A higher calling!

As Christians we are called out of the world, we are soldiers in the army of the Lord, our weapons are used not to kill but to set free those held captive.

We must engage our culture on the issues that they do not want to engage God on, for they know right from wrong.

Poverty, same sex marriage, racism, sex slavery, immigration, persecution, abortion, orphans, pornography, these are issues the world embraces but we as Christians can not be in line with the world.

We are called to to be steadfast and immovable speaking the truth out of love, showing them the way.

Do not disengage in the heat of battle, engage armed with the word of God and in His Spirit.

Here is a great quote.

If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I AM NOT confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity,

Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved ; and to be steady on ALL the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that point.

Elizabeth Rundle Charles

“And I say to you, My friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear! Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies?   Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.   Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows! “And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God,   but whoever denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.”

Luke 12:4-12

Standing on the outside

The world religions whether they are self religious or organized religion look in at the Church of Jesus and condemn us for being hypocrites ,because we are sinners some are there who have received grace, others in search of grace and still others who are there as plants to lead the lost away from grace.

People on the outside looking in and condemning, are self righteous and believe in themselves that they can make their way to God on their terms.

Jesus makes it clear He is not here for them,  only those who will acknowledge their need for His grace and salvation.

The picture here in Luke is a perfect picture of the Church who is in and who is out, it also is a picture of the world, the self religious and self righteous.

This coming New Year won't you gather with the sinners in a House of Worship that teaches the word of God and hear for yourself the message of God's grace and see the power it has to change the hardest of hearts.

I once to stood on the outside.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me! ”  So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him. Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them.  But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? ” Jesus replied to them, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:27-32

The cost

Jesus said to follow Me, most people follow Him to the foot of the cross , but that is where they stay.

They believe this is their salvation, but it is not.

To follow Jesus goes way beyond the cross, we must follow Him to the end. We must forsake all and seek Him and His righteousness, we must take up our cross acknowledge Him.

The cost of discipleship is grand but it is nothing when compared to being a child of God.

Have you gotten up yet from the foot of the cross?

If not get up and go to the other side, your Lord and Savior awaits to walk with you.

“Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.   The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow   Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding   his life will lose it, and anyone losing   his life because of Me will find it.

Matthew 10:32-39

Repent and live!

We are quick to call to a day of prayer and fasting in our churches and even in our nation still.

What we are not quick to do, is call for a day of repentance. Prayer, worship and fasting without a repentant heart is worthless it is vanity and pride and will not be heard by God for He is Holy and will not regard iniquity in our hearts.

Repentance is the first step in salvation when we acknowledge our sin and repent, it is also required of us to come before God repentance is required when we sin against God.

Daniel chapter 9 tells us Daniel repented for himself and his people, because they sinned greatly against God, Psalm 51 David repented of his sins and turned back to God.

The Church today needs to repent, we as the body of Christ have gotten so far off message we no longer speak of repentance, consequences or judgment.

Make no mistake restoration and healing will not come without repentance.

This Christmas as we celebrate Christ let us remember what He said. As we share Jesus with those around us.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news! ”

Mark 1:15

Israel, (we) return to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled in your sin. Take words of repentance with you and return to the Lord . Say to Him: “Forgive all our sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods! ’ to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in You.” I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His new branches will spread, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon. The people will return and live beneath his shade. They will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim, why should I have anything more to do with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing pine tree; your fruit comes from Me. Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

Hosea 14:1-9

The heart of man

God's word says the “heart” is who we really are at our core. According to God's word living the Christian life, is about loving God with all of our hearts. God is not content to live on the fringes of our lives.

He will settle for nothing short of the center!

This is in stark contrast to the most popular views of the Christian life. But this is what God says, not man.

For most non believers and believers alike, a believers life is a matter of keeping the rules.

While God knows and cares about our behavior, the Bible tells us about redemption , this picture of a believer’s life is based on the work of Jesus Christ not mankind.

The Bible tells us that believers our life is based on a new relationship with God that brings hope and peace and consumes the very core of our daily lives!

A Christian is someone whose life is installed by the Holy Spirit and love of God. And with all we are hearts we need to seek Him first and foremost , we can not harbor in our hearts any other idols , we can not know Him and serve ourselves, we can not know Him and stay the same, the good news is He changes us we must believe, repent and submit in and to Him.

God's word is clear, His name will not be mocked.

“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place. Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord . Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,   if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever. But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help. “Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?  Then do you come and stand before Me in this house called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts’? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your view? Yes, I too have seen it.” This is the Lord ’s declaration.

Jeremiah 7:3-11

The Christ of Christmas

We can not expect the world to worship Jesus Christ, but the world should expect us to worship Him. It is time to stop the whining and complaining and start worshiping Him in word and deed. If Christ be preached and Salvation brought before the masses, so be it.

Let us celebrate Christmas as it meant to be.

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. — Colossians 2:16–17

As we journey to the heart of Christmas, many christian's whine and complain about celebrating Christ’s birth mostly, that when Christmas was originally instituted, December 25 was a pagan festival commemorating the birthday of a false god.

Yes this is a true fact ." Dr. Paul Maier, eminent professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, “The Romans of the time not only celebrated their Saturnalia festival at the close of December, but they also thought that December 25 marked the date of the winter solstice (instead of December 21), when they observed the pagan feast of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, which was just in the act of turning about to aim northward once again.”

And yes while this is indeed historical, what is often overlooked is the reason the early Christian church chose December 25.

The purpose was not to Christianize a time of pagan celebration, but to establish a rival celebration to point one to Christ.

Christmas (from Old English Crīstes +mœ ̄sse “Christ’s festival”) was designated as a spiritual holiday (holy day) on which to proclaim the majesty, the Lordship, God's only begotten Son Jesus Christ in the flesh over the superstitions of false gods made of silver, gold and stone such as saturn, the god of agriculture, and sol invictus, the unconquerable sun god.

The world has all but forgotten the Greco-Roman gods of antiquity, annually we celebrate that two thousand years ago the Christ child the only hope of humanity left heaven's splendor to live among us as we live.

As Christians we should celebrate the First Advent of Christ, while simultaneously rejoicing and anticipating the Second Advent in which the He will establish His Kingdom the old ways will pass away and all things will be made new.

'Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the LORD. ‘Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.' — Zechariah 2:10–11

Act 17:16-31 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, "What is this pseudo-intellectual trying to say? " Others replied, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities" -- because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection. 19 They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, "May we learn about this new teaching you're speaking of? 20 For what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these ideas mean." 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new. 22 Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it -- He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27 He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28 For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' Being God's offspring then, we shouldn't think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead."

Wisdom comes from God

Wisdom is an attribute of God, He gives this to those who seek Him and ask Him for it. As a society today most are seeking knowledge, and not wisdom.

In this pursuit of knowledge our society is leaning on the knowledge of other men, and not the wisdom of God. This is one reason we see nation's falling, people perishing, wars and chaos flourishing, foolishness and blindness to the truth, without wisdom to direct knowledge, knowledge becomes dangerous for it becomes those who are pursuing it's god.

We need to seek wisdom which God gives in His word, through prayer and in asking. Seek Him today and not our own way.

I, Wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech. I possess good advice and competence; I have understanding and strength. It is by me that kings reign and rulers enact just law; by me, princes lead, as do nobles and all righteous judges. I love those who love me, and those who search for me find me. With me are riches and honor, lasting wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than solid gold, and my harvest than pure silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, giving wealth as an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries. “The Lord made me at the beginning of His creation, before His works of long ago. I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began. I was born when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water. I was delivered before the mountains and hills were established, before He made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth. I was there when He established the heavens, when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean, when He placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed out, when He set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate His command, when He laid out the foundations of the earth. I was a skilled craftsman beside Him. I was His delight every day, always rejoicing before Him. I was rejoicing in His inhabited world, delighting in the human race. “And now, my sons, listen to me; those who keep my ways are happy. Listen to instruction and be wise; don’t ignore it. Anyone who listens to me is happy, watching at my doors every day, waiting by the posts of my doorway. For the one who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord , but the one who misses me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

Proverbs 8:12-36

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.

James 1:5-8

Where do you find joy?

Where do you find joy?

In people, places or things? Do you feel that these complete you or make you who you are?

Reading this morning this passage stuck out to me, "the joy of the Lord is your stronghold."

Nehemiah and Ezra have just rebuilt Jerusalem and just started reading the laws of God to the people who had been in captivity, and now where free. They were reminded that God is Holy and that they are set apart by Him and that they have a call to live by His ways. The people where grieving for they knew why they where in captivity but they were told." Therefore do not grieve all that they have suffered but take joy in our portion of the Lord."

Circumstances, people, health, family, friends, jobs, living arrangements, the economy, wealth, the weather, the old and the young alike die, political parties, bosses, the laws of man everything here on earth changes and we have no control over any of it.

But the Lord our God never changes, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And if you are His, your portion of His inheritance, your portion of the promises of God, will never change, no matter what happens here on earth.

That is a stronghold of joy that we should hold onto no matter what.

What ever your facing today Take heart

" the joy of the Lord is your stronghold."

Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your stronghold.”  And the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Be still, since today is holy. Do not grieve.” Then all the people began to eat and drink, send portions, and have a great celebration, because they had understood the words that were explained to them.

Nehemiah 8:9-12