Return of the King

And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. Zechariah 14:9

Are you tired of politics and international drama? Then just wait, because God's promise is that He is coming to be King over all the earth.

When Jesus came the first time, He made it clear that His Kingdom was not of this earth. All the people around Him, even His disciples, waited and waited for Him to call them to action and overthrow the oppressive Roman government. They said, Come be our King!

It wasn't that all the Jews were wrong; they just had the wrong timing. The purpose of Jesus' first coming was to restore the relationship mankind had with God before Adam sinned. We are now in a season of grace during which everyone on earth has the option to bend their knee willingly to King Jesus. This season, however, will not last forever.

A day is coming when Jesus will return, and on that day all decisions will be final. Those who bowed willingly will rule with the King. Those who hardened their hearts against Him will be destroyed. And Jesus, the LORD, shall be King over all the earth.

He will physically dwell on the earth and all peoples and nations will be under His rule. It will be the ultimate fulfillment of the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

That day will come to the whole earth one day soon, but it can come in your life right now. Is the LORD King over your life?

Prayer King Jesus,

Thank You that You are King! Come fully be the King of my life!

Amen

Can You Believe This?

For when one says, I am of Paul,' and another, I am of Apollos,' are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 1 Corinthians 3:4-5

Everyone likes a good debate, right? We especially love it right now with all the political candidates hammering out their various issues for all of us to see. The crazy thing is that all these candidates divide up one party into separate camps, hoping that they can somehow call them back together again when they're done arguing.

Maybe this works in that arena, but let me tell you one place where this doesn't fly: The church.

In the world you can say, I follow this person, or, I follow that person, or, This one is my favorite. We have our Twitter accounts and we all follow all these different people. But in the church, we only follow one person. We follow Christ.

This is a problem Paul had to address with the Corinthian church, calling them on the carpet for allowing divisions to split their body into sects that aligned themselves with a specific teacher. So Paul wrote to them to say, Listen, these aren't guys in whom you believe, but through whom you believed. The point is still about Christ Jesus and always will be.

Paul wanted them to know that it is good for different teachers to be involved in our lives. Each one plays a different role that we need, but that doesn't make one more important than the other, and it shouldn't draw us into divisions based on whom we think is best.

It doesn't come down to the teachers in our lives, but the message those teachers bring. It comes down to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do they proclaim Christ crucified? Do they preach the power of the cross and the resurrection? Do they teach that our hope is in Jesus Christ alone, that we can be saved by no other name but His?

The gospel is what matters. Don't get distracted by the person who preaches the name of Jesus. Instead, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Himself.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You are the truth by which I live my life! You are the focus and goal of my life! I look to You alone and ask for Your help to follow You more no matter which teacher speaks into my life.

Amen

When Excess Is Too Much

Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained...Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.' Exodus 16:2-3

I think you're stretching things a bit. Have you ever said that to someone? They tell you some story, and the details just don't add up.

That's what was happening in our verses for today. Moses had led the people of Israel out of Egypt, where they had been slaves for four hundred years. He led them to a beautiful place fit for a resort vacation and they stayed there for a while. Then, a month and a half into their new-found freedom, they complained, saying it would have been better to die in Egypt. And not just that, but they talked about Egypt as though it had been wonderful!

Oh, our bellies were full! We sat by the pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted! It was just all-you-can-eat buffets every day! That was the life! they said.

But you know what; they were stretching it a bit. They forgot to mention the whips, the chains, the unbearable quotas of bricks, the early wake-ups and long hours in the hot equatorial Egyptian sun, and the murderous genocide carried out against them there. I think they were stretching their last memory of Egypt-the Passover dinner-into their whole memory of Egypt.

How many times do we do the same thing? When we get stretched spiritually in our journey of faith with the Lord, do we begin to exaggerate how great life was before this stretching season of our faith was brought on?

Here's the part that really gets me-that Israel actually accused God and Moses of bringing them into the wilderness to kill them. Sure, right. Like I can really believe that one. I mean, if they were stretching it a bit when talking about Egypt, this just stretches things to the breaking point. They actually thought that the God who gave them freedom maliciously had plans to kill them as soon as Egypt was out of sight.

God's plan for Israel was the Promised Land. It just so happens that He had to take them through the wilderness to get there. Ask yourself right now, what are God's plans for you? Where is He taking you? Then consider that, just maybe, if you don't like the stretching season you're in right now, it's not God's plan to leave you there till you die. It's His plan to lead you through it and into all that He has promised.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You have good plans for me! I'm sorry for any way that I have complained about the season that I am in right now. I choose to follow and trust that You will lead me into all that You have promised!

Amen

The Sucking Sound of Greed

But this I say: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6

What do you talk about the most? Chances are good that it's something very important to you.

Well, quite interestingly, what Jesus talked about more than anything else was money. Money! The reason Jesus talked so much about money is because it's a good measurement of how fully our hearts are given to Him.

Our attitude toward money and giving is a lot like baseball-there's a blessing that we can win, a scoring of points for the glory of God, but we've got to get all the way around the bases. So, to do this, we need to know what the bases are.

First base is a willing heart. This means more than the minimum. Just doing the minimum looks like giving based on the need instead of on God's Word. Listen, Bill Gates' tithe could pay the entire budget for a whole bunch of churches, but that's not the point. If giving goes beyond budget, praise God! We don't give based on need, grudgingly or out of obligation, but generously out of whatever we have.

You can't score from first base, so we go to second base, which is a readiness. What you need to know is that there is no age limit to readiness. It's not like, Well, I'm still in high school, so I'm don't tithe yet, or, Well, I'm in college, so I have debt, so I don't tithe. Whether you have an allowance, debt, or high-paying executive job, God's Word still applies to you. Readiness means that you understand this and give generously no matter where you are in life.

Third base is an eagerness to give. Eagerness goes beyond readiness. Readiness means you're ready to give, but eagerness means that you want to. Why would you want to? Aside from simply pleasing God, you'd want to because you know God's promise to bless you and give back to you when you do.

Finally, home base is earnestness in your giving. This means you don't quit or give up. You don't let distraction come in and get you off your game, forgetting to give or losing your discipline in generosity.

When we put all four of these together, it brings home the blessings of God and glorifies Him in our hearts.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for caring so much about my heart! Thank You also for showing me how I can demonstrate the all my heart belongs to You-by giving as Your Word says to give!

Amen

Lost In Passion

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

One of the highlight events for me every year is our church's Halloween alternative outreach. At one of them in particular, I was blown away by the turnout. Thousands of people came for an alternative to what the world offers.

I saw a guy there as a daddy with his kids and it made me think of something. That's just like a little example of what we're to be providing everyday-an alternative.

This is what our verse is about today. It is telling us the right choice to make, whether to become a temple of God or to unite ourselves to the world. When we choose to truly live out what it means to be God's temple, we show the world an alternative. Our very life declares that there's a better way-a way that leads to everlasting life, out of the pit that we're stuck in and head us towards home.

It's like what so many people have in their vehicles, that GPS navigator, and you've dialed in your destination and on the road you go. All of a sudden, you make a wrong turn. You didn't mean to, you just made a wrong turn and all of a sudden that voice from the navigator starts speaking to you saying, Please return to the highlighted route.

Or you just have no clue where you are. You just don't know where you are and you're lost. And here's what you do.

OnStar. I love that it's called OnStar, like the wise men. We can probably convince ourselves that we know where to go and what to do, but instead we're going to submit now and follow that star. It's going to lead us to a Savior.

This is the Lord today, saying, Please return to the highlighted route. Come home. Uturns are okay. Turn around. Come back.

And you can stubbornly keep going your way and that voice keeps saying, Please return to the highlighted route. Please return to the highlighted route.

I think that after a while the voice would want to say, Hey, stupid, you're lost. Stop the car. Turn around. But here's God pursuing us, ever so patiently, wanting us back, wanting us to come home.

Will you receive His invitation today?

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You can show me the way, because I know that I am very lost! I need Your help to get back to where I'm supposed to be-holding Your hand on Your path of life. Please change my heart, be my Lord, and lead me from this day forward!

Amen

Fender Mender

Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:14

Have you ever wondered what would make someone become a pastor? Well, I can tell you that for most of us, it's because we don't feel like we have a choice. We're compelled to preach the gospel.

But there's an interesting twist in this being-a-pastor thing-we're supposed to earn our living from the gospel.

This could be some really major conundrum, here, where pastors are compelled to preach the gospel and to earn their living from it. I mean, what if people don't give to help finance his ministry?

Well, the only way this works out well is if the people recognize the gift they have been given, the service that has been done for them, and they give out of willing hearts. As a pastor at Horizon, I am privileged to be part a congregation that does this, and we must make sure we keep this generous heart among us.

Paul says there is a reward for preachers who willingly submit to this system God has set up for them, and that reward is that when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:18).

I think of all the opportunities that the Lord has provided for us. You know, I once was invited to Germany to speak to all the Calvary Chapel pastors across Europe and Russia. Can you imagine charging for that? No. Please no.

I think it's important to write about this because, listen, in no way am I trying to make myself look good. I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm like Paul, chief among the worst in the lot. But neither am I living on the ocean bluffs in La Jolla or flying private on these trips. And my church picks up the tab when I go speak in other countries so we don't charge the pastors in India, Germany, Africa, or wherever.

I am blessed to do this. Paul is blessed to do this.

But maybe you're reading this today and you're like, Well, where's my blessing? You're so blessed. Paul's so blessed. Where's my blessing?

My blessing is in what I give, and you will find your blessing in the same place-in what you give. Where's your heart of sacrifice for your church? Where's your support? Where's your involvement? Where are you giving your gift?

Answer those questions, and you will write the map to where you will find your blessing.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for being our example in giving everything, and being blessed because You gave! Please give me the courage to give generously, trusting You that You will bless me as I give.

Amen

In Search of Aletheia

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deed. 2 John 10-11

Speak the truth in love. You've heard that one before, right? It doesn't take much trying to live it out, though, before you realize that it sometimes is harder than it seems.

When we think of loving someone, we rightly think of things like forbearance, patience,

and forgiveness-things that help us put up with knuckleheaded people and overlook the flaws in their lives.

But when we think of truth, we think of a hard-edged, unmoving, black and white reality that leaves little room for the grace we associate with love. So how do we reconcile love and truth, two things that seem to conflict with each other.

Jesus is our perfect example of this, as John 1:14 testifies, saying, And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus came as the living answer to the truth of our predicament. He did not gloss over the sinful condition of the world or deny that we would spend eternity in Hell without Him. However, He also did not bash this reality over our heads or shove our own sinfulness in our faces.

Rather, He came as the answer to the problem. And whoever will acknowledge both the truth of the problem and the truth of the answer will receive the fullness of His grace in their life and be saved.

When the woman caught in adultery was thrown at Jesus' feet, His mercy delivered her from the truth of her sin into the truth of a new life in Him. Our job is to do the same. When we see sinfulness and the effects of sinful living around us, what do we do? We intercede, we rescue, we save, and whenever we can, we heal and deliver.

Romans 3:23 tells us that All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, yet Jesus showed us this glory in grace and truth. The truth recognized our sinful reality, yet the grace exchanged our reality for His.

As we testify of the full truth-both the truth of our sinful past and the truth of our transformed present and future-then others will hear the truth in love. We cannot only speak of people's sin, or they justly feel condemned and hopeless. However, if we will tell them the truth of how Jesus could change their lives, then we are speaking the truth in love.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for being the picture of grace and truth! Please fill me with Your love and truth, and help me to be the same picture to others that You are to me!

Amen