Walking with Jesus

Holiness and the Fear of the LORD Matthew 10:28 The LORD has been showing me something this week. We’re noted how dietary laws are designed to bless us, but some of God’s laws for us aren’t really about us at all. Some of His instructions are about God’s Holiness. In particular God’s command to Fear the LORD. Now, God is good, trustworthy, loving, gracious, able to make Himself small enough to be our friend, but He is also GOD: just, almighty, pure, righteous, jealous… judging and holding accountable all who stand before Him, even us. I think we have a tendency to forget that in the church today: God is our buddy ,… but our security in Christ does not change His holiness; it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fear Him. Does that sound strange to us? Yet, the Bible tells us we are called to fear the LORD. Jesus himself says to his followers (to us),   "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt...

Read: Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things." I want to focus on true things: playing with my daughter, going for a run just to hear the LORD, the possibility of starting a new season in my life, hopes to move soon and return to school, the dream of teaching, the memory of last moments with close friends, the thrill of new discoveries, the knowledge that I am not alone in my convictions, the fact that I have food and a home, a glimpse of my beautiful nieces via webcam, godly men who will encourage and pray for me, a deepening walk with the Lord. I want to focus on the true things, but the world is so loud and so desperate to shout out the true with the false, the bad, the compromised, the fallen, the sensational, and the e...

What follows is a copy of my sermon notes. The actual sermon included several Spirit-led nuances and additions, more than I can include here. Sorry. :-) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    Read: Luke15:11-13 Prodigal: ADJ: Spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant. NOUN: A person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way. Clarify: 3 characters. The father is the most important. Thus, Jesus introduces him first in his parable. We normally refer to this as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but I don't think that's the best title.   Read: Luke15:14-16   Consequences are not always so evident. You’ve seen it.   Read: Luke15:17-20a Rebellion; Disappointment; Anger; Desperation; Humility; Repentance; Remembrance; Hope; Action Read: Luke15:20-24   Dr. Matt Williams of Biola University on Kenneth Bailey, a Presbyterian missionary, PhD, and author of Th...

Read Matthew 5 and then consider these thoughts as a basis for your time in reflection in the chapter. The theme I see in this chapter is the question of who we are to be as followers of Jesus.   We cannot know with certainty why persecution comes. It may be because of Jesus, or it may be our own doing. (We may just not be a nice person.) Therefore, we cannot presume to know the motives of our persecutors or presume that we shall be blessed every time we feel persecuted. Yet, if the LORD determines that our persecution is on His account, then we can be sure that blessing will follow. We are salt and light in the world, but we must choose not to hinder our impact or hide our light. We must "let" it shine. Jesus implies that it would be foolish to light a lamp and then hide it. Yet, that is what so many of us try to do. We want salvation, but we still want to fit comfortably in the darkness around us. We cannot have both. Regarding God's law, we are either breakers or kee...

    Matthew 6:31-33 : “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. And your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”   There are times when we may hear things over and over and then forget them. And, there are times when we can hear something only once and remember it the rest of our lives. Some years ago someone made a statement about the first word in our passage that I’ve never forgotten. They said, “Anytime you see the word “therefore” in the Bible, STOP! Go back and see what “therefore” is there for .” As in “Hmmm... What is this word THERE FOR?”   This passage tells us to seek God’s kingdom first and trust Him to take care of our basic needs. Sounds like good advice, but why is it good advice? To find out, we will look at the larger contex...