Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now, the Lord of Armies says this: ‘Think carefully about your ways: You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to be happy. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a whole in it.” Haggai 1:5-6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Spiritual growth and being obedient to God is the main thing.”

The Old Testament prophet Haggai wrote his short little two-chapter book to a group of approximately 50,000 Jews who were in Jerusalem working to rebuild the temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. In the process of rebuilding the temple, they were to also establish their own lives there. They were there to repopulate the city and therefore they also needed to be building homes, planting crops, tending animals, and establishing businesses.

The problem was, as God tells them in verse nine of chapter one, that they were spending much more time and effort tending to their own business than they were in tending to God’s business. And as a result, God was not blessing them. Instead, they were spinning their wheels, working hard but reaping little. Here’s verse 9: “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why? This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. ‘Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.”

They planted but harvested little; they ate but were never really satisfied; they drank but were still thirsty. No matter how hard they worked taking care of their own business, it was as if they were putting their wages into pockets with holes in them – it was gone before they knew it and they were left wondering why they weren’t doing better. The answer was that their priorities were misplaced. They were much more concerned with their own business than with God’s business, and therefore God wasn’t blessing their business.

Please remember my word of caution to you regarding your priorities when making New Year’s resolutions. Your spiritual growth is more important than anything else you have going on in your life. Spiritual growth is more important than losing weight and improving your physical fitness. It is more important than paying off your car and increasing the size of your savings account. It is more important than any other resolution you might be thinking about making about any other issue. Therefore, I encourage you to focus first and foremost on establishing new practices and habits that will help to accelerate your spiritual growth in 2020. Then you can think about that 20 pounds you want to lose or the bills you want to pay off.

Take care of God’s business first. Spiritual growth and obedience to God is the main thing and it is the most important thing.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “The more spiritually mature you are, the more freedom you will experience.”

In John 8:30-36 Jesus taught a fascinating lesson about what it means to be truly free. His audience was the Jewish people, who as a nation had experienced centuries of slavery and bondage under the rule of nations like Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. But worse than their physical captivity was their enslavement to sinful lifestyles. Ultimate bondage is not mere physical bondage in a political sense, but it is bondage to sin which leads to a lifetime of rebellion against God.

Jesus’ point was that those who put their faith in Him as Savior (thereby having their sins forgiven), and then who choose to follow Him as Lord and become His true disciples (engaging in a lifetime of spiritual growth), they will “… know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (verse 31) … because “… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (verse 36).

Spiritual growth results in true freedom. Simple faith in Christ frees us from the eternal penalty for our sins, but spiritual growth brings us insight which enables us to see and understand the reality of situations as they truly are. The Holy Spirit develops in us a Biblical worldview which enables us to see people and situations as God sees them. This is the genuine truth of the situation and it frees us from the deceptions of the world. Second, spiritual growth also frees us from the bondage of habitual patterns of sinful living.

Then a third way in which spiritual maturity brings freedom is that it frees us from the bondage of legalism. A spiritually mature person doesn’t need rules and regulations to keep them in line. Instead, he or she has learned to hear the voice of God and to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. God has created a big beautiful world, filled with things and activities that we are free to enjoy. But it takes spiritual maturity, sensitivity, and discernment in order to live that way without abusing your freedom. Spiritual growth makes that possible.

Two of the best resources I have ever found to help Christians learn to live free in Christ are the Bible studies “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God” by Henry Blackaby; and “Hearing God” by Dallas Willard. Completing either or both of those studies in 2020 would make a great New Year’s resolution for the person who is committed to doing things that will help to accelerate their spiritual growth.

Tomorrow I have one final thought I want to share with you about spiritual growth, and then we will think about the important relationships we all have and some things we could do in 2020 to strengthen them.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your spiritual growth impacts what your life in eternity will be like.”

As we’ve been considering New Year’s resolutions we could make that will  help to improve our lives, I have argued that nothing in your life is more important than your spiritual growth, and no improvements you can make in your life will have a more profound impact on the overall quality of your life than will spiritual growth. That’s true for this lifetime (as was discussed yesterday), but it’s even truer for eternity.

Your spiritual growth will determine what your life will be like for eternity. That’s a truth that God communicates to us repeatedly all throughout the Bible – especially in the New Testament, and especially through the teachings of Jesus. In Matthew 6:19-20 above, the essence of Jesus’ point is that the spiritual growth you experience now, and the ways in which you serve God and others now, makes a difference for you for all eternity. He likened it to gathering treasure and storing it up in order to ensure a comfortable and secure future. He taught that when you engage in activities such as prayer, Bible study, acts of ministry, acts of compassion and mercy, etc., you are essentially making deposits into your account in the First National Bank of Heaven, and your investments will be waiting for you when you get there, to be enjoyed for all eternity.

In Matthew chapter twenty-five Jesus taught a parable about servants who were entrusted with various resources by the master, and then rewarded later based upon how well they used what had been entrusted to them. It was a metaphor for rewards in heaven. In 2 Corinthians chapter five, the Apostle Paul wrote about Christians appearing before the judgement seat of Christ so their actions in this lifetime can be evaluated, and the person rewarded accordingly.

The subject of rewards in heaven based upon our conduct in this lifetime is a common theme in Scripture and in some mysterious way, it will be applied to our eternal state by a holy and righteous God. One Bible college professor explained it this way: “All Christians will enjoy heaven to their maximum capacity, but we will not all have the same capacity. Capacity for spiritual awareness, and enjoyment in heaven, is developed in this lifetime. One Christian may arrive in heaven with the capacity of a fifty-gallon drum. That person will be filled to overflowing and fully enjoying heaven to their maximum capacity. Another may get there with the capacity of a pint container. He too will be filled to overflowing, enjoying heaven to his maximum capacity, but the two will have vastly different capacities.”

What an important truth: Your spiritual growth in this lifetime helps to determine what eternity will be like for you! If you needed motivation to make a New Year’s resolution regarding spiritual growth, I think this should be it!

Finally, in a kind of counterintuitive way, having the discipline to make and fulfill resolutions about spiritual growth actually creates a wonderful form of freedom for us. Tomorrow we will conclude our thinking about resolutions for spiritual growth, by thinking about the freedom spiritual growth will bring us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The benefits of spiritual growth are enjoyed now, in this lifetime.”

Spiritual growth brings us both immediate and long-term benefits, in this lifetime and for eternity. Today we’ll consider the impact of spiritual growth for this life, and tomorrow we will shift the conversation to eternity.

As has been previously noted, the moment you place your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins God places His Holy Spirit inside your heart, and that begins a lifelong process of growth and transformation that theologians refer to as “progressive sanctification”.

The most important result spiritual growth produces in you during this lifetime is that you come to know Jesus better. This is what the Apostle Peter was referring to in 2 Peter 3:18 when he wrote, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Your spiritual growth increases your knowledge and understanding of Jesus, and it also increases your experience or awareness of His grace at work in your life.

Spiritual growth also increases the degree to which the character of Christ becomes more and more evident in you. This is what Paul was describing in Galatians 5:22-23 by what he termed “the fruit of the Spirit”. These are attributes of Christ that progressively come to define the personality and character of the mature Christian. And think about it, aren’t these the things everyone is seeking more of in life anyway, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”? Isn’t that what people are really trying to achieve through relationships and money and possessions and alcohol and all the other things we fill our lives with? Spiritual growth fills that empty space in your heart that nothing else can fill.

In addition to the fruit of the Spirit listed by Paul in Galatians, the New Testament also describes many other benefits of spiritual growth in this lifetime. Spiritual growth teaches us how to be content (Philippians 4:10-13); it creates a purity of mind and heart (Philippians 4:8); it produces courage in us (Acts 5:29); and it empowers us to be a dynamic force for good in a broken and hurting world (Matthew 5:3-10, Acts 1:8).

The Christian life is an exciting adventure. The more spiritually mature you are, the more God will involve you in the adventure and the more you will appreciate and enjoy it. The best life you will ever have is the one lived in the center of God’s will, fully experiencing a robust and mature faith. That’s what spiritual growth does for us in this lifetime.

Tomorrow we will consider how our spiritual growth determines what eternity will be like for us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.” Colossians 2:6-7

Our thought for today: “Have a plan to guide your spiritual growth.”

Have you ever met a “static” person? I’m talking about someone who is going nowhere in life and they don’t seem to care. They just shuffle through their days, they’re not interested in much, they don’t do much, and they don’t change much. There’s no passion for living, there’s no effort made to grow or change or improve, they’re just static.

Many Christians are like that. They’re static Christians. They’re just shuffling through their spiritual lives with no passion, no real interest, and no growth. But it’s not supposed to be that way. Our faith should be dynamic and growing. We should have a passionate desire to know Christ, to be built up in Him, and to be in a state of continuous spiritual growth. But for that to be true of us we have to be intentional about it. We have to have a plan that will help to facilitate that growth.

The most important thing you can do to help your spiritual growth is to study your Bible every day. Get a Bible study plan. There are dozens of them available, you can even Google the subject. Just pick one that’s interesting to you and use it. Reading your Bible is even more important than praying. Why? Because it’s more important for you to hear from God than it is for God to hear from you, and the Bible is God’s primary way of communicating with us.

The next most important thing you can do for your spiritual growth is to pray. Have a set time everyday when you meet with God. Read your Bible and then have some time talking to God. It doesn’t have to be formal or flowery, just have a conversation with Him about all the things going on in your life, about the problems you are wrestling with, the concerns you have, etc.

Then participate in the full life of a good church. Not only do you need the group worship and the teaching, but you also need the fellowship of other Christians. God frequently communicates with us and ministers to us through other Christians. He will use others to speak to you and to bless you, and He will use you to do that for others. But if you’re not there, you miss all of that.

And then, be involved in some ministry activities that allow you to be a blessing to others and to serve others in need. Few things can help to spur your own spiritual growth than when you are engaged in acts of service to others.

I encourage you to have a plan for 2020 to guide your spiritual growth. Make some resolutions to study your Bible, have daily prayer time, be a full participant in the life of your church, and to be involved in ministry. If you would like to have a fuller conversation about how to develop a plan to help with any of those things, or about other aspects of spiritual growth, please send me an email or message me on Facebook and I will be happy to help.

Tomorrow we will begin to consider the benefits of spiritual growth, both in this lifetime, and in eternity.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor …” 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Cooperate with God”

Yesterday I encouraged you to make some New Year’s resolutions regarding your spiritual growth. I even used the term “apply yourself”. Does that surprise you? Some Christians believe that spiritual growth is something the Holy Spirit does in us and there is therefore nothing we can do to make it happen. Well, it is true that it’s the Holy Spirit who produces spiritual growth in us, and it is also true that we cannot force the growth, but it is not true that we have no role in it or that there’s nothing we can do to help bring it about.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring about spiritual growth in us, but we have to cooperate with Him. We have to intentionally place ourselves in a position before God every day so that the Holy Spirit can work in us to bring about the changes that God desires. That’s what Paul was referring to in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 with respect to sanctification.

“Sanctification” is a theological word that means “To be set apart for God and made holy.” The Bible describes three stages of sanctification. “Positional” sanctification happens in the moment of salvation and is closely related to justification. It is that moment when we place our faith in Christ and we are therefore declared to be holy and righteous in God’s eyes because of our relationship with His Son. There are many verses which teach this, Ephesians 2:5 is one of them.

“Progressive” sanctification is the ongoing transformation that takes place in our lives as the Holy Spirit works to progressively change us into the man or woman God wants us to be. This is what Paul was writing about in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 and it is the stage of sanctification I’m referring to here as well. The third stage of the sanctification process is known as “Final” or “Ultimate” sanctification. It occurs when we are finally in heaven with the Lord and we are the people we will be for all eternity. 1 John 3:2 is one of the verses that refers to this last stage of sanctification.

Although the entire process of sanctification, from start to finish, is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we do have a role to play as well. We have to choose to place our faith in Christ to begin with, and then we have to place ourselves in a position before God each day whereby the Holy Spirit can accomplish His work in us. It is in this respect that the believer can actually influence the pace and degree of their spiritual growth. The more you do your part, the more opportunity the Holy Spirit has to do His part.

Tomorrow we’ll consider some of the actual practices, or spiritual disciplines, a Christian can choose to incorporate into his or her life which will help to facilitate the ongoing progress of their sanctification. Then on another day we will consider the “why” of it all. What difference will sanctification make in your life now, and for all eternity? Stay tuned. We’re going to get to that.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Matthew 6:33 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Be faithful and trust God”

In yesterday’s devotional I made the statement that the most important step any of us can take in order to handle our finances better is to put God first on your prioritized budget list. Make tithing and generous giving your number one budget priority and then trust God for the rest. The way that God has chosen to finance His work in this world is through the faithful and generous giving of His people. And if you will be one of those people, He has promised to care for you in return.

This is a subject I personally struggled with for many years, first as a new Christian, and then when my family and I answered the call to full-time ministry. As new Christians, we didn’t have much room in our budget for tithing and sacrificial giving. It was something we had to work at and continue to increase over time as we cleaned up our finances and learned to put God at the top of the list. And then, when I accepted the call to full-time Christian ministry, it was with the understanding that for the rest of my life I would be earning significantly less than I could have in some other, higher paying profession. I struggled with that for a while.

But Linda was much better with it. She adopted Matthew 6:25-34 as a promise from God to her. That is what we call the “Do not worry” passage of the New Testament. It’s where God tells us to simply honor Him with our finances and with our lives, and then to trust Him for the rest. I can’t count the number of times over the years that she reminded me of this passage. And lo and behold, it has always proven to be true. We’ve never been rolling in the dough, but we’ve never been homeless or hungry either. Our needs were always met and we were always comfortable. God provides.

But please understand, when it comes to “God providing”, it’s true that God will always do His part, but it’s also true that we have to do our part. We have a responsibility to handle our finances well. We are to give generously; we are not to be frivolous or extravagant with our spending; we are not to create lots of debt in order to get things we don’t really need; and we cannot expect God to step-in and magically clean-up the messes we have irresponsibly created. God will do His part but we have to do our parts too, and that requires personal discipline, smart decisions, and often, sacrifice.

One of the best resources available today to help Christians establish and maintain good money management skills is “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. The strategies Dave teaches in that book are proven methods for getting and staying financially sound. If your money management skills could use some improvement, I encourage you to consider making “The Total Money Makeover” one of your goals for 2020.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “A New Year, A New Beginning”

Our Bible verse for today: “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Let’s do a better job of managing our money.”

When it comes to making New Year’s resolutions in an effort to improve some aspect of our lives, there will be more resolutions made about diet and exercise than any other subject. That’s the number one subject for New Year’s resolutions. But the second most common resolution is usually about money. People resolve to be better money managers, to pay off bills, to increase savings, to reduce expenses by downsizing, and much more. This tends to be the case because by and large, the average American is not a good money manager.

Although we live in the most affluent society on earth, and although middle-class Americans have the highest standard of living of any middle-class in the world, most of us are not satisfied with what we have and we’re constantly yearning to have something more, something bigger, something better. And as a result, we live beyond our means. We spend too much, we buy things we don’t have the money for, and we end up getting ourselves into deep debt.

What we’re supposed to do is live below our means. In other words, whatever your current income is, structure your lifestyle so that your living expenses are comfortably less than your income. That means the home you live in, the car you drive, the luxuries you treat yourself to, all add up to less than your income. That way each month you always have a little bit more than you need. And, don’t buy things you don’t actually have the money for. Instead, save for what you want and buy the thing when you have the cash to pay for it. But, that’s not how most Americans live. Instead, the average American spends more than they earn and they live in deep debt.

The Bible teaches that money is neutral. It’s just a tool that’s necessary for living, and it comes to us as a gift from God. But like every other gift we receive from God, we are to use it wisely and we are to be good stewards of it. Interestingly, there are few subjects the Bible teaches more about than money and possessions:

• Nearly half of the parables Jesus taught had to do with money and possessions.
• Almost 25% of all the words Jesus spoke had to do with some form of stewardship.
• 1 out of 10 verses in the Gospels deal with money.
• And although I haven’t counted them myself, I have heard and read numerous times that more than 2,000 Bible verses pertain in some manner to tithing, money, or possessions – more than twice as many as prayer and faith combined.

Since how we handle our money is obviously important to God; and since it is the second most common category of New Year’s resolutions; and since it’s an area of life where most of us need to be doing a better job; we will spend the next few days considering it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim