Sunday Night

This past Sunday Night I ministered from the passage of St. Mark that deals with Jesus healing blind Bartemaues. The story is found in chapter 10:46-52. The passage begins with a crowd following Jesus. This really was not an unusual scene. A matter of fact, it was common place for Jesus and His ministry to have a crowd following Him. As I read this story I wondered, "if I had lived in the days of Jesus, would you have found me in the crowd following Jesus?"

Automatically we answer, "yes, of course!" But don't be so quick to rush to a conclusion ... really think about it. We sometimes have our thoughts of how God is to work and move. We sometimes have our own conclusions of what is of God and not of God before we are even encountered with a situation. We often approach serving God with our own parameters in mind and we are so often accustomed to listening to others opinions and deciding for us on spiritual matters, that I do not know if many of us would have been in the crowd or not.

Let us take a moment and put the story in context. Jesus was not readily accepted by the religious community of His day. Many of the biblical scholars said He could not be the Messiah. Many religious leaders were saying He had a devil and the works He performed were from His father, the prince of devils. There were many questions surrounding Jesus. And then, these band of men who were always with Jesus. They were not the elite of society. They were not very educated men. I mean, after all, many were fishermen and one was a tax collector. And to top everything off, this Jesus spoke of God as His Father, and no one had ever done this before. Many considered this to be blasphemous associations and words.

To be in the crowd one would have had to defied conventional wisdom of the day. One would have had to turn a deaf ear to all the cynics. One would have had to risk being excommunicated from the synagogue. To be in the crowd one would have had to be willing to be called a fanatic. However, it was those in the crowd who so often received miracles and saw the impossible become a reality.

My prayer today is, "Lord, may I be found in the crowd today. Lord, help me not to approach you with my own parameters and guidelines. Help me not to rely solely upon the opinions of man. Lord, help me to push back all the doubts and fears so I can see the impossible become reality."

This is today

Pastor Gary

Silence

I am learning to be silent in the presence of the Lord. Sometimes I find myself having a one sided conversation when I enter my personal time with the Lord. He is teaching me to be quiet, silent. Do you know how hard that is for a preacher? Do you know how hard that is for someone who is social?

But in silence I am learning to hear! I am learning to surrender! I am learning it is all about HIM!! I am learning what it means to commune. I am learning as I empty myself of 'me' I then can be filled with HIM. In this process I am learning what it means to be filled with HIM. It means, to be filled with His grace, His strength, His mercy, His love, His compassion, His desires!

I am not there yet. I still find myself trying to 'say a whole lot' and then I remind myself (in actuality God reminds me) to be "silent." It is in the silence that I find Him, or rather, should I say, He finds me!!

This is today,

Pastor Gary

Light

John 8:12 (nlt) "Jesus said to the people, ' I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.'" What a great thought! What a great comfort! What a tremendous truth!! "You will have the light that leads to life." Those words simply stuck in my spirit today.

What do I think of when I think of life, in this context? I think of abundance, contentment, fulfillment, peace, joy, and satisfaction. I also think of the word "rest." This is something many people in today's world does not have. They do not have rest in their spirit. To have rest in your spirit does not mean we will not have some tough places to tread or some difficult days, However, to have the "Light", to have Jesus with you means to have "rest" in spite of your circumstances. Jesus is the Light that "leads to life", that gives the rest.

A Light also points the way. Have you ever been in a pitch dark room? It is a helpless feeling as you stumble, not knowing what is in front of you, through the darkness. It takes your confidence away. Confusion sets in and you become disoriented as you try to find your way through the darkness. This is the picture Jesus paints of those who do not know and serve Him. They "stumble through the darkness." However, the Light points the way,

Lord, thank you for being the "light of the world." Help me to follow the "Light that leads to life". Lord, help me to find my rest in you.

This is today,

Pastor Gary

Let Us Worship and Bow Down

Psalm 95:6 (NLT) "Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker". A call to worship prostrate before the Lord. What I hear when I read this is, "reverence." Yes, worship, but worship with reverence! In biblical literature when one would bow down before another it was done for several reasons. One, as a sign of respect and honor. Another reason was as a sign of authority. In example, one appearing before a monarch, a king, would bow before them because of the king's position and authority.

Jesus, help me to bow before you everyday. Help me to recognize your authority. May my words and my actions demonstrate this. My flesh so wants to be in control. My carnality so wants to be enthroned. Help me to bow and surrender to your Lordship, for this is true worship!

Yes, there is a call to come and worship, but the call is to worship reverently. You, Father God, are everything we are not. You are holy, righteous, compassionate, merciful, inherently good, understanding and you are longsuffering. Lord, help me not to take a seat beside you, but before you, reverently bowing to you in true worship.

This is today,

Pastor Gary

My Struggle

Struggle's! We all have them. As long as we live in a fallen world we will have struggle's. Struggle's mean different things to different people. For some, it means a trial. For others, it may be a particular weakness they are prone to. Still for others, it may be a particular hardship such as financial or a spiritual struggle. The word struggle is definitely a relative term. Everyone handles the struggle they face in different ways, a lot of it may depend on their particular personality, their culture, their spirituality. All of these influence how a person deals with a struggle.

The Apostle Paul spoke about going through a particular struggle in Romans 15. What we learn from this passage is, we need people to help us in our particular struggle. In verse 30 Paul said, "I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me" (NLT). Paul asked them to join with him in this specific need.

We need others! We need mentors! We need accountability partners! We need prayer partners! I believe where most of us go wrong is, we try to handle things on our own. May the Lord open our eyes to the vast resources we have in the body of Christ. The vast resources we have in each other.

Paul asked the Roman Christians to enter into his struggle with him by praying for him. As we enlist prayer partners, we are enlisting individuals who will partner with us in our struggle. The load is much lighter when we have others helping to carry the load.

This is today,

Pastor Gary

Refresh

I decided I would read a Proverb today. You know the old saying, “a Proverb a day keeps the devil away.” Sounds good to me! So I picked the obvious, the 11th proverb. It is full of good instruction. It starts off by talking about dishonest people and how the Lord hates lying and dishonesty. Then it moves to the fact of how the Lord rescues the Godly. A little further in the Proverb the writer states, the Lord "delights in those who have integrity." However, the verse that caught my heart, my attention is verse 25, "the generous prosper and are satisfied, those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed" (NLT)

"Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." I believe the word I am looking for is reciprocity. Our relationship or should I say our growth in spiritual matters has much to do with reciprocity. It is reciprocal in nature. The New Testament tells us that if we will "draw nigh to God, then He will draw nigh to us." Yes, God initiated our salvation. He sought us out and saved us. However, It seems now, at least at times, that we become the pursuer and God responds to us in direct proportion as we are seeking Him out, and His ways. Yes, there are times, even now, in our walk with Him that we know He specifically pursues us but if we want to go deeper and know Him even greater then we must become the pursuer, the "God Chaser."

Jesus said, "when you have done it to the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me." When we "refresh others" are we not in essence doing it unto the Lord, and thereby being pursers of the Father? And the benefit is, in the process we are "refreshed." Don't you like the word "refreshed." It sounds clean, wholesome, restful, full of energy and life. Lord, help me find someone today to "refresh."

This is today,

Pastor Gary

Lives Shining Brightly

This is what the Apostle Paul tells the Philippian believers. They are to let their "lives shine brightly before them." This sounds very familiar to the words of Christ when He tells the disciples that they (we) are the "light" which shines in the darkness. "Ye are the light of the world." In essence, we reflect "the light." Jesus is the light from heaven. Jesus is the light of the world. We are His followers, His disciples, His friends, therefore we reflect who He is. It is both a privilege and a duty.

It is a privilege because He has chosen us. He has ordained us. He has called us. He has done this because of His love for each of us. He has placed His love upon us and in us. It is a privilege to be called His.

It is a duty because we have a responsibility and duty to reflect His nature ... Him. The goal is for others to see Jesus in us. That is, the real Jesus. The Jesus of the scriptures. The Jesus of heaven.

Paul told the Philippians to let their "lives shine brightly before them" (2:15 NLT). This is said in the context of verse 14, "in everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing." The reason is, so that no one can speak evil against them and in so doing they would be letting their "lives shine brightly before them."

Lord help me to watch what I say because I never know who is listening. Help me not to complain or to give myself to endless arguments. Above all, I want to reflect the real Jesus, the Jesus of the scriptures. This is my privilege and my duty.

This is today,

Pastor Gary