November 9, 2021                                    GROW  UP
Ephesians 4:11-13 “And HE gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as some as evangelist, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
We must not become stagnant spiritually. We are called to maturity in Christ; we are to be becoming like Christ! This coming to maturity is not a personal matter or something we do on our own. Because we in the western world tend to be individualistic, we may think it is up to us to mature in Christ. However, we are members of the body of Christ, and as members of His body, each member gives and receives from the other members; the body of Christ is connected. If we think we have no need of the body, then we are in error. God places various members in the body just as He pleases, and each member has a part. It is God’s desire, and His plan, that each member grows and matures to the ‘fullness of Christ;’ in other words, we are to become like Him. To help us in the process of maturing in Christ, God places within the body of Christ apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers. (These are particular gifting’s to the body but, everyone in the body has certain spiritual gifts that are designed to bless the body.) God uses these particular gifting’s to equip the saints for the work of service and to build up the body of Christ. In light of this, it is crucial that we find our place in the body of Christ and be about maturing in the faith. (There is one problem: there are ‘churches’ out there that are not functioning according to the plans and designs God has for the church; so, you need to find a church-big or small-that is desiring to be the church as depicted in the New Testament. There are no perfect churches because imperfect people make up the church-but that is the beauty of it-believers with various back grounds and all sorts of temperaments, come together with the common desire to grow up in Christ.) Let us desire to gain a greater knowledge of God and let us be mature believers who resemble Christ. The beauty of the body of Christ is that every member has a place and a role in the body where each one contributes to the health of the body as a whole.
Ephesians 4:14-16 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
Blessings,
Buddy  

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November 7, 2021                                  WHY  HE  CAME
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Isaiah 58:6 “Is this not the fast I choose: to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”
Jesus made a statement that reveals the key to having a vital, healthy relationship with Him; He said that He came to preach the gospel to the poor. Jesus was not referring to the financial standing of a person, but to the one who knew that he or she needed a Savior-to the one who knew he was bankrupt without Jesus-to the one who was ‘poor’ in spirit. Those who think they are self-sufficient, who have it all together, who have no need, miss the message and the power of the gospel. The gospel that Jesus preached had dramatic results for those who heard and received what He preached-and it is just as powerful today as it was then. Jesus came to release the captives; man can be captive to many things. One may be captive to certain thought patterns, certain activities and habits, to addictions of all sorts, to depression, to loneliness-the list goes on-but the gospel sets us free from anything that holds us captive. Man apart from God is blind; what he may think is true, is not true. Not until the gospel is received can man see what is true. Many are downtrodden; the trials and difficulties we face in life can cause us to become discouraged and downtrodden in spirit. However, Jesus came proclaiming the gospel that lifts our spirits, gives us hope, and secures a future for us. In believing and receiving His gospel, we become overcomers in life. When we embrace the gospel and when we walk in the ways of the Lord, we experience His favor and His blessings, even in the difficult times. If not alert, we can find ourselves spiritually coasting in life, losing the joy and the wonder of the message that that Jesus is still proclaiming to us today. IF we have received His gospel, then we are not being held captives, our eyes can see truth, we are not downtrodden, and we know the favor of the Lord. That is a bold statement-but it is true; the gospel does what Jesus said it would do. Should you find yourself being downtrodden, or captive, or blind to what is right and what is true, do not feel condemned, but be renewed in the spirit of your mine, turn back to the Lord, believe and act on what He says, and fully embrace His gospel. Let us a remember and be thankful that He came to set us free; free to be who He created us to be.
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Ephesians 3:16-19 “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
Blessings,
Buddy
 
 

 
November 5, 2021                               RUN  WITH  ENDURANCE
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
We have a race to run; the race is set before us. We are not alone; there is a countless number of believers who have gone before us, and there is a countless number of believers who are alive today-‘surrounding us.’ This matter of being joined to God and living our lives according to His gospel is no small deal. The writer of Hebrews is encouraging us to run the race with endurance, but he is also admonishing us or warning us that if not alert, we will not run as we should. We need to determine if there are any encumbrances that hinder us from running well, and is there any sin ‘which so easily entangles us.’ There are many things that could encumber us: such as our being consumed with certain activities or hobbies; focusing on the temporal; seeking fame or fortune, harmful thought patterns,  allowing ourselves to become indifferent or even becoming spiritually slothful-or whatever. The point is, let us be alert to anything that draws our attention from the things of the Lord. In this passage of scripture, encumbrance and sin are closely related; perhaps sin is more obvious. Most of us quickly renounce and reject certain sins, but at the same time may allow certain ‘small’ sins to hinder or entrap us. Evaluating our spiritual health and our relationship with the Lord is a good thing to do-and is scriptural; but we are not to become absorbed in self-evaluation. One purpose of the Holy Spirit being given to us is to guide us; if we are sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, He will point out to us any encumbrances or sins that are hindering us or preventing us from running the race set before us. In this race, because we encounter obstacles and resistance along the way, we must run with endurance; we must set our eyes on Jesus and the blessings we will receive when we meet Jesus face-to-face. Do not misunderstand; this does not mean that we must refrain from enjoyable or necessary activities; but it does mean that we do all we do as unto Him and that we keep Him as our priority in life. The good news is that we can “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us” and we can “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” We have many witnesses rooting us on. If you have been side-tracked, get back in the race-it is not too late to finish well.
1 Corinthians 9:25 “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”
Blessings,
Buddy

November 3, 201                                          FILLED                                           
Colossians 1:9-12 “..we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He has delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
What a prayer request! We may think that this prayer that Paul made for all believers, including you and I, is ‘pie in the sky,’ just a prayer that sounds good, but would never be a reality for us. Read this prayer request again and look closely at what Paul is asking God to do in each one of us. We may be guilty of having a small view or understanding of what it means to be born again, to be made new, and to be joined to God. Paul knew that this prayer was for real; He knew that this is exactly what God wants to do in us and He knew that by the Spirit of God in us, this prayer request could become reality. This prayer on our behalf is an excellent picture of what it means to be made new; to be transferred to the Kingdom of God. We also must remember that when Paul made this prayer, believers faced persecution and trials on every hand, yet they could experience this prayer becoming a reality. You might say that if this prayer described me, I would be perfect-and that would be correct. In Matthew 5:48 we read: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Here, to be perfect means to be ‘complete,’ and in that sense we are perfect as Colossians 2:10 tells us that we are complete in Him. We are not ‘sinless’ as believers, but if and when we sin, we can be quick to confess our sin and continue walking in the ways of the Lord. Our ‘completeness’ in Christ means that there is provision for sin should we sin, AND our finding our completeness in Him does away with any desire to sin and instead, creates within us a desire to please Him in all we do. God has done a marvelous work in us; we can now spend a lifetime discovering and expressing what all it means to be in Him. There is no higher calling in life, nothing that compares to living as sons and daughters of God as expressions of the love of God, and the power of God to make us new creations. As we re-read this prayer made on our behalf, let us claim each segment as ours-who we are becoming-who we are right now, in Him.
Colossians 2:6: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
Blessings,
Buddy