Lost In Passion

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:17-18

Some of you, in reading this passage, are convicted by choices you have made. You have regrets. And I want to say to you right away, don't stop reading. Don't let the shame you're feeling drive you away from words that can set you free.

Here's the deal-the world knows the Church as a sort of moral compass for society, and this is a good thing. And even though people seem to be listening to the voice of their conscience less and less, most people still know when they're doing things they aren't supposed to do. Oftentimes, their awareness of their sin comes through the Church.

So then these people who have sin in their lives-and that's been all of us, let's be clearcome to a church, but why? Are they coming to be further convicted of the sin that already has them feeling ashamed? Hopefully not.

Hopefully, they find the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, extended through His Church, leading them to be free from their sin and be forgiven of it.

Listen, don't get me wrong. I stand in the pulpit every Sunday, and usually several other times during the week, and I decry sin, calling it out for what it is. I preach the Word of God without a filter. I am hoping that people leave feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit so that they can grow in godliness.

The question is, what do we do with those regrets? What do we do with those failures?

I'll tell you what we do with them, church. We give them over to God. We bring them to the cross.

Let those regrets finally be the deciding factor that you're not perfect. You need a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Let those regrets now draw you closer to a God who loves you. And there, in His presence, let Him wash you clean not just from your sin, but from the shame that came with it.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I need Your help! I feel consumed with regret and shame, and I want to be free. I confess my sin to You now and ask for Your forgiveness. Please wipe away my sin and shame!

Amen

What Nothing Tells Us About God

And He said, Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nations; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.' Exodus 34:10

Let me tell you something about nothing. Now, I don't mean that I'm talking about meaningless things. What I'm saying is that nothing tells us something very important about God.

Maybe you think I've finally lost it. Well, I haven't, but before I lose you, let's dig into our verse for today.

God is faithfully telling Moses what He's about to do for the people of Israel. In the preceding verses, He has revealed His core attributes and now says, Here's how I'm going to come to your defense. Here is the contract or covenant that I'm going to put in place. And what I desperately need for you and for myself to realize is that the people have done nothing to deserve that covenant. Nothing.

In fact they have done plenty to not deserve this covenant. They have done plenty that should have led to God saying, Forget it. Deal's off. And yet, out of nothing comes something.

Out of nothing, absolutely nothing, God says, You are going to see things you have never seen before. Oh, you don't deserve it. You don't deserve a stinking wink of this. But you're going to see awesome things that I'm going to do for you. I'm going to make an everlasting covenant with you, and I'm going to drive out from you all of your enemies.

Think you're deserving of that? Absolutely not. Not a single one of us are. What we're deserving of is death. What we're deserving of is Hell. What we're deserving of is not even being forgiven of our iniquities or our transgressions or our sins or seeing even the smallest glimpse of God's mercy and grace and abounding goodness and truth.

And yet, here is a God who, out of nothing being offered, provides for us everything we could ever hope for or imagine.

This is the nature of our God who never changes. This is the God who is calling to you right now, wanting to do more for you than you could ever deserve. Will you come and follow this God today?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for being so faithful, even though I don't deserve it! I come to You today and bow my heart before You. I want to belong to You!

Amen

Miracle of All Miracles

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18

It's not what you know, it's who you know. Do you have connections?

In our world today, everything is about being connected. We're getting the 4G connection technology on our phones now, making it easier than ever. But it won't stay there. It'll be 5G, 6G, and 7G soon.

I want to flip that around to give us a G7 connection today-a God-given connection. First of all, this is a glorious connection, like going from dial-up to high-speed. We want a connection that's not just with a human, but with God.

Second, we want a generational connection. Christianity is always just one generation away from either covering the world or going extinct. It just depends on how connected the faith of the generations is.

Third and fourth, we have a glad and grateful connection. Just think about it-you are connected to God! No matter what is happening in your life right now, being connected to God is something to be glad and grateful about.

Fifth, this is a growing connection. I mean, healthy things grow. We cannot be content with where we are with God or in our effectiveness in reaching the lost, but instead, we must be continually learning to grow more.

Sixth, as excited as we might get about the growth, we never outgrow a gracious connection. We should always be known for grace, giving God all the glory for everything He's given us.

Seventh, this connection has to be generous. I know many of you have this connection today, but don't let your hearts grow cold in giving. Also, know that generosity cannot be learned by osmosis. If you want your kids to be generous, you will have to teach them on purpose.

God is calling us to get connected to Him. Can you hear Him now?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for calling me to be connected with You! There is so much to this connection with You that I will need help to live it. Please help me to live out every aspect of being connected to You!

Amen

Wise-Up

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-that, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.' 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

Here is the key to making the right decision every time a big one comes up. Are you ready? The key is wisdom, and it is so important that the book of Proverbs tells us that God needed it in creating the world. Certainly, if God needs wisdom, then we need it, too.

Here are four characteristics of godly wisdom to help you activate it in your life:

First, godly wisdom honors God in all that it lives for. This is where godly wisdom starts. We are fooling ourselves if we think we are wise, yet have no honor for God in our hearts. He has to be our first love, our first thought, our first motivation, so that in everything we do, we seek to honor Him and do His will.

Second, it takes sin seriously. The truly wise person will move themselves out of the sin of the world, placing it on the cross, and begin living by faith in Jesus Christ. We need to honor the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, who came as the wisdom of God to set us free from sin. Wisdom and sin do not mix.

Third, wisdom rejects the futile thinking of the world that life is about us and recognizes that life is about God. Life is not about what I want, whether it's wrong or not, whether it hurts anybody or not, whether God is brokenhearted about it or not. Wisdom rejects these lies and lives to honor God's heart.

Fourth, godly wisdom reminds us that God is for us and not against us. It reminds us that we are not fighting some losing battle and somehow in the end the world is going to win. You might think I'm crazy, but I truly believe that this could be the Church's greatest hour on earth. In the greatest darkness, God's light shines all the brighter.

These four characteristics of wisdom will help you learn wisdom for your own life. Pursue these things, seek them, and you will find God through them. You will grow in wisdom, and your life will grow stronger in God.

Then, no matter what you face, you will have a foundation for all your decisions, a foundation of true godly wisdom.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for showing me characteristics of wisdom so that I can become truly wise! Please help me as I pursue wisdom, and teach me. Let me be filled with wisdom so that I may honor You in everything I do.

Amen

One Trumpet, One Throne, and Two Amazing Witnesses

Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.' Revelation 11:1

When you notice something happen over and over again, it's good to pay attention. One of those things that we see in the Bible has to do with temples. If you do a word study in the Bible on temples, you'll see a pattern developing.

First, you'll see the Tabernacle built by Moses in the Wilderness as the first temple. This is the first place where God came to dwell with man since the Fall. The Tabernacle was set up and taken down everywhere Israel went until David wanted to do something new.

David said it was wrong for him to live in a fancy house while God lived in a tent, but God said that David wasn't allowed to build a temple, giving the job to his son Solomon. Solomon built a temple like the world had never seen, but this temple would eventually be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and all its treasures carried off by him.

Zerubbabel rebuilt Solomon's temple, though it was much smaller and humbler. Herod the Great added to this temple, and this was the temple during Jesus' days. But this temple, too, was destroyed, in AD 70 when Titus besieged Jerusalem and completely destroyed it, which fulfilled Jesus' prophecy.

Now we are in between literal temples, but we are figurative ones. There is no building that is the temple, but each one of us is the temple of God. Yet our bodies don't last forever. Even these temples will be destroyed one day.

Finally, there will be the End Times temple. And this temple is where the anti-Christ will sit on the throne and declare himself God.

Which brings us to our point-that there have been and are many temples, but there is only one throne, a throne in which Jesus Christ triumphantly has been invited to rule and reign in and over our hearts.

Whether you believe in Jesus yet or not, there is a throne that rules over your life. Is Jesus sitting in it, or has some form of the anti-Christ come in and taken His place?

Answer carefully-what happens to your soul when your temple is destroyed depends on it.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You are God and King above all else! I choose to worship You alone and I invite You to come and rule over the throne of my life!

Amen

Moses and the Bush Administration

But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?' So He said, I will certainly be with you...' And He said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.' Exodus 3:11-14

Once upon a time, a shepherd stood before a burning bush whose fire said it was God. With no reason to doubt a fire that left its bush unconsumed, this shepherd listened with fear as God called him to set His people free from the slavery under which they had suffered for four hundred years.

As this true story goes, Moses, the shepherd, says, Who am I that I could possibly think of doing that, or that You would think to ask me?

God's reply tells us a lot. He said, It doesn't matter who you are. What matters is who I am, for I will always be with you.

I know that there are a lot of things that God calls us to that we might think the same thing as Moses. God says, Go make disciples of every nation. God says, Be holy as I am holy. God says, Love me with everything you are and love everyone else as much as you love yourself. And we might say, Um, God? I think I'm in over my head; I'm not up to the challenge.

God says all these things to us that we can't live up to, but He says one more thing that makes it all possible-I am with you.

This answer wasn't quite enough for Moses, so God gave Him another one. Tell them my name is I AM. In other words, Tell them that whoever you need Me to be, I am that for you.

If we need Him to be our provider, He provides. If we need Him to be our shelter, He is that. If we need healing, He's our healer. And most importantly, because we all need it, He is our Redeemer, our Salvation.

Whatever your circumstance is that you are facing today, whether it's good or bad, abundance or poverty, healthy family or hellish one, God is the redemption you need today. No one else can answer to that name, because no one else has that name. Only Jesus is our redemption, and no matter what you need today, He is the answer.

Prayer Lord Jesus Thank You that You are my Redeemer and that You make it possible to do what You have said! I confess my needs to You today, and boy do I have a lot. Come and redeem me today!

Amen

Fitly Living, Clearly Seeing

Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, and like vinegar on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. Proverbs 25:20

Have you ever made a volcano?

So many kids love this. You can buy little volcano-making kits and toys, and when you put it all together, just put in the baking soda and a little vinegar and what happens? It erupts!

Or have you ever walked outside on a winter morning thinking that it's nice outside only to find out that it's a lot colder than you thought? It takes your breath away, doesn't it?

If you imagine these two reactions happening inside someone's heart, that's what our verse today says it's like if you sing songs to a heavy heart.

You say, Well, wait a minute. I come to church sometimes with a heavy heart and ac-

tually the singing of the songs helped. Good! It was meant to. But sometimes it can be like vinegar and soda.

Here's what Solomon is pointing to: You're in a situation where things could not be going worse for you. You fill in the blank. You have all been in situations like that. It might be the death of a loved one. It might be the difficulty of something that has happened at work. It might be the loss of a job-whatever it might be. But here comes that jolly saint Christian guy who looks at you and says, Well, you know, all things work together for good. And you just feel like it is time-POW-to pop this guy right in the schnoz. You know what I'm saying?

This verse is saying that, as you would never take away a coat when it's cold, don't be one who kind of glibly, brainlessly shows up without the sympathy and true-heart affection for someone who is hurting, don't go say something that-although it is true-at the moment, might not have the timing to be right in that moment.

I have found this proverb to be so true, and certainly would have to admit I have learned it the hard way, that sometimes it's better to say nothing and just have a ministry of availability instead of a ministry of words. There are times for a ministry of presence, of just being there and putting your arm around someone and saying, You know I'm here for you if you want to talk, to let them do the talking instead of you trying to fix all their problems.

Do you know people who have heavy hearts? Then be someone to them who brings comfort instead of clichés. Do you have a heavy heart today? It's okay. May God bring people around you who will keep your coat on until things are warm again.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for caring about me when my heart is heavy! Please help me to be sensitive to the people around me so that I can bring healing instead of hurt.

Amen