I feel sorry for the men who had to deal with me in my mid twenties.  I was so prideful in how much I “thought I knew” and I loved sharing that with others.  A good thing, however, patience and grace were not words that would have used to describe me.  I never actually beat anyone over the head with a Bible, but given my zealous approach to truth, I’m surprised I never received a beating myself.  Apparently, people don’t respond well to being told “Turn or burn” even jokingly… go figure.  I’ve tried to make amends with those I could, and the fact that I still am friends with some people from those years speaks amazingly of the patience of God in them.

There has been a question running through my mind consistently, during those days until now.  Over time my views have been refined by the Word of God and my own sanctification, thankfully, and I freely admit I have more to learn.  My question is “what is/are the marks of the Redeemed?”  Not to put myself in the place of God to judge ultimately, but to wisely discern whom I marry, whom I partner with in business or ministry, and whom I will disciple.

Now we see some characteristics of the Redeemed in Gal 5:22-23 – “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” .  But what is the unit of measure? Meaning someone who today seems to me impatient may have been significantly worse a year ago, etc.  Likewise, we all know faithful men who do not love God, so how are we to discern the truth?  I don’t mean here to lessen the truth from Galatians 5, but it seems to be a better guide if you’ve known a person for a long time.  We can discern a person from their fruit when not just one, but ALL of these characteristics are seen to be growing over time.  But what if you’ve only known someone for a few months?  In my personal experience, one can easily become wrongly self righteous and judgmental if in looking at another based merely on the current “status” of their morality.  I myself fell into that trap, when in earlier years I did not see fruit growing “fast enough”  (See my comment above on why I’m lucky to have any friends left).

So what is it that I look for in someone to partner with?  Three things:

1)      Does the person have a passion to know God from the Bible?  Psalm 119:12-16 – “Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!  With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.  In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

2)      Is the person actively submitting their life to God’s Word?  Luke 6:46 – “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

3)      Is there a joy in that person’s life from knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?  Jeremiah 15:16 – “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.”

I will take the most sinful person on Earth, over the most outwardly righteous person, if I see these things in that person.  Why?  Because these questions expose the heart of a person.  Many people want Jesus as their Savior, but not as their Lord.  This is why you find churches full of people who never read their Bible.  It’s more than just laziness, they do not want to be reminded that God owns them, and they are accountable to Him.  They don’t want God as God, they want to be god to God.  Submitting one’s life to God from His Word is difficult, but should ultimately be a delight to believers.  Yes, there are struggles, but less of us is more of God, and in that we rejoice.

As a note of caution, these questions should only be levied towards two people (in this order).  First, yourself.  Second, individuals you know well and are considering partnering with in some significant way.  2 Corinthians 6:14 – “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” 

While this message is meant to offer wisdom in one area of life as a Christian, my encouragement is to earnestly pray for wisdom and grace in its application.  Learn from my mistakes, and let your decisions be tempered by an earnest desire for all to come to Christ (1 Tim 2:3-4), unity of the Church (Eph 4:1-3) , and that every word you utter would give grace to its hearers (Eph 4:29).

Grace and Peace,

Adam

What good is a worker without tools?  What if a contractor showed up to your home empty handed, and said, “I’m ready to work”.  What good is a worker without food?  How far will he make it through the day without food or water?   Silly questions, right?

Now, what good is a Christian without the Word and prayer?  Oh, that we lived in a time where that would be a silly question.  When well-intentioned believers want to “get to work” and “do what Jesus did”, I hope they do not neglect the spiritual disciplines Jesus modeled for us.  Christian spirituality is often found at one extreme or another.  On the one hand you’ll find people muttering jibberish in church and rolling around on the floor, and on the other you’ll find people whose only prayers are done on Sunday, before a meal, or when life gets really hard.  Jesus never spoke in jibberish, but He often sought out solitude for prayer.  We can look to Him and model our prayer life accordingly.

Mark 1:34-38 – “That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.  And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.  And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Now imagine you’ve come home from the day at sundown, and waiting at your door was an entire city’s worth of people looking for help.  What time do you think you’d get to bed?  Now, what time would it be to get up before the sun had come up?  What do you think?  Jesus didn’t get much sleep that night, but prayer was necessary to Him.

If I may continue my contractor analogy; a common saying among carpenters is to measure twice and cut once.  We should be Christians who pray twice and act/speak once.  What might God do in your life if you came to Him simply, throughout the day, seeking His face and guidance?  One of the men responsible for the protestant reformation, Martin Luther, was known as a man of prayer.  He would spend hours each day praying to God.  He had a saying, which reveals an attitude of the heart, I want desperately for myself, and all of you.  He said, “I have so much to do (today) that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.”

My exhortation is that we all as the body of Christ would commit ourselves to prayer.  Get alone with God in the morning and evening and pray.  Pray throughout your day.  Pray that God would give you a humble heart for prayer.  I’ll leave you with scripture.  I’d love to break down each of these verses, but that would take much more time/writing than I will go into today.  I’ll trust the Holy Spirit as the Teacher to give each of you clarity and encouragement.

1 Peter 5:6-7 – “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Philippians 4:6-7 – “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17 – “pray without ceasing”

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Hebrews 1:1-2 – “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,”

Matthew 5:17 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

“I wish I knew what to do.” “It’s too bad the Bible doesn’t have anything to say about ……”.  “I just wish God would tell me which direction to take”.  “The Bible isn’t relevant to modern day issues”.   These are just some of the common comments heard when talking about knowing God’s will.  It seems that we are no different than the people who after encountering Jesus, requested miracles be done regularly in order to follow Him.

Luke 11:29 – “When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” (The resurrection of Christ after 3 days, evidencing that He is God)

John 6:30-33 – “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

People often misunderstand God’s purpose in the Bible.  It is not meant  to be a magic 8 ball where you shake it, and it tells you what to do.  It’s not meant to be a self-help book on how to have a better life (many of it’s writers were martyred after all).  The Bible is meant to be the revelation of God.  Notice too, from Hebrews 1 above, that the revelation is both the prophets (Old Testament) and through Christ (New Testament).  God is not the God of the new Testament only, but to know Him, we must know that He is everything in the Old Testament (Yes, this includes his righteousness destroying wicked cities, etc.)

So how then, do we live?  Come to know the God of the Bible.  Ask yourself how your response to a situation/choices match up to the character of God to make His glory known.  We do not need any further revelation from God, we have everything we need through the Word.   What we need is to love God, and want to know Him, instead of looking for emotionless, empty “answers”.  God loves us enough to want a relationship with us.  What is best for us, and what gives us greatest joy, are not at odds, if you look for answers not from God, but in Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

1)      What would it mean to you if every one of your previous sins, every sin today, and every sin you’ll ever commit was paid for fully by Jesus bearing the wrath of God on the cross? 

Hebrews 10:12-14 – “when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

2)      What would it mean to you if when God looks at you now and for all time, he does not see a sinner, but the perfect righteousness of Christ? 

Isaiah 61:10 – “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

3)      What would it mean to you if because Jesus, you had access to God, the creator and sustainer of all things? 

Hebrews 4:14-16 – “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

All of these things are true if you have repented from your sins to believe on Christ Jesus as your savior.  So my final question is this:  What does it mean for you to know Christ Jesus as your savior?  My encouragement is that you would ask yourself these questions often, as you live under the grace of the cross.  My belief is that in doing so, you will help root these truth’s in your heart and will be helpful as you approach life’s challenges one day at a time.

Well today is a short message, and the WFTD will be off tomorrow and Friday.  There are three questions above.  I really want to encourage you to maybe take 15 minutes, and just write down a response to each question.  You could do all 3 today, tomorrow, and Friday, or one question a day.  Write it out and pray through that time.  I cannot think of a better way to prepare for celebrating the birth of our savior on Saturday that to meditate on what He means to us.  Know you’re prayed for.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

What is the meaning of Christmas?  Is it watching 5-10 year olds beem over toys that their parents had to camp out for?  Is it watching the spontaneous gladiator fights that erupt among parents over the “last GI Joe with the kung fu grip?”  Is it watching that uncle you only see once a year have too much egg nog…. Just like every year.  No, all of these colorful tidbits of our society’s fallen nature are comedic albeit tragic, but they are not what Christmas is about.

Some will say Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, and I suppose that’s true in a sense, but why?  Why do we care that Jesus was born?  What does your drunk uncle John have to do with your joy in Christmas?

“Galatians 4:3-7 – “In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

We rejoice because the Savior has come.  We rejoice because we’ve all fallen short of God’s perfect law, His perfect righteousness, but His love and mercy was made manifest through His Son.  We rejoice because Jesus came to die, to pay a penalty I owed, and you owed, but was placed on Him.  We rejoice because the same eyes that first opened in a manger would open the eyes of many to be reconciled to God.  My encouragement is to not sugar coat the Christmas story, or allow it to be whittled down to a nativity scene merely.  Pray for family members and friends who do not know Jesus.  Ask God to provide opportunities for them to know the fullness of joy in reconciliation to God through the gospel.  Serve those who will be cold and alone, otherwise this Christmas.  Let them know you genuinely love them, because God first loved you, and gave up His Son for your sins.  Make the most of this short time, and may God use you this season.

Grace be with you,

Adam

One of the beautiful things about the body of believers who are the Church is that God has made each of us unique.  That uniqueness extends also to how our affections for God are stirred the most.  For some it is through serving the needy, for others it is reading theology books/the Bible, for others it is singing/music/art, and others just marveling at God through His creation.  What each of us has in common however, is we will be tempted daily to replace our affections for God with affections for His creation, what the world can offer us.

Each of us that have once tasted the goodness of God through the gospel of Jesus, have a thirst for God.  While I pray that God would kindle that thirst in all of our hearts, I am appealing today to your minds.  My hope is that God may use words and your thoughts as a means towards rekindling in you a passion for Him.

What was the best day of your life?  How long did that last?  What is/was the worst period of your life?  How long did that last?  For many of us, the hard times of life far outnumber the fleeting moments/days where we are joyful.  Why is that?  Is it merely that we are all cynical?  The Bible tells us quite the opposite.  It tells us that this is by design.  Our present hardships are meant to point us to a future hope.

Romans 8:18-25 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

James 1:2-4 – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” 

Christian, my question is this:  “If you first turned from the pursuit of joy apart from God, to embrace Jesus through hearing the Gospel message, are you now seeking joy again from the world?”  You know that the immediate joy the world can offer only leads to pain, struggles, and loss.   Think.  Faith is not blind.  God has given you eyes to see the truth.  You know that God is good, and knowing Him is refreshment to you, and lasting joy.  But for the same reasons gym memberships spike in January, only to fall off in February after the new years resolutions have been forgotten, we too need to be reminded of the gospel, to remain steadfast in our faith among struggles.  We sinners have been reconciled to God through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  We were not freed from sin only to fall back into its grip, but to know the infinite joy of God.

My encouragement is this:  The steadfast love of God is neverending.  Tomorrow is gone, and today has come.  Faith is not a starting point, it isn’t a race, it is a lifelong marathon.  The men and women of God you will be 10 years from now is being built out from the day to day choices you make now.  Think.  You know there is a thirst for God within you that the world can never offer.  Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

James 4:7-8 – “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Lamentations 3:22-24 – “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

 Grace and Peace,

Adam

Many of you who are familiar with me,  know that it is exceedingly difficult for me to be short with my encouragements from the Word.  The reason for this may be my communication style in part, but the predominant driving force of what and how much I write is simply answering the question “What can I see from scripture that I believe God wants all of us to see?”.   As I communicated previously, a tennis injury has (temporarily) left me with only the use of my left (non-dominant) hand.  Given my tendency to want to write a lot/every day, my plan was to recycle some of my older messages while my hand healed.  I no longer feel led that way.  I’m injured, but where a limitation exists, so does an opportunity for the grace and mercy of God to be made manifest, and seen as greater than the limitation.  Thus, I will continue on in the ministry of reconciliation through the Word, entrusting to God my physical ability to type, and relying as always for the Holy Spirit to be our true Teacher.

Theologians have written entire books on the covenant of grace.  My intention is not to exhaust the limits of this topic, but just to hit the broad-strokes.  My hope is the you will be left wanting more, and find that what you really want more of isn’t just knowledge about an idea, but a deeper relationship with a person, Jesus Christ.

I may bounce around some, but my main scripture focus is Hebrews 10:11-18 – “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.  But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.  For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”

 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”  Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” 

Now, under the law given by the prophets of the Old Testament, people would sacrifice animals.  This was to point people to their need for forgiveness of sins by God, but it was never meant to be sufficient for the payment for sins.  All of creation (including the sacrificed animal) was subject to the fall, and stained/infected by sin.  As it is written in Romans 8:21-22 – “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

Not only was it impossible for an animal to take away the sins of a man, even the animal was impure.  How then could purification be made?  Why am I stopping to make this point?   MANY Christians are still held in bondage to this idea.  They have simply replaced the sacrifice of animals with their own “good works”.   For those who fall into that trap – Do you not realize that it is said in Isaiah 64:6 – “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”   I’m not speaking now about non-believers, I’m speaking to my Christian brothers and sisters – You cannot earn God’s favor by what you do.  You cannot be righteous in yourself, ever, so then why do you work for God’s approval?  Don’t you see that it is prideful to believe you can offer God anything?  As it’s written in Habakkuk 2:4 – “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”  You, like the animal, are impure even as a believer.  Therefore, our hope must not rest in ourselves.  That is a burden that we would not ever be able to bear.  This is why those who come to Christ are encouraged by His Words in Matthew 11:30 – “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

There is no sacrifice we can give, but the good news is that an acceptable sacrifice has already been made.  Three important things we can glean from one verse in Hebrews 10:12

1)       The verb tense is past… When Christ “had offered”.  The sacrifice for sins has already been made.

2)      This was not meant to cover sins up until a point, but every sin “for all time”

3)      The sacrifice was complete.  A single sacrifice was made by Christ in His body on the cross, and then he “sat down”.  Priests would never sit down, because their work was never finished.  All day they would be accepting/preparing sacrifices.  Christ’s sacrifice for sins was once and for all.  When He died, it was finished.

So what is the covenant God has made with us?  It is so important you get this…. This was a one-sided covenant.  God in His mercy chose to ransom a people (His bride, the body of believers, the Church) through His blood.  His purification of us is complete.  We are accepted because He made us acceptable on the cross.  We are righteous because He has declared us to be.

So then, are we free to sin?  If you look at the cross, and feel no love for God causing you to lay down your rebellion against Him, you don’t know Him.  Only those who are known by God, and know Him are a part of His covenant. One very important verse is Hebrews 10:14 – “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” 

Who was perfected by the cross?  Those who are being sanctified (big word meaning made holy, obedient to God in love)  This seems like a contradiction, right?  I’m saying on the one hand, don’t try to  be accepted by God based on your works, and on the other, I’m saying only those people who evidence the work of God in them through works are truly saved.  The reality is this.  If you have heard the gospel, trust Christ, love Christ…. You will WANT to obey him, and your life will over time look more like Christ’s, and your demeanor/heart will likewise.

Brothers and sisters, my hope is for the yoke of Christ to be a delight to you.  Do you feel Christianity is a burden?  Does it seem hard to be joyful?  Rest in the covenant of grace.  Jesus loves you, and purchased you, knowing all of your struggles.  The price for your sins has been paid.  You have been made pure.

I’ll end with an old hymn (My Baptist roots coming out… shh, don’t tell).  “Jesus Paid It All”

I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

For nothing good have I
Where-by Thy grace to claim
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary’s Lamb

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Grace and Peace,

Adam

As some of you know, I recently tore a tendon in my right wrist (my writing hand) playing tennis, which required my right arm to be put in a cast up almost to my shoulder.  I must say, having endured about 2.5 weeks of my casting, I believe there is a special place in hell for casts, and the unreachable itches that seemingly never cease to be.  God is good, though.  He’s been teaching me a lot about losing the pride of independence, growing my patience, and importantly, how to get by typing/writing with only my left hand.

Perhaps more than anything else, God is reminding me about the end to which I was created.  We were made for worship.  We were made to know God, and delight in Him.  We were made that in finding such an overwhelming satisfaction and joy in Him, it would give praise to His glory forever.  Heaven will not be a docile green field with little fat angels playing harps.  Heaven will be a never-ending massive joyful worship-filled party.  We are made for this, this was God’s will in creation.

Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace”

Ephesians 1:13-14 – “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” 

 Things happen when you only have one hand.  Laundry and house cleaning might get behind, tennis leagues are forgotten, you forget about wearing a tie to work, and clapping becomes fairly awkward…  Things that occupied such importance in a day, suddenly are impossible, and you begin to see they weren’t that important after all.  You’re reminded that your joy isn’t rooted in circumstances, personal relationships, or your work, but in being reconciled to God.

This is my hope for everyone I know.  I don’t desire for someone merely to go to church, reform their lives, repeat a prayer, or confess the gospel in words.  My desire is that they would taste and see the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.   I don’t claim to be perfect, or have any great wisdom.  I don’t claim to know anything really, except Jesus, and He is infinitely valuable.  Be renewed and refreshed each day by the glory and grace of God in Jesus.  He is our portion, and we are His.  Read your Bibles alongside your Christian brothers and sisters, pray alone with God, taste and see that the Lord is good, and worship Him.    We were made for this.

Grace and Peace,

Adam