What's a way you can demonstrate your love for God?

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NLT)
5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

Jesus expanded on this in Matthew 22:35–40 (NLT)
35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

God wants us to share that same love we have for Him with everyone including ourselves. If we are not sharing God's love; if we are arguing, fighting, disrespecting, etc with others we are not living out our faith. We are not sharing the hope that we have. We are not obeying or honoring God.

Take every opportunity to share God's love in any and every way possible.

Receiving the Holy Spirit, part 1

I was recently asked why there is a difference in how the Holy Spirit was received by the Samaritans in Acts 8 and the Gentiles in Acts 10. In this post, I’ll look into the passage from Acts 8.

Acts 8 begins talking about the persecution of the believers. This had caused many to scatter and throughout Samaria and Judea. Even though Saul and others were going after them with the intent of destroying the church (as if they were actually going to succeed against God – not), the believers still preached about Jesus.

This is where Philip comes in. He is teaching and preaching about Jesus to the Samaritans. Read the full account here: Acts 8:4-25. The people who heard what he had to say were hungry for the message.

Prior to the Good News that Philip was preaching the Samaritans had been amazed by sorcerers like Simon and magicians. Whether these sorcerers and magicians were creating illusions or empowered by Satan, they tricked the people.

The Good News that Philip preached gave people hope for something more. It was because of this message that many were baptized. There is no mention of them receiving the Holy Spirit. This is where the confusion comes in for the person who asked the original question. This comes from the teaching that when we accept Christ we receive the Holy Spirit:

Ephesians 1:13-14

¹³ And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

There is a progression here. The Apostles were with Jesus for 3 years and they believed he was the Messiah, yet they had not received the Holy Spirit. Here is what Luke wrote after Jesus death and resurrection:

Luke 24:49

⁴⁹ “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

This is what Joel had prophesied about:

Joel 2:28-29

²⁸ “Then, after doing all those things,
    I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
    Your old men will dream dreams,
    and your young men will see visions.
²⁹ In those days I will pour out my Spirit
    even on servants—men and women alike.

Luke later records the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4

¹ On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. ² Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. ³ Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. ⁴ And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

I’ll have to cover the wind, fire, and speaking in other languages another time.

So now we are back to this progression of the building of the church. In Matthew 16:15-16, Peter, when asked by Jesus “But who do you say I am?”, responded “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then says in verse 18, ¹⁸ Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Peter was there when the church began in Jerusalem. He, along with John is in Samaria when the Samaritan church is born and later he will be with Cornelius when the Gentile church is born.

Peter and John being present when the church was born in Samaria gave the church credibility. Their presence brought the acceptability of the Samaritan church by those in Jerusalem. Had they not been a part of this, the Samaritan church would have been seen as illegitimate as the Jews and the Samaritans were always at odds with one another. In fact, the Jews saw the Samaritans as a lower class that they did not interact with at all. The beginning of the church in Samaria brought unity amongst the believers.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit did not happen the way that we have come to understand it happening when someone comes into a relationship with Jesus. As I was doing some additional research on this one of the things I read considered this a special event in the beginning of the church. 2000 plus years later I would say that anytime someone comes into a relationship with Jesus as their Lord and Savior it is a special event.

Next up will be Acts 10:34-48 where the Gentiles heard the Good News and received the Holy Spirit. Until then God bless!

Why Do You Read the Bible? - 8/26/2016

Why Do You Read the Bible?

Recently I have been reading the book Multiply by Francis Chan which is about Discipleship. In the section about studying the Bible it talks about the reasons for reading the Bible. Is it done out of some sort of perceived obligation? Are you reading it to be smarter than everybody else? What is your motivation?

This got me to thinking, why I read the Bible. I have no desire to be the world’s foremost theologian. Then I came to realize it is because I really, really, really (get the idea) want to know God and the Bible is the best way to do that.

This morning as I was doing my morning devotionals God spoke through the words in Psalm 143:10 NLT:

¹⁰ Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.

One of the ways that God is going to teach me to do His will is for me to better understand what He is saying to me. He speaks to all of us through His love letter to us. That love letter is the Bible. The messages contained in the Bible have been called many things that it is not. I believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired and authoritative Word of God. This is backed up by Scripture (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5).

In order for God to teach me, I have to be willing to learn and be willing to accept His correction. This will happen because He is my God. Something that I did not understand fully until He met me right where I was at nearly 13 years ago. Sure, I knew God before that. We had a relationship. He was all in and I was, well, I wasn’t. All that changed and I have been devouring His Word ever since in an effort to know God better.

James 2:17 NLT

¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

James is not telling that by doing we are good enough. I believe he is telling us that if we truly have faith that we just by our nature do good deeds. We will not want to do the things that the world tells us are ok. When we come into a relationship with God we then allow the Holy Spirit to fill us. We are then guided to do God’s Will. Our faith will become evident.

So, now you know why I read the Bible. Why do you?

Our Hope and Confidence - 8/18/2016

Our Hope and Confidence

Jeremiah 17:7-8

⁷ “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
⁸ They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.

To put our hope and confidence in anything other than God is worthless and futile. Think about it. What are some of the things we put our hope and confidence it?

We put our hope, trust and confidence in other people. That may be family, teachers, doctors, politicians, etc. We will at some point let you down is one way or another. It might be missed commitments or broken promises. Whatever it is, large or small, it will happen at some point.

One response I get to this has been, “then why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” Let me start by going to Scripture:

Ecclesiastes 7:30 – ²⁰ Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.

Romans 3:23 – ²³ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

1 John 1:8 – ⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

According to Solomon, the wisest person to ever live, as well as Paul and John, no one is good. We all fall short. It is only because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that we have any hope escaping eternity in hell. God loves us that much that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for everyone’s sins. That means whether you accept Him or not, Jesus died for you. In love. Without judgment. It is free.

God will guide us if we let Him. Solomon tells us this in Proverbs 3:5-6 – ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. ⁶ Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Yes, it is hard. Yes, we can do it. We will stumble and fall. God will be there to pick us up. If you choose the wrong path, He will show you the right one to get back on track. Just another reason to read your Bible every day. It is full of God’s wisdom and truth. It is the living water that Jesus told the Samaritan woman about.

That goes back to verse 8 in Jeremiah 17. We are like the trees when we are in God’s Word. It feeds us like the water feeds the tree. It gives us strength. It gives us confidence. It gives us hope! The more we take in, the deeper our roots. The deeper the roots of the tree, the stronger it is. The more we put our trust in God, the stronger our faith. That strength allows us to stand against anything the world and the prince of the world, Satan, throws at us.

I am just an imperfect sinner saved by the grace of God. I have made mistakes and will make more. I will let people down.

So, who am I to question Him. Instead I put all my trust in God. Bad things will happen. I still put my trust in God. In the end it means the difference between an eternity in Heaven instead of Hell. Amen!

What Is Most Important To You? - 8/11/2016

What Is Most Important To You?

Jeremiah 10:3-5 NLT

³ Their ways are futile and foolish.
    They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol. ⁴ They decorate it with gold and silver
    and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails
    so it won’t fall over. ⁵ Their gods are like
    helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
    and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
    for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”

The ESV translation starts verse 3 as “for the customs of the peoples are vanity.” Vanity comes from the word vain which the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines as “not producing a desired result” and “having no real value.” Other words that come to mind are futile and worthless.

To me, when something is futile, you are not going to get anywhere or anything from it. This came to reality for me during the 2008 flood here in Cedar Rapids. I remember going to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cedar Rapids building to move everything from the 1^st floor to the gym on the 2^nd floor. We thought, surely that will be high enough to save everything. Everyone worked very hard. Some of the items we moved were extremely heavy. When we finished we felt so accomplished. When I got back to the van to go to the next stop I was amazed that the water (which had not been there when I parked) was up to the axles. I remember thinking that we got everything moved just in time.

The other instance that came to mind was the older gentleman that would not leave his house because the pump in the basement was not working. Nothing was coming out of the hose on the outside of the home. By this time there were 2’ to 3’ wide streams running down the streets. By this time I knew that getting the sump pump going would be a futile and worthless venture. The only way we were going to get him to leave was to get that pump going. I looked in the basement and the water was a few feet deep already. Without any thought of my own personal safety I took off my socks and boots, rolled up my pant legs and started climbing across the different items that were still above the water. The whole time I was thanking God that He was keeping me safe. I was so thankful the plug was in the ceiling. After several minutes I realized the hose was kinked. Once straightened out the pump started running and we were able to get the home owner to safety.

They both lost everything. The flood waters got to places we never imagined. It gave new meaning to futile and worthless, at least in the sense of our actions. By the grace of God our efforts to get people out of harm’s way were not. No lives were lost due to the flood.

In this passage from Jeremiah the Lord teaches us that putting our faith in anything but Him is futile and the things that we put our faith in are worthless. The idols the craftsman created were manmade. The shapes that they created were often of things already in the world. In Isaiah 40:18-20 we read that there is nothing that can compare to God, nothing can resemble Him. To think that we can make a “god” out of wood or precious metals is foolish. It is worthless. It is futile.

What is really sad is that we do this today. We may not carve or cast the image, but we idolize people and the things of this world. It is easy to fall into that trap. Satan is good at making things desirable, so much so, that we begin to idolize and worship them. Colossians 3:5 tells us that anything that we value more than God is an idol.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes:

²² Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. ²³ And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. ²⁵ They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. (Romans 1:22-25)

I am in no way saying we cannot enjoy what God has given us; just don't put it about Him. Don’t trade the truth about God for the lies that Satan tries to sell us. Enjoy the beauty of nature; it is the canvas that God painted. Enjoy one the people around you and thank God we are not alone. Be thankful for the needs that one way or another God provides for us. Love like Jesus. Thank God that He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for all of us for nothing He has done, is doing and will do is futile and worthless. Amen!

Let God Show You How To Love - 9/2/2015

Let God Show You How To Love

1 John 4:20-21 NLT

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? ²¹ And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

This sections starts by saying in verse 8, But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

If we profess to love God and we do not love others John puts it as simply as he can, “that person is a liar.” We cannot cherry pick who we love and who we do not. To say you hate someone means you don’t love God. Period.

Jesus tells us that the path is wide but the gate is narrow. In other words, there are a lot of people out there that hate and when I say hate I mean:

To feel an intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury. [www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hate]

Just pick up your local paper, turn on the news or go online and you’ll see more examples of hate than you care to know about. That then feeds into the whole vicious circle of hate because the people reading about the hate then hate those who are doing the hating. That is a lot of hate!

Jesus taught that we are to love everyone, especially our enemies. I know what you are thinking, that is hard to do. The thing is, we are commanded by God to do it. It is not an option. Quit hating!

It takes time to quit hating. We hear all the time that we need to learn to get along with one another but how often does it happen? How quick are we to stereotype a person or people group. We are quick to judge and slow to love.

About a year ago as I was leaving church to have lunch with the family a man approached me in the parking lot. Social norms would have said don’t talk to him, he’s homeless. God said listen to my child’s story and do what you can to help him. So I listened without judging.

He needed to get to someplace that had Western Union so I drove him to the 6^th Street Hy-Vee Drug Store and then waited for him. There was a problem and he needed to make a phone call so without a thought I let him borrow my cellphone which he went inside with. Yeah, I know, he could have taken off with it. That thought never entered my mind. While I was waiting a lady in the care next to me was trying to fill out a form of some kind and her pen quit working. Being the Boy Scout that I am (our motto: Be Prepared), I let her have an extra that I had. Finally the man came out and was happy. He had gotten the money order so he and his wife could buy bus tickets to get where they were going. After that I headed to lunch, never giving it another thought until I read 1 John 4 again.

Love and trust God and He will make the way clear.

Heavenly Father I thank you for the spirit of love that you give to us. I thank you for the joy that loving others brings. It has changed me as it has so many others. Unfortunately because of Satan being in the world and people falling for his lies there will always be hate. Help us to do what we can by showing and sharing Your love. Amen!