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You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am . . . . I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master . . .—John 13:13, 16 We know that Christianity is not a “religion” in the traditional sense but it’s a relationship. We are asked if we “know” the Lord.  Again we are talking about relationship not a head knowledge. Think about this for a moment. How would you described the relationship? It’s a question we are often asked at our baptism and don’t think about much after that. Most answer something like Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. These are completely valid answers because each of these things He truly is. I know He has saved me and continues to heal and sanctify me. But notice these words describe what Our Lord has done for us. They don’t really describe a relationship. He described Himself as Teacher and Lord. In fact, He tells us that the disciplines have called Him Teacher and Lord.  Are we ready to have that kind of relationship. For those words describe us in an action way. If He is teacher, we are student. If He is […]

Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant . . . —Isaiah 49:5 Sunday night I again enjoyed Jonathan’s teaching on the creation. That meshes with OC’s words for today: the purpose of God. We sometimes get so involved in  how He created, we forget to marvel at why He created.  The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself.  The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16— “For God so loved the world. . . .” We express His purpose in our lives as we mirror His heart as expressed in the command of Jesus. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is […]

. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect —Matthew 5:48   I don’t like everyone. I struggle to treat some decently because of my natural response to them: LSU fans for example. In Matthew 5:38-48 Christ calls us to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those we don’t really like.   In these verses, Christ calls us to be more than a good person, or even good Christian, but God Himself is our standard. “. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” This is more of the “river” concept. What God has poured into us, we pour forth into others.  In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you.  Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I […]

You are those who have continued with Me in My trials —Luke 22:28 Jesus addressed these words to His disciples at the Last Supper. The traitor had made his move and left the supper table. For the others, a tough road remained ahead. They would, within hours, see their leader arrested, tortured and killed. Further down the road was persecution and martyrdom for most of them. For these, being His was more than being called His followers; there was real commitment and real pain ahead. It is one thing to where the label, “Christian.” It is more to commit to follow Him not matter what, no matter where. We need to cease considering Christianity to be equal to church membership. Our Christianity is not determined by what we do on Sunday but what we do the rest of the week. It is not characterized by what we do in church, but what we do everywhere else.  His call is not “where my label” or “bear my name.” It’s “Follow Me.” Are we ready to follow? No matter what? It’s the road to struggle and persecution and PURE JOY. Be blessed. Nick

We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin —Hebrews 4:15   The temptation of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry was dramatic. Satan took Him to high places and urged Him to leap and be saved by angels. He tempted Him to turn stone into bread. In short, He tried to get him to lose focus on His ministry. Similarly near the end of His ministry, in the garden, He again tried to to derail the purpose of God by turning Jesus from His sacrificial death. As Christians, perhaps our purposes seem less grand and our temptations less dramatic. But let’s not forget that we too have significant missions and we have been told we would do “greater things.” Having failed to divert our Lord, he now seeks to divert His disciples, you and me. Satan tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. Our value to God comes from our new life and our new outlook on life. After being born again, we have a […]

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man . . . —1 Corinthians 10:13 Temptation is common to all men; but unique to each. We all face temptation; but the temptations we face fit our individual natures. For some, we are drawn into the traps into which we have a habit of falling. Satan is no fool; he will continue to use methods that work until they work no longer. Once we successfully resist; he will move on to something else. Some of the most beguiling temptations do not tempt us to do evil,but suggest a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Such temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong.These temptations raise the old end-justify-the-means arguments. Such temptations have led to the downfall of many ministries. The basis is usually a failure to trust God and a reliance on ourselves to know his goals and to accomplish them. Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential […]

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place . . . —Matthew 6:6 Find an inner room in which to pray where no one even knows you are praying, shut the door, and talk to God in secret. Have no motivation other than to know your Father in heaven.   God does not hear us because we pray earnestly— He hears us solely on the basis of redemption.  “Everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8). We pray religious nonsense without even involving our will, and then we say that God did not answer— but in reality we have never asked for anything. Jesus said, “. . . you will ask what you desire. . .” (John 15:7). Asking means that our will must be involved. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, He spoke with wonderful childlike simplicity. Then we respond with our critical attitude, saying, “Yes, but even Jesus said that we must ask.”  Ask and Be Blessed. Nick

We have renounced the hidden things of shame . . .  —2 Corinthians 4:2 When we begin to follow Jesus, His light falls upon some of the dark areas of our lives, past and present and we feel shame. When this light falls we should immediately renounce these things and move on. Easier said than done. In any church on a Sunday morning you would think there are no such hidden things of shame amongst the people. You would, of course, be wrong. This is a very harmful lie because it causes us to believe that we are alone in our struggles. That solitude can lead to doubt and confusion and withdrawal for Christ and His  Church. Thus, it’s a favor deception of Satan. We have decided it is inappropriate, or maybe just to embarrassing to admit our struggles in renouncing these things in our lives. This is one of the many ways a “prayer and share” group can be a life saver. A prayer and share group is just a small group of believers who have developed enough trust in each other that they can opening discuss things that weight upon them, like these  “hidden things of shame” […]