Your Kindness Leads Me to Repentance

“I remember surprising one of my children with something that they were not expecting. I won’t name them in order to protect their reputation, however, after blessing them with something that they had wanted for so long, they did something later that day that really disappointed me. I sat them down and said, “How could you do that after all I’ve done for you?”

It’s interesting that I’ve heard God whisper those same words into my ears. It seems to be part of our human condition that we forget, or just plain ignore the goodness that is expressed to us as far it causing us to do the same for others or to live a life that says ‘thank you’ through our actions. We see that vividly in the life of the ungrateful servant in Matthew 18:23-35. Remember? This servant was in debt to his master so deep that he could not ever pay it off even in several lifetimes, however, he begged his master for mercy and his master totally forgave his debt. The heart break of this story however, is the servants’ response. After having been forgiven of literally millions of dollars, he went out and found someone who owed him literally a few dollars and demanded repayment and when he didn’t receive it he threw the man in jail. The Master’s kindness to the ungrateful servant should have caused him to have mercy and forgiveness towards any and everyone whom he came in contact with for the rest of his life. Instead he acted wickedly and scorned the mercy and kindness that had been shown to him.

Have you given any thought lately to all that God has done for you? Scripture is full of examples of the vastness of God’s goodness towards us. It tells of how we have been pardoned, forgiven, prayed for, thought of, sung over, saved, set free, liberated, purchased, given an eternal home, called a friend of God, etc. With all that and more, does His kindness lead us to live lives that say ‘thank you’?

As you think about the Lord today and this week, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you on a journey of all that God has done for you. As you are overwhelmed (which you will be) with the reality of what He has and continues to do on your behalf, ask Him to show you how to live a life of gratitude. A life that turns away from sin, a life that responds to others in that way that God responds to us, because it says, “Father, if you did all of this for me, than the least that I can do is to serve you with my life, with my “everythingness”!

May our worship today and this week cause us to bow before Him out of our deepest gratitude because of who He is and all He’s done for you and for others!

Why God Made Roaches

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD,

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future”.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

While watching a television program on bugs the other day, I had to wonder, am I the only one who wonders why God made roaches? Other than being gross and spreading all kinds of unimaginable germs, why do they exist?

One of the amazing things about God is that nothing in His vast creation exists by accident and without a plan. Although we may have no idea what that plan is, He said in the beginning that everything was good!

Have you ever asked, “why am I here?” Now if you’ve read enough Scripture and been in church long enough, you know that bottom-line, the answer to that is to glory God and enjoy Him forever! (Westminster Shorter Catechism; see Ps. 86:9; Isa. 60:21; Rom. 11:36; I Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rev. 4:11) However, on your day by day journey, do you ever feel like it really wouldn’t matter if you were here or not? (Remember George Bailey in “It’s a wonderful life”?

No matter who you are, where you’ve come from or where you are now, God has a plan that He’s had in store for you and your life since before you were even born. (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Ezekiel 18:4)

Knowing that should encourage each of us to live each day with our heads held high in gratefulness and on our knees in adoration and praise to our great God who, as it has been said, “doesn’t make junk!” God’s plan for you can only be completed by you and through you by His power and direction. Nothing in this life can stand in the way of His plan for you if by obedience you yield to His ordering your steps.

With that in mind, take some time today and express your thanks to Him for creating a masterpiece…you!

Pastor MJ

Obey the Lord

“God will not do through a miracle what He’s

already told me to do through obedience.”

I remember the day that I stopped praying for God to give me the power to do or stop doing certain things. Now I acknowledge that the power is always within me and I thank Him for it. Scripture teaches that when a person gives their heart to Jesus and yields to His Lordship that He gives them His Holy Spirit to guide and direct (John 14:26) them in their walk towards becoming like Christ. The Holy Spirit doesn’t come in portions. When we receive the Holy Spirit, upon salvation, we receive all of who He is: all of His power, all of His guidance, all of His protection and more. In other words we have all of the power already within us all of the time to flee any sin, accomplish any God given task and the ability to be all that He created us to be. The question is how much of us will He receive?

When we sin, we bypass God’s Spirit within us. If you are like me, there have been times when you’ve wanted the Spirit of God to actually physically come to me and give me victory. For example, if the struggle was over eating, I’d pray for Him to help me and I’d expect Him to take the 5th brownie out of my hand before it reached my mouth instead of realizing that as I submitted to Him and made a decision not to partake and walk in obedience that His Spirit’s power was there to help me overcome and give me victory. The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 10:13 that, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” I remember being in a New Jersey diner once and I was full, but diners have those huge desserts. This piece of apple pie was calling me. I know I shouldn’t have it, but I just couldn’t resist. After the waitress served it to me, it fell on the ground. That was my way of escape. I should have seen that and thanked God, but instead, I ordered another slice!

What miracle are you praying for today? Has God already given you the key to victory, yet you are waiting for Him to move your hand? It’s exciting, yet humbling to know that when we pray for victory that it’s already ours. Because the One who gives us this power is always with us and as we walk in obedience there is nothing that He calls us to that cannot be accomplished. So the next time you are faced with an obedience issue, just obey and you’ll see the Holy Spirit’s power released in your life. The miracle has already happened. Victory is yours and mine through obedience. Have a Jesus led week!

Pastor MJ

Whatever Your Circumstance

I pray that 2011 has started out well for you and yours, but mostly that “whatever your circumstance you can proclaim – It is well with your soul!”

I am looking forward to this year to see God’s hand work in surprising ways. One of the moments I am looking forward to is Easter. Each year as we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ I am in awe of the powerful story of God the Father’s initiative in sending Jesus to die to pay the penalty for our sins and then to rise from the dead to “seal the deal” thereby granting us the ability and honor of having a relationship with God Himself.

It is with that in mind that we have already begun preparing for our Palm Sunday/Easter production. It is my desire to present a celebratory worship time where we recognize the greatness of our God and proclaim that He is not just a God of the past, but the One and Only God of the Ages. I desire for this to be a worship time where we communicate the thought through music and other media “Where would be were it not for the blood of Christ!”

This will be an upbeat, celebratory, reflective, contemporary presentation lifting up Christ. Along with the music and spoken word that we will be presenting, we will incorporate “Cardboard Testimonies”. If you’ve never heard of this, you can view an example at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ. I am praying for 50 of you to join the worship choir as singers. If you love to praise God through music, we need you. I am also praying for a large number of you to participate in the “Cardboard Testimony” part of the service. I will be sharing more about our vision for this event in the coming days, but wanted to get you to begin praying and asking the Lord how you might get involved.

Be praying for me as I piece together this service. I want it to be honoring to our Lord and encouraging to His people. I want everyone who is involved to be in awe with the realization that Christ’s death, burial and resurrection is the most powerful reality of our lives now and for eternity and for those who have not yet received Christ I want our presentation of Who He is and all He’s accomplished to be so contagious that they will desire to know Him too!

Praying for something that only God can accomplish! To Him be all the glory.

More to come………..MJ

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I truly pray that it is and that it will be indeed a happy New Year for you and those you love. However, remember that whether your days are happy or not, never forget that God is with you always and that nothing in your life's circumstances are outside of His knowledge and care. He is with you from the beginning of the year until the end.

In the next several days, all of the Christmas decorations and celebrations will all but be memories of Christmas 2010. As you put away the family decorations and put your homes back to normal, let me suggest you take some time and remember once again the powerful message of the season that we've just come through. Those of you with a manger scene, take a moment as you store it away and remember that the baby of the manger did not remain a baby, rather, He grew to become a man who had His eyes fixed on a cross, a cross that He would die on to pay the price for your sins and mine.

This week as we gather to worship, we will once again celebrate Jesus, this time however, we will celebrate not only that He came, but what He came to do. The manger was a prelude to the cross. His birth was the beginning of the journey to His death on the cross. Our time together today will give us an opportunity to focus on His Word and the lives that He desires for us to live while here on this earth.

Today, His Word will remind us of what is really important. Our songs will give us an opportunity to lift up our praise. Our prayers will be a response to the goodness that God has showered on us through the gift of His Son. Our lives today and throughout this next year will be an opportunity for us to express our deepest thanks for what He has done.

Prepare your hearts right now to focus on the King of kings and the Lord of lords and how you will say thanks today. And my friend, if you are reading this and have not yet given your heart to Jesus, may today be your day. Listen with your heart and allow God's Spirit to show you what He has done to bring you into a relationship with Him that you were created for. May this be your best year yet as you live each day in the grip of His love and grace and secured in His salvation.

Pastor MJ