Those aren’t Cade’s rules.

Our kids recently got involved with an ice hockey league. My 10-year old (Cade) has been especially loving it. Now that he learned how to skate (kind of), he has started learning stick handling and shooting the puck.

At dinner time, talking about his accomplishments to date in his short career (one month, as of this writing), Cade said, “I got a lot of goals!”

Erin explained that the puck has to go into the goal for the goal to actually count. Cade answered, “No, if it goes in the goal, or off the side, or off the post, it counts as a goal.”

I interjected, “No, buddy, it has to cross the goal line to count.” To which he objected, “No it doesn’t.”

I said, “Well it does according to the rules used by all hockey players everywhere!”

He put his head down, softly and defiantly replied, “Those aren’t Cade’s rules.”

He’s 10. At this point he knows as much about hockey as I know about this "Pokemon Go" thing (next to nothing). But something about the way he said that last line sounded a familiar bell that man has been deceiving himself with since the devil lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden. In his damning sales pitch to get Adam and Eve to transgress, one of Satan’s promises (lies) was that eating from the forbidden tree will make mankind “like God” (Genesis 3:5). Your eyes will be opened. You will know good and evil. Horrible deception.

I have to wonder how much impact those 5 little words made on the minds of the First Couple. “You will be like God”.

The truth is nothing and nobody is like God – never was, never will be. Yet we find ourselves in the mess we are in because Adam and Eve took the bait. And how enticing are those words...? I will be like God, I will be like God, I will be like God.

The Sovereign Almighty of the Universe has created a world with “rules” and has already established the “rules” for us in His commands: Love God with our heart, soul, mind, strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Forgive others. Serve sacrificially. Help the needy.

And in our moments of defiance, when we persist in self-centered sin, in our bid to be like God, we hear God’s Word clearly but want to be a god unto ourselves. We put our heads down and say, “Those aren’t MY rules.”

If you are sitting on the throne of your own life right now, it’s time to get off and allow Jesus His rightful place. You will never be like God, and living by “your rules” isn’t going to take you very far.

Just ask Adam and Eve. Or Cade, when he finally has his first real hockey game.

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. -1John 2:4-6

Pastor Jeff

-Who is on your throne?

So, Are You an Expert?

I had to do some research this week on some technology that I was struggling with as I was developing a new system at work.  I didn’t have any prior training with this particular computer language and so I attempted to teach myself through some various technology websites.  While I was out surfing on the web, I found some interesting articles on what it takes to be an expert in something.  

Some articles said that with diligence, commitment, study and practice you could be an expert in 10 years.  Other sites said it took 10,000 hours of dedication in a subject to become an expert.   So I started to do a little math (basic math, because I am not an expert!) and figured that if I spent about 2 hours and 45 minutes a day studying and practicing, I could achieve 10,000 hours in 10 years and then you could call me an ‘expert’! 

I started daydreaming about how much scripture I could digest and how much better I would know God if I spent 2 hours and 45 minutes a day learning about Him and spending quality time with Him.  I began to wonder how much more of God’s Word I would understand if I put in the effort that an ‘expert’ would put into learning his craft.  

I would love to spend almost three hours a day reading and studying my Bible, and I am sure you would too.  But the reality is, we have jobs to keep, kids to play with, grocery trips to take, bills to sort through, grass to cut, and on and on.  

But what if it doesn’t take 10 years and 10,000 hours to gain a greater understanding of scripture?  What if God honors faithfulness and commitment in our personal time with Him?  Maybe there’s a way to find a healthy balance in our lives and discipline ourselves to spend one hour... or even just a half hour... alone with God.    If the average reader would open their Bible at Genesis 1:1 and read to the end of the book of Revelation one sitting, they could finish in about 75 hours.   That means if they read a half hour each day, they could read through the entire Bible in 150 days (there’s that math again)!  In one year they could read the entire Bible twice and still have some extra days.  

One thing is for sure, attaining knowledge of the Bible takes hard work and dedicated time.  Because the Bible contains inexhaustible riches, becoming an ‘expert’ in the Bible might be nearly impossible even if you get your 10,000 hours in.  But we can be absolutely certain that if we don’t spend any time at all in it, we cannot expect to master any of it’s truths.  I fear that some Christians spend so little time in their Bible that they know just enough to misinterpret it and mishandle it.  That is a very dangerous place to be. 

So here’s the challenge:  if you’re reading your Bible regularly, great!  Keep up the good work.  With that kind of discipline, you will go far in your growth, because we know that the Word of God has great power.  If you’re Bible reading and study time is rushed or it’s kind of occasional hit and miss, then I want to challenge you to mark off at least a half hour every day.  Find a quiet place, a reading plan and keep track of what you’ve studied so you can be encouraged by your progress.  Stay focused and don’t give up.  If you miss a day, just start up the next day and keep going!

Lastly and very importantly, when we read the Scriptures, we need to pray that God would give us understanding.  Do not attempt to study God’s Word in your own strength!  We need to rely on the awesome power of the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us in all truth.  Without the Holy Spirit’s involvement in our Bible reading and study disciplines, we will not hear all that God is trying to convey to us.  And finally, read the Bible with the intention that you’re going to obey it’s commands, no matter what.  In other words, be a doer of the Word! 

Blessings to you as you read and study!

Mark

God's Word Causes Growth

(The following is post 5 of 5 on Five Personal Benefits of God's Word)

Brand new babies can only do a couple things:  they sleep, they cry, they do things in their diapers... and they eat!  Of course they eat, because they are growing.  If a baby doesn’t eat, they will not grow.  And if they continue that pattern, they will quickly die.  And not only is eating an absolute requirement, they must eat the right kinds of foods.  If they aren’t eating nutritiously, then they won’t grow properly.    

Peter uses a ‘baby analogy’ to make a point about a Christian’s growth in 1 Peter 2:2 by saying, “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow in respect to salvation.”   He’s saying, “Babies crave milk.  That’s all they think about.  That’s all they want!  Just like that babies strong desire for food, so should our desire be for God’s Word.”   If we do not long for God’s Word, we will not grow spiritually.  We will shrivel up and die in our soul.  

Job knew of the importance of God’s Word in his life.  In fact, Job seems to speak a little stronger than what Peter says when he states, “I have treasured the words of [God’s] mouth, more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).  Instead of saying we need to crave it like we need to crave food, Job says we need to crave it MORE than we crave food.  The desire for food is a very strong desire.  We eat multiple times a day because we’re expending energy and we naturally get hungry.  Job and Peter are both saying that our desire for God’s Word should be as regular, as natural and as strong (or even stronger) than our desire for something we do multiple times every day, and that is eating food. 

How do we know when we’re growing? Here are few things I read recently that can help us know:

1).  We are becoming more like Christ (more compassionate, more loving, exercising patience, concerned for the lost, etc).

2).  We are growing in our understanding of who Christ is and what He has done to purchase our salvation.

3).  We appreciate our relationship with our Creator and Redeemer.

4).  We are cultivating that relationship with the Lord Jesus, spending much time in prayer and in His Word.

5).  We display of life of holiness.  We develop an acute hatred toward sin and an increasing love of righteousness. 

Author and preacher J.C. Ryle wrote this in his classic book, simply entitled ‘Holiness’: 

“When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this - that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual-mindedness more marked.  He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart.  He manifests more of it in his life.”

Response:

What kinds of obstacles exist in your life that would quench your appetite for the Bible? What will you do to remove them?  

Is your circle of friends encouraging in the Word?  What things do you talk about when you’re together?  Are you encouraging them in the Word?

Spiritual growth requires regular rigorous Bible reading/study.  It takes time and effort.  There are no shortcuts.  Do you have a regular routine for getting a steady dose of scripture?  If not, now is the time to develop this habit.  Reading just 15-20 minutes a day, or 4 chapters per day, will enable you to read through the whole Bible in just one year. 

Memory Verse:

Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow in respect to salvation.  - 1 Peter 2:2

God's Word Delivers Me

(The following is post 4 of 5 on Five Personal Benefits of God's Word)

What people desperately need most is deliverance.  The Bible speaks about us as needing to be rescued and moved to a position of safety. That is what deliverance means.  The Word of God is capable of delivering people!   

People who are not in a relationship with Jesus Christ need to be delivered from their sinful state.   Sin has separated people from God, and without  His intervention they would be hopelessly lost, destined for a life of destruction and an eternal, conscious punishment in a real place called hell.  What they need is to be rescued!   We know from reading the Bible that salvation is secured by the blood of Jesus Christ alone.  Without the shedding of Jesus's blood, there would be no forgiveness of sin.  The Word of God is the means by which people are made wise unto salvation.   Paul wrote about this to Timothy when he said:

“You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim. 3:14-15).   

By this statement, we know that Timothy was taught the scriptures as a child... and it is those very scriptures that lead a person to their rescue.  The scriptures move people to positions of safety, spiritually speaking.   

Not only do unbelievers need to be delivered, but Christians need to be rescued as well.  Rescued from the barrage of attacks from the enemy; rescued from fear, and doubt, and anxieties; rescued from discouragement and disappointments.  Even Christians, in their forgiven state, do not live on mountain tops all the time.  Believers must sometimes walk through valleys in their lives, dealing with personal struggles and various trials and temptations.  Yes, we know that Christians have been delivered by God through Jesus Christ already, in that they have been saved from the punishment of their sin, and they have been cleansed of the resulting stain and guilt.  But the Christian life is hard.  David knew that.  David was a man after God's own heart, and yet he still cried out for deliverance.  He makes a plea for rescue in Psalm 119:170 when he cries out, 'Let my supplication come before you, deliver me according to Your Word'.  The means of rescue here for David was nothing less than the Word of God.   

God’s Word is a source of much encouragement.  As Acts 20:32 tells us, the word of God’s grace is ‘able to build you up’!  A steady diet of scripture builds in us the ability to resist temptation.  It builds in us the ability to stand up under trials. It builds in us confidence and courage in the face of doubt and fear.  We are commanded in the scriptures ‘to be anxious for nothing’ (Phil 4:8).  The scripture is strong to deliver, because it is the very Word proceeding from the mouth of God. 

God’s Word can have serious lasting effects on us.  But we must receive it humbly by faith, understand the sobering responsibility we have to conform to it’s demands, and then be delightfully willing to live in obedience.  

Response:

Do you feel closer to the Lord when your Bible disciplines are consistent?  How is your relationship with the Lord when you don’t spend much time in the Word?  

Do you believe that the Word of God has the power to deliver people from their sin?  If we believe that, what reasons do we have as to why we do not share scripture with one another more often?  

Write a brief prayer, asking God to use His Word to bring you to a position of safety and security by delivering you from the sins that cause you to be defeated. 

Memory Verse:

Let my supplication come before you, deliver me according to Your Word.  - Psalm 119:170