April 30, 2022                                  THAT  HE  MAY  STRONGLY  SUPPORT
2 Chronicles 16:9b “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose hearts is completely His.”
John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep my words; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.’”
Can we embrace the fact that God is good; that He wants to ‘support’ us; that He is looking for those whose hearts are completely His; and that He wants to make His abode in us? Do we believe, are we convinced that God is about having a relationship with His creation, about family? God is a compassionate God, desiring good for those who belong to Him and who have a heart to know Him. There is a tendency for us to think of God as a disciplinarian or One who is watching us to see if we do wrong. Some believe that they must walk the ‘straight and narrow’ if they are to avoid the wrath of God. Our view of God is critical. It is true that God does judge sin and there are things we can do as believers that displease Him. However, the very essence, the very nature of God is that He is good and full of compassion, desiring that all men be saved and come to know Him as a loving Father. Most of the heartaches, the troubles of man, the brokenness, and strife that is prevalent in the world is a result of man rejecting God-not the results of an angry God venting His displeasure. The promises of God are unlimited for those whose hearts are completely His, for those who seek Him with all of their hearts. 2 Chronicles 15:1-7 tells us that God will let those who seek Him find Him. God wants us to find Him. After all said and done, no matter your past, no matter what your present circumstances are, the all-important thing is what your heart is seeking. You can read a thousand books, listen to a thousand sermons, but if it’s not your heart to know God, then all is in vain. (Perhaps the reading and listening to sermons may impact your heart to the point that you seek Him.) I think that when we better understand the nature of God, that He is for us, that He loves us, and that He desires for us to live abundant life, it becomes only natural for us to want to know Him-to seek Him. As said many times before, God revealing   Himself to man, is the reason He inspired the written word, the Bible. As we read and study the Word of God, we learn of Him and His purposes for man, and we discover our true identity as new creations. Again, when it is our heart to know Him, He lets us find Him and He “strongly supports” us, and He and the Son make us His abode! Obeying Him and keeping His words become the natural response and our joy, when we come to know Him. The only way to know Him is to seek Him first.
Psalm 86:15 “But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.”
Romans 8:31 “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Blessings,
Buddy
​

 
April 27, 2022                                              PERFECTING  HOLINESS
2 Corinthians 7:1 “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
There are two truths that stand out in this passage. One is that we have not arrived spiritually; and the other is that we are not to wait on God to cleanse us-that is something we do. We must not take lightly, or even forget the promises we have from God, and we must not forget that Jesus was crucified in order that we might be restored to the Father and that we could become heirs of salvation. Our salvation was not an isolated even sometime in the past; we have been saved at a point in time, but we are also continuing to be saved; salvation is on-going. The on-going process is about maturing in the faith and being transformed into His image; we have been given the Holy Spirit who helps us in this process. As said above, we must be conscience of the fact that we have not arrived spiritually; no matter how long you have been a believer, there is room for spiritual growth in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. There will be occasions when we act improperly, speak a wrong word, or have wrong thoughts and desires; this is what Paul refers to as ‘defilement of the flesh.’ Instead of allowing these things to continue to be an issue for us, we must ‘cleanse ourselves’ by laying them aside and turning from them. Because we have the Holy Spirit living in us and because God has made us new creations, we can ‘lay things aside’-that is an amazing power.  Hebrews 12:1 makes this truth clear; “let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.’ Often times, there is one particular sin that ‘so easily ensnares us;’ for example, one may find himself or herself often being impatient-and that is what needs to laid aside. It is important to not get focused to trying to fix all of our defects-that in itself can be a work of the flesh. Rather, we are to have our hearts turned to the Lord and be desiring to live in a way that pleases Him, to live according to His word. When we err, or sin, the Holy Spirit will show us that. When we realize that our flesh, our old self, is being expressed in some way through us, let us realize that that is what we must lay aside-or as they say “Quit doing it!” God has made it possible for us to turn from anything that is not pleasing to Him and to walk, or live in newness of life. So, do not become obsessed or over analyze what may be wrong with us; just be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit and cooperate with God in the process of being transformed. To be being transformed is to be being changed.
1 Peter 1:16 “because it is written,”You shall be holy for I am holy.”
Romans 13:12, 14 “The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let is therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”     “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lust.”
Blessings,
Buddy 

 
April 25, 2022                                              FREE  TO  SERVE
Galatians 5:13-16 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
There is an ongoing battle in us; the opposing forces are the flesh and the Spirit. The alarming thing is that we may not even be conscience of the battle taking place in us; if we are to win the battle, we must know what the battle is all about. Paul is warning us that it is possible for us to misunderstand the freedom we have in Christ. The major truth we must understand if we are to win the battle is that we are not free to do the things we please. The love we are to have for one another is to supersede our personal desires; this kind of love is the love of God-not human love. God has poured out His love into our hearts, enabling us to be expressions of the love of God. Romans 5:5. Jesus demonstrated the unselfish love of God when He gave His life for us. All too often we hear of family conflicts, disagreements, dissention, and the breakup of relationships; and at the heart of this is selfish desires. The freedom we have as believers is awesome; we are free to live as God designed us and in a way that is pleasing to Him. To live with self on the throne of our life is to live unfulfilled, and it leads death and destruction. A good example of the ways of God being unlike the ways of man is this; the world tells us to do whatever pleases us; yet, God tells us that we are most blessed and fulfilled when we have the mindset of blessing and serving others. Real love causes one to lay his life down. The critical point to understand is that this love we are talking about is a super-natural love that God has placed within us through the Holy Spirit; when we are led by the Spirit, we love as God loves. The crux of the battle revolves around one point; as believers, we can walk according to our flesh (the selfish part of us) or according to the Spirit-THAT IS THE BATTLE AND THAT IS THE CHOICE WE MUST MAKE. We can live in such a way that all we do flows out of the love that God has deposited in us. Living with a mindset of serving, does not mean that I never do some things I enjoy doing-but whatever I do must be done under the banner of the love of God; it does mean that I must first and foremost be concerned for the well-being of those around me and that I must be a servant at heart. When we walk by the Spirit, we have a new ‘want to-‘ we want to do the things that are pleasing to the Lord. Paul says that when we love our neighbor as our self, we are fulfilling the law of God. Let us not forget to be expressions of these truths in our homes-amongst those who know us best.
Galatians 5:24-26 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.”
Romans 12:9-10 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;”
Blessings,  Buddy

 
April 23, 2022                                  WANT  TO  BE  ONE  OF  THE  FEW ?
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who fine it.” (World English Bible)
“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” (New American Standard)
In our culture, we prefer the ‘wide’ way; we like having many options and choices; we are proud of being tolerant and all inclusive. We encourage others to ‘do what they feel is right in any given situation;’ we reject the idea of moral absolutes; and we want no one telling us what to do. The verse above serve as a stark warning to our culture as a whole. Proverbs 14:12 tells us “There is a way which seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death.” Contrary to the ways of the culture, Jesus tells us that the gate is narrow and that the path that leads to life is narrow, or restricted-what a great contrast to what the world tells us. Suppose you are a soldier walking through a dense forest and you are using a map that someone gave you that would insure that you would get through the forest, and this map showed a clear path that you must follow. There are many paths in the forest, but only one takes you through the forest. On this path you will come to what looks like a great detour, perhaps a shortcut, or a path that leads to a clear spring of refreshing water. But, off of the path there is danger; the enemy has placed land mines and has set traps designed to ensnare and destroy you. It becomes clear in this story that we must make decisions to stay on the narrow path, even if we are tempted to get off the path, if we are to find life. Sadly, many take the wide path and only a few take the narrow, restricted path. Even though the path that Jesus says to take is narrow and restrictive, it is the only path that leads to life. The path is restrictive in the sense that the gospel, the commands and teachings of scripture, is the only way that leads to life. For example, in the gospel, we are told what to think about and what to set our mind on; to think wrong thoughts is to get off the narrow path. We are instructed to speak words that edify and build up; to speak words that tear down is to get off the path. You get the idea-there are many examples we could give. The narrow gate refers to Jesus being the only way of salvation; all other gates lead to destruction. Let us be counter-culture; let us walk through the narrow gate and embrace the narrow, restrictive way, or path, that leads to life. May we read the scriptures with the mindset that they are the path that God has set before us. In reality, following the path that leads to life is liberating; staying on the path enables us to discover our full potential as sons and daughters of God. Thank God for showing us the way, and thank Him for the narrow way that preserves us and keeps us form destruction and leads us to life.
John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Farther, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Fathers hand.”

Blessings,
Buddy

 
April 20, 2022                                                      JUSTIFIED
Romans 4:25 “He who was delivered up because of our transgression, and was raised up because of our justification.”
Today, we do not often hear messages and sermons dealing with justification; yet, justification is a key element of the gospel. If we do not understand what it means for us to be justified before God, we will live with a wrong view of who we are as believers. Obviously, the subject of justification is a deep and broad; perhaps we can ‘scratch the surface’ a bit in this brief blog. I read an article on line (could not find the authors name) and found the following definition of justification. “(1) The act by which God moves a willing person from the state of sin to the state of grace. (2) The change in a person’s condition moving from a state of sin to a state of righteousness, or (3) the act of acquittal whereby God gives contrite sinners the status of the righteousness.” Jesus paid the price for our sin; now God sees us as righteous because the sin issue has once and for all been dealt with; we have been acquitted before God.  We may see our sin and conclude that we are not righteous; the idea of being justified before God even though we sin seems contradictory. Yet-that is the case. We are not justified by our works; it is the grace of God that justifies us. One could come to a wrong conclusion and say that since God see us as justified and righteous, it does not matter that we sin. That view would be far from the truth. Because we are justified and have been made righteous in His sight, we are to walk in righteousness and justification and to make no provision for the flesh. Believers can and do sin but they do so by choice; when a believer sins, he is to confess it as sin and turn from it. The subject of justification is not just for the seminary class room or for theological discussion; it has very practical application for believers. How we view our standing before God is crucial; we are not sinners who must relate to God from a distance and we need not fear God. We are sons and daughters of God who have been made clean-and have been justified-and have been acquitted from all sin; our relationship with our Father has been restored. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross dealt with the sin issue, and gave us direct access to God. Let us live with the correct understanding of who we are as children of God and let us live and conduct ourselves according to who we are in Christ.
Colossians 2:13-14 “And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Blessings,
Buddy  

 
April 18, 2022                                       SANCTIFIED  IN  TRUTH
John 17:17-22 “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory that which Thou has given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as we are one.”
John 17 is often referred to as the ‘high priestly prayer of Jesus.’ Jesus saw the believers as being a gift to Him from His Father-and He loves the gift; in fact Jesus gave everything, even His life for those given to Him. Jesus knew He was about to return to the Father when He prayed this prayer; and this prayer  came out of the heart of Jesus for the well-being of His followers-including you and I-after He returned to the Father. Even from a human standpoint, one can understand that Jesus certainly understood the dynamics of Him leaving the ones He loved here on earth-thus He prayed this priestly prayer for His followers. Jesus used the word ‘sanctify’ several times; it means to ‘set apart.’ We are to be sanctified in truth-and His word IS truth. We must know truth that is found only in the word of God if we are to live in the truth of who God is and who we are in Him; learning of Him and the truth of His word sets one apart for living according to the ways of God. Jesus often spoke about unity; Jesus and the Father were one; and He desires that we be one and be in Him and the Father as they are in us. Jesus is saying that when we are in the truth that comes from God, we have the blessing of being in unity with each other and with Jesus and the Father. This unity that Jesus is referring to is a super-natural unity; even though each of us are unique and have often have different perspectives, we can nonetheless be in unity; there no longer has to factions and divisions. I do not fully understand it, but the glory that God gave to Jesus, Jesus has given it to us. When the world sees this unity among believers and the unity they have with Jesus and the Father, they will know that God sent Jesus. So, the lives we live, the way conduct ourselves, and believing the truth is super important because our lives are a picture of the relationship we have with our Father and a picture of God at work in us. We have been sent into the world to be living, walking, talking pictures of what it looks like to live in Christ-in unity with each other and with our Father; and to live in the truth of God.
John 17:25-26 “O righteous Father, although the world hast not known Thee, yet I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made My name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Blessings.
Buddy
​

 
April 16, 2022                                I  AM  THE  RESURRECTION  AND  THE  LIFE
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
Romans 6:4-6 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in  newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”
It is the resurrection of Jesus that changes everything. Jesus being raised from the dead two thousand years ago was not an isolated event. All that Jesus endured-the false trial; being beaten beyond recognition, mocked, nailed to a cross and hung there to die a cruel death-He did ON OUR BEHALF! Today, we celebrate His resurrection for good reason; His resurrection means that we are resurrected! Our death is not a physical death on a cross, but a death to our old self where we are freed from the power of sin-the old us died with Him. (From previous blogs, we see that if we sin, we do so because we choose to do so; the power of sin over us has been broken.) When Jesus walked out of the tomb, it was not only a victory for Him, it was a victory for us. We can rightly say that when Jesus walked out of the tomb, we walked out with Him! And that is not all; even if we die-we live! The resurrection put an end to death for those who believe in Him. The point is not about physical death, for all will die a natural death unless He returns before that time; it is about dying to ourselves and presenting ourselves alive to God; our spirit-the real us- will never die! Yet, His resurrection impacts our natural life-the here and now; because Jesus was raised from the dead, we can “walk in newness of life!” No longer must we live in a mundane way, or in worry, doubt or fear, or in a hopeless way. We all like the idea ‘newness;’ and that is what we have if we know Christ as Savior and we have died to ourselves. It may sound like one of those ‘pipe dreams,’ but yes, we can walk in a sense of newness, a sense of vibrant life, a sense of purpose and excitement, and a sense of what lies a ahead. That is not to say that we will not experience trials, because we will; it does say that we are overcomers in the trials and that we know God is present with us, giving us all we need in difficult times. For these, and other scriptures to be experienced and lived out, we must know in the deepest part of our being, our true identity as sons and daughters of God; we must believe we are who God says we are. May we celebrate this Easter for what it is-resurrection and new life. “Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!”
Matthew 28:6 “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He was lying.”
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Blessings,
Buddy

April 14, 2022                                          WORDS  AND  MEDITATION
Psalms 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my Redeemer.”
 
What a great prayer! This is a wonderful prayer in that it gets to the root, or foundation of our life. The words that proceed from our mouth and the meditations of our hear reflect who we are. There is nothing higher or greater than having a desire to live our life in a way that is pleasing to the Father. We can say words that we really don’t mean, but generally speaking, our words come from our heart. We know that words are powerful-they have the power to build up or tear down. Proverbs 18:21 points out the power of words: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”  Because of the power of words, we must be on guard in regards to what we speak, and like the psalmist, we should desire that our words be pleasing to God. The meditations of our heart refers to the things that we think about, or meditate on. Our heart has a basic mode of thought, or perspective that is dominant. This basic heart condition or perspective is the crux of our lives. If our heart is right- if the “meditations of our heart” are pleasing to the Lord- then our life will be right. At salvation, God gives us a new heart, a new spirit, and a new mind; however, we must choose to walk in the Spirit-to follow the leading of the Spirit-if we are to live out of our new heart. It is possible to choose not to walk after the Spirit, and in such a case, we live according to our own dictates. The new heart we get at salvation can and should be nurtured so that we grow in the Lord. We nurture the heart by reading God’s word, by obeying what He says, by giving expression to what God is saying to us, by relating to other believers in the body of Christ (the Church), by prayer and by worship. As in the verse above, we can meditate on God and His word, and all of His attributes, and on how the word of God impacts our life. It is possible to meditate on how to please ourselves, to become jealous or envious, become bitter, or whatever; but to do so produces bad fruit and it is not pleasing to the Father.
We must remember that God made us, and He has made provision for us to experience life to the fullest. The unregenerate human nature is at odds with the new nature that God gives to His followers. However, even in a culture that is at odds with God, we can, out of the meditations of our new heart, speak words that build up and words that are pleasing to our Father. Let us not be overcome by the world, but let us be overcomers who live life as God designed.
 
Ezekiel 36:26: “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
 
Proverbs 23:7: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
 
Blessings,
Buddy

 
April 12, 2022                                               HE  IS  NOT  HERE
Mark 16:5-6 “And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. But He said to them, ‘Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him.’”                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The Christian faith centers around the resurrection of Jesus from the dead; there is no greater event in all of history. I am in awe as I try to imagine being there on resurrection morning-when Jesus walked out of the tomb! The resurrection of Jesus from the dead validated all that He had said and all that He had done-He was the Son of God! His resurrection fills our deepest longings; it settles any doubts we may have; it brings life to the mundane; it means all of our sins are forgiven; it means that we have been fully restored to our Father; and it assures us that we will receive the inheritance awaiting all those who love Him. No matter what our current circumstances may be, let us find hope in the fact that Jesus is alive! Jesus told us that we would have trials in this life, but He also said to ‘take heart’ because He overcame the world. Not only was death overcome that Easter morning, the power of sin and darkness was also overcome. Awesome news for us is found in Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” So, let us lay aside anything that defeats us or brings discouragement, and celebrate Jesus walking out of the tomb-alive and well!
Matthew 14:27 “But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Blessings,
Buddy                                                                                                                 

 
April 10, 2022                                         MYSTERY  REVEALED
Colossians 1:26-29 “that is, the mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to who God willed to make known what is the riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”
There was a time when the mystery was hidden; no one, including the angles, knew how or when this mystery would be revealed. Before this hidden mystery was revealed, those who believed in God lived under the law of God which they could not keep, no matter how dedicated or how hard they tried. You might say, they were in a real predicament; they wanted to keep the law of God, but could not, and they sinned before God; surely it seemed like a hopeless situation; they had a will not to sin, but lacked the power not to sin. During the times before this mystery was known, the only way to find forgiveness for sin was through animal sacrifice. Also, the believers of that day did not have a personal, intimate relationship with God; the Holy Spirit did not indwell them. But thanks be to God, we live in a day when the hidden mystery of God has been revealed; no more sacrifice, and at last, freed from the power of sin-no more sacrifices. This awesome mystery that changes everything can be summed up in three words; “Christ in you.” We often hear about Christ being in us, but I fear that we may sometimes forget what a dynamic, life-changing reality it means for the Holy Spirit of God to dwell in us. We may have difficulty grasping the fact that at a particular time in all of history, God chose to send the Holy Spirit to live inside of every one who believes in Him. What is more awesome than having the Spirit of the Creator God Himself living in us? The presence of Christ in us takes us out of mere human experience; His presence makes us new creations-the old things passed away; we are not who we use to be! Now, because of His presence, we have a personal relationship with Him and no longer does sin separate us form Him; we have been restored to our Father. We can enjoy God and walk in fellowship with Him and be guided by Him and empowered by Him to live a life that is pleasing to Him. The Spirit of God in us transforms us from the inside out-He is continually at work in us. We must be alert to the fact that we can quench and resist the work of the Holy Spirit by choosing to live according to our flesh; but even if and when we do, the Spirit is drawing us back to Him. Choosing our way does not lead to life; only as we live according to the Spirit do we find life.
Galatians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
Blessings,
Buddy