Right and Popular

13 Son of man, when a land sins against Me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out My hand against it and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it and cut off from it man and beast,

14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they would save but their own lives by their righteousness (their uprightness and right standing with Me), says the Lord God. Ezekiel 14

The entire land had sinned, and God is saying that even if there were three righteous men within the land, those three would be saved.  No others would be saved.  You can look on this with two perspectives.

1. You can't save anyone else.

2. No one can save you.

It sounds bleak, but hang in with me.  God is telling us that there will be times when everyone else around you will want to go one direction, which leads you away from God, and you will need to be the one strong person going the other way, back towards God.  It's easy to fall in step with the crowd, but the crowd isn't always right.

It reminds me of the fact that I don't listen to secular music any more.  I was recently attending a conference and people would make pop culture references to music, and I'd just stare blankly back at them.  It's something everyone knows about, and here I was, telling people that I only listen to Christian music (and then explaining that this isn't hymns, but rap and alternative rock with Christian themes - which then led to other people blankly staring at me).  It was my way to stand against the crowd, to show that I stand for Christ.

The saying I remember hearing in elementary school still applies, "What's right isn't always popular, and what's popular isn't always right."

That still applies.  Christ isn't popular, but following him is always right.

Thurs Devo: Dependably Above and Beyond

God said “The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout.” So, who’s staff do you think sprouted? You probably guessed it. It was Aaron’s, of course!

Numbers 17:6-9       ⁶ So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. ⁷ Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law.

⁸ The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.⁹ Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff.

God doesn’t just partially keep His word, or kind of do what he says. He fully follows through. In fact, He goes beyond what He promises! Aaron’s staff not only sprouted, but it budded, blossomed and produced almonds all in a day’s time!!!

Can you think of other times God has gone above and beyond what He promised?

The biggest and most important one is when He sent His Son, Jesus. From one of the verses we read last week, He promised to send a Savior to save us from our sins:

Matthew 1:21            ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

But God did so much more through sending Jesus:

Acts 5:30-32              ³⁰ The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Not only did God send Jesus to save us from the deserved penalty for our sins, but He also gave the Holy Spirit to guide us on this earth in addition to eternal life with Him after this life!

Will you join me in praising our dependable God for always going above and beyond what He has promised?

As Kent talked about yesterday, let’s not be foolish and ignore all the proofs and signs God has already given, but wisely recognize, believe, and proclaim all God has done!

Alice

Seriously?

One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

He replied, “You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times!  Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Then Jesus left them and went away.  Matthew 16:1-3

My eleven year old daughter really makes me laugh at how she tries to get out of the obvious. This phenomenon is not unfamiliar to any of you who have parented a child. The other day, an ice cream bar that I had been saving suddenly was missing. I asked my wife if she had eaten it, and she said no. Being that there are only three of us in the house, the finger naturally goes to my daughter. We asked if she had eaten the ice cream, and she said emphatically, “No!” My wife and I look at each other, and say, “Seriously?” While we had to hold her accountable and reinforce the importance of telling the truth, we continue to laugh about how ‘creative’ she was in trying to explain for the unexplainable.

This brings me to how we as believers encounter people who choose not to believe in Christ. We must without hesitation be able to confirm both His existence and truths. We encounter those who choose not to believe even though the signs are right there in front of them. The verses today refer to such a instance where the elite and knowledgeable sects of the Jewish faith questioned Jesus’ authority . . . dare I say again. This was after Jesus had (get this) fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21) and then another 4,000 with seven loaves and a few small fish (Matthew 15:32-39)! So in reading Jesus’ response, we get the impression of ‘what the heck does He have to do to convince these people?!?!?’ Seriously? Rather than appeasing them, Jesus, the master that He is, tells them of the sign of Jonah, which referred to His own resurrection. This would be proof beyond all doubt of Jesus’ divinity. We are often presented with things where people will question the existence of the true living God. We must answer with a sound mind and heart not focusing on what we do not know (i.e. why a tragedy occurs). Instead, we must focus on what we do know (His grace, His word, the transformative changes in our lives). Only then are we able to be advocates for Him.

Our personal relationship with Christ answers all doubts of His existence. While nonbelievers may come up with evidence of His nonexistence, we know beyond question how real He is. Our mission is not to convince others of His existence. Ours is to be knowledgeable of it and present the evidence to them for their spirit within cannot deny it. Where do you doubt Christ’s existence and how will you address it? How will you without hesitation tell of Jesus’ existence in your life? My prayer is that we confirm our truths so when questioned of Christ’s existence, we simply say to ourselves, “Seriously?” Amen.

Tues Devo: The mental game

1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (NASB)

Hello,

We hear and say constantly things/phrases related to mental preparation or mental state heading into a meeting, big day, sporting event etc. If your mind isn’t focused on what you need to do – you will not have success to the greatest degree possible. The daily spiritual battle is no different. We must be ready mentally for action – we don’t get a choice as to whether we will battle each day….the enemy brings that us, we just must be ready for that action. To be ready mentally, notice in v13 that Peter says to fix our hope “completely” on the grace to be brought. There is no splitting of our hope/focus – it must be singular to be mentally prepared.

Have a blessed day – ready mentally for the battle!

Will Hill

Be Still

Psalm 46:1; 10

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

These were part of the scripture used in our sermon yesterday.  These two verses really stood out to me.  The first verse states that God is OUR refuge and strength.  He’s not just mine but he is OURS.  It also states that there will be trouble in our lives.  However through all of that trouble, God will be ever present. 

These promises alone should allow us to “Be still”.  However God reminds us in verse 10 that even through times of trouble, He will prevail.  As a result, we need not worry, we should simply be still and know that He is God. 

What trouble is in your life that you are struggling to let God take care of?  Today I just want to remind you to be still.  Be still and know that He is God and He will be exalted!