John 13:34

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

This command by Jesus to “love one another” came at perhaps the most perfect time in human history to leave a profound and lasting impression upon the disciples.  It was the evening of the Last Supper and Jesus was preparing Himself to be handed over to be crucified.  Men would literally torture, abuse and kill Jesus, beginning in just a few hours.  In addition, Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray Him that very night and reveals to Peter that even he will deny that he ever even knew Him.  Despised, rejected, hated, betrayed, and abandoned.  This was the moment when Jesus would experience every relationship pain a man could know, all in one evening.  And what does Jesus say to His followers in the midst of all of this?  To “love one another as I have loved you.”  If there was ever a time to hate one another, this would be it.  If there was ever a time to become bitter, resentful, and suspicious of others Jesus was living it at this moment.  But Jesus does not give us permission to give in to the fleshly desire for resentment and revenge.  He renews the command to love one another.  No matter what.  But what makes this a new commandment?  The command to love one another had been around since the giving of the Old Covenant Law.  What makes this commandment new is that we are not to simply love one another, but to love one another as Christ has loved us!  This is a command to strive for perfect love among the brethren.  Let us, for a moment, consider how Jesus loved His disciples.  He spoke and dealt kindly and gently towards them, he concerned Himself with their well-being.  He gently instructed, counseled, and comforted them in time of struggle and need.  Jesus often prayed with them and for them.   He stood by their side when they were ridiculed, took pity on them when they were tired and weary.  He forgave them when they misunderstood and even mistreated Him.  And what’s more than all of this, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, publicly declared them to be even dearer to Him than mother, or sister, or brother.  He understood their failures and their foolishness, and even corrected them when they stumbled.  He dealt with them compassionately, and bore with their failures and even their betrayals. This is how Jesus had loved them.  And even on the night when all of them would betray Him, deny Him, and flee in terror of being associated with Him, He washed their feet.  But Jesus was not done, His love would culminate into the greatest expression of love ever known.  He gave the ultimate sacrifice of His love for them; His own life.  This is how Jesus loved!  Oh, how far we have to go in our love for each other!   While we will most likely never be called upon to give up our very life for another, we still must follow in Jesus’ example of love.  How?  Our love to one another must be freely given and ready at a moment’s notice.  It must be costly; to give more love than we receive.  It must be constant and unending.   And what is our motive and driving force behind loving each other this way?  “As I have loved you.”  As Jesus has loved us!  If Jesus can suffer so much hatred and betrayal at the hands of man and still love unconditionally, then it is our duty to follow in the footsteps of our Lord.  Loving unconditionally is never easy, that is why only a true Believer is capable of doing it.  It doesn’t come from the strength of our flesh; the ability to love comes directly through the work of the Holy Spirit.  If you are struggling to love the way that Jesus has commanded you to, my prayer this week is that you humble yourself before the Lord and before the brethren and seek to restore those relationships that the enemy has so effectively brought into question and suspicion.  Love for the Brethren is one of the greatest expressions of Godly love in all the world.  Let us all remember this week that to love this way has never been a suggestion, it is a command.  A command that, if obeyed, will fill our lives with joy, humility, peace, grace, and hope.  This Christian life is filled with many great things, but never forget, that the greatest of those things is love.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John   

Job 14:5

⁵ Since his days are determined…

From a young age we are conditioned to count our lives in terms of years lived.   There are certain milestones that seem very significant to us.  1 year of age, 10 years of age, 21 years, 40 years, 100 years.  These are all milestones we look forward to or hold in high esteem.  And because we tend to count our lives by years, it is very easy for us to get caught up in considering and planning our lives by years as well.  Many of us have a 5-year plan, a 20-year plan, and a retirement plan.  We are always looking forward to when school is over, winter is over, fall is here, vacation is here or a host of other future events.  If we are in a particularly difficult season of life, we may say something like, “I can’t wait until this year is over.”  Our minds, it seems, are often so focused on what might be coming in the future that we tend to live and plan our lives in terms of the weeks to come, the months to come, and even years to come, while often neglecting the many moments of opportunity to serve the Lord that just the one single day offers.  In Job 14:5 we are given a simple reminder of the importance of a single day.  God Himself numbers our lives, not in years, but in days.  God knows that each and every day is full of opportunity for us to build His Kingdom, strengthen His church, encourage one another, love one another and an endless list other things of great and lasting importance.  Dear Christian, as hard as it is to see in the moment, there are lessons to learn in the daily grind, there are opportunities to grow in your faith in the mundane of daily work, chores, family life, and simple devotion to God.  A God honoring life is never defined by what might come in the future, it is built brick by brick through obedience in the trenches of day-to-day living.  While I understand the necessity of some planning, my hope is that each day we will give far more consideration to the things of the moment that will be of lasting and eternal consequence, rather than the things of the future.  I have already lived 15,530 of my days, how many do I have left?  How about you?  We don’t know!  Therefore, since all our days are already numbered before we have lived one of them, and each day is so very precious, let us then learn to number our lives the way God does, and live by these words of the Psalmist; “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Psalm 138:8

⁸ Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Even for the most diligent and steadfast workman, there is an inherent need for rest.  It is a natural and vital part of what makes us human.  In the beginning God created man to need, not only nightly rest from daily toil, but it was woven into our very nature to rest our minds and bodies for one full day in seven.  Rest is often the most welcomed word in our daily routine.  Rest from work, rest from fear, rest from anxiety, rest from trouble.  We all need rest.  It is natural for the sewers hands to grow weary, the bankers mind to bog down with fatigue, and the farmers body to cry out for respite.  But there are also times when we become so overwhelmed, so discouraged or so indifferent that we not only rest from our work, we outright forsake it.  Sometimes all we can see when we look into the future is the endless toil of life.  Work, responsibility, obedience.  The never-ending demand for our time and attention can be overwhelming and outright exhausting, and it is in these moments that the frailty and shortcomings of our human nature are magnified.  The Psalmist was all too familiar with the shortcomings and weakness of his own flesh.  The trouble and toil of life was heavy on David’s heart and mind daily.  And yet, in the midst of these times of discouragement, he was strengthened by a very powerful and foundational promise from the Lord; God never grows weary with His work.  What is His work?  “We are the works of His hands” and there is not a moment that the Lord rests or forsakes this work.  We may grow weak, we may grow faint, but the Lord’s steadfastness and power never wain from one moment to the next!  You may be experiencing a time of struggle, doubt, difficulty; a time when giving up for a short time seems like the only option.  Dear Christian, the Lord is near, and He is not finished with His work in your life. You may be weak now, but He will revive you!  He will strengthen you!  Therefore, let us take our eyes off of the work, the struggle, and the toil, and place them back upon our Beautiful Savior.  Let us run to Him to seek the care, encouragement, and the rest that we need to be renewed in our body, mind and spirit.  May we join David in praying;   

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
⁸ The Lord will accomplish what concerns me;
Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Daniel 9:8

⁸ Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.”

Daniel, in his humility before the Lord, knew exactly why Israel had fallen into exile.  It had nothing to do with a lack of military might, national pride, a faltering economy, or a lack of resources.  It was because Israel had embraced and practiced open sinfulness in the place of God honoring righteousness.  From the highest levels of leadership in society to the common man, sin had become the commodity of Israel.  And the consequences were dire indeed.  A fallen, humiliated nation.  Israel lost its homeland, its religious identity and its favor in the sight of God.  Israel lost everything because “open shame” had become their most abundant national export.  Fellow Believer, is the United States any different than Israel before us?  On a national level we own “open shame” as much as any wicked nation ever has.  Perhaps an even more fitting description for America would not be “open shame” but rather, “celebrated shame”.  There is no question that the most abundant commodity in this country is sin.  We trade it, sell it, barter with it.  The unbridled desire for sinful pleasures is what drives the decision making of the vast majority in our society.  It drives our corporations, health care, education, politics, institutions and nearly all facets of our economy.  Drugs, sex, idolatry drives our entertainment industries.  Selfishness and murder drives our abortion industry.  Bitterness, unforgiveness and rabid vengeance drives the race baiting industry.  Pride and perversion drives the LGBTQ industry.  Overall, a hatred of God’s righteous truths are the fuel this country is driven by, and all of this is wrapped up with the main sinful driving force around our entire political and social system; Greed.  We can’t even be sold insurance, food, vehicles or any other thing without also being sold homosexuality, pedophilia, sensuality, drugs, divisiveness, idolatry and endless other sins.  And this open shame has had major consequences.  We are a country in decline, because a country is only as strong and righteous as its individual parts.  The state of the country simply exposes the spiritual state of the individual.  In his sorrow, as Daniel sat alone contemplating all that was lost because of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, he came to the conclusion that just as national shame starts at the individual level, so does national repentance.  One man, bowing before God, confessing the sins of his nation and his own sins.  This is a great reminder to all of us.  Repentance and humility begins on the individual level before it can ever be experienced in our society.  One humble, repentant man will lead to one humble and repentant family.  A collection of these families will lead to a healthy, humble and obedient local Church.  A collection of God-fearing Churches will lead to a national voice that is firm in the truth and unwavering in the face of depravity and persecution.  While it is right for us to speak out and stand up against the sinful open shame that surrounds us, it is just as important to take an inventory right in the “home” of our own hearts.  What sinful commodity are you and I still trading with on a daily basis?  Which sins have crept into our homes and have caused us to harden our hearts towards the Lord and His Church?  Is there any open shame in your life that you haven’t dealt with?  Animosity, anger, sexual sin, hatred, bitterness or the like?  Dear Brethren in Christ, let’s make today the day that we humbly come before the Lord in repentance so that our hearts, homes and Church can thrive in our obedience and calling as we rest in the Lord’s incredible mercy and grace! 

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John         

1 Chronicles 15:1

¹ After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

The Ark of the Covenant was the very centerpiece of earthly worship of the Lord.  It contained the most important message that man had ever received from God up to this point in history…the 10 Commandments.  And the importance of the ark was not lost on David.  It had spent 3 months in the home of Obed-edom for safe keeping, but David knew its rightful home was at the center of Jewish worship and life in Jerusalem.  Notice, that the ark of God was not intended to be brought to Jerusalem with ill-conceived haste, or with a careless, indifferent attitude, but rather, with careful preparation.  David “prepared a place for” it, in a tent, in the style that Moses was commanded in the wilderness.  He also planned a great celebration to receive the ark into Jerusalem.  He appointed a full band with trumpets, harps, cymbals and psalms.  In addition, he appointed approved Levites to carry the ark, and he held feasts.  David took great care and preparation to worship God in a way that was pleasing to Him and showed his humble and exuberant attitude of worship.  But there is something else of great importance to consider; David also prepared buildings for himself and his family near the ark.  It was David’s intent that his family be cared for and live near enough to the ark that they would always be reminded of God’s presence, favor and love for Israel.  Near enough so that they would always have a ready reminder and an established place to worship the Lord.  There can be no doubt that David took proper worship of the Lord very seriously.  He “prepared”.  Not only a place of worship, but an attitude of worship.  Today, dear Christian, we do not have to visit the ark of God to experience the very real presence of the Lord, we do not have to position ourselves within close proximity to a building to be near to God.  As God’s people, we are now living temples of God!  The Law is now written on our hearts, not on stone, the Spirit of God now dwells in all who are in Christ, not in an earthly building.  Therefore, wherever we are, God is there among us.  However, that brings us to a very sobering question; how do we preparing these temples for worship?  First, worship begins in the home.  A home that is in ununified, unpeaceful, discontent, in dysfunction and disconnected from each other is not a home that is prepared for worship.  A home that is preparing for worship is a home that is filled with love, encouragement, joy, peace, gratitude, prayer, kindness, grace and compassion.  Unity is a very important part of true worship.  If you have ever been at odds with your spouse or the brethren, you know that your ability to worship suffers greatly.  Being disconnected from God’s people makes us disconnected with God.  And the correlation is obvious, how can we worship God when we are angry, bitter or harsh with another in whom the Lord is dwelling?  Next, worship continues wherever we go.  Isn’t it true that we often view Sunday mornings as the pinnacle of weekly worship, and yet, many of you, perhaps, do not even prepare well for that time of worship!  Rushing around, showing up late or just in the nick of time, not even considering corporate worship until the moment is upon you.  If this is true, then I wonder how seriously we take the other 166 hours of the week if we cannot even be bothered to prepare for the two hours we spend together!?  Preparing for worship is not an event, because true worship is not an event, it is a lifestyle.  Beloved of Christ, living lives with the idea of keeping our hearts tender towards the Lord and ready for worship will cost us much.  David’s preparation cost him immensely.  He built buildings, spent lavishly on feasts, bands, parades and attendants for all of Israel.  It will cost us much too; our pride and selfishness.  How can we prepare our homes for worship then?  Husbands, love, cherish, encourage and uplift your wives with your words; this is true worship of God.  Wives, honor, respect and submit to your husband in reverence; this is true worship of God.  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right; this is true worship of God.  Brethren, love, forgive, defer to and encourage each other; this is true worship of God.  God honoring worship is not a moment, it is a lifestyle of surrender and sacrifice to the leading of the Spirit of God within us.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Ephesians 4:32

³² Be kind to one another, tender-hearted…

Perhaps there is no Fruit of the Spirit that is more overlooked than the seemingly “simple” fruit of kindness.  And yet, if producing kindness was so simple, then all of us would be overflowing with kindness at all times!  However, isn’t it often so true that one of the things we lack the most with those that we are closest with is “simple” kindness?  And the reason for this is because kindness is the antithesis to selfishness.  You can’t be both kind and selfish at the same time, because kindness is not simply a good temperament and intention towards others, it is good intentions followed by action.  Kindness encompasses two very important principles.  First, kindness is a pre-determined disposition of heart.  Kindness is an even temperament of love, honor, curtesy, peace, and tenderness towards others.  I say pre-determined because we must always be ready under any circumstance to show kindness.  Kindness is not subject to situations.  A disposition of kindness does not say, “I will be kind if, you are kind to me.”  It says, “I have already, even now, decided I will be kind to you even if you are not kind to me, now, or at any time in the future.”  If we do not determine, at this moment that in all future situations we will show kindness, then, you and I will probably fail to be kind when it is needed the most.  Kindness determines that there is not a time or a situation in which we will not extend grace, mercy, benevolence, and love.  We will be kind, because God has changed the disposition of our hearts from self-love, self-pride, self-righteousness, and selfishness…to humility, charity, and tenderness.   So, kindness starts with a disposition of the heart…”I will be kind no matter what”, but what good is kindness if it is only an internal tenderness?  This is why true kindness next produces a usefulness to each other.  God first showed us kindness by loving us while we were yet sinners, but that kindness then produced a usefulness to us.  God’s kindness compelled Him to produced a way to salvation through Jesus Christ.  Therefore, biblical kindness also produces a usefulness to others.   A faith that says, “good luck, I hope you make it out there on your own”, isn’t a true faith, because it does not produce one of the fruits of a real faith.  Kindness.  Kindness doesn’t just wish someone luck with their problems, needs and concerns.  Kindness, sympathizes, empathizes, and then mobilizes.  There is perhaps no other story in the NT that gives us as excellent of an example of the usefulness of kindness in action, than the parable of the Good Sarmatian.  A Samaritan man gave up his time, resources and his pride in order to help a Jewish man who hated him and probably would not have cared for him in the same way.  And what does Jesus say after telling this powerful parable?  He says, “go, and do the same.”  The usefulness of kindness in action will call you to serve each other and give up your time and resources for each other.  However, when it is the Holy Spirit producing this fruit in you, your service won’t be forced, it won’t be done with grumbling or complaining.  Your service to each other will be done with joy, thankfulness, and love.  Therefore, the fruit of kindness is a matter of both heart and hand.  Dear Christian, in Christ, God has given us a heart of kindness.  My prayer this week is that we recommit ourselves to producing this powerful and important fruit.  I know that I have a long way to go in producing this “simple” kindness, how about you?

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John 

Galatians 4:8

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

Worship is a deeply instinctual aspect of the nature of man.  Simply put, man cannot help it, we must worship something.  And so, what a tragedy that anyone would be so grossly ignorant of God that they would elevate any number of random, everyday items, persons and ideologies into the position of a “god” in their lives.  But such is the nature of fallen man; created to worship, and yet, because of sin, lacking a knowledge of whom we were created to worship.  Mankind is lost in a sea of ideas, superstitions, ideologies and cults of personalities.  And yet, isn’t it interesting that these lost men, the world over, are so zealous for their “god”?  Slaves to “gods” who by their very nature and definition are not gods at all!   And yet, man remains deeply devoted to these idols.  There is no end to the “gods” of the world.  To some their god is “science” (the science they serve is not science at all), education, materialism, sex, homosexuality, drugs and much more.  To others their god is a celebrity, “Mother Earth,” naturalism, government, or spiritualism.  Of course, this is to say nothing of the over 4,000 religions worldwide that men devote their entire lives, attention and worship to.  Rather than simply existing without any form of god, man cannot help but to fix their attention on something in which to elevate to a place of godlike status in their lives.  In doing so, men become slaves to completely useless, dead, inanimate ideas and objects.  Bowing, serving and zealously worshipping…literally nothing!  “Gods” that are unable to help, answer prayer, heal and, most importantly, offer salvation.  And yet, the fervor in which these lost souls serve their “gods” often puts the zeal of service and worship of many Christians to shame.  Dear Christian, think for a moment, if you can, of the various gods that you served before your eyes were opened to the Living God.  Was there anything that would stop you from serving your “god” with all your heart, soul and mind?  Alcohol, materialism, sex, education or whatever your god may have been, these things were the very focus of your living and breathing.  Slaves to death.  However, today we praise the Lord that those days are over!  “⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.”  However, there remains a question for all of us today.  Did you, perhaps, serve your former “god” with more zeal, fire and fervency than you do Jesus Christ?  I know our knee jerk reaction is “no way!”  But knee jerk reactions are not helpful to us.  Are you really serving and worshipping Jesus Christ more than you served your former god?  I have seen people at various music concerts, and it always saddens me to see the excitement, zeal and joy that fills their hearts at a concert, and then see their disinterested, critical, and uncaring attitudes during cooperate Christian worship on a Sunday morning.  There are people who are willing to give up their children, jobs, marriages and livelihoods for the sake of alcohol, drugs, sex and much more…and yet, are we willing to give up even our simple comfort to share the Gospel with another person.  We often say we are committed to God, and yet the overwhelming majority of our lives are spent on menial, selfish, and worldly-minded ideas and tasks.  Dear Believers, we now know God!  Or rather, He knows us!  We are in the service of a much better Master than we were formerly.  What an amazing truth this is, so amazing, I think it is far past the time that we worship and serve God with even more fire and fervor than we have ever served anything before!  The Lord is worthy of all of our praise, all of our time, all of our hearts and all of our faith.  Let’s continue to grow in our zeal for worship and service to Jesus Christ.  We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let’s spur one another on to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John   

  Zechariah 2:11

 ¹¹ “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. 

The desire to belong and identify with a group of likeminded people is a deep need in our human nature.  Primarily we were created to know and be known by our Creator and to be in a right and everlasting relationship with Him.  However, from the moment Adam sinned, that relationship was severed and man lost his most meaningful purpose in creation which left us scrambling to fill the relationship void.  Everyone the world over is constantly searching for a way to find acceptance and meaningful relationship in one way or another.  Many look to team sports, clubs, societies, co-workers and many other things simply in search of one thing; to belong to something that gives a sense of meaning and purpose in life.  Others turn to darker pursuits to find a community, including drugs, alcohol and even LGBTQ sexual perversion.  But all these group identities are merely sinful perversions of what man was created for and who man was created to belong to.  To the unbeliever, there will be no end to the pursuit of fitting in and finding something or someone to enhance an otherwise “meaningless” life.  And yet, an unbeliever can search the world over and still never find any lasting reason for his existence outside of Jesus Christ.  As one billionaire lamented upon his deathbed, “that was interesting, I wonder what it was all for?”  And yet, fellow Believer, while the world is seeking relationship and meaning in the most worthless, sinful and trivial of things, we praise the Lord for the joy of being in close fellowship with our Creator and belonging to the most meaningful and joyful thing in all the universe…the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are citizens of an eternal Kingdom, ruled by the eternal King of Kings, Jesus Christ!  In this Kingdom we are free from fear, anxiety, hopelessness, a meaningless life, and most importantly…death.  What an unfathomable joy it is to know that the Spirit of the Living God dwells in the midst of His people!  Dear Christian, my hope for you this day is that you both realize and celebrate the incredible privilege it is to be called God’s possession and to be counted among His people.  We no longer have to search to belong or search to find true and lasting relationship, we have been granted every spiritual blessing in Christ!  We belong to God, as a dear child belongs to his loving father, as a dear sheep belongs to its caring shepherd.  And there will never be a time, neither now nor in eternity when this claim that the Holy Spirit has placed on your heart as a seal of belonging will ever be removed, shaken or destroyed!  All of us have felt alone at times, forgotten, unimportant, and have struggled with earthly relationships, but take courage, you will never be forgotten by the One who paid it all to restore a right relationship with you!  You are precious to God and what God deems precious He will never throw away!  “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,  who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John