You’ve Got Mail

I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Revelation 2:19-20

How would you like to receive this letter from Jesus? The church in Thyatira did long ago, and there is much we should learn from it.

It starts out well enough, with Jesus commenting on the good things they are doing-

works, love, service, faith, and patience-all things that we need to have as part of our lives. But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to condemn the church for their rotten root system. He said, The leaves and the fruit look really good, but they are rotten because your root system is rotten.

The problem was that they tolerated a woman who exalted her own words above the words of God. The church already knew the standard. They knew how to live for God, and it showed in the good things they did. Their private life, however, was filthy with things that had nothing to do with God.

I want you to realize that God does not just give us laws arbitrarily. He has reasons for them! In this case, God is jealous for His church. Sex is an act that consummates a covenant, uniting two people’s flesh as one. Food sacrificed to idols was similar in that these offerings were a sign of a bond between the false god and the person. You can still see this today in countries all over the world.

God was jealous for His church, that they would be faithful. This woman Jezebel, like the Old Testament Jezebel who opposed the prophet Elijah, taught and seduced God’s people to undermine His Word and break faith to their covenant with Him.

It no longer mattered that they had all kinds of good works because their hearts were not faithful to God. Jesus told them that the fruit of those kinds of works would die.

So how is your heart? Are you fudging on God’s Word? Well, it’s okay. I only do it once in a while, you say. Or maybe it’s, I’m not really addicted to porn. Besides, it doesn’t affect me.

Let’s get serious. God sees your heart and your mind, and He will only reward the faithful.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I repent for compromising in my heart. Please forgive me! I choose to reject the things that don’t line up with Your Word. Thank You for helping me to be free!

Amen

Jonah-Jacked

But the LORD said, …And should I not pity Nineveh…in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left?’ Jonah 4:10-11

You could get seriously dizzy by reading the story of Jonah. That story turns around more times than a dog when it lies down.

First, Jonah is happily going about his life as a prophet of God to Israel, but then God turns Jonah’s call and tells him to go to Nineveh, a city that is filled with every form of abominable evil you can imagine.

Second, Jonah starts with an amazing relationship with God. He hears His voice. He walks in His presence. He delivers His word to the people. But then there’s a turn, and a terrible one at that. Jonah turns his heart away from the Lord and heads in the opposite direction from Nineveh.

Third, God turns Jonah around by stopping his rebellious voyage with a storm. Jonah turns himself in and is thrown into the sea. God rescues him from the waves, but his new situation isn’t much better, as he’s now stuck in the belly of a whale.

Fourth, Jonah has another turn of heart inside the whale. He decides it’s better to obey God and repents, so God has the whale spit Jonah out and calls him again to deliver the word to Nineveh. Jonah goes, and from the moment he steps foot in the city, people start turning from their sin.

Fifth, it takes Jonah three days to walk through the city and by the time he leaves, the king himself has decreed that not even animals get to eat or drink until they know God had turned from His judgment. The whole city has turned around completely.

Sixth, Jonah ditches the city and parks himself on a hillside, hoping God will still destroy the city. His heart has now turned completely back to where he started, knowing that God is a God of mercy, yet not wanting God to turn His mercy toward Israel’s enemies.

Seventh and eighth-the end of the story is the most dizzying part yet-Jonah turns grateful when God makes a plant grow to shade him from the burning sun, and then he turns bitter and angry again when the plant withers the next day.

In all this turning and changing, let’s not miss the one thing that never changes-God’s heart toward people. Through every change and every situation, God is simply waiting for someone, anyone, to turn to Him so He can show them mercy and lovingkindness.

Will you turn your heart to the Lord today?

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that You always desire to give me mercy and lovingkindness! I turn to You, looking to You alone and not to the things of this world.

Amen

The Lasting Change Redemption Brings

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect. Hebrews 12:22-23

Excuse me, but can you show me the way to Mount Zion? I hear that’s where my eternal home is and I want to know how to get there. Because, well, I tried Mount Sinai, but I couldn’t find my home there.

All of us face this choice-Mount Sinai represents the law, Mount Zion represents God’s love-which one do you want? You have to choose whether you think you work your way to Heaven or recognize that you can’t make it on your own and need God’s grace to save you.

But the truth is that you can’t save yourself. You can fool yourself into trying, but you’ll fail. You need a Savior. That’s why Jesus came to die and be raised again for you.

Why don’t more people embrace this offer of pre-paid salvation? Well, there are a number of reasons actually.

First, there’s a lack of interest. I mean, it’s not like the word hasn’t gone out. Jesus declared the good news of redemption and the apostles confirmed this word, and it has traveled through history to us today, but not everyone has received it. Not everyone is interested.

Second, some people don’t believe. It doesn’t matter if you tell them that they can have free salvation, because they just don’t believe you.

Third, some don’t want to hear it. They have grown dull of hearing, whether because they think they’ve heard it before, or maybe because they’re stubbornly clinging to other things. Whatever the reason, they just don’t want to hear it.

Fourth, they say they tried it, but that it’s not for them; it didn’t work. Right, like Jesus ever failed at something. Jesus’ redemption changes our lives, so if their life didn’t change, they weren’t really listening to believe in their heart.

Fifth, they’re afraid of God. They say, Man, if I came into your church, I’d be struck by lightning. This just shows that they’re looking at the wrong mountain-the one based on law instead of love. Jesus paid it all. All to Him we owe.

God’s salvation-the only salvation there is to find-is free, because Jesus paid for it already. Don’t try to find your home on Mount Sinai, and don’t use one of these lame excuses to reject God’s love. Find your home in God’s love today.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for giving me salvation for free! I know that I could never do enough to work my way to You, so I leave behind all excuses and choose to believe You today. Thank You for saving me!

Amen

In Search of Aletheia

I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father…For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 2 John 4,7

Which truth do you believe? There are many of them out there today, after all.

Oh, haven’t you heard? I feel like I hear it all the time. Jesus isn’t the only way to heaven, and heaven is whatever you want it to be. We’ll all get there eventually, if not in this life then in the next. Or I hear, You know, I don’t think Jesus really matters because Heaven isn’t real. Maybe Jesus is real, but who cares, because this life is all I’ve got.

More times than I can count, I have shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with someone and they have told me, Hey, I’m glad that works for you, but I’m trying something different. But it’s okay, because it’s all relative.

In other words, There is no truth.

Is that what you believe? Do you buy into the theory that you can determine truth for yourself, and that everyone’s various versions of truth are all equally valid?

A similar rumor was going around in the days of the early church and the apostle John wrote to take a stand for truth.

He said, There is no debate to be had-Jesus Christ came in the flesh, was crucified, died, and buried. But on the third day, He rose from the dead. And His death and life were given on our behalf, so that we have died with Him and can live with Him forevermore!

He did not stop there, going on to say that anyone who claimed to be a Christian yet denied these basic facts about Jesus was a deceiver and an antichrist. These are not terms to be used lightly, considering that both of them are used of the devil himself and of his chief pawn in the end times!

Our choice is clear-we can live in the truth of who Jesus is and have both the Father and the Son, or we can deny the truth of Jesus and be associated with the devil himself.

Which will you choose?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I believe in You! I want to be like You and not have anything to do with the lies of the devil. Please teach me the truth of who You are and what that means in my life!

Amen

Faith Lift

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. Acts 8:5-8

Do you want to know the biggest lies that Satan tries to sell us on? It really boils down to two of them.

The devil tries to mess you up concerning who you are and whose you are. Who are you? God would never love you. You’ve blown it too bad, gone too far. He could never use you. What are you thinking that you could ever reach the lost? As if people even like you. I mean, just look at you; no one will listen to you.

Does any of that sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so. Do you want to know a powerful way to silence those lies? You get a faith lift.

You realize that it’s not about your abilities, because it’s really God inside of you who matters where that’s concerned. You realize that it’s not about your past, because Jesus paid for it already. You realize that God loves even you, that there was no asterisk by your name when God said that He loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die for it.

And realizing these things, you take up an overarching burden for the lost that supersedes any excuse we could come up with for not reaching them with the gospel.

Just look at Philip in our verses today. Do you remember that only a couple chapters before this, he was just waiting tables? He went from busboy to world-changing, miracle-working missionary in a very short period of time. But some of you might say, Well, Bob, I’m shy. I’m quiet. I could never get up there and do that. I keep to myself. I’m a type-C personality in a type-A world. I am.

Listen, God knows how He made you, and He’s big enough to use you however He made you. But what needs to happen first is for you to be willing, for you to embrace that love for the world that caused Jesus to leave Heaven so that He could save the likes of us. When you embrace that love, that overarching burden for the lost, nothing else will matter anymore because your faith will have lifted from the lies you’ve been told to who you now are in Christ and who He is in you.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for the burden You had for me! Thank You for the burden that others had that made them tell me about You. I choose to share that burden for the lost today so that many others will know You through me!

Amen

Why Aren’t You Up Here?

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2

What’s your mission in life? Or maybe more simply, what’s your mission for this year? Many of us don’t have an answer to this question, though we will have much more productive years and lives if we do. Our verse today tells us what Paul’s answer was during his time with the Corinthian church-to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Nothing else mattered to Paul.

This became Paul’s mission. And, in the name of Jesus Christ, I greatly encourage you to make it yours. Just like Paul, determine to make it happen.

Or what have you determined? That’s a great question for us to sort of consider right now.

What have I determined to live for? What have I determined to confess with my life, with each and every one of my breaths? Am I somewhat conflicted or confused concerning this? Or have I determined, like Paul, that I will know nothing but Christ and Him crucified?

You’re like, Well, of course this is clear for you. You’re the pastor.

It should be just as clear for you. There should be no difference between what has become clear for me and clear for you in terms of what we’ve determined to confess. We know that one day all creation will confess the name of Jesus above all else, but we can choose to do that now, and it will benefit us greatly both now and in that day. But more than that, we live as examples for those around us. What we confess will influence our family, neighbors, and coworkers for Christ.

When you are at home, do you confess television sex and violence? Do you confess disrespect toward your husband, wife, children, or parents (yes, you can still dishonor your parents as an adult, and yet we then strangely expect our kids to honor us)? Or do you confess Christ, not only with your words, but with your example?

When you are at work, do you confess the water cooler gossip? Do you confess ladderclimbing competitiveness? Do you confess bottom-line-at-all-costs integrity? Do you confess laziness, doing only what’s necessary? Or do you confess Christ as your supplier and provider?

Every circumstance in life provides us with an opportunity to confess Christ and all He did for us in being crucified on the cross. Don’t let your life be empty of that message today. Determine to know Christ and Him crucified.

Prayer Jesus Christ,

I’m so sorry for the other things I have confessed in my life besides You. Please forgive me, and set me free from all my past confessions as I choose today to confess one thing: You in all that You have done for me.

Amen

Who’s Being Held

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

How would a glimpse into your future change how you live today?

Paul knew the power of seeing the future. This is why he wrote today’s verses to the church at Colossae, saying to them, This is your future. This is what God has for you unless you’re being held back, unless you somehow are still being held hostage.

Now, some of us live still being held by something other than Christ. For a lot of us, that’s our past. We’re held hostage to our past.

So let me tell you something about your past. Ready? Here it is-your past is past. It’s gone. It’s done. It’s not your future. It’s not what’s in front of you; it’s what’s behind you, and unless you keep looking behind you to what’s already happened then your past will remain simply that-past.

In fact, here’s what Paul has to say about your past-you died with Christ and have been raised with Him. Notice that those words are past tense, which tells us that’s the past that really matters. Your history without Christ doesn’t matter anymore because your history with Christ includes the cross. Your sinful past, the abuse you suffered, that nonexistent relationship with your absent father, it’s all gone now, crucified with Christ and buried with Him. He paid for it all, and when He was raised from the dead, so were you.

Or didn’t you realize this? Paul says. If then you were raised with Christ, stop looking to the past! Start looking at your future! Seek the things above, where Christ is, where your life is hidden in Christ even right now!

Why would you choose to be the guy in the room that’s connected to his past instead of receiving the victory and freedom and liberty in which Christ has set you free from whatever happened in the past?

So many people let their whole identity get shaped around what did happen or didn’t happen in their past, and you’re being held by it. But listen, as strong as the past can be, the cross is stronger.

I care what happened in your past, but we need to see our choice today. We can choose to let our lives be held by our past or to let them be hidden in Christ. Which one will you choose today?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for taking my past with You on the cross so that I have died and been raised with You! I choose to leave my past behind me and focus instead on what You have for me in the future: A life in which I will appear with You in glory!