Category: From Pastor

This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Let Easter Change you: Godly Habits!  (WATCH HERE)

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Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves…to the fellowship…

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

What does it mean to be devoted to something?

You invest time.

You invest your person.

You invest your finances

You invest your life.

Why? Because it’s important…even when what you are devoted to doesn’t always give you the return you are looking for (insert parenting in this thought )

But you stay devoted.  You stay committed.  You stay engaged.

Why? Because it’s important.

Christians are devoted first and foremost to the Lord, but the Lord desires that we are devoted also to the gathering together of other Christians…the fellowship…the church.

It’s easy to see church as someone or something that needs to be devoted to me.  It’s easy to view church from the standpoint of “what’s in it for me?”  It’s even easy to buy into the thought, “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” (CoVid tended to reinforce this thought.)

Perhaps…but none of these thoughts and mindsets are an expression of devotion to the fellowship.  In fact, they are a selfish, self-centered approach to being involved in a community of believers.

Sure, you GET something out of being around other Christians, but when you are devoted to the gathering of fellow Christians your focus changes.

You realize you are in a fellowship of believers to GIVE something to them.

You have encouragement others need to hear. (Hebrews 10:25)

You have gifts that others don’t. (1 Corinthians 12)

You have resources to support the work the fellowship does. (2 Corinthians 9)

You have a love for the success of the mission God has given his church. (Matthew 28:18-20)

You have a story others need to hear. (Acts 1:8)

And the list goes on.

When I’m devoted to something I do it when I’m tired.  I do it when I don’t feel like it.  I make it a priority in the middle of a busy schedule.  I sacrifice to ensure the success of the mission. I go even when I want to stay home.  I engage because I know others are counting on me. 

Perhaps for too long we have considered church and a fellowship of believers something to be a “member” of and an organization in which I get to enjoy “rights and privileges.”  What changes when all who attend a church see themselves as “partners” in the Gospel ministry and are devoted to the fellowship of believers who gather at that church?

Perhaps we just look at what happened when the group of believers in Acts 2 were devoted to each other…:

Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

God works blessing for you and his church when you are devoted to it!

 

Apply:  What changes with your involvement with a local church and fellowship of believers when you realize the importance and blessing of being devoted to it?  What is one habit you can begin or enhance that increases your devotion to a local church, a fellowship of believers?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for gathering your people together in the fellowship of the church.  Forgive me for being more of a consumer than a contributor.  Empower me by your Spirit to see the tremendous blessing to me, to others, and to your church when everyone, including me, is devoted to the fellowship of believers! AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Let Easter Change you: Godly Habits!  (WATCH HERE)

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Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

The Holy Spirit had just worked faith in 3000 people, leading them to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and believe in his saving work for their eternal life.  These individuals recognized the sin of their rejection of Jesus and believed the promise of forgiveness in baptism and they and their children were baptized.

Now what?

What would this new group of believers do to stay connected to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and nurture the new faith that they had been given?

Acts 2:42 relates exactly what they did.  They made a strong commitment to the things that would nurture, strengthen and develop their faith – the Word of God, the Community of God, the Supper of God and prayer to God.

Do these things matter today?  What would happen in your life if you, by God’s power, rededicate yourself to these things as well?  Do you think anything would change?  I believe it would.

Remember the quote from yesterday:

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. 

Do you, like these Pentecost believers, want to grow in your identity as a forgiven, loved, child of God whose hope in life and death is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?

Let me assume that you do.

Then we need habits that move us incrementally to the identity God has given to us.

First habit: Connect regularly to the Word of God.

The fact you are reading this devotion tells me this habit is important to you.  Perhaps this devotion is your daily infusion in the Word of God.  That’s great…maybe you have another habit for the Word of God…a daily verse…a reading plan…etc.

But why?  Why take the time and energy to ensure regular time with the Word of God.  Why be “devoted” to it?

Perhaps the same reason that the Apostle Paul told Timothy to stay in the word of God:

2 Timothy 3:14-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Scriptures keep us grounded in Jesus and the wisdom and truth that communicates grace and salvation to our hearts.  We don’t just need this once, we need it often!  The Scriptures are the very Words of God!  Want to hear God speak to you daily?  Open the Word of God and listen to his voice!  Want wisdom and guidance for life and the decisions you have to make?  God’s Word is useful for the practical realities of life as we use it to teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness.  Want to feel adequate for living a God-honoring life?  The Scriptures are there to thoroughly equip you for every good work God has planned for you!

Regularly connect to the Word of God…and see what God does in your heart and life!

 

Apply: What might you do to start or strengthen your habit of being in God’s Word on a daily basis?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for preserving your word for my soul to benefit from today.  Guide me into all truth that I might live each moment to your glory! AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Let Easter Change you: Godly Habits!  (WATCH HERE)

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“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it is actually big. That’s the paradox of making small improvements.” ― James Clear, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones 

Habits are powerful…even if I don’t think they are.  Habits move us in a direction.  The question is, in what direction are they moving us.  How do you react to the statement, “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”  Does every action really matter?  Perhaps a singular one is inconsequential, but actions repeated are votes that sway your identity in a direction that your actions take you.

What might be an example of this?

Perhaps a one time action of not brushing your teeth has little consequence.  However, if you do it again…and again…and again and then wonder why you have cavities, root canals, and having teeth pulled, you realize you put a “vote” in for being a person with bad teeth, but not brushing your teeth in consecutive days, weeks, months.  

“Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity.”

Spiritual habits are not big changes that happen over night.  They are little changes that happen over a lifetime.  I love this quote too because it leads us to ask, “What small habits can make a meaningful difference to provide growing evidence of my identity as a child of God?”

Yesterday, we had two baptisms.  These two little ones received the grace of God in their connection to the death of Jesus to bury their sins and the resurrection of Jesus to live a new life, because they have a new identity as a child of God.  Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

So what do those little ones need in their lives moving forward that will move them toward their new identity found in Jesus?  What do we need, who have been baptized, that will move us forward in our identity we find in Jesus?

Godly habits.

Habits that little by little grow us deeper into the identity we have been given as a child of God.

What are those habits?

There is not a list in Scripture that dictate the “habits of highly effective Christians.” However, there are verses that give us glimpses into what the early Christians did on a regular basis that moved them in the direction of their new identity.  We are going to focus this week on the ones mentioned in Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

These 3100 plus believers after Pentecost realized that the high of Peter’s sermon and the waters of baptism would need ongoing reinforcement.  So they were devoted to doin things that moved them deeper into the new identity they found in Jesus.

They were going to have a habit of connecting to the word of God (Apostles’ teaching).

They were going to have a habit of communing with the Lord and with people.

They were going to have a habit of communicating with God in prayer.

These are the habits that we are going to work at beginning or strengthening this week…Each small step will begin a habit that will, God-willing, move us deeper into the identity we have been given.

 

Apply: Simply list as many of your habits as you can.  Put them in two columns.  First column are those habits that move me closer to my identity in Christ.  Second column moves me away from Christ to identify in something else.

Prayer: Lord thank you for the new identity you secured for my by your resurrection from the dead.  Give me determination and discipline to move in the direction of that identity every day with the habits I develop. AMEN

This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Let Easter Change you: Input Godly Wisdom…his Word!  (WATCH HERE)

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Luke 24:30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

It’s a heart thing.

It’s interesting that the disciples did not respond to Jesus’ dissertation on the Old Testament with the phrase, “Were not our minds blown away by all the information he shared with us?!”

That’s probably how I would have reacted because as I reflect on “Why would I have wanted to listen to this dialogue with Jesus about the Old Testament?”  To be honest, I probably was more interested in the information more than the transformation that would happen.

Do you struggle with this too?  Do you spend time in the Bible for information?  Do you focus on knowing new things over feeling and believing new things?

Maybe it’s just me.  But this comment by the Emmaus disciples is worth musing about.

Do our hearts burn within us when God brings his word of truth to us?

Literally the reflection of the disciples was this, “Were not our hearts on fire within us?”

What also is unique about this reaction is at the time Jesus was speaking, they didn’t know it was Jesus.  It seems like Jesus wanted to shift the focus from him as a physical teacher to allow the Word of God, regardless of presenter, to do the work on one’s heart.  He, as a person and personality, didn’t want to be a distraction to the power of the Spirit at work in the word.

Here’s some reflections…

The Word of God is given to change the heart before it changes one’s actions.  How often do we perhaps read the Bible to get an answer of “what to do” before we read the Bible to affect “what we believe”?  Many times in Scripture, God prioritizes the heart.  He wants the heart to change by the power of his word because he knows that when the heart changes, what comes out of that heart changes. Read and listen to the Word for your heart’s sake.

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

A second reflection is this.  The Word of God has power to affect the heart no matter who the presenter of that word.  Jesus could have revealed who he was right away, but he allowed the truth of the Scripture to speak for itself.  After he revealed himself to the disciples, he disappeared and he just let the Word he shared linger in their hearts.  Don’t get me wrong, Jesus was a powerful teacher.  However, after his resurrection he knows he will not be around in physical form and allows the Word of God to bring the power to one’s heart.  The reality for us?  Enjoy those that bring you the Word of God, but remember the power of the Word of God is that it is the Word of God and not the words of men!

And third, the heart that is on fire sparks a life that is on fire.  The experience the disciples they could not keep to themselves.

Luke 24:33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 

When God moves our heart, he moves us to act.  THe power of what the disciples heard and encountering the risen Jesus compelled them to return to Jerusalem and share what they had heard and seen.  My guess, this was just the first time and the impact of hearing and seeing Jesus was a driving force throughout their lives.

The Word does the same for us today…it sets our hearts on fire to live for our risen Savior!

Apply: Evaluate if you have been reading the Bible just for information versus transformation.  This next week read and listen to God’s Word and ask, “What is God doing with my heart through his word?”

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for your Word and your Spirit that works to change my heart.  Let all of my life be driven by a heart that is on fire for you!  AMEN.                                                                                                            

This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Let Easter Change you: Input Godly Wisdom…his Word!  (WATCH HERE)

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I wish I could have listened.

Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

What was all included in that conversation that happened over the seven mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus?

It is one sermon Jesus gave that I wish I had the transcript to.  What was Jesus’ commentary on himself throughout the whole Old Testament?  What passages did he speak to?  How did he weave God’s plan of salvation together so that it all made sense as it culminated at the cross?  

For whatever reason, the Holy Spirit didn’t record the details, just a summary of the content.  With just the summary we get a LOT of insight into what we are take away from the Word of God.  Here’s a few thoughts for you to consider.

First: Every part of the Scripture has the purpose of pointing us to Jesus.  “Moses” was the reference to the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).  When you consider some of the main content of these books you can think of creation, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the exodus, the sacrificial system, the wandering in the wilderness and more.  This conversation with the Emmaus disciples gives us permission to keep the priority of reading the Old Testament as seeing Jesus.  The Old Testament isn’t a code to decipher, or confusion to unravel.  The Old Testament is God’s story to bring the fulfillment of his love and grace to bear in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Second: The purpose of isolating the people of Israel as God’s people wasn’t to elevate a race or a nationality, but to carry the promise of a Savior to fulfillment in Jesus.  There were points where the nation of Israel was at the brink of collapse.  The kings of Israel and Judah were mostly NOT God-fearing and led people away from the Lord. Enemies could have overpowered the nation on multiple occasions.  Even in the middle of captivity in Babylon, God was preserving a remnant…not to preserve a culture, but to preserve the line from which he was bringing Jesus.  We can marvel at God’s work through secular history to bring to bear the most important impact to all people of all eras of history.

Third: God is highlighting the inspiration of Scripture.  The only way that Moses (written about 1500 BC) and the Prophets (written from 1000 BC to 400 BC) could speak of a single person and a single theme was that God was behind the words they wrote.  Jesus didn’t have to “make a stretch” to find his work in Scripture.  He simply explained what was.  He traced the divine work of God through the words the SPirit inspired men to write.  The fact that ALL of Scripture spoke of Jesus who had not yet come yet with the detail of his work is evidence of God’s divine inspiration of all of Scripture.  The impact on us?  We can TRUST the Bible as the very Word of God.

Fourth: Enjoy discovering Jesus in the BIble.  We speak of the Scripture as Christocentric.  That means that the main purpose and focus of the whole Bible is to communicate Christ.  The Bible touches on science, but it’s not a science textbook.  The BIble communicates history, but it’s not first and foremost a history book. The Bible is beautiful prose, but it not just a fine piece of literature.  The Bible is God’s Word that is intended to communicate one key message: We are forgiven and given eternal life through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Enjoy seeing Jesus in all the Bible!

Apply: Skim through the Gospel of Matthew.  Matthew’s purpose was to connect the work of Jesus with the Old Testament prophecies.  See how many you can find and see how “Moses and the prophets” testify about Jesus.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for inspiring your wonderful Word to communicate the certainty of salvation to my heart and life.  AMEN.