Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Matthew 22:37-40 (CSB)

Our thought for today: Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.”

Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We often complicate things and make life much harder than it needs to be. That’s especially true when it comes to organized religion. Historically, humans simply have not been able to leave the Bible alone. It’s as if we believe God didn’t finish the job and so we need to help Him out by adding our own rules and regulations to what He gave us.

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus simplified things for us. In that passage He was referring to the Old Testament Law of Moses and to the words of the Old Testament prophets, all of which were legitimate instruction from God, and I think He was also taking a backhanded swipe at the laws of the Pharisees, which built upon and embellished God’s word. In this passage Jesus simplified it all by telling us to simply love God and love other people. The more fully we do those two things – love God and love others – the more completely we will have fulfilled every other thing God ever told us to do. If you fully love God, and if you love other people too, you will be right in the center of God’s will. It’s as simple as that.

The Apostle Paul made this same point in Romans 13:10 when he wrote, Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.” He said it again in 1 Timothy 1:5-6, “Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.” Paul’s point was that many Christians have lost sight of the beauty and simplicity of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22:37-40 and they’re all tangled up instead in endless discussions and arguments about things that don’t really matter all that much.

The Apostle John also wrote about this teaching from Jesus. John came to be known as “the Apostle of love” because so much of his teaching revolved around the simple message of just loving God and loving each another.

Love is the answer. Just love God and love others. Really love them. Fully love them. Do that and everything else will take care of itself.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “This is why we contemplate His love”

Monday’s are typically my day off. Sunday’s are the busiest day of the week for me and by Monday I’m ready for a day off. I even have a special Monday morning routine I observe that includes sleeping a little later than usual, using devotional literature that is reserved only for Mondays, and having my quiet time with the Lord in a special Monday morning location. During the warmer months that’s out on the back porch. During the cooler months, like now, that location is in the living room next to the fireplace in a recliner that I only sit in on Monday’s. Other family members sit in that chair at other times throughout the week, but I only sit there on Monday mornings when it’s cold enough for a fire in the fireplace. For me it’s a special time in a special location when I can just be with God as I contemplate, relax and reflect.

Yesterday I was there in that chair, in front of the fire, with my Monday morning devotional materials, and I came across a profound insight from the Chinese writer Hwee Hwee Tan. She was commenting on Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and she observed, “We become what we contemplate.” That’s exactly what Paul was teaching in that verse. As we gaze steadily and intently upon the glory of Jesus, we slowly become transformed into an image of Him. That’s the story of the Christian life. That’s our journey. It’s the process of sanctification that slowly and steadily makes us more and more like Him. As we gaze upon Him, contemplating Him, studying Him, striving to be like Him, we begin to look more and more like the image we’ve been gazing upon. We become what we contemplate.

And that’s why we’re spending so much time studying and contemplating the love of God. We’re considering it from every angle. We’re carefully exploring all the different aspects of it. We’ve considered what love is, how it is defined, how we can best embrace and experience God’s love, and how we can share it with others. Over the course of two months of devotional messages we are turning the subject upside down and inside out, considering it from every possible angle, gazing at it intently. Why? Because we become what we contemplate. The more time we spend gazing at, contemplating, and experiencing the love of God, the more it will come to define who we are. As we look into that mirror Paul writes about, we first see the love of God looking back at us, but soon it begins to become our image too.

This is why we contemplate His love – so that little by little, progressively, it will become our image too.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23

Our thought for today: “Learn to see through eyes of love.”

In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus was teaching a lesson about perception – about how we choose to see people and events. My perception of things goes a long way towards determining my experience in life. How I see things determines what I believe to be true. It also determines how I think and speak, and how I act toward others. If my perception is clear – if I see things through the eyes of Christ, my experience in life will be enlightened. But if my perception is not clear, if I choose to see the world and those around me through the distorted lens of worldly values, then my experience in life will be darkened rather than enlightened.

With respect to our theme of living a life that is grounded in the love of God, if I learn to immerse myself in the love of God – understand it, receive it, embrace it, and share it – my life will be defined by that love and that will be my experience. It all depends on how I chose to see people and events – through a Christ-like perspective, or through a worldly perspective. Jesus sees through eyes of love, and therefore as a Christian, a Christ-follower, one called to be like Him, I must strive to see through eyes of love as well.

Perhaps the best way to train ourselves to do this is to consider Jesus’ words found in Matthew 25:31-46. In that passage He taught a lesson about serving and blessing others, especially those in great need. In verse 40 He explained, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

The application for us is that often it’s easier to love Jesus than it is to love people. It’s easier to want to do things for Jesus than for people. So Jesus has designated other people to be His surrogates and to receive our acts of ministry to Him, on His behalf. In other words, whatever it is you would like to do for Jesus as a demonstration of your love for Him, do instead for other people, and He will receive it as having been done directly for Him. Intentionally see other people as your opportunity to demonstrate your love for Jesus. That will help you to begin seeing people through eyes of love. If you can’t love them for who they are, then love them because Jesus loves them. And if you have difficulty blessing them for who they are, bless them as a way of blessing Jesus. See that person as an opportunity to show your love for Jesus.

Your perception of people and events matters. The lens through which you view the world will determine everything else about you. I encourage you to learn to see through eyes of love.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?” Matthew 6:25-26 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God loves you, He cares for you, and He provides for you”

There’s a wonderful old hymn we sing in church sometimes called “His Eye Is on The Sparrow”. It’s inspired by the words of Jesus taken from the passage of the Sermon on the Mount, which I quoted from above. In verse 26 we read, “Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?” Evidently it was an important lesson because Jesus repeated it again in Matthew 10:29-31: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Here’s the chorus to the song:

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Few things cause us more anxiety and worry than our concern for provisions and financial security. But the truth is that you have a Father in heaven who loves you far beyond your understanding. He watches over you constantly and He is more concerned with your well-being than even you are. That is so true that Jesus dedicated an entire passage in the Sermon on the Mount to the subject (Matthew 6:25-34), and He repeated the lesson in various forms multiple times in His teaching throughout His ministry years.

The key to the lesson is found in verse 33 of Matthew 6 when Jesus tells us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” In other words, instead of being overly preoccupied with concerns about money and possessions, focus first and primarily on living a life that honors God. Then, in His way and in His time, He will provide for your basic needs. But that doesn’t absolve you of responsibility. You still have to do your part. Money and food are not going to rain down on you like manna from heaven. You need to work and do your best to provide for yourself and your family. But then trust your Father who loves you dearly to look out for you and to care for you in His way and in His time.

God’s love and care extends even to the sparrow so surely, He will also take good care of you as well. I encourage you to rest in the knowledge of God’s love and care for you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (N IV)

Our thought for today: “Be sure you do “due diligence”

Did I shake your confidence yesterday in your ability to discern God’s leading in prayer? If so, I’m sorry, but in truth that is what I intended to accomplish. You see, we can become too casual in assuming our ability to discern God’s leading in prayer. We can believe that just because a thought came into our head during prayer it must be the leading of God in answer to whatever we’re praying about. Sometimes that thought is from God, but many other times we confuse our feelings with God’s leading.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone confidently declare, “God told me to do (this, that, or some other thing)”. And I’m frequently amazed at how often this thing that God “told” the person to do, turns out to line up perfectly with what it was the individual wanted to do to begin with. Hmm … pardon me if I’m a little suspicious. I don’t doubt the person’s sincerity, but I do wonder if they’re really hearing from God or maybe just responding to their feelings.

So, how can we have confidence in the leadings we believe we’re receiving from God in prayer? Two ways: First, we check and confirm the leading in the ways I described yesterday. We compare what we believe God is saying in prayer to what we know He has said in the Bible. Then we also discuss it with one or more trusted advisors. We should also give careful, prayerful thought to how the leading lines up with circumstances (God’s leading through circumstances is a lesson unto itself but for this morning it will suffice to say that God is amazingly consistent in how He works in our lives, and through our circumstances He is often pointing us towards something).

Once we’ve done our “due diligence” by giving God lots of opportunity to confirm His leading, then we can claim the promise of Proverbs 3:5-6 and move forward with confidence. Trust God with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will then make your paths straight. In other words, once you have done your genuine best to understand His will in this matter, you can trust Him to lead you.

The fact is that God wants to be understood by us so that He can then be obeyed by us. The only way that can happen is if He communicates with us. He may not provide you with a detailed roadmap and He may not dictate every step you are to take, but if you do your part to understand Him on this issue you’re seeking guidance for (due diligence),  you can trust that He will then guide, direct, and nudge as necessary to move you in the right direction. It’s all part of the love relationship He has going on with you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We need to hear God”

In the devotional two days ago, the one where I revealed that I personally hear from God best and most often through the written Word, I also mentioned that for me, hearing from God through prayer, is only the fifth best way I hear from Him. Higher on the list was the Bible, creation, circumstances, and counsel from friends and mentors. I think I caught some of you by surprise by that and I therefore want to come back to it this morning because there’s an important reality in play that needs to be discussed.

First, as the starting place, we need to acknowledge that God wants to be known by us. He also wants to be obeyed by us so He can then bless us. In order for that to be true, He has to clearly communicate with us. Good two-way communication is vital for the health of any relationship.

In John 10:27 Jesus gave us a beautiful picture of Himself as our shepherd, and of us being like sheep who know their shepherd, recognize His voice, and faithfully follow Him. However, the voice of God is not audible for us. I’ve never known anyone who could honestly claim to have heard the audible voice of God. Instead, we “hear” Him in other ways. And as was noted in the devotional from two days ago, His primary and clearest means of communicating with us is through the Bible.

Prayer is the primary way that we talk to God, but it is not the primary way that He talks back to us. In fact, I would say that what we believe we are hearing from God in prayer is perhaps the least reliable means of hearing back from God. That’s because we tend to confuse and conflate our thoughts, feelings, and desires with the voice of God. A thought comes into our head during prayer and we conclude it must be God speaking to us. However, it’s just as likely that what we’re calling the voice of God is nothing more than our own feelings – and we have to be careful about our feelings, because they can be deceptive little boogers.

God does speak to us in prayer, but it’s a very subtle thing. That’s why we need to check and confirm what we believe we are hearing from God in prayer, with other ways in which God speaks to us. For instance, if you believe God has said something to you in prayer, immediately check it against the Bible. God will never tell you something that is in conflict with His written word. Another way to check and confirm the leading you receive in prayer is through the counsel of trusted advisors. God often speaks to us through our Pastor, or spouse, or close Christian friend. Also, as Henry Blackaby taught in “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, a primary way God speaks to us is through our circumstances. So, take the leading you believe you received in prayer, and see how it lines up with the applicable circumstances.

Good two-way communication is a vital part of a love relationship with God. The primary way that we talk to God is in prayer, but the primary ways we hear from God is through the Bible, words of counsel, circumstances, and yes, also through prayer (but be careful with this one).

Henry Blackaby once said, “It’s more important for me to hear from God than it is for God to hear from me.” That’s very true and so we need to learn to hear God’s voice. It’s vital to our relationship with Him. I encourage you to invest the time into learning how to hear from God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ.” Colossians 2:9 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “To know God, study Jesus”

This morning I want to return to our discussion from yesterday regarding the Bible being yet one more proof of God’s great love for us. Although the Bible communicates a tremendous amount of truth – more than we can ever learn in an entire lifetime of study, and it also reveals great spiritual mysteries, the most important thing it does for us is it reveals God’s nature. It teaches us about who God is and what He is like. And the clearest picture of Himself that He gives to us in the Bible is in the person of Jesus Christ.

Paul tells us in Colossians 2:9 that the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:15 he wrote, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” In 1:19 we read, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him …” In John 14:8-11, when Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” Jesus replied with this astounding revelation, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

This is why we tell people “If you want to know God, study Jesus, because Jesus is God.” God came to live among us in the person of Jesus Christ so He could show Himself to us in ways we can understand. So, if you need to gain a better understanding of how eager God is to forgive you if you will just come to Him, turn to Luke 15:11-32 and read as Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son. Or, go to John 8:2-11 and see how He dealt with the woman caught in adultery. If you are wondering if God really understands your pain and suffering, you should read the account in John 11:1-27 about the sickness and death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus, and note how much anguish Jesus experienced because of the pain and suffering of His friends. That’s a picture of how the Father feels when you suffer.

And on and on it goes. Lessons about how God provides for us, and about His watch care over us, and of His desire to forgive us and to have intimate fellowship with us, and so much more. All of it lived out and modeled for us in the life of Jesus as an expression of God’s love.

The God of creation came to us in the person of Jesus Christ to show Himself to us in ways we can understand. We get that picture of Him on the pages of the Bible. So if you want to know God, and if you want to understand His great love for you, study Jesus, because Jesus is God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “How happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk according to the Lord’s instruction! Happy are those who keep his decrees and seek him with all their heart.” Psalm 119:1-2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God gave us the Bible because He loves us.”

We’ve been spending the months of September and October exploring the reality of God’s love. What love is, why God loves us, how we fully embrace and experience that love, and how we then share it with others. In yesterday’s devotional I told you that I wasn’t able to go on my mission trip to Peru as planned, but that I’m trusting God to work in the middle of that disappointing situation to bring some good things out of it. I’m certain that He will find multiple ways to express His love and goodness through this.

Well so far, as a result of missing that trip, I was here on Sunday to hear two great sermons about the Bible. My friend Scott Lacy preached for me at our own church and it was a powerful message about the factual truth and complete reliability of God’s Word. Also, I was able to attend the annual meeting of the Cumberland Plateau Baptist Association Sunday night and I heard a great sermon preached by Dr. Samuel Oliver, the President of Union University. His message was about the fact that God gave us the Bible as a gift because He loves us so much. God wants to be known and understood by us, and the Bible is His primary means of communicating with us.

Those sermons were special to me because although God speaks to us in numerous ways, for me personally I hear God best and most often through the written Word. That means the Bible first, but also through other Christian literature, and song lyrics too. The next way in which I hear God best and most often is through His creation. I’m constantly in awe of God’s magnificent creation, and I sense His presence in nature much more so than in most other ways. The third way God speaks to me most often is through circumstances – my own circumstances and those of other people too. The fourth way is through the counsel of trusted advisors. And fifth, through prayer.

Your order may be different, but the Bible is God’s first and primary means of communicating with us. It is clear, direct, and without error. We should therefore study the Bible, accept its authority over our lives, memorize key parts of it, and live by it. If we do that we will, like the writer of Psalm 119 says, live a blessed life. The best life you will ever have is the one lived in the center of God’s will, and the clearest expression of God’s will is found on the pages of the Bible. (By the way, did you know that Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and it is also all about the Bible? That’s right, the longest chapter in the Bible is all about the Bible).

The Bible is God’s gift to you. He gave it to you because He loves you and He wants you to know all about Him. He also wants you to obey Him so that He can then bless you, and He wants to bless you because He loves you. The Bible enables us to know Him and His ways, so we can then obey Him and be blessed.

The Bible is one more proof of God’s love for you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God is sovereign, so trust Him”

You may be surprised to be receiving a daily devotional this morning because I told you I was going to be in Peru for the week and the next devotional would be on Tuesday October 15^th. Others of you know what happened and why I’m not in Peru. This turned out to be an opportunity for me to trust in God’s unconditional love, goodness, and sovereignty.

When we arrived at the airport in Nashville on Saturday, we were surprised to be told by the person at the ticket counter that our reservations had been canceled by our travel agent. Our tickets were still good, because they hadn’t been used, but our seats on all of our flights had been sold to other customers. Beyond that, all other flights were full and so we could not be rebooked.

I called our travel agent on her personal cell phone and when she researched the problem, she discovered that her agency had made a terrible mistake and our reservations had been inadvertently canceled. Worse, she confirmed that all other flights were indeed full. After thinking, praying, and discussing it, we decided to come home to Crossville and reschedule our trip for the first week of November. Doing so is inconvenient, but really not that big of a deal. We will still eventually get there, and our ministry in Peru will still take place.

So why did God allow this to happen? I’m fairly certain He didn’t actually cause the mistake to take place, but since He is all-powerful and all-knowing, He could have prevented it – but He didn’t. Why not?

And the answer is … I don’t know.

What I do know is that God is sovereign over all the circumstances of my life. He has absolute power over everything. That means He can change anything, direct anything, and cause any outcome that He wants. I also know that He loves me unconditionally and without limit. And I know that Romans 8:28 is true. That means that in all things, even in the worst of circumstances, He is at work behind the scenes orchestrating events to bring good things out of even the worst of circumstances.

Why this happened I don’t know. But I do know that God is good, and that He loves me, and that His purposes are perfect. There is a plan and purpose behind all of this and I’m looking forward to discovering what it is. I hope you also have that assurance for whatever the issues are in your life. God is good. He loves you. And it is going to be alright.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “But be doers of the word and not hearers only … Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained in the world.” James 1:22;27 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your life is the evidence”

In a previous devotional message in this series I said that love is a verb – it is an action word. Often, love is an action you take rather than an emotion you feel. It is a decision to act in love regardless of whether you feel the emotions of love or not. In that same message I paraphrased a quote from C.S. Lewis that said, “Don’t worry if you love someone or not, just act as if you do, and soon the feelings of love will come.”

The message of the New Testament is that Jesus calls His followers to be agents of His love in word and in deed. He has tasked us with being the ones who spread His love throughout this world by means of acts of mercy and blessing. It is your life that reveals what you really believe and whether or not you are truly a follower of Christ. The evidence of your faith that the world needs to see is your life.

Today I leave for a short trip to the Amazon Jungle in Peru. My missionary friends Bud and Laura Lenz operate “The El Arca Children’s Home” (www.elarcafam.org) . It is a 110 acre ranch on the edge of the Amazon Rainforest in the southern Amazon basin near the Bolivian border. Myself and another man from our church, Trevor, are bringing supplies to them. We will also spend the week helping with a construction project, playing with the children, and just enjoying some time with our friends.

The ministry of El Arca is an excellent example of love in action. This is the love of Jesus flowing into the lives of orphaned and abandoned Peruvian children, and my friends are people whose faith shows itself to be true by how they live their lives. Their lives are the proof, and I’m always inspired and refreshed by spending time with them at El Arca.

This will be the last devotional message you’ll receive from me until Tuesday October 15^th. Between now and then I encourage you to go back and review the devotionals you have already received over the last five weeks of this series. Perhaps there were several that were especially helpful to you and therefore merit a second look. And also, as Trevor and I travel please remember us and our friends at El Arca in your prayers

God Bless,
Pastor Jim