All Categories - TheNewU

THE QUALITY OF OUR WORK

10/31/2025

October 31, 2025 THE QUALITY OF OUR WORK

1 Corinthians 3:11-14 “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.”

This is another passage that can cause one to be fearful, or it can cause one to look forward to a future event. When I was in school, if I had prepared for a test and had done my homework along the way, I looked forward to the test; but, as was to often the case, I did not prepare for the test so I dreaded test day. As we get into what Paul is saying, we must understand that there is only one foundation for the believer to build on, and that is Jesus Christ; any other foundation fails. The gospel, the kingdom of God, supersedes everything else. All of the philosophies and all the ways of man or doomed to fail; only what God says is eternal and what God says is the truth. God chose to give us the freedom to choose what material we use to build with on the foundation He has laid. The good and lasting material, the material that will pass the test of fire, is gold, silver and precious stones. Those good materials are found throughout the word of God; they are the instructions, admonitions, commands, and teaching that God has given. In the word of God, God reveals Himself and He reveals truth. The good news is that the word of God is not a list of rules to keep; His word reveals our new identity in Him, and when we live out of our new identity, we naturally keep His words and do the things that please Him. If we build with wood, hay, and straw, it will be burned up when tested with the fire. So, what material we chose to build with throughout our life is a super important decision with far reaching consequences. What we build with determines whether or not we will receive a reward or lose our reward. (I personally believe that this passage is written to believers and I believe that believers will receive a reward for faithfulness to the word of God; those who are not faithful, will not receive the reward but will nonetheless spend eternity in heaven if they have been born again. There will be a day when each believe will give an account for the life he or she lived on earth.) May we day by day chose to build with those materials that will remain when tested by the fire.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Blessings, Buddy

CONSIDER IT ALL JOY

10/29/2025

October 29, 2025 CONSIDER IT ALL JOY

James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

I don’t know about you, but I do not like trials; so I need to hear and embrace what James is saying in this passage. It helps to know that God is bigger than anything I face, and that He uses all things for our good if our hearts are turned to Him and we are desiring to walk in His ways. Trials test our faith; and having our faith tested is a good thing. If our faith is weak or non-existent, that will be revealed when the trials come. If trials cause us to be discouraged and they draw us away from the Lord, then we need to examine our faith to see if we truly trust the Lord. The good news is that God allows trials for a purpose; and that purpose is that we gain endurance. Enduring under a trial is a testimony of the reality of our faith in God-that He is producing something good in us. To endure implies that there is a trial; it does not mean that we enjoy the trial we are experiencing. However, we can ‘consider it all joy’ because of what God is doing in us through the trial. In the world in which we live, with all of its trials and difficulties, it is an awesome thing to endure and remain steady in the faith. Many are defeated and depressed by the circumstances they are in; there is a need to see that they can rise above the circumstances and endure and not be defeated in spirit. Endurance is the end result; the result of endurance is that we ‘may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.’ Do not let the word ‘perfect’ derail you; perfect means being complete. When we endure, when we are not ‘down and out’ because of our trial, we are victorious and are living as over-comers-and that is what God is up too. When our faith in God is sure and steadfast, we truly lack nothing because we know that He supplies all we need.
James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test of he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.”
Romams 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Blessings, Buddy

HE WHO ACTS

10/27/2025

October 27, 2025 HE WHO ACTS

Matthew 7:20-21,24 “So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but He who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mind, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house upon the rock,”

We are saved by grace and not by works; most believers would agree with that. However, that belief can be used as an excuse and see it as an ‘escape clause’ for putting into practice the word of God. I have heard a believer make the statement that ‘it does not matter what we do-we are under the grace of God.’ I think I understand what they were trying to say, but that statement taken at face value is far from what the scriptures teach. The verses listed above are sobering and we need to hear what Jesus is saying. It is not those who hear the words that Jesus spoke, but those who act on the words He spoke that will enter the kingdom of heaven. Hearing the word of God carries with it great responsibility. If we know that the God of creation, the all-powerful God, spoke words that were directed to us, then surely we should act on the them and take His every word to heart. God did not speak words and give commands to show us He’s the boss or to burden us; He spoke words that, when acted on, give abundant life. Jesus said we will be known by our fruits. We all have fruits that are a result of the actions we take and the life we live; some have bad fruit and some have good fruit. It’s that simple. The words that Jesus spoke must take preference over all other words we hear-and we hear a lot of words from all sorts of sources. So, the obvious message for us is to make sure that we are not hearers only, but those who act on the words Jesus spoke. The fact is that only those who act on the words of scripture will enter the kingdom of God. Do not take that reality as something to fear; out of love for us, the words spoken by God lead to life and the freedom to live as we were designed to live. (The motive for acting on God’s word is not to gain His approval; we act on His words because we know Him and love Him.)
James 1:25 “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.”

Blessings, Buddy

FIXED ON HIM

10/25/2025

October 25, 2025 FIXED ON HIM

Isaiah 25:3 “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. Trust in the Lord always, for the LORD God is the eternal rock.”

We cannot live and operate in the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God simultaneously. It may sound like a stretch, but we can, as a way of life live as active members of the kingdom of God in a consistent way. Some seperate their life and their activities into two categories; secular and spiritual. That is a great error. Because we are in Christ and He is in us, all we do is to flow out of that relationship, expressing His life in us. Colossians 3:17 tells us “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” To do all we do in His name is not restrictive, but rather is freeing. God designed us not to live according to our own dictates and wishes, but according to His design. In fact, the deepest longings of mankind can be fulfilled only by living according to our design. If we try to drive our everyday car in a ten mile mud-bog run, it ‘ain’t’ gonna happen. The life of Adam and Eve before the fall gives us a good picture of our design. The New Covenant also gives a clear picture of what it looks like to live according to design. By reading just the ‘one another’ commands in scripture, you begin to see what living in His kingdom looks like. We may be quick to say we ‘trust in the Lord,’ but perhaps we need to examine our trust factor. One definition if trust is “firm belief in the reality, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” It is a sure thing that if we truly trust in the Lord always, we will experience perfect peace. If we do not have peace at any particular moment, that is a sigh that we are not trusting God. This issue of trusting God with all of our hearts and minds is a serious issue. We cannot work-up trust in God; trusting God is a result of knowing Him. He is a trust-worthy God-even when we are in difficult circumstances. Trusting God does not mean we bury our heads in the sand; it means that we move through the difficulties knowing that God is faithful and that He is working for His glory and for our good.
Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Blessings, Buddy

October 23rd, 2025

10/23/2025

October 23, 2025 OPEN OUR EYES

2 Kings 2:16-17 “So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

This is a word we need to hear today. It would appear that we are surrounded by those who oppose God and it may look like a hopeless situation. However, there is a reality we do not see with our natural eyes and we must be established in that truth. If we do not understand that, we will be fearful, and fear robs of peace and rest. The servant of Elisha was afraid because with his eyes he saw that they were surrounded by the enemy. However, Elisha was as ‘cool as a cucumber’ because he saw with his spiritual eyes what was real, what was true. He knew that those who were with him and his servant were more that those who were with the enemy-and that made all the difference. Because of the greatness of God, we do not need to fear even when we see the enemy and those who oppose God-and us. It’s one thing to believe in the greatness of God sitting in our living room or in a Sunday school class; it’s another thing to believe in the greatness of God when we are looking into the eyes of the enemy who are ‘rattling their swords.’ Elisha did not rebuke his servant for being afraid; rather he prayed that God would open his eyes that he could see just how great God is-and see the mountains full of horses and chariots of fire all around. Whether we fear those who are opposing God, or fear for our health and well-being, or fear losing our job, or whatever fear we may have, we find rest and a sense of security when we see the greatness of God. Fear and doubt are all too common among believers today, and that fear keeps one from being confident in the greatness of God and it robs one of boldness. May God open our eyes that we may see the greatness of our God.
1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

Blessing, Buddy

October 21st, 2025

10/21/2025

October 21, 2025 NEVER STOP

Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul had a goal he was relentlessly pursuing and that goal was the ‘prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.’ God chose Paul to be one who would have a major role in proclaiming the gospel and God equipped him by revealing to him a clear understanding of the gospel of God. The central message and the message that was essential to understand was that by the work of God, believers were in Christ and Christ was in them and He was and is their life. Paul knew that genuine, abundant life was found only in this union with Christ; any ‘life’ outside of this union was not life as God designed. The mystery is that a believer can come to discover that life is in Christ, but it’s also an ongoing process. With our limited human minds we cannot fully grasp what it means to be in Christ; discovering life in Christ is a life-time process-and we will fully understand it only when He comes again and gathers us unto Himself. To pursue the goal of the upward call of God, we must forget what lies behind; the mistakes, the sins, the successes, and the heart aches; and we must focus on and move toward gaining greater insight of what it means to be in Christ. Being in Christ and receiving the truth of the gospel impacts every aspect of our lives here on earth. To be in Christ means that we have died to ourselves-that’s the part many miss. When we live for ourselves, trying to work God into our life, we fail to live as God designed. Dying to self is a matter of laying my desires and my ways aside and pursuing and following the ways of God that is made known to us by the Holy Spirit. For example; if my way is to speak words that tear down and criticize, I must lay that aside and speak words that build up and edify. The good news is that the Holy Spirit gives us the power to lay aside what we should and the power to put on Christ; another way of saying that is that we have the power to walk according to the Spirit instead of walking according to the flesh. So, let us have the same goal as Paul had and spend our days pressing on to the things of God. Pressing on the the things of God does not negate fulfilling our responsibilities of life on this earth. When we experience life in Christ, our deepest longings are fulfilled and we experience abundant life. Dying to our ways and having Christ live His life in us is the best thing that could ever happen to us in this life.
1 Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
Blessings, Buddy

October 19th, 2025

10/19/2025

October 19, 2025 SET FREE

Romans 8:1-4 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was though the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in then flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

There are two major laws: the law of sin and and death, and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The awesome and amazing good news is that if we trust Jesus as our Savior, we have been SET FREE from the law of sin and death! That means that we do not have to sin and we do not have to fear death. Sad to say, but many believers do not realize that they have been set free from the power of sin, and the fear death. (Someone has said that death is not an enemy for believers.) The Law was given to show that man could not keep the Law; under the Law, man was under the power of sin. The Law was our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ; the Law revealed that we needed a Savior. Galatians 3:24-27. If one does not embrace the fact that they are forgiven, they live with a sense of condemnation, and that robs them of life; believers are also set free from a feeling of condemnation. All of this is possible because of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; Jesus lives in us and we live in Him and the sins and guilt issues were dealt with when Jesus bore our sins on the cross and then was raised from the dead. Life as God designed can be experienced only in Christ Jesus. For this reason, it is absolutely essential for believers to know their true identity in Christ; to understand how the scriptures describe who they are. Sadly, there is much misunderstanding about what it means to be in Christ. At the core of the issue of our identity is that of being made new creations-not refurbished creations. As new creations, we have new minds, new spirits, and a new heart; and the power of sin has been broken. We can now walk according to the Spirit in place of walking according to the flesh (sin). Being set free from the law of sin and death is a much larger issue than we think it may be; being set fee is being set free! We are no longer enslaved to sin, to the old way of life where we are focused on getting what we want; we are now to live as Christ-to live life to the fullest, being over-comers. Do not let a misunderstanding of our true identity rob you and I of what great things God has done on our behalf. We are have been SET FREE to be who God designed us to be.

Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Blessing, Buddy

WHY WE WERE CREATED

10/16/2025

October 16, 2025 WHY WE WERE CREATED

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

There is a common view point, that if accepted, will derail our life as a believer; and it deals with grace and works. Most everyone would agree that we are saved by grace, and rightly so. The error comes when we think that because it is grace that saves us, we may downplay the importance of works. We must not overlook the fact that good works are a crucial part of of the Christian faith. We learn from the passage above the amazing truth that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works! We must know that we do not do good works in effort to earn His love and His acceptance; we do good works because He is good and that is how we are designed-to do good works just as our Father does good works. It is so important to embrace the fact that we are His workmanship; we are not here by accident or by chance. Your life and my life matters. Knowing why we exist and knowing our core purpose in life is essential if we are to live life as God intends. Knowing why we are here and living accordingly has many benefits, and it has a way of helping us avoid costly mistakes in life. Good works are called for because good works glorifies God-and that is more than sufficient reason to be about good works. We must not take credit or draw attention to ourselves for the good works we do; we do them to honor Him and because it is our new nature to do so. As we navigate life and all that it demands, let us not lose the awareness that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works, and by doing so, we glorify and honor Him.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in .”
Titus 3:14 “And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.”

Blessings, Buddy

LAT ASIDE

10/14/2025

October 14, 2025 LAY ASIDE

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth do easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

We are blessed to have the power to ‘lay aside;’ we do not have to live with unnecessary weights that would rob us of the life God has for us. Whether it be attitudes, thought processes, or habits, that are hindering us in life, we can lay aside those things that so easily beset us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Some would say “You just don’t know the struggle I am dealing with”; I understand that it may seem difficult to simply lay things aside, but yet, God’s word remains true-we do not have to live weighted down. It sounds so simple, but it is amazing what power there is in our spoken words and the commitments of our hearts. Throughout the scriptures we find that God gives us the power to be over-comers. There is a race set before each one of us and it is our unique race and we must run our race with patience, and we must lay aside any unnecessary weights if we are to win our race. God has not left us powerless. There are ‘clouds of witnesses’ who have gone before us, and there are witnesses around us today who are rooting us on in the race we are running; let us run to win. So if there is anything that hinders us or causes us not to run the race set before us-the life God calls us to live-let us lay it aside; it is not as difficult as it may appear.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And 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. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, less possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”

Blessings, Buddy

ARISE

10/11/2025

October 12, 2025 ARISE

Ephesians 5:14-17 “For this reason it says, ‘Arise, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

It is always good advice to be careful how we walk. We may find ourselves ‘asleep’ as it were, or in a coasting mode of life, simply going through the motions of life. It is easy to get in such a routine that we miss the real part of living life; we just put life on auto-pilot. (Nothing wrong with routines.) The word for us is that if we are ‘asleep,’ wake up and rise up. How we live life matters-big time. When we are spiritually awake, Christ shines on us and we become engaged and we make a difference because Christ is working through us. It is about us being careful how we walk; we are not to be unwise, but are to be wise. Just as Paul did, we live in evil days; we need to be alert to the voices and the things of the culture that would distract us from living the life God has for us. It is a good word for us ‘to make the most of our time.’ When we see life for what it really is and we see that we can make a difference as His representatives, we want to make the most of our time, not wasting time. When we are in tune with what God is doing in the earth and in us, He will give us opportunities to make a difference-to be salt and light-and that is what is needed in these evil days. When we understand this, we find energy, and we do in a real sense ‘arise from the dead.’ This is all according to the will of the Lord; we were put here to be difference makers!
1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil days, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

Blessings, Buddy