I was driving down the street one day and pulled up behind a man at a red light. I looked at his car and I saw a bumper sticker on the back that said, “Honk, if you love Jesus.” So the light turned green, and as I got in the left lane to pass him, I beeped my horn a few times and waved.
Well, I apparently infuriated that fellow. He had forgotten about the bumper sticker, so he threw his hands up in the air and started yelling at me out his window. I couldn’t tell exactly what he said, but I know for sure it wasn’t “Jesus loves you.”
As a believer, you’re going to live your life under a microscope. When people find out you’re a Christian, they’re going to look at how you live your life and make a judgment by seeing your attitude toward others and how thankful you are to God for the blessings He’s given you. Fair or not, that’s how it goes!
So how should we live in front of a watching world? Humbly. Accept that you’re not perfect. Give thanks for the many blessings in your life, knowing who gave them to you. Ask forgiveness when you make mistakes and show grace when others do. Serve the Lord passionately and you’ll be a powerful witness to a watching world.
Pastor William Del Casale
David cries out to God in this psalm because the multitude hates him without any cause (v. 4). Those who hate him are powerful and David feels that he is going to drown. Even his family has distanced themselves from him. However, during all the turmoil and strain, David never takes his eyes off of God. He starts the psalm crying out, “Save me, O God!” When he feels hopeless and that God is not there, he still responds by waiting on God (v. 3). He continues to pray to God for deliverance and rests on the foundational truths of God’s mercy and salvation (v. 14) and loving-kindness (v. 16).
David never doubts the LORD will deliver him, because he sees a day where he will praise God and give Him thanks for deliverance (v. 29-30). Through all his troubles, David maintained a firm reliance on God, no matter how bleak or dire his situation became. Lord, may we have the faith and heart of David to rely on you when we encounter one of life’s valleys, when there is chaos around us, and when things look bleak, may we firmly wait upon your deliverance.
Jeff Mericle
After three very dark verses explaining our hopeless spiritual state, Paul breaks through the clouds with a ray of dazzling, hopeful light: But God, who is rich in mercy… made us alive!
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
At the beginning of time, God said, “Let there be light.” And in our time, because of His mercy and infinite love, God saved us, even though we were spiritually dead and full of sin. God commanded light to shine in our hearts to dispel our blindness. We awoke from the dead and embraced the light. He washed away our sins and made us eternal objects of His infinite love. O what amazing, undeserved grace!
This is great news amid years of extremely bad news. Even though you may be battling dire circumstances or dealing with emotional or physical pain—even though you are plagued by disappointments or facing overwhelming obstacles—you are loved by a good Father who is rich in grace and full of love for you. Find hope and encouragement in all that we have gained in Christ and all we have been saved from. Even though your current state may be extremely unsettling, your future state will be glorious. Let the anticipation of the fullness of joy in the presence of Christ fill you with joy now and give you peace.
Tom Day
The fifth commandment in God’s Law is the first commandment that switches from the vertical to the horizontal in terms of relationships. It acts as a nice transition because in many regards this command still contains an aspect of the vertical, our relationship to God.
Despite the fact that parents are flawed, the Lord calls us to honor them. To honor doesn’t just mean obey but to reverence them and to show them a respect that comes with the title of being your parent, whether the respect is earned or not.
God has created order and structure and the family is at the core of that structure. Destroy the family and you will destroy society, hence we are given this command by God to create a safe environment for one to live. We live in a time where this command is getting increasingly less popular and disregarded by many in practice. May the church not be numbered among those, but have a healthy respect and honor for our parents that speaks to God’s goodness in the structure and order he created for us to live in.
Pastor Jason Witt
You can usually tell a lot by a person who needs to swear just to confirm what they are saying is in fact true and accurate. I’ve had a friend who would have to swear after telling their story. It’s almost as if their words meant nothing until they stressed how serious and truthful they were by swearing to God.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, reminds us of the very same thing. Let your “Yes” be “Yes” and your “No,” “No.” The fact that you have to swear to something demonstrates that there is not enough weight in your own character to confirm what you are saying. Let this not be true amongst us.
Joshua Navarro
Philippians 2:3-4
Selfish ambition always pulls another person down and conceit pushes oneself up! It’s all with one purpose, to exalt ourselves and put ourselves in a position of power or prominence. If all you do is for your benefit, then division in inevitable. We would come to church and say, “I don’t like that worship song, it’s too fast. Can you believe it, that person is sitting in my spot? That usher didn’t smile at me, I would be much more friendly if I was ushering.” And Church becomes a place to have our needs met rather than a place to serve one another.
The key is to, “esteem others better than yourself.” How does this happen? By humbling yourself and making the decision to place others above yourself. The natural, carnal mind doesn’t work this way, but as we walk in the Spirit and see others in the body as brothers and sisters in Christ, we choose to esteem them higher.
We should come to fellowship seeking to bless others, hoping for opportunities to minister to each other. “Looking not on your own interests, but on the interests of others.” I know that as we seek to bless others, we will end up blessed as well.
Pastor Doug Hardin
James 1:22
There is a type of person who goes to church and hears the word of God, but never applies it to their life. They take comfort in the fact that they have heard God’s word without actually doing it. James says such a person is deceiving themselves. Jesus is not looking for fans, He is looking for disciples.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus compares the person who hears the word and does not apply it to their lives as a person who has built their house on the sand. Living your life by only hearing the word of God leads to destruction. You may think you have a nice house built, but when the storms come, you will not be left standing. James pleads with his readers not to deceive themselves and live this way.
On the contrary, Jesus says the person who hears the word and does it, they are like the person who built their house on the rock. When you hear and do the word of God, you build your life on the solid foundation of Christ. No matter the storm that comes your way, you will be left standing. The question is, are you deceiving yourself?
For the King,
Pastor Daniel Batistelli
Like it or not, when we give our hearts to Jesus as our Savior and surrender our will to His Lordship, we enter a battle. It’s a war for our souls. The enemy will do everything he can to pull us away from that relationship and it’s not just our actions but our affections. It involves both our will and our emotions.
This is why James pronounces a blessing on those that endure this kind of temptation or “drawing away.” The promise for those who endure, not just out of determination but out of love, is a wonderful crown of life given to us on that day of our final approval. And how are we approved? By the blood and righteousness of our Lord and Savior.
Giving my actions and affections to the Lord today,
Pastor Gerard Deleeuw
Do you have joy in the Lord? I mean tangible joy, the kind that shows on your face to all around you. I like this verse, written in the present tense, that Lord made the writer of this Psalm glad. Not He will make him glad in the future, once in Heaven, hanging with God. No, He is glad now because of the Lord’s work.
We can have this same kind of joy if we remember all the Lord has done in our lives. If you’ve accepted Jesus, you’re going to Heaven for eternity. Doesn’t that make you happy? All of your sins — which are many in my case — have been forgiven. Does that bring a smile to your face?
Paul wrote a whole letter about joy in Philippians while he sat in a Roman jail cell. He could do that because he didn’t forget Jesus’ redeeming work. Smile, Jesus loves you!
There is joy in the Lord,
Pastor Ron Kitchell
1 Timothy 4:16
I love Paul’s counsel to Timothy, his young pastor in Ephesus. Leading a church is a busy responsibility and no doubt overwhelming for a young man in his first pastorate. Yet Paul gives him, and us, good advice in the above verse: be selfish when it comes to your walk, take care of you first, for in so doing you will place yourself in a position to be a blessing to others.
Setting priorities that place your spiritual well-being at the top of the list is God’s will for each one of us. He who trains himself, watches himself, and takes heed to himself and his doctrines (what he believes). Then he’s ready for every good work in the Lord. Our lives will then be visual aids to those around us. Take his counsel and today selfishly put your spiritual life first. We will all be grateful that you did!
Selfishly caring for my faith first,
Pastor Jack Abeelen
