While thinking about this coming year, and how we should approach it as a faith community, I landed on the following quotation we will use for our Bible study in 2018: “A Living God – A Living Faith.”

These words are very simple, yet so very profound. There are so many ways to try to understand them, and even more ways to try to put the understanding into real-life practice!

Take a pause, right now, and ponder a bit; see where it takes you before you continue reading!

I hope you enjoyed the exercise, and perhaps the few questions that arose in your mind. Feel free to send them to me, questions or just comments, as I’d love to hear any of them. Just hit the ‘comment’ link and I’ll get it sooner or later. 🙂

You see, we do have a Living God, not a dead god. What this means in reality is almost too wonderful to capture into words, albeit overwhelming just to consider. He’s not just alive, He’s everywhere. His ways are not our ways the Bible tells us, and we don’t really know what to do with that because the only ways we seem to understand are man’s ways, which, unfortunately, fail us repeatedly. So we tend to ‘think’ that God fails us, probably because we didn’t get the result we hoped for from some prayer we prayed trying to convince God to act the way we think He should! I’m very good at trying to pray a prayer that is worded so well, even quoting what I think His Word is saying to me, that, well, He HAS to grant the request! Hmmm. Perhaps I need to grow in my understanding of God being God.

A Living God. Yes. Indeed. Which, if believed in, would result in a Living Faith! I wonder if there is a correlation here? How does my ‘belief’ translate into my actual life experience? Is my ‘faith’ alive too? Does ‘faith’ have life? Can it grow? Can it move me, or direct me, or impact in any way what I actually DO in my own…life? I’m not trying to play some game here of stimulating a bunch of questions with no purpose. I think this is big stuff. I think how we approach God, dead or alive, and how we live our faith, dead or alive, translates into actual results here on Earth, here in our very lives!

We know that God wants to Bless us. He says so. And we do want the Blessings, no doubt! Perhaps we can enter into a more prosperous year of Blessings if we reinvigorate our Faith in a Living God, and then dare to actually Follow Him. Perhaps this year will bring many new trials our way, offering even more opportunities for us to be Alive in Christ, seeing Him lead us to new victories, His way!

(When I first typed this, two lines above, I typed ‘trails’ instead of ‘trials.’ Prophetic? I so look forward to the new trails too, which present their own trials, etc.)

Happy New Year
Pastor Skip

Ok, let’s ‘interpret the tongue.’

In my use here, a blog is a fairly short writing about something. This blog, then, is my response to an email I received, from a trusted source. A ‘link’ is a reference to what was emailed to me, which is given below, which is from a law professor, addressing his students. You will need to read the ‘link,’ before my response, if you can.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/24007/law-professor-students-if-you-say-i-feel-rather-i-hank-berrien

(To the person who sent me the email) that is so, … timely! I’ve just been studying Romans 12:2 “be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds,” word by word, in the Greek, to try to “get it.”

You see, it is Christmas-time, and this is a time of year when “feelings” are heightened with all sorts of family issues, financial issues, emotional issues of all kinds … so many based on “feelings.”

Even the “facts” we use to justify the “feelings” are selected to support the “feeling” and avoid the veracity of it all, much less the Word of God.

I’m asking God to really TRANSFORM me, into “another form,” says the Greek, and am completely dependent upon Christ Jesus for any of it to happen, other than my willingness …

Even hospital and doctor visits increase this time of year, as the emotional invades the physical and generate real medical issues to deal with.

I am in no way making light of the power of feelings, of emotions, to impact our physical bodies and certainly our minds. My desire is to learn from God how to deal with it spiritually; Godly; His way. Perhaps we would do well to pray, asking God to fulfill Romans 12:2 in our own, personal lives.

Jesus Christ is the biggest “change agent” of all history, for He comes to change US, into a New Creation. “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

From time to time the news brings us to the tragic reality of P.O.W.’s (prisoners of wars), whether current or historical. Immediately we are caught in an emotional war within ourselves. We certainly grieve those who have died, and somehow try to work out the great loss, and how we can continue on with our lives without them. But then the horror that some are still alive, but in captivity, enduring who-knows-what kind of treatment, stirs us up almost unbearably because we can’t do anything about it!

We can go to funerals and Memorial Services to try to get some closure for those who have died, and many other things as well; but what can we DO about the P.O.W. ? We pray. We write letters perhaps. And we hope that our country will get them set free.

The real purpose of this blog is to point instead to the reality that WE ARE ALL P.O.W.’s. We are all in a war; a spiritual war. We are all being held captive, and tortured, daily. Our enemy is fierce, and he hates our Savior. Our enemy wants us to renounce our Citizenship, and join with him. The peer pressure is severe, as so many have gone the wrong Way. We are plied with all sorts of inducements, distortions of truth, even lies, in addition to the pains of various tortures.

So, how does a P.O.W. survive his captivity? A common report from those who did endure and get set free was the mental determination, the focus, the resolve to never give up and to keep remembering the purpose the war was fought for. Let Freedom Ring is an American mantra, but a Christian one even more-so.

For this Thanksgiving, we can do much more than say ‘grace’ at mealtime. We can understand that Jesus Christ has won our Freedom, and offers it to us. We may have to endure for a season, but the outcome is sure: He wins. We can even die in our captivity, secure in the knowledge we will be resurrected in Glory! The Bible declares that our citizenship is in Heaven, not in a cage here on Earth, which is only a temporary dwelling place.

For most of us Americans we can easily rejoice this Thanksgiving, for we have so much. Let’s not let ourselves be numbed by the stuff. Let’s continue to Praise God from Whom all Blessings flow! Let’s renew our confession of Faith, and our resolve to be Disciples of Jesus Christ. It might be good to reflect not only on the war that has us captive, but also on God Almighty, Who will bring about our Deliverance!

May the Lord immerse you in His Holy Spirit, this Thanksgiving, with thanks-giving. Amen.

In our Church we are reading through the Bible in a year. One year. Entire Bible. Yes, it’s a lot of material to cover, especially when we have so many TV shows to watch and sports events to attend, not to mention vacations and family reunions; but what a great read!

It’s now July, and we are in The Psalms. Here we have King David, mostly, writing poems to be sung as songs of praise, or Hymns of Worship, to his God. We can picture him with a musical instrument of some kind working his way through the creative process. But our picture shouldn’t be a scene of complete peace and meditative praise, with the poetry flowing from a contented heart. David isn’t on a tropical island basking in the tranquility of uninterrupted nature. Perhaps some of the time he is at peace, but much of the time he is in full-blown crisis!

I find as I read Psalms that every possible human emotion is not only revealed, but explored. It’s almost as if God were showing us HOW to talk to Him. With honesty and transparency. If you were writing a love letter you would probably use different language and a different approach than if you were writing to some business or other entity. You would probably be more intimate, more personal, and, if wise, more honest about things, especially feelings and perceptions.

You see, we cannot approach God Almighty and act as if things inside us were somehow hidden or secret. He knows everything. We can’t con Him and we can’t manipulate Him with clever speech. God knows it all. I think He waits, patiently, for us to come to Him with openness and honesty about how we feel, even if it is sometimes a rant or a scream. Even if it’s a rant or a scream about Him!

Prayer seems to be a hard thing for many people to do. I’ve heard folks say they don’t “know how to pray.” I’ve witnessed, so many times, folks who defer to others, almost ANY other, when asked to pray. It’s like they don’t feel competent somehow; not trained; unable to “do it right.”

Have we forgotten to Whom we pray? Is that why we are timid? Is it really just better to NOT talk to God? Or is it that we just don’t want to do so in public where others may get an idea about our real life? I’m sure there are lots of reasons, each one personal and valid, yet each one missing the point.

You see, I believe God wants you to open up to Him and tell Him what’s on YOUR mind. If it’s thanksgiving, wonderful! If it’s a call to help someone else, terrific! If it’s just the stated understanding of how Great God is, that’s amazing! But also, if you’re hurting or scared or confused or panicking….whatever, tell Him. By getting honest with God you show that you understand the situation, and by asking Him for help you begin the process of yielding, which, you see, is the deal.

I’m a convict!
Because I’ve been convicted!
But now I guess I’m an EX con.
A former convict.
No longer a convict.
Not because I’ve done the time.
I didn’t do the time.
Someone else did it for me!
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment.” (John 16:8)
I’ve been set free.
I’m no longer a prisoner.
Who is this who has done this for me?
Why would He pay for my sin, make me righteous, and so help me to avoid judgment?
Could it be because He loves me?
Yes. That’s it. He loves me.
Jesus loves me.
Can I believe it?
Yes. I believe it.