Prayer Gathering

As we come near the end of our learning about how Jesus identifies, it is important for us to make sure we get the main thing right. We are to become like Jesus. I have been referring to Philippians 2 each week now for several weeks and thought I would share the text this week in full.

“Jesus, being in very nature God,
Did not count equality with God something to be grasped,
But made himself empty.
Taking the very nature of a servant,
Being made in human likeness,
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled himself
And became obedient to death—
Even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
And gave Him the name that is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
In heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:6-11

The cross is both humility and obedience. Sorrow leads believers to both humility and obedience. When we find obedience in sorrow, we take our place with Jesus and will too be exalted.

~ Grace and Peace ~
Ernie

We have learned such a valuable spiritual lesson these last few weeks based on Revelation 5. When we expect to see a Lion take the scrolls of justice, we turn and see the Lamb of God “looking as if it had been slain” reach up and take the scrolls instead. And it is the Lamb who pronounces judgment against the nations and people who would not humble themselves and become obedient and submit to the cross. This represents the end of something. At the incarnation, Almighty God empties himself of His power and becomes a servant to humanity, becoming obedient unto the death of a cross. He does this out of love, his love has a softer voice, a call unto humility and relationship that creates a sense of awe and respect and honor, not fear and judgment.

When the Lamb takes the scroll of justice, it ends the time of authority and reengages the realm of the Almighty power of God. Those who did not listen to the voice of love have convicted themselves and are subject now to the power of God. There is no more room to wiggle. Mercy ends. That realm is finished. It would behoove us to listen to the voice of God while he calls us into relationship.

Sunday, we asked how we can know we are listening. Is there a way to know we are being rebellious? The short answer we learned is, yes, there is a way to know. We know we are in rebellion by our secrets. I am pretty good at understanding an audience and it seems to me nearly all of us got that statement. We understand there are no secrets with God. Then I revealed to us all what to do with our secrets. I openly confessed what God and I have been working on for ten years. I like being right. The problem with being right and knowing you are right is it is arrogant. It breaks relationship. It makes others feel cast aside. And here is the kicker, especially if you are right.

Now we move into the deeper truth of the Lamb taking the scrolls of justice…this week I share how I came to grow out of this. Here is a short teaser: “sorrow is fertile ground for humility.”

~ Grace and Peace ~
Pastor Ernie

What is the difference between what I want and what I need? God makes a promise to provide for me everything I need but not everything I want. I have a tendency to want things that make me comfortable, secure, happy. God does not promise those things. I would think maybe I need food, water, shelter. Yet those are only things I need for this life, again, not what was promised. What, then, do I need?

God makes it clear He is more interested in my spiritual growth than my physical well-being. Its not that he does not care about my health, He does and so should I. He cares more about my soul. I like to eat donuts, but they are really not good for my body if I eat them every day. It would benefit my body to eat more greens. Everyone knows that by now. Yet we are the most obese society in all of history. I can only conclude we are ignoring what we know to be true and putting more emphasis on what we want than on what we need. Cancer is not the number one cause of death in America. It is diabetes
from unhealthy eating habits, myself included.  We all know this yet Dunkin Donuts always has a line.

\If this is true of our bodies, what are we doing to our souls? It is no wonder we are morally and spiritually vacant as a society. So my word of encouragement for the day: “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12. How is your soul working out? Just a word of encouragement. Get at it.

Grace and Peace ~
Pastor Ernie

Word of Encouragement

Sunday, we had the privilege of hearing from John the Baptist. I love this guy. He comes out of the woods all homeless looking and acting crazy, wild hair and wild ideas. He declares Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” And he introduces to any who will listen that Jesus is the Messiah. The reference is to the Passover Lamb in Exodus. God instructs his chosen people to put the blood of the sacrificial lamb over the doorpost of their homes so that the angel of death might pass over their home.

In the same way, it is by the blood of Jesus that death loses its grip over believers. Death has no power over us because we have certainty of eternity. I love that God sends someone like John to announce this. A man with no education, does not even have a home, eats locusts off the tree branch is chosen by God to prepare the way for the savior of the world. The educated have trouble with him. People in positions of power and authority have trouble with him. I do wonder if he had gone to Seminary if people in these positions would have listened. I think they would have pretended to listen, not much more.

We all need to be careful of the things that get in the way of hearing the truth from God. Sometimes it might be our intellect, others our emotions. Most of the time it is some tradition or something we are protecting that really does not need protecting.
I hope and pray you all have a great week.
I love being your pastor,
Ernie