the things that truly burden you?

That’s what God meant the Sabbath to be.

Maybe the next time we need to find true rest, we should really take the opportunity…

Evidence of things!

Hebrews 11: 1   NKJV

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

If any of us have any hope at all, then the object of our hope, is faith.

Every person I know should have even a thimble full of faith.

How is your faith this morning? Do you have any faith?

If you don’t have even a little bit of faith, then I have to wonder if you have any hope.

Do you focus only on the bad that’s happening in our country, or in your life?

Maybe we need to consider what Jesus is actually doing in some lives. He’s still alive, you know!

It’s not all bad, my friends.

I meet with an average of 8 - 10 men early every Tuesday morning for prayer.

Those guys have tremendous faith, and they have hope, too.

They believe that the church can turn things around, by the power of the Risen Christ.

These guys don’t come to see me, but they come because they each have a mustard seed of faith.

We may never ever see, the fruit of our early morning prayer, but we believe, and we pray because we have faith, believing.

This is no time to give up, and besides, without faith, it’s actually impossible to please God.

Do you need to get back in the spiritual game? Then why not start today, believing in the things you just can’t see…  

Fear Not!

Matthew 10: 28   NKJV

²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

I don’t think that you’d find many people who wouldn’t agree, that there’s a lot of bad junk going on in the world.

Just to consider how the United States just redefined marriage, has to make one wonder.

I’ve heard people even predict that America is no longer… “the land of the free, and the home of the brave”.

I mean, how bad could things get, right?

I think we’re all forgetting something important.

Have we forgotten who’s in charge? Have we forgotten the promise of salvation? Have we forgotten who’s sitting on the Throne, right now?

Jesus uses the words… “do not fear”, or… “fear NOT!” So then, why do we?

All these crazy things going on in the world, Jesus said would have to come to pass.

So why are we so surprised?

We’re not supposed to be overwhelmed by the things happening in this mixed up world.

Have you forgotten that… “greater is HE that is within us…than he who is in the world.”

Maybe we just need to stop and sing this morning? Now everybody join me...

“What have I to fear…what have I to dread…leaning on the everlasting arms…”

I don’t know about you, but for some reason, I feel better already… J

Beware of Perfect Sense!

Genesis 37: 5

⁵ Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.

I wonder how many people are really hated/despised, for having a vision from God?

When we look at the life of Joseph, it looks like a really bad deal all the way around.

The dream detailed how one day Joseph’s brothers would all bow down to him.

And so it was, the spiritual dream, had truthful ramifications.

The first part of the plan was just to kill Joseph, but then they sold him into slavery instead.

This was all part of God’s plan. Really??

Sometimes, God’s plans don’t always make much sense in the human heart.

God could’ve accomplished all that He wanted to, without the dream, and without all the heartache.

Maybe it was the visions that Joseph had from God, that kept him going through the low times he experienced.

Those words from God give us direction, when it’s hard to tell which way to go.

Do you hear from God?

What has He told you lately?

If hearing from God to you, makes perfect sense, then you might want to be sure it’s God that’s doing the speaking…

Exit Discouragement!

Job 4: 5

⁵ But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

Have you ever been discouraged, spiritually?

Sometimes as much as we wouldn’t want to admit it, walking with Jesus every day can have it’s discouraging moments.

Is discouragement though, any reason to give up?

That might seem like the right thing to do, but it sure wouldn’t be God’s way, now would it?

I officiated at a  wedding in Green Lake on Saturday afternoon.

I told this young couple… “It’s easy to get married…and have a honey moon.”

Actually, it’s pretty hard to hang in there through the problems of life.

Over a life time, problems can sometimes overwhelm us.

The easiest thing I’ve learned to do, is start a new ministry in church.

It’s tough to keep on going, when problems surface, and the results of the ministry don’t meet your high expectations.

Maybe instead of staying discouraged, we could find encouragement in serving the Lord again.

God never glossed over problems in the church, but He never coddled anyone to stay in the midst of the problem.

Where are you today? Discouraged, or encouraged?

Just don’t stay in the area of discouragement, any longer than you have to… 

How would you react?

2 Timothy 3: 1

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

So I wonder how many people realize how difficult things could get and will get in the last days?

Is it possible that none of us can connect with true difficulty, because we don’t often experience it?

If someone were to tell you that by the end of the year, your retirement account would be gone, would that be difficult enough?

Let’s say that the government would withdraw the 501C3, from the church you attend, would that be difficult enough?

Another Bible translation uses the word, “terrible” times, and the KJV uses the word, “perilous”.

Regardless of what word you actually use, it doesn’t sound to me like it spells fun times.

When I first read this verse, it reminded me of the 10pm. late news.

Fear already looks like it’s settled on the nations of the world.

Don’t get me wrong, the Western world has experienced times of prosperity and peace.

Those times seem less and less, and are almost daily interrupted with times of stress.

Regardless of what word you use, it looks like planet earth is in for some chilling times.

The catch in all this, is determining the time it’s actually going to happen.

I wonder how many people in the world today, are ready for whatever difficulty that’s going to come?

I wonder how many churches are going to be in a place, to help those who experience the terrible times

Whose Will?

Proverbs 16: 3  NLT

³ Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

My wife Debbie and I are making plans to move, yet again.

We both hate the idea of having to move, after we did it just 3 years earlier.

We’re trying to hire moving trucks and have people to come in and clean for us.

There’s a lot to consider when you have to move from one home to another.

Think of all the things we plan for in our lives…Retirement, children, families, vacations, jobs…

Actually, the list is exhaustive.

I wonder how many of us really consult with God, before taking action?

Maybe the reason some of our plans have flopped, is because God is the last one we consulted.

How would you define success , regarding your plans?

Maybe if we surrendered our actions to God and His will, we’d actually have more success than we do.

Do you look for God to get all the glory in your action plan?

Do we realize that it’s not by our power, that our steps are properly guided?

Maybe it’s time we repeated the words of Jesus… “Not my will Lord, but Thy will be done.”

I’ll bet then, we’d have more success in our plans.