by: Dave Harkey

Well, we have just gotten through what may be one of the toughest weeks we’ve been faced with in who knows how long and are well into the second week. There has been so much change in a very short period of time and, no doubt, it’s been stressful and there are tensions. It is times like these that I love to go spend time with my church family in discussion and worship, to get comfort from the storms of life; it is these times I love to be around people. I truly believe God made us to be relational and that He wants us to be together. He tells us in Hebrews 10:25 to not neglect our meeting together, but this seems hard to do right now in this time of social distancing.

We need to make sure we meet together and encourage each other. I don’t know about you, but as we go through this, I certainly can use some encouragement. Working from home, schooling from home, staying home – I see the challenges of this every day. I do thank God my kids are grown (those with little ones trying to do this are probably wishing they were grown). Who doesn’t need encouragement now (and maybe some other voices or faces)?

 In James, we are told to be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22). What is interesting to me is that the Greek word that was used for “doers” was taken from the word “poites”, the same word that was used for a poet - It carries the idea of creativity. So, one could infer from this that, when times make it difficult to be doers of the word, we have to get creative. I think that applies to us right now – especially when it comes to meeting together.

 So how do we do this, how do we ‘meet’ while still keeping our distance and get that much-needed interaction that God has so wonderfully designed us for? It’s time to get creative! It’s time to use the tools that God has given us. For this, technology can be a wonderful thing – let’s use it to our advantage:

• We can still meet as groups via a number of ways – we can video chat, we can use conference lines. We should make this a priority. Most of us already do this at work, let’s do it for connecting to one another

• Make a phone call or face time a friend. We have a tendency to default to texting; but what a blessing it is to hear a voice or see a face. It’s happened a few times for me this week and, man, what a bright spot in my day it was.

• Do church on Sunday morning via the live feed. You can take comfort in knowing others are there with you. Get the family in a room together and worship. Yeah, it’s different (a little, ok a lot, weird) but so worth it. We did this last week, our church did a great job with it. In our house, you would have laughed at us trying to sing together; but, for the first time in a long time we prayed together in a setting that wasn’t around a table of food or in a church setting – it warmed my heart. I’m looking forward to it again.

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

Hebrews 10:25

Amen!
God’s Peace,
Dave

If you don’t feel like reading this blog post, just go watch this music video:

The Bible seems to have more references to joy in the midst of darkness and trials than it does joy in the midst of comfort. Many Western Christians have taken mission trips to impoverished countries and often said that the people there seem to have a joy that we don’t have even though they are fighting to simply survive. Why is this?

Nehemiah 8:10 says “…the joy of the Lord is your strength.” He said this to exiles that had just returned to their city that had been laid to ruins. They rebuilt the wall (in the midst of numerous challenges) and had just stood outside to hear the reading of God’s Law for the past several hours. The people realized their rebellion and brokenness and wept. Nehemiah’s word to them was that the “joy of the Lord is your strength.” What exactly does that even mean?

It means that even though we are sinners before a Holy God, He has still loved us and called us to be His children. Even though we were His enemies He: “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). His joy then becomes our strength because He is the solid rock on which we stand no matter the circumstances we may face. It means that circumstances cannot shake our joy because our joy is found in the One who cannot be shaken. It means that our joy is complete because His joy is in us (John 15:11).

The Spirit of God in us produces the fruit of joy because the Spirit points us to our Savior and takes our attention away from our circumstances. This does not mean we don’t face reality or even grieve the things happening around us. It means that we have a joy and peace that passes understanding in the midst of the most unimaginable pain because Jesus Christ has overcome the world and will one day make all things new again.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16–18

Is the joy of the Lord your strength? Are you setting your mind on the things of the Spirit or the things of the flesh? The truth is that no one and nothing can steal your joy because no one and nothing could ever take away the Love of Christ that has been poured into your heart. Find strength in the joy of the Lord today.

by: John Wilbanks

 One memorable hymn from my childhood was Count Your Blessings. Its simple message was to be thankful for what God has done for us. While that encouragement may be simple, it seems that it’s not always common.

Winston Churchill told the story of a young British boy who went to the pier and accidentally fell into the ocean. Unfortunately, he could not swim and would certainly drown. A quick- thinking soldier who worked on the pier saw the situation and at his own peril dove in and saved the boy. He took the boy home but no one was there. A few days later, the boy’s parents came to the pier to find the soldier. When they introduced themselves, he interrupted them and said, “I don’t want a reward, it is enough to know that I was able to save your son. They replied, ‘We are not her to give you anything. We want to know where our son’s hat is. What have you done with it?” Incredulous, the soldier replied, I saved your son’s life and all you want is to find his hat?”

As crazy as that story of ultimate ingratitude may seem, these parents are not alone. Remember the Israelites complaining about having to eat manna every day, How about ten leper’s being healed by Jesus and only one returning to thank and praise him? On and on it goes.

Read Colossians 3:12-17 and see Paul’s instructions about the traits we are to “put on” as Christ-followers. Nowhere do we see ingratitude, entitlement, selfishness or judgment.

Instead we find compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and most of all love. When we put on these characteristics, the peace of Christ rules in our hearts and we can all use some of that in these challenging times! In verses 15-17, we are told to “be thankful”, worship with “thankfulness to God in our hearts” and to do everything in the name of Jesus “giving thanks to God.” Like the Colossians, our hearts need to be filled with thanks for God’s inexpressible grace and love. So today let us, all in the words of that old hymn, count our blessings and name them one by one.

During my sermon on Galatians 5:16-26, we didn’t have time to dive into each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit individually, so I thought it would be helpful to do that here. We will go through Paul’s list one by one which means we are starting with love.

Most commentators agree that love is placed because it is first in importance and it is also the one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit that all the others fall under. For example, you cannot truly have Christlike love without being filled with joy, patience, kindness, etc. Paul himself said just a few verses earlier, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14). Some commentators have even gone so far as to suggest that Paul lists love as the fruit of the Spirit, and then all the others are simply ways in which Christlike love is displayed.

In any case, it’s important to see what love is as defined by Scripture and I can’t think of many better places to go than 1 John 4:7-12 (emphasis mine):

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”

What it seems John is pointing out is that we cannot know how to love others if we do not first understand how God has loved us. Furthermore, we are not capable of giving Christlike love, if we have not received Christlike love. Almost everyone you talk to in the world today would say that the world could use more love, but most people would also disagree on what that love is supposed to look like. As Christians, our love for others cannot be defined by culture, emotions, or the wisdom of this age - it must be defined by Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures.

As I shared in my sermon, not only are we called to display Christlike love, we are empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit living in us. So you can love even the most unlovable people because Christ loved you when you were unlovable. You can be willing to lay down your life for even your enemies because Christ did that for you (Romans 5:8). The determining factor in loving those around us has nothing to do with the surrounding circumstances, our feelings about that person, our desire to love, etc. The determining factor is that you have been loved first by Jesus Christ - therefore, you are called and empowered to love those around you.

Just in case you need reminding of a biblical definition of love, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Ask yourself if you have been displaying that kind of love to those around you. Where do you need the work of the Holy Spirit to help you produce the fruit of love?

If you were trying to show someone how to find their identity, what would you tell them? I’m not talking about their legal name, SS number, or place of birth. I’m talking about helping someone figure out why they were put on this earth. How can you help someone discover their purpose?

Many people today would probably say something like “look deep within yourself,” or “do the work to discover your true self, not what others want you to be.” That kind of advice is based on the assumption that we are the masters of our own destiny. It works off the belief that we get to decide who we want to be and why we are here on this earth. For Christians, we know that our lives are not our own anymore. Paul says it this way:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20

So the truth is, if you’re in Christ, this life isn’t your life anymore - it’s His. This means that to find your purpose, you shouldn’t be looking more deeply at yourself, you should be looking more deeply at Christ. We spend so much time on things like personality tests to discover who we really are so that we can live a life of purpose. But you have died to yourself and now have a new life in Christ. That doesn’t mean that you no longer have a personality, or dreams, or a purpose. It means you aren’t the one who decides your purpose anymore - Jesus is.

This should actually sound like really good news to us because it means that I don’t have to trust myself and my ability to realize my identity and purpose. Instead, I can run to the One “who loved me and gave Himself for me” to show me how He desires His life to shine through me. In the meantime, I have full confidence and assurance that He will never let me down and everything He works in my life will be for my good and His glory.

If your goal is to “find your true self,” you’ll end up without hope and purpose. but if your goal is to find Christ and know Him, you will have found where true life really lies. Put down the personality test for a moment and look into the perfect mirror of Scripture. Stop trusting your own heart and pursue the One who gave you a new one. Rejoice in the crucifixion of Christ because that’s where you died to self so that you may be One in Christ. What greater purpose could you ask for?