Decisions, Decisions

For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all the nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land. Joel 3:1-2

Do you know what time it is? No, I'm not talking about the hour of the day. I'm talking about what time of history we are living in.

The days in which we live are days in which God is bringing the fulfillment of decisions He made thousands of years ago. And these decisions of God, proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets, require us to make some decisions of our own.

Here are five decisions God has made regarding these days in which we live:

First, that there would be a local homecoming where Israel is concerned. This is what our verse today promises, and we have been witnessing this ever since 1948 when a nation that seemed dead after the Holocaust first came back to life.

Second, in light of this homecoming of the Jews from all nations of the earth, there will also be a global change of heart regarding the Jews. It will grow and grow until it encompasses every nation, with all of them blaming the Jews for the problems in the world.

Third, there is going to be some internal strife as the land gets divided. We watch this happening daily on the news as the whole world debates what Israel's borders should be.

Fourth, there will be a devaluation of life. The scripture says, A boy given as payment for a harlot (Joel 3:3). The abortion rate alone, not even counting human trafficking, would prove that life has been devalued in our days like never before.

Fifth, there will be a faith that's been forgotten. Everyone's forgetting Israel as God's chosen people and that land as His land, trying to push a peace treaty with the Palestinians who shoot a hundred rockets a day into Israel. God hasn't forgotten His people, and He promises to return retaliation on any nation that attacks Israel.

Why is all of this important? It's important because it tells us that our time to decide is short. A time is very soon coming when our time is up and our choice is final. We have to decide now whether or not to believe in Jesus. What will you choose today?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for giving us signs so that we can see our time is getting short! I choose to believe in You today. Please forgive me of all my sins, come into my heart, and show me the plans You have for my life!

Amen

Crossing Is Choosing

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Paul pleaded with the Corinthian church. There were some vital things they were missing and he wanted them to know because he knew they really came from God's heart. As with the Corinthians, God wants these for us as well.

First, God wants solidarity between you and Him. He wants you working with Him, not Him working by Himself or you working by yourself. This isn't even working for Him, but it is working with Him. He wants the kind of solidarity to where you have now become soul mates. I really think this is incredible, because He could probably accomplish a lot more by Himself. But He's more interested in developing you in His image than He is in getting things done.

Second, God wants you to be serious about Him. After all, He's called you to a marriage, and I certainly hope that you don't mess around with your marriage. I hope that you take it seriously, that before you get married you seriously consider whether you are ready to commit your entire life to another person. But in life, are you serious with God, or are you still messing around with the world, getting drunk, letting your addictions control you instead of giving them to God?

Third, God wants you to be all about salvation. He says, Now is the day of salvation! Isn't that good news? I mean, seriously, you can look anywhere out there and see people who need salvation. The world is very lost, and it isn't hard to see that reality wreaking havoc in our society. But God says that today is the day of salvation. Today! God can save us all today! But only if we take salvation seriously and partner with God in working with Him.

But here's the thing-if there's an acceptable time of salvation, then there's an unacceptable time. In other words, right now God's arms are open wide to receive every sinner who repents and comes to Him, but His arms aren't going to be open forever. A day will come when our chances are gone, the grace is not offered, and judgment has come.

As Paul pleaded with the Corinthians, I plead with you today-do not wait! Receive God now, today, and choose solidarity with Him. Choose to be serious about Him. Choose to be all about His salvation, because this offer will not last forever.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for giving me this offer while there is still time to receive it! I repent for the life I have lived apart from You today, and I invite You to come define my life from this day forward!

Amen

Heartguard

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you...For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 1 Corinthians 5:1,3

Do you know what another word for Tolerance is? Apathy.

Tolerance is the movement that has swept all over the world in the past two generations and is continuing to barge its way into our school systems and strongholds of entertain-

ment, brainwashing our kids and our culture to accept its message-everything is relative. All truth is equal. There are no absolutes. There is no moral standard.

It's a camouflaged way of saying, Get out of my life. I don't want your opinion because I want to do things my own way. It is a shaking of the fist at authority figures and an assertion of acting out our own will without regard or question concerning what is right and wrong.

Tolerance-the idea that somehow I will be okay with you destroying your life by throwing prudent restraint to the wind and doing whatever you please.

Does this put a new face on the tolerance movement for you? I hope so, because the only reason that tolerance, according to its modern definition, got any traction was because of apathy in the body of Christ.

And the body of Christ is really where this issue starts, because that is where judgment needs to begin; that is where we must be calling one another to a higher standard.

We can no longer allow sin in our midst and think it is somehow justifiable or okay. Sin is not okay and we cannot be okay with sin.

If someone among us in the body is sinning, we must confront them and call them to repentance. If they will not repent, then we need to bring them before the authorities of the church and call them together to repent. If they will still not repent, then we have only one choice-deliver them out of our fellowship until they come to their senses.

Like the prodigal son, as they are feeding the pigs, it may be that they come to their senses and realize the good life they had at home. And if this brother or sister comes home, bringing only themselves and leaving the sin with the pigs, then hallelujah! Let's rejoice, because a sibling in Christ has been re-won for Him.

But before any of that can happen, we must lose all tolerance for sin. We must leave no room for apathy. It is time for us to care.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for paying for our sins on the cross! Please help us to stand firm against apathy and not bow our knees to tolerance. Help us, making us bold to confront sin, yet merciful to restore our brothers and sisters back to You.

Amen

All Aboard

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Paul had a plan. He was going to come visit his spiritual children in the Corinthian church. And when he came, there was a certain work he wanted to have already done.

Churches throughout the Roman world were collecting money for the saints and Paul sent very clear notice to the Corinthian church that they were not to be the exception.

Now, I don't know about you, but most people don't like to hear their pastor preach about money. How would they like it, then, if their pastor straight up ordered them to give?

I think most people would say, Dude, hands off my money. It's my money!

Really? If that's your response, then I have to say that your passions and priorities just got exposed. In fact, no matter how you responded, it shows me where your heart really lies. First of all, let's talk about your passions. Is your passion for God greater than your passion for money? Because if it is, then when the Word of God says to give, you immediately say okay. There's no wishy-washy attitude about it, no grumbling or complaining, no griping about how much this whole Christianity and church thing costs you.

Listen-this Christianity and church thing cost Jesus His life, and it had better cost you yours. Your tithes declare who your God is. Your offerings show that your heart is starting to look like God's, generous and full of love so that it's motivated to do something about people in need. If this isn't where your passion is, then I question whether Jesus really is your God; like, maybe money has taken His throne in your life.

Second, what priority does this take in your life? Paul addressed this and said, Set the money aside on the first day of the week. If it isn't set apart, then so often it just gets spent.

Set apart or spent, those are our choices. And while it is about our money, it's about more than that. Is your life set apart, or is it spent? Does God get your first and best, or your last and leftovers?

Where is God in your passions and priorities today?

Prayer Father God,

You have given Your everything for me and I can do no less for You. My money is Yours, and my life is Yours. Please lead me and guide me! Show me how You want me to spend, give, and set apart my money and my life!

Amen

The Freedom of Forgiveness

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses. Matthew 18:32-35

There is a universal longing for forgiveness. Everyone wants to experience forgiveness extended to us by those we have wronged, to feel that forgiveness received.

As Christians, we think we understand forgiveness because we know that Jesus died so that we could be forgiven from our sins. But do you know what you were forgiven for?

You were forgiven for freedom.

In the story that leads to our verses for today, Jesus tells the story of a king who forgives his servant an insurmountable debt. This servant then, having been forgiven the equivalent of twelve million dollars, immediately goes out and begins to choke a fellow servant who owes him a few bucks, finally throwing him in debtors' prison until the debt is paid.

The other servants who witness all this are so disturbed that they report it to the king who then calls the forgiven servant back. The end of the story is worse for the servant than the beginning, for the king sends him to the torturers as punishment for his lack of compassion toward his fellow servant.

What drives the point home to us is Jesus' very last statement: We are the servants, He is the King, and if we do not forgive others then we will not be forgiven!

Jesus died so that we could be forgiven and free, but that freedom doesn't truly come until we forgive those who have wronged us. If we choose to be like the servant then we are in a prison-a prison of anger, hate, depression, resentment, and bitterness. We are a prisoner of war, missing in action, wounded in the battle.

God wants to set us free, but we hold the keys. Are you willing to forgive?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for the freedom You want to give me and for the forgiveness You have given me! I choose to forgive those who have hurt me and those I care about, no matter how terrible their actions were. I choose to let You be my Comforter. Please heal my broken heart!

Amen

Better Families

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray.’ Luke 11:1

What is the most important thing you want to teach your kids? What one thing do you want your children to someday take away with them?

Probably near the top of the list will be: Jesus is Lord of their lives, they maintain financial responsibility, they make it to marriage sexually pure, and other very admirable goals. All of these should be key targets in your parenting, without a doubt. However, there is one thing of utmost importance that is so simple that many of us might forget about it. That thing is prayer.

Did you know that the disciples only asked Jesus to teach them one thing? They never asked Him how to do the miracles-healing the lame, opening blind eyes, walking on water, calming storms, or raising the dead. Instead, they asked Him to teach them to pray.

That is maybe hard for many of us to imagine-actually wanting someone to teach us how to pray. Our picture of prayer is someone piously folding their hands in quiet personal prayer, but what we see in Jesus is quite different.

For one, He apparently would pray at times with all of His disciples there with Himanything but private. He wanted them to see how He connected to His Father and interceded for the things He was called to do. But this was no show; it was a demonstration so that they could repeat what they saw.

You see, prayer works hand in hand with our study of God’s Word. Hear me in this-we absolutely need God’s Word! However, it is all too easy for our study of the Bible to go no deeper than our intellect, which leaves our brains smarter but our lives unchanged.

It is impossible, however, to engage the Lord in prayer for very long without having to dig deeper into our heart. Try praying for longer than ten minutes sometime. If you haven’t practiced it, then you will run out of things to pray for very quickly. But then what to you do? Do you give up praying and go on with your day? Or do you keep pursuing God until you reach a new depth in your heart that you never knew existed?

Prayer reaches the core of who we are and is able to fill it with the truths from God’s Word. The question is whether prayer is a significant enough part of your life that your kids will see it and ask you, Mom, Dad, please teach me to pray.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I confess that I don’t really understand what’s so great about prayer, but I believe there is more to it than I know. Please teach me why You prayed and help me to pray the same way.

Amen

Gifts Onboard

Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14:1

Everyone loves receiving gifts. And considering that giving gifts is one of the five love languages, it’s actually an important thing.

It makes sense, then, that God would partake in this important giving of gifts. Obviously and ultimately, the best gift that God has ever given us is Himself through the death of Christ Jesus on the cross. However, God’s generous nature did not stop giving gifts after He gave us His best. He continues to give us gifts through His Holy Spirit.

There are quite a few gifts the Holy Spirit gives us-administration, prophecy, miracles, healing, helps, mercy, and more-but before we say anything else about these amazing gifts, we should ask one vital question: What’s the point?

We need to understand the purpose of the gifts God gives us, and our verse today explains it for us. Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts.

Look at that verse and tell me, what actions are we supposed to take? We are to pursue love-to look for it, cultivate it, practice it, think about it, try it, live it, and give it. But we are only to desire gifts.

This is not to downplay the importance of spiritual gifts, because God wouldn’t give them to us if they were just some extra bonus of salvation. No, in fact they are a vital part of the body of Christ functioning properly. However, the gifts become perverted without love.

You see, the gifts are not about you. They are about the people around you. You might look at it this way-you being gifted doesn’t show how much God loves you, it shows how much He loves the people around you. The gifts are given for the sake of service, to be an expression of His love to one another within the body.

That’s why we pursue love, so that when God gives us the gifts it simply gives us a new way of expressing His love to the people around us.

So pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts. It is more than okay to want them, as Paul actually instructs us to desire them. However, they are still gifts. Put them on your wish list before God, then do your part and pursue love so you’ll know what to do when God gives you your desired gifts.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You give good gifts to Your children! I don’t always know what to think about spiritual gifts, but You say they are a good thing, so I desire them. And I pursue love so that I will know what to do when You give me Your gifts.

Amen