More Precious than Gold

This past Sunday, Rev. Michelle Hall graced the pulpit. Her message came from 1Peter 1:3-9. Read the passage for yourself. Can't get your hands on a Bible just this minute? Click the Scripture reference to read online.

Rev. Hall reminded us, we have something to be excited about in Jesus! And if our faith rests on the hope of His promises, our lives should reflect that truth, no matter how we are tested.

As I re-read the passage, I'm struck by the true worth of genuine faith...

...the tested genuineness of your faith ---

more precious than gold...

1Peter 1:7 ESV

A tested, tried, and true faith --- one built on the foundation of the truth of Jesus and His Word--- is more precious than gold...

And I wonder, how excited would you be if someone gave you a bar of gold? What about three? or ten?

Gold prices currently run about $1300/ounce. A standard gold bar held by central banks as gold reserves weighs 438.9 ounces. So one bar... $570,570.00 (roughly).

So now, imagine how excited you would be if some distant relative died and left you a gold bar? or two? or ten?

Multiply the imagined ecstasy by much more and that's how excited you should be about your faith. Especially when your faith has been tested, tried, and still stood firm.

Let's consider the questions Rev. Hall asked on Sunday:

When was the last time you got excited about Christ?

What He's doing in your life and in His Church?

Maybe, it's time to take stock of what you value most. Turn your thoughts to Him and see if you really understand what He has done for you. What He is doing for you, right now.

Because a faith resting on the sure foundation of Christ Jesus is more precious than gold... and that's something to be excited about.

Heavenly Father, reveal what I truly value most. Search my heart and if it's not Your Son begin to show me the truth of my salvation. Work in my heart; grow me to value a firm foundation of faith in Jesus more than any amount of gold.

Carol Weaver

Life from a Dead Tree

Rev. Matt Idom filled the pulpit this past Sunday, preaching from Luke 6:43-45. Read the passage now. If you don't have a Bible within reach, click the Scripture reference to read on line.

Being the Superintendent at Lakeview, he told us stories of trees growing on the campgrounds and used them as pictures of people's lives, just like Jesus did in this teaching.

Rev. Idom reminded us we all have potential to produce good fruit. And in Christ, this is completely true. But apart from Him, we have no good thing.

I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing."

Psalm 16:2 NIV84

And sometimes I think we forget, we have nothing good to offer, no potential for good fruit or works apart from Jesus.

Isaiah tells us: All of us have become like one who is unclean,and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags... (64:6)

Jesus Himself says no one is good --- except God alone (Luke 18:19).

Only in Christ, through His death and resurrection, do we have the potential to bear good fruit. 

"A good tree can't produce bad fruit,

and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. ..."

Luke 6:43 NLT

Jesus, being God, could only bear good fruit. And as Rev. Idom told us on Sunday, He brought forth His best work from a dead tree.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,

that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

No one but God can bring life from a dead tree. 

Each one of us enter this world spiritually dead, sinners conceived by sinners, all the way back to Adam and Eve's offspring.

We are dead in our trespass and sin... dead trees...

The Life God brings forth from the dead tree, He offers to you and me.

On receiving life in Christ by faith, we receive life in the Spirit. Then, moment by moment, we have the choice to walk in that life, and there we find the potential to bring Life to others and bear good fruit.

Father God,only in Your Son, Christ Jesus, 

do I have the potential and power to bear good fruit. 

Help me to walk in step with the Holy Spirit 

and not according to my own desires and understanding. 

I want to bear good fruit for You and Your kingdom.

"...The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.

The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ..."

---Jesus

John 6:63 NIV84

The Word: Coming Under His Authority

Rev. Randy Smith preached from the pulpit this past Sunday on the Parable of the sower, Matthew 13:1-13, 16-23.

Take time to read the text. If you don't have a Bible with you, click the Scripture reference to read online.

The heart of Rev. Smith's message was human receptivity of God's Word: 

How will people respond to the message and to Him?

What struck me most was his clarity regarding the authority of Scripture and that disciples of Jesus accept its authority in their life. All the rest, those who come to hear and ponder or debate what He says, are just part of the crowd.

Do you accept His Word and allow it to have authority in your life?

Does it change your life? 

Are you one of the crowd? Or a disciple?

Jesus shared with His disciples the meaning of the parable. The sowing of seeds falling on different types of soil represents the various hearts of people who hear the Word.

the path (Mt 13:4, 19): A heart unwilling to receive or act on the Word, either through unbelief or complete absorption in the things of the world.

the rocky ground (Mt 13:5-6, 20-21): A heart that receives the Word with joy at first, it sounds great. But when things get hard and difficulties arise or criticism comes because of their belief they quickly reject His Way and look for another.

the thorns (Mt 13:7, 22): This is a heart where the Word also tries to grow, but the individual becomes distracted by worries or wealth. Too many fears have the same effect as too much stuff.

All three of these types of ground are unfruitful. And all three types of hearts can be found in church Sunday after Sunday. Part of the crowd. Hearing the Word. But it does not grow and take root.

There is a fourth soil, the good soil (Mt 13:8, 23): A person with a heart that receives the Word because they understand its authority and let it take root in their life. They make changes based on Scripture and live their lives by faith in His Word. They understand the Bible contains the very words of God.

So I wonder... Do we need to do some soil testing on our hearts?

Is your heart as hard as a path when it comes to the Word? Are you more interested in the world than the Word?

Is your heart one where the Truth can't take root? When trouble comes, do you dig deeper into Scripture seeking guidance or do leave it behind and find another source for relief?

Are there some thorny weeds of distraction in your heart? Worries? Wealth? Too much to do right now? Too much to take care of to follow Him?

Every heart has the potential to be good soil for His Word. 

Take time to identify what keeps you from receiving Scripture with the authority it deserves. 

Ask God to help you break up the hard places, toss out the rocks, and pull up those thorns by the root.

A heart of good soil, one who receives the Word with the full weight of its authority, is the one who knows the blessing and joy that we were meant for in Christ Jesus.

Your testimonies are my heritage forever,

for they are the joy of my heart.

I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever,

to the end.

Psalm 119:111-112 ESV

Carol Weaver

Trusting the Basics

Read John 14:1-14.
If your Bible isn't close by, click the reference above and read it online.

Rev. Enid Shepard taught and served Communion last Sunday. She titled the message, based on the passage you just read, Trust in the Basics.

Jesus told His disciples:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ..."

John 14:1 NIV84

Do you trust in this basic? 
How often is your heart troubled? And what do you do with it?
Do you trust Him with all your problems? emotional? relational? job related? financial? 
Do you trust Him with whatever is causing you anxiety? stirring up your heart?

Jesus told His disciples:

"I am the way and the truth and the life. ..."

John 14:6 NIV84

Do you believe that He is the Way? the only Way?
Do you follow His Way and truth in your everyday ordinary life?
Is He your source of life?
Is He the one you go to for strength, rest, renewal?

Jesus told His disciples:

"...Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father?..."

John 14:9 NIV84

When you look at Jesus, do you see Father God?
Do you believe, trust, that Jesus did only what His Father told Him? that He was the perfect representation of the Father?

Jesus told His disciples:

"... I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. 

He will do even greater things than these..."

John 14:12 NIV84

Do you trust this basic? That with faith in Him you can do what He did? heal the sick? calm a storm? raise the dead?
What about doing GREATER things? 
Does your life reflect that kind of faith and trust?

I don't know about you, but I have some working out of my faith to do when it comes to trusting the basics.

Jesus also told His disciples:

"... And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it."

John 14:13-14 NIV84

Join me in asking Jesus to grow our trust and faith in Him, that we might glorify His name and that of the Father.

Lord Jesus, You know the steps of faith and trust I need to take to grow in the basics of discipleship. Show me where to begin. Show me the Way. Open my eyes that I may see and understand what it means to truly trust You. Bless me with the boldness to obey.

Carol Weaver

Radical Obedience

Dr. Albright's message centered on the story of Abraham's call to sacrifice Isaac, Genesis 22:1-14. Read it for yourself. If you don't have a Bible near, click on the Scripture reference to read online.

This is a hard story. According to Dr. Albright, in hard stories we have to go to deeper levels with God to find good news.

Abraham certainly went to deeper levels with God through radical obedience. Because he trusted God to the utmost, Abraham came to know Him as "The Lord will provide." And that is good news.

Abraham trusted God with his entire future. All the blessings were bound up in Isaac. Abraham didn't fully understand what was going to happen on the mountain, but he trusted God and obeyed even though it was hard and seemed like a completely insane command from a humanistic perspective.

God was testing Abraham, the father of the faithful, and through him all who would follow. God knew He was sending His own Son who would come and be radically obedient to His Father. He would become the ultimate provision of the Lord: The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Was there even one who would be willing to offer the same sacrifice He was?

Radical obedience witnesses to our trust in Him.

How about you? Do you trust Him with your future? 

Are you willing to go to deeper levels of trust with God and practice radical obedience? 

Do you want to experience the good news first hand?

Trust God with what you know of His Word.

Practice it to the utmost of your understanding.

Make it radical.

His master said to him, "Well done good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your master."

Matthew 25:21 ESV

The song says it all: 

Trust and obey, for there's no other way, 

to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Carol Weaver