March 31, 2016                                     ABIDING  IN THE  TEACHING
2 John 8-9: “Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; for the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”
A lot has been said in Christian circles about believers not being under the law but under grace, and that is certainly true. However, at the same time, there has been misunderstanding and confusion about what it means to live under grace. Being under grace is not a license to do as I please and grace does not absolve me from the instruction to “abide in the teaching of Christ.” We have been freed from the Law and now we have been bound to Christ-to honor Him and serve Him, and in fact, we find true freedom only when we find that we have been joined to Christ and we live as belonging to Him-that’s how we are designed. Grace is not an end in itself, but is an enabler that makes living according to God’s design possible, and the instruction to abide in the teaching of Christ is not to be taken lightly, but rather it should be our focus in life. Jesus taught and demonstrated the kingdom of God, and what He taught was in sharp contrast with the ways of the world. Even though what Jesus taught was from the all-knowing, Creator God, His teaching and its application to everyday life was easily understood.  The key point is that what Jesus was taught was not meant to be a set of rules, but was a picture of what kingdom living looked like in the practical. The focus of His teaching was on the heart of man. When we are living according to the new nature-our new heart- that we have been given, our lives will automatically be consistent with the teaching of Jesus and we will not be living by “rules.” When we are abiding in His teaching, we will love our neighbor; we will speak the truth; we will honor others; we will be givers; we will be concerned for the welfare of others; we will pray to our Father; we will forgive; we will have wholesome thoughts; we will not live in fear; we will speak words that build up; we will do what we do as unto the Lord; etc. Again, the life we live reflects our heart, and for that reason, in the verse above, we are told to “watch” ourselves-to make sure we are abiding in His teaching, and in the same verse we find a sobering warning for the one who does not abide in His teaching. The over-riding truth is that Jesus came and He introduced us to the kingdom of God and He taught us how we are to live in His kingdom! Now, as followers of Christ and as good students and disciples, we are to abide in His teaching. There is no higher wisdom and no greater teaching other than what Jesus taught and demonstrated, and when we abide in His teaching, we experience life to the fullest. We must remember the warning found in Psalms 14:12 which tells us that “there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to destruction.” Today, let us desire, let us choose to abide in the teaching of Christ and discover life as God designed.
Matthew 7:24: “Therefore; everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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​March 28, 2016                                           UNCHANGEABLENESS
Hebrews 6:17-20: “In the same way God desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
The though or idea of something being unchangeable in the world in which we live seems almost unbelievable. In our culture, if one holds to absolutes, he or she is often viewed as narrow minded or old fashioned, and is considered to be judgmental toward others who reject absolutes. Many in our day prefer to think in terms of everything “evolving” rather than being “absolute.” As a political example, some believe that the Constitution of the United States is an “evolving” document which means that we can change it as we go along rather than seeing it as the foundation of our laws. The belief or thinking that everything is “evolving” is rooted in the fact that man does not want restraints, but wants to be free to do what He pleases. As believers, we are most blessed to have a sure and steadfast foundation because God Himself is unchangeable and His purposes are sure. Because we have been joined to Him and are now in His kingdom, the present has purpose and we have hope for the future. We have every reason to be people of hope and of strong encouragement no matter what the present circumstances may be. It is interesting to note that the verse above says we can have “strong” encouragement-what a blessing! Instead of just trying to survive, or make it through another day, we can live with a sense of great encouragement. All of this is possible because God desires to “show the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose”-and WE are the heirs of the promise. Even before we knew God, God had a purpose for us, but in order for His purpose to be fulfilled, Jesus had to suffer death on the cross that we might be redeemed to our Father.  God does have a grand and glorious purpose and it involves His people-you and I. His purposes are not only for the future, but are also to be realized and experienced daily. The hope that is available to us is an “anchor of the soul,” and if there is anything that we need in our day, it is to have our soul anchored in the God who does not change. We do live in a day when there is a widespread sense of uncertainty and unrest and when the only thing certain, is change itself. What many are looking for and longing for, can be found only in God who is the source of hope and who does not change.
1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
Blessings,
Buddy
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March 25, 2016                                               SUNDAY’S  COMING
Luke 24:4-6: “And it happened while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel, and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen.’”
Without a doubt, the two greatest events of human history are the birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus.  When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, some did not believe, and some doubted that He was the Son of God, the Savior of the world. But, the resurrection of Jesus was sure proof that He was indeed the Son of God and it validates and proves all scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament.  We can only try to imagine the awe, the excitement, the joy, that the women and the disciples experienced when they realized that Jesus was indeed alive! The stone covering the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to let the women and the disciples in-to see for themselves the empty tomb. Even though we live two thousand plus years after the resurrection, the resurrection has the same implications for us as it did those early believers and we can know the joy and the sense of celebration just as His disciples did that first morning of the resurrection. At the risk of being overly simplistic, the resurrection of Jesus is THE answer to the dilemmas, the difficulties, the trials, the challenges, the successes, and the questions we have in life. Jesus came to earth to deal with once for all the sin issue that was separating man and God and the resurrection of Jesus was the stamp of God’s approval of all that Jesus accomplished on our behalf. Jesus defeated Satan and no longer are we doomed to live in darkness, in bondage to sin. Because Jesus lives, we are forgiven; we can have perfect fellowship with God; we are overcomers because He overcame; we have eternal life; we have hope; we have His Holy Spirit living in us; and we have the opportunity of being a part of what He is doing. His resurrection is THE answer because we are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Yes, His resurrection affects every aspect of life. The popular Gaither song had it right: “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow—because He lives, all fear is gone.” As I said earlier, the stone was rolled away so that the disciples could look inside and see for themselves the empty tomb. This Easter season, may we too see the empty tomb-that He is not there! As we celebrate this Easter season, may we catch a glimpse of the power and the magnitude of the resurrection of Jesus and what it means for us this very day.
Luke 24:38-39: “And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’”
Luke: 24:34: “The Lord has really risen, and has appeared to Simon.”
Blessings,
Buddy

March 21, 2015                                        AVOIDING  JUDGEMENT​
1 Corinthians 11:31-32: “But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.”
Some believe that Christians will not be judged, but that is a contradiction of scripture. It is true that Christ bore our sins on the cross and because of that, the sin issue was dealt with and we no longer have to live under the domain of sin as we did before our salvation. However, we are accountable for how we live our life; we are called to live in such a way that the life we live is pleasing to the Lord. Even for the believer, God never looks the other way when we sin; one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to convict us when we sin. Even though it is grievous, the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit is a blessing and proof that God loves us and desires the best for us. The convicting of sin and the chastening of the Lord go hand in hand and serve the purpose that we may share in His holiness. “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, (Hebrews 11: 5-6). “For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 11:10-11).  Even though the discipline of the Lord serves a good purpose, as it says in the verse above, it “seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful.”  I want the Lord to discipline me   when I need it, but I had rather live in a way that does not call for the discipline of the Lord! In the opening verse above, Paul tells us that we can avoid the discipline of the Lord by judging ourselves. Without being overly introspective, we do need to take the time to examine our lives and judge whether or not our life pleases the Lord, and if we find areas that are not pleasing to Him, we need to adjust that area of our life. As we examine our lives, we should ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in the process and be attentive to what He says. A key point to be aware of is that some may automatically feel that surely they do not measure up-surely there are areas of their life that do not please the Lord. That automatic response indicates that they are living by self-effort and it reflects a misunderstanding of the gospel. It is possible, and even normal for us to live in such a way that the Lord is pleased with us and is pleased with the life we are living. This is all possible because God has made us new and has given each of us a new nature, a new mind, and a new heart which enables us to walk with in fellowship with Him. Let us live in such a way that we are listening to the Holy Spirit within us, and we are maturing and making adjustments in our life as He directs-and may we enjoy Him.
John 8:12: “Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life’.”
Blessings,
Buddy

​March 17, 2015                                        GOODNESS  AND  MERCY
Proverbs 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Such a declaration as we see in this verse, comes as a result of knowing God in an intimate way. David knew the sweetness of victory and he knew the depths of defeat, but no matter the circumstances, he knew the goodness of God. David had a heart to know God and God said that David “was a man after God’s own heart.” (Acts 13:22). As you read the Psalms and observe the life of David, it becomes evident that his trust was in God, and it was his first and foremost desire to know God and to be pleasing to Him. David knew for certain that he could be victorious in battle only if God was with him. David lived under the Old Covenant, and under the Old Covenant, believers did not have the blessing of the Holy Spirt living in them. Because the Holy Spirit of God lives in us, how much more should know the goodness of God than those living under the Old Covenant. We need to have as a bedrock of our belief about God that He is a God who desires to bless His people and that He is always good. However, if it is not our hearts desire to seek Him and to know Him, we may not be conscience of His goodness, and in one sense you could say that God hides Himself as we see in Jeremiah 29:13: “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.”  When one is not seeking to know God, life becomes unfulfilling, but even in such a time, God uses discontentment and difficult circumstances to draw us back to Himself. We should not make our determination of the goodness of God based on our circumstances because we know that all believers at times have to deal with unpleasant circumstances;  in such times He gives us grace and strength to overcome the difficult times. God is always pursuing His people in order that He might express His love to those who belong to Him.  Someone described “goodness and mercy” as the “hounds of heaven”-always tracking us down in order to bless us! We are in error if we think that we have to be good enough or do certain things to experience his goodness and mercy. It is God’s desire for us to learn of Him, to get to know Him for who He is, to enjoy fellowship with Him, and to know Him as our Father- a Father of unending love, mercy, compassion, and joy.  There is a time coming when we will live in heaven with God and all the saints who have preceded us; however, we now have the presence of God in us and we have already been joined to Him and our eternal life with Him has already began. No matter our present circumstances, let us live with the knowledge deep within our hearts that God is our Father and that nothing can separate us from His love. And beware---the hounds of heaven are on your trail-and they never lose the trail!
Psalm 86:5: “For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call on you.”
Blessings,
Buddy

March 13, 2016                                         FULL  OF  THE  SPIRIT
Acts 6:3: “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”
Acts 11:24: “for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.”
After the resurrection of Jesus, the church was born. The twelve disciples that Jesus had spent three years with became the Apostles and leaders of the early church. The church was flourishing and the large numbers of new converts to the faith presented the need for others to help in ministering to the believers. Instructions were given to identify seven men who had a good reputation, and who were full of the Spirit and of wisdom. We readily understand what it means to have a good reputation and what it means to be wise. But what does it mean to be “full of the Spirit”? We can assume that there were many believers present at this gathering when the instruction was given to identify these seven men, but not all were full of the Spirit. This may sound like a contradiction in light of the fact that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. New converts do receive the Holy Spirit when they accept Jesus as Savior, but then a maturing process begins. How one responses to the work of the Holy Spirit in him is a key factor in the maturing process. However, it is my belief that being full of the Spirit is not necessarily the same as being mature in the faith. Being full of the Spirit means that one is living according to the Spirit and not according to self. At salvation, God gives us a new identity-a new mind, a new spirit, and a new heart. Knowing our new identity and living in our new identity is the key to being full of the Spirit-this is the where the battle takes place. Self wants to be in control, but dying to self is essential if we are to be full of the Spirit. When we come to understand the awesome truth of our new nature and what all that implies, we have no problem dying to self.  When we live out of our new nature, there is evidence: our hearts are full of the love of God; our thoughts are pure; we are concerned for others; we give; we have a desire to pleases the Lord in everything we do; we forgive others who have wronged us; we do not live in fear; we realize that we are a member of the kingdom of God; and we understand that we are called to be a part of His church. We must understand that these evidences of being full of the Spirit is not a list if things we must or should do, but are things we do because that is who we are!  Becoming full of the Spirit is not a one-time experience, but is an ongoing, daily appropriating what it means to be a new creation in Christ and living out of our newness. Also, being full of the Spirit does not imply that we are perfect, but it does mean that we are attentive to what the Holy Spirit says to us and should He point something in us that is not pleasing to the Lord, we agree with Him and we turn from it. Being full of the Spirit does not mean that we are free trials and tribulations, but it does mean that we have the power to endure and overcome the difficulties we face in life. Finally, to be full of the Spirit is not reserved for a select few, but is available to all believers. Being full of the Spirit starts with a desire to know the God who has redeemed us to Himself and who has made us new, that we might live according to the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
Blessings,
Buddy

March 9, 2016                                    OUR  FATHER
Mathew 6:9: “Pray then, in this way: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”
If you want to ask someone how we should pray-Jesus is THE one to ask! We are so familiar with the Lord’s Prayer and we may read or repeat it so quickly that we miss the first two awesome words; practically everything that Jesus taught and did revolved around these two words: “Our Father.” This is indeed an astounding truth-that the God who created the universe, the all- knowing and all-powerful God, is our Father! By Jesus saying “our Father,” He is saying that He is our brother. Can we grasp the reality of Jesus being our brother, and God being our Father? We can’t fully comprehend this; but in eternity past, God knew each one of us and He knew the date of our physical birth, the color of our hair-the scripture says that He even “weaved us in our mother’s womb! (Psalms 139). God also knew that Adam and Eve would sin and break the fellowship between God and man, but even before Adam and Eve were created and before they sinned against God, God had a plan of restoration. Jesus came to earth and was crucified for the purpose of redeeming His brothers and sisters-the ones that belonged to Him. Salvation is so more than a ticket to heaven; it is God restoring man back to fellowship with Him. Most believers agree with their mind that God is there Father, but when God makes this truth alive in our spirit, everything changes. The awareness that God is our Father impacts every aspect of our lives in dramatic ways, and gives us an entirely new perspective of life. Since the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God is our Father, what have I to fear? What have I to worry about? Do I have to fear sickness and death? Do I have to fret over having the necessities of life?  Knowing God as our Father does not negate our call to take dominion in life and be good stewards.  God is active, moving toward His goal-and He invites us to partner with Him in what He is doing. Talk about a partnership! God calls us to be stewards over all that He puts in our hand-including money, possessions, talents, position, and spiritual gifts. As an example, some think that if they tithe ten percent, the ninety percent is theirs to do with as they please, whereas in God’s plan, we are to be stewards over the one hundred percent. Sad to say, but many have had earthly fathers who did not know the love of God and as a result, they may have a misunderstanding of God as Father. If we are seeking to know God as Father, He will continue to reveal more of Himself to us, and as He does, we will come to know how blessed we are to have Him as Father. Let us be reminded of, and be refreshed by the fact that Jesus is our brother who redeemed us back to our Father who is in heaven-and may His kingdom come on earth and may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”
Blessings,
Buddy
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March 3, 2016                                                  ENSLAVED  TO  GOD
Romans 6:22: “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
In the book of Romans, Paul goes to great length pointing out the great contrast of living according to the flesh verses living according to the Spirit. At any given moment, we are either living according to the flesh, which leads to death, or according to the Spirit, which leads to life.  Preceding the coming of Jesus, man was enslaved to sin and thus sacrifices were required in order to receive forgiveness for his sins. In chapter seven of Romans, Paul makes it clear that we are no longer live under the Law-that we were made to die to the Law-and that the members of our body can now bear fruit for God. It is impossible to over emphasize the blessing of being set free form the law of sin and death and being able to live according to the Spirit. Paul points out that we are still slaves-but to another master. Some may misunderstand the freedom we have in Christ, thinking that we are free to do what we please. On the contrary, we have been joined to God-we now belong to Him-we are not our own. (Romans 7:4).  We are now to live according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh-it’s a new ball game! It is possible for us to revert back to living according to the flesh-but we do so at a great cost and we grieve the Spirit of God. The idea that we are “not our own” (1 Corinthians 6:19) may be a stumbling block for some as our culture tells us that we are our own-do whatever we want to do. At the heart of living according to the Spirit is knowing that God has set us free from the domain of sin, that we have now been joined to Him and we now have as our ambition a desire to “bear fruit for God.”  Even though Jesus fulfilled the Law, and God gifted the believers with His Spirit, Paul was well aware of the fact that believers could live according to the flesh-either because they did not understand their new identity, or they simple choose to revert back to living according to the flesh. I can imagine that if Paul was speaking today, he would say it this way: “Why in the world do you want to live according to who you use to be, and not according to the new person that God has made you?” Paul made it abundantly clear that the admonition to live according to the Spirit was not just a lofty thought or theory; but that living according to the Spirit would be expressed by the words we speak, by the thoughts we have, and by our actions. In Romans 6:19b we read: “so now, present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” At the risk of sounding over simplistic; living according to the flesh, always produces bad fruit, and living according to the Spirit, always produces good fruit. May we never lose the joy of having been freed from sin and being enslaved to God.  Being a slave is a blessing beyond our imagination-if God is our Master.
Romans 7:6: “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.”
Blessings,
Buddy
NOTE:  Apparently, the “comment” section on this blog site is not functioning as it should; so if you have made comments and I have not responded, I apologize. I hope to have this corrected soon. I appreciate any comments or input you may have.