Delivered

Our God has a history of delivering His people:

He delivered Adam & Eve from immediate death
He delivered Noah and his family from the flood
He delivered Rahab from destruction
He delivered David from King Saul
He delivered Samson from his foolish pride
He delivered Esther from poverty and brought her to royalty
He delivered Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego from the fire
He delivered Daniel from the mouth of the lions
He delivered Luke from life as a mere doctor
He delivered Paul from a life of misguided murder
He delivered Peter from a career that wouldn't save anyone

He has delivered you and me from bondage, depression, addiction, the choices of our pasts, our sin and a future without hope. He is our Deliverer!

It started here on earth in a stable, but led to a cross that provided the ultimate deliverance for us-will you accept it? Will you throw off the chains of captivity and let the King of Kings set you free to follow Him?

Who Jesus Came For

I read this as part of our decision time yesterday and wanted to share it here. It is not my own work, but is borrowed from something Rick Warren wrote a while back.

In my study of the Gospels, I made a list of the people Jesus came for:

Jesus came for the chewed up, crossed off, crying out
The dropped out, edged out, fizzled out, and freaked out
The have-nots, the held back, hung over, and knocked around
He came for the left out, the loaded down, and looked over
The locked up, led astray, laid off and let down
The messed up and the mixed up.

He came for the passed over, the picked on, put down, pinned down and pushed around
The ripped off, the run down and the run over.

Jesus came for people who are screwed up and the shrugged off
The shut in and shut out
The smashed up, the stacked against, and strung out.

Our Savior came for the torn up, thrown away, and the turned off
Those who used up and walked over
The washed out, the worn out, the wiped out, and the written off.

He came for you. And me.

On Your Mark

In Galatians 6:17, Paul states that he bears on his body the marks of Jesus. In this context, he is acknowledging the physical beatings that he has endured for the cause of Christ. If we were to see Paul in this time the evidence of his conviction to follow Christ would be visible to us.

I read this and wonder where my "marks of Jesus" are. Can I even see what they are? We don't suffer physically here in America for our beliefs as our brothers & sisters around the world do, so our marks must show up in different ways. Is it through our finances? The time we spend with our families seeking God's will for us? The sources of media that we allow to either pollute or enrich our minds each day? The enmity or true forgiveness that we feel towards those that have wronged us? The unconditional love that we share with our children, spouse and family members? Our desire (and corresponding actions) to help a world without Christ find deliverance and salvation?

I have to stop and ask myself the personal question. Is God truly leaving on impact on my life that is evident to other people? I desire to have those "marks" in my life-for it to be plainly known and seen that my life belongs to Christ. I may not have them yet, but I pray that my passionate desire for them may be the beginning.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

Expressive

In Galatians 5, Paul is writing to the church and refuting some of the legalistic actions that have been imposed by leadership. The argument here is over the practice of circumcision and whether or not the Gentiles who are coming to Christ must be circumcised before they can join the church. Paul makes a clear statement that if they are going to enforce the "law" that they must enforce all of it, but that Christ came and essentially made circumcision null and void. In verse 6 he says, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

The question that rolls through my mind this morning after reading this is, "How am I expressing myself?" If this is truly what counts as believers, then I should make it a focus to show love to those around me as a reflection of my faith in God. What happens instead is that I get focused on how I am feeling that day, whether I like something or not, how people treat me and my ideas, the value that I think others place on me, and the impact that I can have other people. These are all expressive emotions, but certainly not ones that reflect my faith in Christ.

Imagine how different our families would be if we focused on expressing our faith through love to each other. Think of how different our communities would be if we would show the same passion for sharing faith through love that we do for our hobbies, careers, favorite sports teams, TV shows or our children's athletics. How powerful and far-reaching would God's church be if we prayed each day for our faith to be expressed in love and then acted on it?

Thankful

Obviously I am few days late for an actual Thanksgiving posting, but in the spirit of the weekend I want to list a few things that I am grateful for.

• My wife-beautiful, intelligent, God-loving, creative, passionate and puts up with me. 'Nuff said.
• Three special daughters who are beautifully & uniquely made. I treasure the time we have with them at this age & look forward to what God is going to do in their lives.
• A loving family that has always been supportive of me & has had a bigger influence on me than even I realize.
• A supportive, encouraging & challenging staff to work with as we seek God's will for His church here.
• A lead pastor that is willing to take a chance on me & my family and be patient as God refines us.
• Northridge Christian Church-a place that opened up their arms to us and has made us feel welcome and a vital part of what God is doing.
• Mercies that are new every morning.
• The simplicity of shared times with family over the holidays.
• New horizons & challenges in ministry.
• Being comfortable with who I am as God continues to reshape & mold me.
• Friends that are serving God in different states-all of us working towards the same goal even if we are in different zip codes.
• Friendships that have not changed even though our address has.
• A Savior who is jealous for me and loves me more than I can even begin to comprehend.

Face to Face

I was reading in Nehemiah this morning and in chapter 8, God's people have finished rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem and have gathered to celebrate. Ezra has found a copy of God's law and is reading it to the people. It's a powerful testimony to their faith as they hear God's Word read aloud and start to weep-not just a few of them, but the entire crowd. This is not a temporary moment however, as they return to the assembly three weeks later and make a covenant with God to be His people once more.

Reading this causes me to wonder about our reaction when we come face-to-face with God-whether that is through the teaching of His Word, through worship, other people or serving those around us. The Israelites who had been in exile were desperate for God's truth and the realization of how far from Him they had gone caused them great sorrow. The people in Nehemiah were not just reacting emotionally-they came back three weeks later to make a pledge to God to strive to be His people again.

What about us and the church today? How will we react when we are face to face with God and realize where we are in relation to where He wants us to be? Have we become so jaded in our Christian lives that we cannot create that same sense of longing when we encounter God? Will it be true repentance that we commit to following up with or simply an emotional reaction that is forgotten as soon as we leave the building?

I.Q.

Intelligence and wisdom are important assets to me. I value them in other people and work hard to increase them (to the extent that you can actually influence them) in myself. One of the worst insults that someone could throw at me would be to insult my intelligence. Obviously this speaks to the pride issue that is part of that battle, but that is a blog for another time.

This morning as I was reading in the book of Ezra in chapter 7, King Artaxerxes was sending Ezra back to his homeland. He was allowing him to return and reinstate their practices honoring God as well as sending him back with physical wealth. In the king's letter to Ezra, he stated that Ezra had wisdom and that it was from God. This was an obvious influence on Artaxerxes' decision to let Ezra return.

What a testimony to God being the source of wisdom! How often do we strive to know more than someone else and to flaunt our wisdom to inflate our own egos? If we were to follow the example of Ezra we would shift our focus to begging God to provide wisdom and then making sure that He receives credit for it.

When we are truly filled with godly wisdom even those who don't profess to follow Christ will recognize the power of God in our lives.