You Got The Job

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.

And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go, behold I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes, and greet no one on the way.”

Luke 10:2-3

We spend time thinking about why we can’t do things we are called to do. We worry that we aren’t good speakers or that our clothes aren’t good enough or people might not like what we say or that people will make fun of us or argue with us and we won’t know how to respond. It becomes all about what we do not have.

Jesus understands this and that is why He said we should go and not worry about what we don’t have but concentrate on delivering the message of salvation to those who are waiting to hear it. We can use glitz to spark interest in the message, but sometimes glitz is out of order when people are hurting and the simple truth of the Gospel is what they need.

So, let us just go do it – take the Gospel to the world. We can start right where we are and see what God will do. The message never changes; Jesus is the Savior of the world. Ask Him to come into your life today.

Go share the Gospel.

 

A Little More Hospitality

Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:1-2.

Here in Ohio, we used to say “Hi” to everyone we met. This custom is rapidly fading. People walk with their heads down and their hoods up. People are so engrossed in texting and cell phone talking that they can barely navigate where they are going let alone acknowledge other human beings who are right in front of them. What can we do? How about we declare a week of Christian hospitality?

Who knows, maybe we will entertain angels.

In A Slump?

 

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.

Proverbs 13:4

Every now and then we get in a slump.  We don't want to do anything.  We do the minimum.  The kids are fed and have clean clothes and we go to work.  Nothing really sparkles in our life.  If we still go to church, that’s all we do there – go to church. We are disengaged. Maybe we are mad about something or bored or burnt out. Whatever it is, it zaps our zeal for life.

While we may enjoy wallowing in our minimal activity, it is not productive nor is it good for us.  Even when we don’t feel like doing something, when we get up and get busy, God will bless our efforts.

Do your best and God will do the rest.

Hope For Those Who Have Strayed

 

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James 5:19-20

We can only hope that if we stray from the Gospel or fall away from the faith, that someone will come looking for us and bring us back to Jesus.  

And, if need be that we will be the one seeking those who have strayed and gently bring them back to Jesus.

May we be so worthy.

Love Your Neighbor

 

… A lawyer asked Jesus a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And, He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and foremost commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:35-39

Did you ever notice that Jesus did not give us a lot of complicated rules to follow?

But just because the rules are not complicated, does not mean that they are not difficult.  

Think about this, how difficult is it to love someone whose actions we do not like?  

Yet, it is easier to love than to hate because hate festers and love heals all heels.  

Love your neighbor.

Be All You Can Be

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25

These characteristics are big goals. Let's face it, some days we are just not feeling it.  Our human nature causes us to respond to the grating of everyday aggravations with irritability and grouchiness.

Yet, here we are given what we are to aspire to – love, joy, peace and the rest. 

And, how do we do this? We do this by working on our attitude and being willing to cut people some slack.  And most of all by the grace of God.

God did not create us to be miserable, angry people. God created us to be filled with love and joy. Let us work to be all we can be.

The Route 66 Kitchen And God's Angels

 

For He will give His angels charge concerning you,

To guard you in all your ways.

They will bear you up in their hands,

That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

Psalm 91:11-12

In 2009, there was a shootout involving five gun men in a crowed bar, the Route 66 Kitchen, in Toledo, Ohio.  No one was injured.

How could that be?  The answer is, that God sent his angels who protected everyone.  

Everyday in a hundred ways, God's angels are watching over us and protecting us.  Most of the time they are stealth so we don't even know they are working. But, sometimes, like in the Route 66 Kitchen, their handiwork is seen.  

Have faith, angels are watching over you. 

Happiness

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

A few years ago, my daughter wanted to go to lunch. We met at the restaurant and my daughter had brought along a friend’s twelve year old daughter. We ate and chattered. We talked about junior high school and our favorite television shows. To me it was a regular lunch.

Later, my daughter called and said when they got in the car, the girl started crying. When she asked her what was wrong, she said, “Your mother. She is so happy.”

I think about that and I think about how important it is for us to put forward our best behavior.  All around us people are suffering and discouraged and we never know who we will bless by being kind.

Happiness is serving the Lord. He delivers it to us and we can deliver it to the world.

The Forgiveness Business

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2

Man is in the condemnation business. God is in the forgiveness business.

God Loves Us, We Love Others

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

We have come to know and believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in the world.

We love, because He first loved us.

1 John 4:15-17, 19

My husband always says, "What comes around, goes around."  

It is true in the case of God's love. When we are filled with God's love, it just naturally spills out on those around us.  

Things Will Get Better

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

James 1:12

Trials and tribulations, they come to all of us.  Those of us who are fortunate find our trials and tribulations are cars problems  and leaky roofs.  

Those who are not so fortunate may face illness, divorce, runaway children, unemployment or threats to our safety. 

Sometimes the best we can do is to hang on and get through it knowing that things will get better. 

A Place Where We Can Survive

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

When things are going wrong, and sometimes when things are going right, we can be overtaken by anxiety. We can “what if” ourselves into a place where our Christian faith seems to escape us.

We are not called to worry. We are called to prayer and thanksgiving. Taking our concerns and joys to God, lifts us up spiritually to a place where we can survive a rough ride or celebrate a pleasant journey.

Sometimes We Are A Target

“For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Luke 7:33-35

When Jesus said this He was pointing out that those who want to find fault will find fault no matter what people do. John the Baptist and Jesus did nothing wrong, yet the Pharisees, who were religious leaders, and the lawyers faulted them both.

That is the way things go sometimes. We are busy doing the right thing, and the critics are busy finding fault with what we are doing.

Keep doing.

 

Happy Fathers' Day

 

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teachings.

Proverbs 1:8

Happy Fathers’ Day.

God Is Fixing Us

 

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

And sustain me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 51:10-13

Everybody has tough times. Bad stuff can overwhelm us and make us feel as though we are without hope. We fixate on what we cannot fix and while we are fixating, God is fixing us.

God never leaves us. When we run away, He chases us down the street, all the while calling to us, “I am the hope of the world, trust Me.”

Just turn around and flag Him down and He will pick you up.

Those Who Wait

Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.

They will mount up with wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow tired.

They will walk and not become weary.

Isaiah 40:31

Sometimes we feel worn out by life.  It can become a struggle just to do our everyday activities.  We might feel overwhelmed by our obligations to work and family or by dealing with people who don't like us and make a career of tormenting us.  Even worse, yet, perhaps we are living with war that goes on and on.

In all this we have hope because God promises us He will see us through and we will rise above all of it and soar like eagles.  

Trust God, His promises are true. 

Not Much of a Resume

 

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29

God does not look at us and see our credentials.  He does not worry about our inexperience or that it is our first day on the job.  He does not operate like big business.  He has His own standards.

God does not call the qualified.  God qualifies the called.  

So, those of you who think you do not have much to offer God, think again.  You are just who God is looking for.  

By Faith

 

Opening his mouth Peter said, “I most certainly understand that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it men of old gained approval. …

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

Hebrews 11:1-2, 31

When we are jumping to judge people, we need to consider that we do not judge as God judges. God sees the hearts of men and women.

Rahab was a prostitute living in Jericho. Rahab knew God parted the Red Sea and delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and she believed that He was the True God. When two Israelite spies ask Rahab to help them and promised her that she and her family would be safe when Jericho was overrun by the Israelites, she trusted them.

The spies escaped from Jericho, and when the City was destroyed by the Israelites, only Rahab and her family were saved. Of all the people God could have saved, He saved Rahab, not because of her personal merits, but because she had faith in Him as the One True God.

That is the way it is with God, no one is saved because they are good, they are saved by faith in God and His Son, Jesus.

Remember that.

This Guy Is Driving Me Crazy

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good and to his edification.

For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on me.”

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

Romans 15:1-7

We all have our ideas of what right behavior is for a Christian and we base some of this on what the Bible says and some on what we think. We all know people who are Christians who do and say things with which we do not agree. So, what do we do in these cases?

I think what Paul is saying is that we should accept these believers as fellow believers and offer encouragement to them. We need not lecture them regarding their shortcomings because they are most likely aware of where they fall short.

So, rather than criticize each other we are to try to build one another up with the Word of God and by our own witness. When we accept one another we open the door to change in all our lives so that we can be better servants of God.

So, let us all be a little more tolerant of one another in the interest of furthering the work of the Gospel.

It Is A Treat

 

Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.

Luke 6:31

Jesus said it, we should do it.

Be nice to someone today.

Ask God

 

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

1 John 5:14

In Christian circles there is a lot of discussion regarding what we should and should not pray for. There are those who say to pray for our own needs is selfish, and there are those who say that since God is intimately acquainted with us and loves us that should not shy away from asking God for what we need and want in life. I vote with the latter group.

We can pray for others and for the world and for ourselves.

God wants us to bring everything to Him. God cares that you are having financial problems and God cares that you need a better car. God cares about where you live, where you go to school, and where you work. God is interested and has an interest in us. God wants us to do well and be well. We are not being selfish when we bring our needs and desires to God; we are being obedient to the scripture.

When we ask, God hears us.

The Hard Stuff

 

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ...

Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus asks us to do hard stuff.  And this, loving our enemies is one of them.  

I think the reason why we need to love our enemies is so that we do not become like them.  Think about it.  Chances are our enemies have a lot of hate, not just for us but for a lot of other people and things. 

Do we want to be filled with hate?  No.  So, the solution is obvious - love.  We do not have to like what our enemies do or how they behave or what they say, but we have to love the person.

Jesus asks us to do hard stuff so that we do not become hard, but remain filled with God's love.

The Ultimate Pardon

Seek the Lord while He may be found;

Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

And let him return to the Lord,

And He will have compassion on him,

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7

It is never the wrong time to come to God. As long as we have life in our bodies, we can come. It does not matter what our sins are or if we are rich or poor or if we are bad or think we are good, God is waiting for us to return to Him.

God is the court of final appeal and He will pardon us.

More Than Money

Now this I say; he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

This is about money, but it also applies to other things. Opening our wallets and handing out money is easy, but opening our hearts and giving encouragement to others is more difficult because it requires something personal from us.

We have so much more than money that we can give. We can give a smile to a stranger. We can greet a new acquaintance with enthusiasm and interest. We can throw the ball back over the fence at the playground. We can offer kindness to the hurting and we can celebrate with those who are joyful.

Money helps but the real cure all for a hurting world, is human interaction. If we see each other and share with one another and reach out with Christian fellowship to those in need, we truly share in the ministry of Christ.

Be brave. Be kind and caring.

God Builds Bridges

 

Opening his mouth Peter said, “I most certainly understand that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”

Acts 10:34-35

God is in the business of building bridges so that all men, women and children can come to know and worship Him. Jesus came for all of us, and we are all welcome to ask Him to be our Lord, Master and Savior, and to be welcomed into the family of God.

The Transformer

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 13:2

Peer pressure is everywhere. I don’t care if you are five years old or eighty years old, there is always someone trying to persuade you to do something that is less than the best.

When we are transformed by Jesus, we are endowed with courage to refuse to be bullied into doing things which violate what is good and acceptable.

Jesus is the ultimate transformer.

Enjoy The Journey

 

Do you not know you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16

God lives in us and we are filled with His Spirit. We should not be surprised when this spills out on those around us. Where ever you go be gracious, be kind, be caring, be all God has created you to be.  

Enjoy the journey.

Return To The Lord

Seek the Lord while He may be found;

Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

And let him return to the Lord,

And He will have compassion on him,

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7

God does not view humans as humans view humans. God desires that we come to Him, not because we are good, but because God is good. As long as we have a breath in our bodies we are candidates for God’s forgiveness.

 

Take Care

Take care brethren, that there not be in anyone of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginnings of our assurance firm until the end….

Hebrews 3:12-14

How does a person fall away from God? I don’t think it usually is in one big leap into a life of sin. I think it is by the slow chipping away of their faith.

That is why the Apostle Paul cautions us to keep an eye on our brothers and sisters in the Lord, so that they do not slip away from the living God. And, like wise for ourselves. We know that we look upon ourselves as being pretty good. However, it is the eyes of others who can see those things which may indicate we are moving away from God.

We need not jump all over each other to keep ourselves in check, but rather encourage one another with fellowship and the Word of God, so that we remain faithful until the end.