Walking with Jesus

 NT Reading: Ephesians 5:1-17 (Congregation’s version is Good News). v.10 “Try to learn what pleases the Lord.” v.17 “Try to find out what the Lord wants you to do.” What pleases God? What makes God happy? What is it that puts a smile on the divine face? What fills his heart with joy? As a Christian, as a follow of Jesus, I want to know. Ephesians isn’t the only place we are instructed to please the Lord: Proverb 16:7 , Psalm 104 , Hosea 6 , Malachi 3 , 1st Thessalonians 4 , 1st John 3 , and both Corinthian letters encourage us to focus on pleasing God; Colossians 1 instructs us to please God in all respects; and 2nd Timothy 2:4 states, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” This is only a sampling of the many places the Bible refers to figuring out what pleases God and then doing it. Pleasing God is perhaps the most important thing we can do. That’s quite a claim, so let’s thin...

The fire fails and flower fades. Another saint doth pass away. For us, those who are left behind Our mourning is by salt refined. For, tears of loss with joy are mixed As we await eternal bliss.   Reunion hymns and chorus high Await us in the by and by. No loss is long for those in Christ. For, by his blood he paid our price That power of sin and death grow dim. None truly die who live in Him.   Oh victory, sweet victory! For, saints are saints, wher'er they be.

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled some women in a Bible Study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities.The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith...

Read 2 Timothy 3 There have been some in every generation who have believed they were living in the last days (v.1), but the evidences for the end of the age in our own times seem particularly compelling. We live in a day when light and dark are being divided. The church seems to be in a season of preparation and cleansing. Opposition to authentic, transformative Christianity is everywhere. For those who truly love God, it is becoming more and more difficult to be a casual follower of Jesus (especially in traditionally comfortable cultures such as our own). Even in our congregations, the division is happening. So many of us walk in unrepentance and sin, while others refuse to say anything about this hypocrisy for fear of causing disunity, pain, or embarrassment. Believe me, I understand the temptation. It's difficult to be honest about sin in others, because I must first be honest about my own sin as well. So, we are satisfied to have everyone just get along, as if the ch...

Philippians 4:4 says, " Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" (NASB) The book of Philippians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Philippi, the first European church mentioned in the book of Acts. That story occurs in Acts 16 . Paul and Silas had been visiting the churches established earlier when Timothy joined them. From there they wanted to take the gospel further into Asia, but God would not let them go. Instead, the Lord sent them across the Aegean Sea to Macedonia, which is in modern day Greece. They ended up in Philippi, a major city in the region and a Roman colony with almost no Jewish presence. Since there was no synagogue, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and (apparently) Luke went to a place of prayer along the river and shared the gospel with the women who met there. Some of them believed and a congregation of Christ-followers was established. You may remember the story of the slave girl with a spirit of divination who followed along af...

Just wanted to let you know that I've posted my first post at http://gospiritdeep.blogspot.com/ . Walking with Jesus will still be my blog for our family,and I would love for you to keep reading it. Simply get me your email (comments will not be published) and then answer the invitation I send you via email. I will be making this blog private soon. After that you'll have to follow me at GoSpiritDeep . I would rather not have to split my glog, but doing so will help me present a more ministry focussed face to the world without exposing my family to the predators who are ever present out there.  GoSpiritDeep will be a Bible Study blog, and the sermons and reflections I used to post here will now appear there first. I'm not sure where the political, cultural, and other ideas will go. Perhaps I'll have to be more explicit in the biblical foundations for those posts? Olivia has already privatized her blog, so I'll sum up both our thoughts in he...

Read Matthew 1 1) Family matters. Where Jesus came from was important. Without the lineage of Joseph (notice it was both adopted and valid), Jesus would not have been counted in the royal line. Without Joseph, Jesus would not (perhaps even could not) have been Israel's king. Joseph and Mary may have seemed like ordinary folks, but in reality they were the royal key to the Kingdom. 2) Marriage matters. Joseph and Mary belonged to each other according to God's Word. Even as Bathsheba was always "of Uriah," so marriage is a permanent state of being joined together. This is a hard teaching in our culture, but we need it desperately. Whenever possible, our children need the validity and security of married parents. 3) Love matters. Joseph, "her husband" already, loved Mary. So, he took time to think. Rather than act rashly, he was open to the LORD's voice. And, when he heard GOD speak, he listened to what God said. Where would we be if Joseph had NOT...

Dear friends, family, and blog followers; I want to let you know that I will be changing my blog's status to private in a short time, perhaps in about a week. I am contemplating a less personal Bible study blog, which will be public at http://gospiritdeep.blogspot.com/ , but I'm going to be removing this blog from general readability. There are many of you who read my blog faithfully, and I want you to stay up to date. Please leave me a comment with the email address you sign into when you read "Walking With Jesus" and I will add you to my allowed readers list. [I will not publish your comment.] You will receive an email inviting you to read my blog, simply accept the invitation and you're all set. In today's culture, there are so many reasons for this move that I doubt I need to amplify them for you. The most important is protecting our family's privacy. We've been very transparent on our blogs, and come to realize that this could open a bad do...