Beauty

3 Say to Tyre, situated at the gateway to the sea, merchant of peoples on many coasts, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“‘You say, Tyre,
    “I am perfect in beauty.”  

...

35 All who live in the coastlands

    are appalled at you;

their kings shudder with horror

    and their faces are distorted with fear.  Ezekiel 27

That's quite the turnaround.  The city of Tyre thinks very highly of itself and God is going to humble them.  This makes me think of the Twilight Zone episode The Eye of the Beholder, how you see yourself may not be how others see you.

We need to perform regular and accurate self assessments on ourselves.  We need to look at how we see ourselves and also how others see us.  My church is currently doing a Bible study through Romans 12.  I recommend everyone read it.  The chapter details what we need to be as Christians.  If you read through this, can you honestly say you follow all of those points?  Which ones can you agree to?

Now, read it again.  Which of those points do you think your spouse would agree to?  Your children?  Your parents?  Your friends?  Your coworkers?  God?

Get all in.  Really examine yourself and get beyond the superficial.  Are your inner desires to follow Christ?  

Thurs Devo: Fearless Life

How fearless are you and I? How fearless are you and I when it comes to living for Christ?

Revelation 2:8-11     ⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

After reading about what the Smyrna church faced and what Jesus said they would face in the future, how fearless do you think you are now?

I wouldn’t like getting a letter telling me I was going to face even more persecution and suffering. However, it would be encouraging, knowing Jesus saw everything I already endured, knows what I’m about to face, and guarantees my eternal future.

Jesus reminded Smyrna (and us) that He was already victorious over earthly suffering and death. Therefore, He can promise life after death to His faithful followers. We do not have to be hurt by the second death, which is eternal separate from God in Hell.

How can you and I be prepared to maintain joy and faithfulness through suffering? The more we know God, love Him and understand what He’s done for us, the easier it will be to live fearlessly for Him!  

Alice

The Humor of Our Dumb Questions

Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.”

But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?”  For there were about 5,000 men there.

Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.”  So the people all sat down.  Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people.  They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!  Luke 9:12-17

When I was young, I found myself asking a lot of dumb questions.  At times, it led to some level of embarrassment, but other times, it made a difference in someone’s life.  Once before my 10^th birthday, I asked my mom a simple dumb question, “Why do you smoke?  Isn’t that bad for you?”  My mother would soon thereafter stop smoking altogether, and I have not seen her smoke over the past forty years.  My wife and I were arguing with each other in the very young days of our marriage.  It got to be so loud once that our son came in crying asking why we were yelling at each other.  I promised to never yell at her mother like that, and have not since to this day.  Sometimes, a simple dumb question can lead to powerful change.

God will sometimes wait for us to ask him the question so that He can show us something powerful and amazing.  I have heard many times the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand people with the loaves of bread and two fish.  However, I realized reading it today how the amazing feat did not occur until the disciples had ‘asked a dumb question.’  I laughed because you can hear the incredulous doubt in the disciples’ voices as they said, “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?”  It’s like when I ‘brilliantly’ ask my wife after work looking at the counter and seeing nothing thawed out for dinner, “So what are we going to eat for dinner, honey?”  Of course, I do not notice dinner is already on the stove!  Ok, back to the story!  So they asked Jesus this question.   These were not the Pharisees who have been looking to trip up Jesus since He started preaching the Good News gospel or the Gentiles who had no idea who Jesus was.  These were the disciples who were as close to Jesus as they come, and they had seen Him do all these miraculous things.  Yet, they ask the dumb question anyway!  So Jesus instructed them, and it said, “He kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples.”  It was as if Jesus was looking at them with a confident all-knowing smile saying, “Now watch this!”  He of course fed the crowd not only until they were full but also where there was “twelve baskets of leftovers!”

God is waiting for us to reach out to Him and ask what it is we need from Him because He is the great provider!  How often do we look at our situation going to God saying, “I can’t do this?”  We need to stop looking at what we cannot do and focus on what God can do because frankly that is what He expects from us; total dependency!  Jesus said, “For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” (Matthew 19:14b)  Jesus said this because He understood children are dependent on their fathers just as we should be on our Heavenly Father.  What is it that you need to ask of God today?  What seemingly audacious dream or problem can you take to God?  My prayer is that we can all laugh at our big situations knowing God is the answer to our ‘dumb question.’  Amen.

Tues Deov: The happy kind of sorrow...

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.  For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (NASB)

Hello,

As I was preparing to write this, I was going to use sadness and sorrow interchangeably. (notice sorrow appearing 7 times in these verses alone) But I looked it up, and sorrow is just plain deeper than sadness. You can be superficially sad –but there is no such thing with sorrow, it has roots that go deep. What struck me though was the different possibilities that come from sorrow – repentance or death. You see the depth of the sorrow is reflective of why there is a result from sorrow. Superficial sadness doesn’t produce a long term result. But there is a fork in the road with the sorrow – will you see that something is grieving God, leading you into repentance? Or, will you see the sorrow as a reason to keep looking to yourself (either try on your own harder, or to give up) which doesn’t end up with the right result.

I guess my point for us today is that when the rough stuff comes, don’t get caught in it –but what does that push you to do?

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Becoming a Man of God

Isaiah 1:18

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

This past week was a bit of a challenge with my son.  He’s at that age where he says “No!” a lot.  He finds himself in time out for disobeying.  Last night we were reading from his “Little Boys Bible Storybook for Mothers and Sons” book and the story was so fitting.  It was the story of Eve getting Adam to take a bite of the apple.  While this is written for a young child, I think there is a lot that we can take from it too, so I wanted to share it. 

Becoming a Man of God

A man of God takes responsibility for his sin.

Adam and Eve were made in God’s image.  But they didn’t have to always do what he wanted them to do. They could choose to obey or not to obey.  In this story, they made a bad choice – they sinned – and God punished them.  Sometimes the only way we learn lessons is through punishment.  That’s not much fun, is it?  But we remember the lessons we learn when we’ve been punished.

Everybody sins – even if we try hard not to we do.  When was a time that you did something wrong? Were you punished? How?

While this is written for young children, I think we can all relate as we do all sin.  Sin does come with consequences and   from those, we should learn lessons, that hopefully teach us to not repeat that sin.  I encourage you today to think over your past “punishments” to see how you can move forward in life to live a life that is more pleasing to God.  

The Bare Rock

14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.  Ezekiel 26

I listen to the chapters I'm studying when I drive into work.  It's a really good recording my husband gave me for my birthday a few years ago called The Bible Experience.  Highly recommended.  It's not your typical one person reading an audio book, they've got a full cast of voice actors, sound effects, and music throughout the entire recording.  

Anyways, I don't know who's reading this chapter, but the actor says "bare rock" like "beer rock" which is the same sound as "bierock."  If you haven't heard of a bierock, they're tasty little pastries that are filled with meat.  Think of them like the original Hot Pocket.  When I was in middle school, my mom found recipes for bierocks and went a little nuts with making them.  Our freezer was FULL of these things.  I remember telling her, "No more bierocks!" at one point in my youth when I was tired of them.  When I heard this chapter read, I immediately thought of those pastries!  They're smooth on the outside, there's absolutely no flaky-ness like you'd have with a Hot Pocket.

So God isn't actually talking about bierocks here, he's talking about a bare rock, but the surface of both of these is the same.  They're smooth - no indents or rough edges.

I talked a few weeks ago about how God the devastation of the chapter isn't always a bad thing - and it's the same message here!  God is taking Tyre and completely demolishing the city to become a bare rock, nothing of the old will remain.  The city will not be rebuilt, but will be repurposed for something new - as a place to spread fishnets.

You could look at this with the negative - the city will be used for the menial (and disgusting and smelly) task of spreading fishnets.  Or, you can look at it with a positive - the city will be used to help the greater cause of fishing for men.

It's the same concept that Kent brought up earlier this week.  There were three bricklayers who were rebuilding a church after it had been damaged by fire.  The construction architect observed the three workers, and asked, “What are you doing?”  The first bricklayer replied, “I’m laying bricks.”  The second responded, “I’m repairing a wall.”  But the third replied, “I’m building a cathedral to The Almighty.”  How do you look at your own purpose?

Thurs Devo: Letter from Jesus

If Jesus wrote a letter personally to you and to me, what would it say? In what areas would He say you and I were faithful and what weaknesses would He point out?

Here’s what He had John write to the Ephesians.

Revelation 2:1-7       “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. ² I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³ You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

⁴ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. ⁶ But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Jesus recognized the Ephesian church’s faithful service, faithful doctrine and faithful endurance. They worked hard for Him and were conscientious to uphold Godly standards. However, they had forsaken their love for Him. Maybe they were so focused on their work FOR Jesus, that they forgot to BE with Jesus.

Jesus wants us to faithfully serve Him and uphold His truths, but not at the expense of truly spending time with Him. He desires our love first. He wants a personal relationship with each of His children where we enjoy Him, talk to Him, listen to Him, etc.

Are you and I more focused on serving God than loving and enjoying Him? Often, my answer is yes. Studying and teaching this passage this week really challenged me to take time to be with and enjoy God instead of focusing most of my energy on serving Him. 

What might need to be put off in order to pursue loving God more? Is someone or something else our first love? Or is it God Himself? He loves us so much and desires us to faithfully love and enjoy Him!

Alice

That's How He Is

He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.  Romans 2:6-8

As a teenager, I struggled with the concept of someone getting their just due.  Whenever someone did someone else wrong, I would lash out seeking justice for the wrongdoing.  Of course many times, it would be me who was at the wrong end of the stick, and my frustration level would be incredibly high.  “Oh why, oh God, have you decided to look favorably upon them of all things???”  My thinking was that I was a good person, and why someone who ‘clearly’ was not as good as me gets the glory while I was left to feel emptiness and pain. Being born again, my walk of faith would help me see that I was not as good as I should be.  My sins were at times as great as and greater than others, and I was not worthy of such blessings.  It was that change in perspective that caused me to focus less on what others did to earn their keep and more on what I should be doing to live a life worthy of the sacrifice of Christ.  I’m still working on it, and the more I find myself doing God’s bidding, the better I feel about how God has affected my life.

Our walk of faith requires focus on our own growth and not of the actions of others.  With some of the events that happened over the past week, it might cause many of us to struggle.  Why would someone do such an evil thing, and where was God in all of it?  Why did God put so many people in harm’s way?  Many of us may have those questions in our minds, and others struggle with these questions particularly from nonbelievers.  Our response is not to fully explain these things to them.  Instead, ours is to reflect on what God might be trying to tell us, and we must then respond with love on others as God would.  We are to remember that we live in a fallen world where sometimes, evil wins.  Nonetheless, we are responsible to respond with a Godly heart.  Thus we might say, “No, I do not know why some man decided to kill those innocent people, but I do know without question God loves us.  He would want us to love on those who were affected by the tragedy, and be a little kinder and a little more caring and humble to one another.”

We know God has all things under His control, and we will only know the full story when we see Him in Heaven.  In the meantime, we cannot focus on those things that we have no control over.  We must embrace that which we do control and more importantly how we respond to it.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible is from Job that says, “ . . . the Lord gave, and the Lord have taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21 KJV)  So if you are struggling to accept what someone else has done or received, stop focusing on what happened.  Use it as a tool to magnify the glory of God and focus not on your disappointment.  How can we see tragedy through God’s eyes?  How can we show love, grace, and comfort to those who may not even deserve as much?  My prayer is that we focus less on the ‘why it is’ and more on the ‘How He is.’  Amen.

Inspired to Build

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?  Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.  For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,

‘The stone that you builders rejected
    has now become the cornerstone.’  Acts 4:8-11

What inspires me?  A few days ago, I felt I was at my best at work.  Things seemed to be connecting, and the stuff on my ‘To Do’ list seemed to get done at record speed.  My meetings were focused and thought provoking, and every connection I seemed to make put not only me but others in a better place.  Those are the days where you feel inspired to do great things.  Most days, you feel that you are a productive member of the team, but days like the one I’ve described, you feel that you are the catalyst for something more than just your team.  Don’t we all aspire to have days like that?  Don’t we all want to be inspired to do great things?

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to connect with God as a continual source of inspiration.  The Book of Acts is inspirational because of numerous stories of individuals filled with the Holy Spirit and doing amazing and courageous things.  They spoke with a conviction that was awe inspiring, and they were not only inspired by God but also won others to Christ by instilling or inspiring that very same spirit burning within them.  We may not have the ability to speak as poignantly or with as great a conviction as Peter did in today’s verses, but the beauty of being children of God is that He knows exactly what we can and cannot do.  We simply need to both trust in Him and submit all of ourselves to Him.  Through this, His spirit will dwell within to use us as He deems necessary.  Our deeds can often be more powerful than words, and just your mere presence in one’s life can be transformative to them seeing your living of a Christ-centered life.  God will direct us, and we simply need to follow His instruction.

God has made each one of us a part of something bigger than ourselves.  A parable speaks to this very point (Note: There are different versions of this, but this one I liked best).  There were three bricklayers who were rebuilding a church after it had been damaged by fire.  The construction architect observed the three workers, and asked, “What are you doing?”  The first bricklayer replied, “I’m laying bricks.”  The second responded, “I’m repairing a wall.”  But the third replied, “I’m building a cathedral to The Almighty.”  The last part of today’s verses speak of Christ being the cornerstone.  Thus, the question is very simple.  Which bricklayer are you?  Who/What is your cornerstone?   What can you do to ensure you are inspired by God each and every day?  My prayer is that we, filled with the Holy Spirit, are inspired to be Cathedral Builders.  Amen.

Tues Devo: The plan

Proverbs 16:1-3 “The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the Lord weighs the motives. Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.” (NASB)

Hello,

Do you ever get frustrated that a plan doesn’t seem to be coming together? There are certainly a number of reasons as to why things don’t work out – but this passage from Proverbs is certainly a starting point!

Look at the three elements here in these verses: The plan, the reason/motive and then finally the action itself. Have you listened to what God has to say about your plan (hint, to listen…try asking first!)? Have you visited your motives (God will)? And finally, have you affirmed your purpose in seeking success is for His glory?

I am not saying that this formula is magic – but if we want plans to succeed they will be in line with His plans! So, look at what you are working towards – check the plan, your motive and your affirmed purpose once you have started. If any of these three elements are not in step with God, your plan will struggle – take the time to go back and fix it! If you are about to start something, take the time to be before God in prayer over these items – you won’t regret it.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill