The Secret

Mark 4:11-12 When He was alone, the Twelve and the others around Him asked Him about the parables. He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!"

The particular parable that those closely following Jesus were looking for an explanation of was the one about the Sower. You know, the one about the seed falling on different types of soils. Even more importantly I think are these words that precede that elaborate explanation that address the principle of perceiving and understanding. We have been given the secret. At the time of our salvation God installed in us a spiritual capacity to understand spiritual things. All believers have it. Like every other tool, it must be used in order for it to be effective. Jesus Himself, in us is the key to understanding. All we must do is turn to Him and seek Him and listen. Ask to see with spiritual eyes and hear with spiritual ears and you will understand so many more things, so much more easily.

This is not a mystical process or magical experience. Let's start with a simpler process. Those who do not know Him or the truth or have the capacity for understanding because they are not followers of the King see things but they don't perceive. Meaning, they look at it and don't get it. They see it but don't really see it. The epiphany of really seeing is possible for every believer on a level that non-believers cannot experience. I'm sure you have looked at something and not been able to see what you were really looking at and then all of a sudden you close your eyes or look away and look back again or take a slightly different angle and Bingo, there it is. The same thing happens with listening and actually hearing or understanding what you are listening to.

In this world we live in we are taught and trained from many sources to only hear and see what we need to hear and see. In this high-tech age that we are all being exposed to our spiritual eyes and ears are more important than ever. If we don't really hear and see on a deeper level we are going to tend to believe all kinds of stuff that is probably not as it appears or sounds. A little scary sometimes huh? I remember back when it was obvious when somebody was doctoring a photo or twisting words. Computer generated images look real, feel real, seem real and we have a far more difficult time differentiating between truth and fiction. In this day and age it is essential for Christians to be able to step back from the onslaught of images and information and the spins put on them. Seeing is not believing. If I see it I may not believe it. If I hear it, it still may not be true. Even if I 'saw it with my own eyes or heard it with my own ears'. Our perceptions must be questioned and our analyses and findings must be double-checked. Most things are not as they seem.

The deceiver, the devil, the prince of lies is extremely capable of deception, illusion and trickery. He plays on emotion, need, disinformation and weaknesses to make us both question truth and believe lies. A final thought here to give you pause to think. If we really saw Him and heard Him and grasped the meaning of the secret that is revealed in us in Him... we would indeed be forgiven, transformed and redeemed. Herein is the key. More and more often with everything we see and hear, we must take a second look or listen to make sure it is what we are being told it is. Don't obsess on this, but also don't blow it off. Think carefully and try to see from God's perspective exactly what is really happening in every context around you. Wisdom that comes from Him and His Word is a cure for foolishness, paranoia, blindness and deafness. Let those who have ears to hear, listen.

Keep seeking the truth,
Pastor Fred

All Things are Possible

Matthew 19:26 "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'"

Nothing is impossible with God. That is the truth. Sometimes it is very difficult to apply such a principle of faith to our daily walk, but it remains true. I believe it. Yet, I do struggle with impossible situations, people, quagmires and obstacles. Funny though, those things that I thought were going to be real points of impasse or total calamities have always passed and are somehow resolved in due time. There is literally nothing that God can't handle. Which means that with God, we too can handle anything at all, great or small, insurmountable or overwhelming.

The context of this quote from Jesus is in answer to a question about how is it possible that anyone be saved when the cost of true discipleship is so high. Rich people have a hard time getting into heaven when money is their God. Famous people have a hard time getting into heaven when popularity is their God. Beautiful people have a hard time getting into heaven when looks are their God. Powerful people have a hard time getting into heaven when control is their God. Addicted people have a hard time getting into heaven when drugs are their God. So how can any of us ever get there? It is not easy. It cost Jesus His life. Not easy, but not impossible either.

We must remember that the value of our salvation is immeasurable, but is free. How can something that cost everything to Jesus, be free to us. Hence the saying that spells the letters of Grace in an acrostic... God's Riches At Christ's Expense. We receive the most wonderful gift imaginable because Jesus pays for it. Man could not do that. Human beings just do not have this generous capacity for grace. But God does. The impossibility of redemption for mankind is made possible by the grace of God. Man can't save himself. He almost seems bent on destroying himself. Into this quagmire and impossible situation full of billions of people, God sends a Savior, His own Son to give us the gift of eternal life. What a plan!

If God can do that, redeem humans, plus make something out of nothing, plus keep the whole cosmos turning and running. Then, what can't He do? That's right... nothing. Literally, nothing is impossible with God. All things are possible with God. This means that we have endless potential for fulfilling His will, if we seek it. We can experience joy beyond measure. We can make a difference. It matters. This is very encouraging. Though the world around us be wasting away, blowing up, falling apart or even meaningless... God can turn that around. He can do everything, He can do anything. Nothing is bigger than Him or beyond Him. Take that truth in today and let it rest on your heart and bless your spirit.

Whatever it is, turn it over to Him. Whatever you need, ask Him. Surrender to Him. Give Him everything. He is waiting for you, what are you waiting for? Everything is possible. I thank Him right now for all He has done for me, through me and with me. I will be eternally grateful to Him. I thank Him right now for this privilege to share with you. May He speak to you and show you the riches of His grace and the depths of His love.

In Him as always,
Pastor Fred

Little Ones

Matthew 18:10 "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven."

God's love for children is not questioned. His extreme care for them is spoken of in His Word many times. He has a special relationship with children. Actually, I remember. When very young I could sense the presence of His power so readily. I believe there were angels present at my emergency appendectomy and when my father drove our car off into a ditch when a tornado passed. I remember the peace and love and joy I felt just thinking about God. This passage of scripture lets us know that angels are specifically assigned to children. I think it is why they so readily believe and why they seem to have such an easy and precious love for Jesus.

That being said let me share with you something that happened to me during worship this week. I usually join worship during the first or second song after almost all the people have arrived and been welcomed or greeted at the gate. As I came to the front row I was immediately given a hug from Evanee. She is a very loving child. As we were singing, I noticed that Evanee was watching me worship. She was really focused on my singing and when I would raise my hands and the words we were singing. She then decided that we would hold hands. So for one whole song I sang to the Lord and to Evanee as we held hands. This seemed to make her very happy. She had to reach way up to hold my hand and look even further up to watch me worship.

Then something happened that surprised me. She sat down. As best as she could anyway, she sat down straining even harder to hold hands. So I sat down to make her more comfortable. This made her even happier. She continued to watch me worship intently, eyes wide open, smiling ear to ear. I thought to myself if anyone wondered why I had sat down during worship. But you know… I wasn't standing to be seen, so I wasn't sitting for any reason other than to accommodate Evanee so we could hold hands during the songs. As we sat together it was easier for me to sing to her and illustrate the word, and a lot easier for her to see. This she enjoyed thoroughly, and so did I, and so did My Heavenly Father.

As the last line of the song was sung, I bent closer to Evanee and whispered into her ear that Jesus loved her and so did I. In response to this, she says...."Uh huh, I know". Of course she does. As I read these words from scripture today I just had to smile and remember my time of worship with Evanee. Jesus said, "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." I'm thinking I got a glimpse of Him in Evanee's eyes and hopefully she in mine. Take time for children, it helps you stay close to God and to see His face. Also, be sure to do whatever you should not to disrupt the worship of anybody. God would appreciate that, after all it is His time right?

In His Service, Pastor Fred

Beware of False Teaching

Matthew 13:12 "Then they understood that He was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

This historical incident recorded for us in Matthew has some wonderful spiritual application teaching at the heart of it that is worthy of explaining and sharing. Jesus makes this statement to His disciples because they have misunderstood what He told them. I wonder how often that happens to us. You know, how we just miss the boat completely about what God is showing us or revealing to us.

The context of this statement happens following one of their many boat trips across the lake, which they took quite often. The Bible tells us that on this particular day, the disciples somehow forgot to bring any bread. They are seriously self-conscious about this and Jesus tells them something totally unrelated to what they are obsessed with, that is far more important when He says, "Be careful. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" He is referring to the lies and distortions and false teachings of the teachers of the law that so misleads the people and traps them into legalism. The disciples think Jesus is making a comment about bread and their lack of attention to detail. You know the temptation to make everything you hear about what you are worrying about? Yep, happens right here in the Bible. Jesus then reminds them that bread is obviously not a problem because He fed thousands with just a few loaves and more than once too.

Jesus could have made the comment here that he made later saying, "You strain at gnats and miss camels." This means you are missing the big points. Don't major on the minors or minor on the majors, major on the majors and minor on the minors. He questions their faith and then warns them again about the yeast or 'action agent' in bread which is a real problem when the yeast is bad. The disciples then have a giant 'Aha!!' moment which brings us to verse 12 that tells us that the disciples finally got it. They understood.

We are so like this. We worry about things that are not important really and stress about things that are inconsequential or less important, even unimportant. We strain at gnats and miss camels. We shoo the fly out of our living rooms and ignore the elephant. (Hey, maybe the elephant is attracting flies, ya think?) Anyway, the point of this devotional is that we need to take the time to truly listen to God's truth and apply it appropriately. It is probably not a lack of truth that is our biggest problem these days as much as it is how many lies we believe. 'In with the good air' only works well when we are also doing the 'out with the bad air' part.

For example, if in your heart you believe that God loves you and you simultaneously are counteracting that with some low self-esteem script from your childhood, you aren't going to make much progress. We seriously need to do both. We must breathe in lots of good air of truth and hope and faith and love and peace and joy and at the same time blow out all the nonsense and lies about being worthless, hopeless, unloved, conflicted and depressed. See my point? The world out there is selling us a crock of baloney every day and we must beware and be careful as Jesus would say. Just like a little yeast is all it takes to make bread rise, only a little untruth, perversion, bad counsel or evil can corrupt us quickly. We must protect ourselves from so much false teaching even as we seek the truth.

In His Word,
Pastor Fred

DO IT ALL FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL

“I am no man’s slave, but I have made myself a slave to all, in order to win the more for Christ. To the Jews I have made myself as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those who live under the law I have come as one under the law, in order to win those who are under the law — not that I myself am under the law. To those who live without the law I have come as one without the law, in order to win those who are without the law — not that I am really under no law in relation to God, for I am bound by the law of Christ. To those who are weak I have made myself weak, so as to win the weak; in fact, I have become all things to all people, in order that, one way or another, I may rescue some of them. But I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share its blessings with others” 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Emily and I recently attended an alternative rock concert in West Hollywood so that we could hear an up and coming Christian band called “For Today”. I had heard their music on CD, read their lyrics, but wanted to see for myself if this was the real deal. The style of music is definitely not one that I would seek out on my own, but I have always wanted to support the youth and the up and coming evangelists for each generation who needs to hear the gospel in their own style. I am so glad that I had the foresight to bring ear plugs with me to the concert (because I am certain I would have been deaf by the end of the night). The music was so loud that it literally vibrated the skin on my face the entire time! The late night concert scene was a sea of young people mostly dressed in alternative style black clothing, moshing and slamming into each other, and shouting and surging around the stage as we listened to this AMAZING group of young men totally sold out for Christ and His heart for youth. Tatoos from head to toe, piercings, hair styles and colors, giant ear spacers… you name it and we saw it all in one place that night. Even though I could barely understand the words of the songs, I was familiar with the lyrics from “For Today”, here’s one example of the words so you can see that although the style of music may not be my first choice, the words definitely resonate within my soul as the RIGHT MESSAGE for our youth today:

Lyrics to: Isaiah (The Willing) by “FOR TODAY”:

Here I am, God. Send me to the world. There is a burden on my heart to let the world know that You are God. From You, the mighty King of Kings, I learn the word that sustains the weary heart. But, I have been silent for far too long. I love them too much to sit back and watch them die. So take the life that you gave to me, Lord, and speak your heart to a generation.
Brothers and sisters, my prayer for you has been heard. And you can take refuge and hope in this Word: This is the end of the world as we know it. Death will hold no power. Dry your tears and lift your head. Death will hold no power.
Let the light of life shine down upon a people in darkness.
We are the grateful forgiven; the restored and renewed. We will take for ourselves no rest until we are face of God on the earth. And take no rest, God. Take no rest for yourself. Take no rest, oh Lord. May we be the generation to bring your glory down.
Our generation will prophecy. So let the world know, we are a dynasty.

(Thanks to Austin L. for these lyrics)

Here I am, God. Send me to the world. There is a burden on my heart to let the world know that You are God. From You, the mighty King of Kings, I learn the word that sustains the weary heart. But, I have been silent for far too long. I love them too much to sit back and watch them die. So take the life that you gave to me, Lord, and speak your heart to a generation.

Brothers and sisters, my prayer for you has been heard. And you can take refuge and hope in this Word: This is the end of the world as we know it. Death will hold no power. Dry your tears and lift your head. Death will hold no power. Let the light of life shine down upon a people in darkness.

We had a chance to meet with some of the band after the concert, and they were such great guys. I highly recommend this band to any young people who are into this “Scream-O style of music. I also recommend to parents that if you have youth in your home that listen to the world’s version of this music, please prayerfully consider substituting their choices with Christian alternative music such as “For Today” because I can assure you that the bands with this style who are not Christian are NOT singing lyrics that you want your kids to be exposed to, even if they are screaming and the music is so loud you can’t understand anything they are “preaching” as they growl and scream into their microphones. The passion of “For Today” is to place their band into concerts with other bands, not necessarily Christian, so that they can share the gospel and be bold for Jesus. They start their set with clearly declaring that they are boldly Christian, that Jesus Christ is the ONLY ONE that can set them free, and even give altar calls to their audiences, and pray with kids back stage after their concerts.

As I watched this concert, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit of the passage that we have for our devotion today from I Corinthians 9. For those familiar with the original setting of the newly forming first century church, the key to successful missionary activity and the secret of the church’s advance among the diverse nations and cultures of the world was to understand their target audience and speak TO that person, applying the power and truth of the gospel to that generation. In this passage Paul sees rather a change of “stance” according to his hearers — not the gospel, but its presentation and the explanation of it are changed. So it is true for every generation that followed, including the one we are in today, filled with kids who are lost, and searching for something they can firmly stand on. We need to constantly be in prayer that we reach out our hands and hearts to those on the frontlines of outreach, even when we can’t do it ourselves. We can provide the resources, we can encourage them, and we can remember to NOT judge them based on their outside appearance or what it may seem like at first glance! Jesus died for everyone, including the kid with the rainbow hair color, piercings, tattoos and headphones. I have good news! There is a remnant rising up with a PASSION and INTENSITY that can only come from a true relationship with Jesus Christ, Who’s heart is to reach the lost at any cost through His surrendered servants.

Pray for Christian bands like For Today who are literally on the frontlines of the battle, reaching for these youth who are slipping through the cracks and sliding down the slippery slopes of the world philosophies and lies of our adversary. Stand with those who go where you and I can’t go, and pray protection and wisdom and BOLDNESS over them. I hope to meet the guys from this group again, and even though I’m just a “mom”, I am so blessed to know that they are out there fighting the good fight, not compromising the gospel message, and truly representing Jesus and the truth of His Word. Check them out on their website if you want more info about them.

Shalom, sister Lahoma

He is "Everything" To Me

Our Friday Devotion comes to us from Council Member, Char:

Since last Sunday's service, a song that Dawn must have picked especially for me has been on my heart ever since. It seemed to set the tone for everything that transpired during the entire Church service, which was wonderful. There was just a sense that the "spirit" of the Lord had inhabitated our tiny little Church that is a "harbor of grace" (and love and mercy) for so many people.

By now, you've probably figured out the song I'm talking about. It describes with perfection what our God should be for all of us. This week, in particular, has been an extremely difficult one for me and my family, and somehow, this song continued to come into my heart and offer me that peace that only He can give.

You know why? I do. I have peace BECAUSE - - -

He's my COMFORT;
He's my HEALER;
He's my SHELTER;
He's my REDEEMER;
He's my FORTRESS;
He's my STRONG TOWER
and
He is EVERYTHING to me.

I have always tried to think of myself as a person who is positive minded and not prone to give in to a defeatest -type attitude. But, with that being said, I also realize that there are times when things going on around us seem overwhelming and it's hard to see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm happy to say that this song kept coming back to me, over and over, this week. I'm giving all praise, and glory, and honor to Him who created me, Jesus Christ, My Lord and Saviour. As the song sung to Him says - - - "You brought me out of darkness, picked me up when I was down. You touched me, gave me another view, then You turned me around. You are always there to hear my prayer, and Your peace You give to me. I can call your name for Your Word proclaims, YOU WILL BE EVERYTHING that I need."

Isn't it really true that that He is everything that we need? When it's all said and done, who else do we know that has all of these attributes and stands ready to share them with us each and every minute of each and every day of our lives? There's a pretty annoying expression that you've probably heard that says something "is to die for", usually being spoken about "a dessert", or "a car", or "a favorite meal", and the list goes on. When I hear that expression, I often think, "Are they serious?" Is that really worth dying for? What is worth dying for? Our God believed that we were worth His Son dying for us. For that, we should all be so grateful and make Him EVERYTHING to us, by reading, living, and sharing His Word daily.

Thank you Dawn for sharing the inspiration for my devotional this week, and Thank You Jesus for being everything that I needed this week. Wishing each of you a very blessed weekend. If you don't have a Church home to worship, you should know that you are always welcome at our harbor of grace on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.

In Him, Charlotte

Traditions

Mark 7:8 "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

Jesus says this to the Pharisees and in prior verses calls them hypocrites, and quotes Isaiah who said that there will be people who will merely pay 'lip-service' to God, but their hearts are far from Him. Isaiah prophesied that their worship would be in vain and their teachings would be just rules taught by men. It is not always easy to separate religion from faith. God's plan is not often fulfilled by what the practices of the church become. Here are some tough questions to ask yourself. Is what you believe just rules of what to do and not do? Is you worship just going through the motions? Is your faith just talk and no action? Is Church just what we always do because that is just what we've always done?

Tradition has its place and value. Being untraditional or contemporary for the sake of that is not a solution to the meaninglessness that creeps into church. Christianity does though have to be careful not to become “churchianity.” What Jesus was talking about He illustrated many times. Often speaking in parables He focused over and over again on the human tendency to drift away from the personal relationship with God through Christ and to just do religion for the sake of being religious. Again in the words of Isaiah the prophet that Jesus quotes...." their hearts are far from me". Wow, that is probably the key measure for us to consider. Where is your heart?

When our hearts are seeking Him and when our hearts are connected to the meaning and purpose of what we believe, then true religion is taking place. Religion is not bad; it just has to really mean something true and real. Again, traditions are not bad in and of themselves; they just can't replace the personal relationship with God through Christ. I think at the heart of this heart question is the answer to what Jesus was expressing concern about. Search your heart. Ask God if you are really maturing in Him and if you are in His will. Ask Him if there is anything He wants you to do or not do. Study His teaching. Ask Him what your action items are. Lately I am feeling myself drawn to the Words of Jesus. The whole Bible is obviously valuable, but there is something about what He said.

I think His counsel to us today would be to seriously consider our hearts. He would encourage us to let go and let God more. He would tell us to focus on His commands such as 'having no other gods before Him' or to 'love one another' or to 'serve Him with your whole heart'. What would happen if we stepped into all God Has created us to be? Let me conclude with four little truths about Him and one final encouragement. This is Jesus as I know Him personally.

He is good
His name is faithful and true
He can be trusted
He will be with you

Take courage,
Pastor Fred

Why We Are Allowed to Live

Genesis 2:7 "Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; He breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live." (GNT)

Ever wonder why we are here? Or, why we are still here? I do. Must be a reason or purpose. As best I can tell, we are supposed to live. God took some dirt and fashioned the first man, Adam, and breathed the breath of life into him and ever since then, human beings have been living. The Bible also says that in Him, 'we live and move and have our being'. Without God there is no life. Hey, without God there is nothing, and frankly theologically speaking, there isn't even that. Wow, that can give you a pause to think for a moment.

So what do we do with this life we have? Seems to me we ought to do something appreciative and meaningful. After all, that seems like the appropriate response to being brought into existence. A long time ago I remember singing a song from the hymnbook that spoke of what to do and how to respond to the breath that God breathes into us. So with every breath I take I am reminded that I am here for a purpose and reason and that it matters what I do. The words to this hymn still ring true with me today. Hope they ring true with you today too.

Breathe on Me, Breath of God

Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,
Until with thee I will one will, to do and to endure.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly Thine,
Until this earthly part of me glows with Your fire divine.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life of Thine eternity.

These sweet, poetic 'old-timey' words say something very significant to my heart. In my teens when I first met Jesus, and first learned this song, the fervor of my faith resonated so deep with zeal in my heart, that all truth, however stated, was like food to my soul. I still get 4 distinct messages from these stanzas.

1. I need to be renewed to do His will.

2. I need to surrender to Him daily to do His will.

3. I need to mature spiritually in order to do His will more effectively.

4. I need to start living for Him eternally now, that is His will.

I want to do the will of God. I think if we are serious at all about our faith and relationship with Christ that this thought must come to us often. When it does, we must respond. Maybe if we did think of Him every time we took a breath it would help. Hopefully we don't need to stop breathing in order to consider it seriously. Just a thought. Now, breathe in the Breath of God until your heart is pure, until you want His will and are willing to endure.

In His Service with you,
Pastor Fred

What Forgiveness Smells Like

Luke 23:34 "Jesus said, 'Forgive them Father for they don't know what they are doing.'"

One of my absolute all-time favorite sayings goes as follows:

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the foot that crushed it."

This quote from an unknown source is a perfect example of Christ's sacrifice on the cross because of our sins. What a graphic picture of what He accomplished with the greatest act of forgiveness ever. We were the beneficiaries of His unconditional gift of love, and yet it is so difficult for us to forgive. We are all encouraged by scripture to forgive others because we have been forgiven, but somehow we find it very hard to let go of the sins and offenses of others.

Some time ago, I was walking into a restaurant with a friend of mine who was talking a-mile-a-minute to me, and the last thing I heard her say, before I heard the crunch under my foot, was "Why look, there is a stinkbug." I immediately felt horrible because, as I looked down toward my feet, indeed what was left of poor Mr.Stinkbug was a wriggling mess of squashed pieces and legs, and it was then I got a whiff of where he got his name. Seeing that there was no hope to help him to safety or restore him in any way, I put him out of his misery and apologized to my friend for not being able to respond to her warning sooner. My friend was many years my senior and very experienced in how to handle embarrassing moments and said, "Well, there was nothing you could have done and it is best that you took care of him, so he wouldn't suffer." I still felt bad and tried once again to explain my honest sorrow that I had inadvertently destroyed one of God's creations. She then smiled and assured me that, in the bigger picture, she appreciated my heartfelt remorse, and that someday I would use the illustration. That stinkbug was not the most beautiful thing ever created nor was its scent the most delightful, yet I had more tangible feelings about it than I did about my sin that caused Jesus so much pain on the cross.

Since that experience I have given thought many times to the price of my sin and the wonderful forgiveness I have received because of what Christ did. I have actually become more forgiving and more thoughtful of others again recently and more careful of my step and more aware of where I am stepping. By doing so, I'm sure I have avoided a number of other inadvertent catastrophes and near misses I was probably not even aware of at the time.

Isn't this just like us, though? We become reckless and callous about the effects of what we do, and we carelessly bring unnecessary destruction on God's creation, especially people. I don't know whether that bug forgave me, (I sincerely doubt he could) but I do know that God does forgive me for my sins of carelessness and omission. This truth gives me great hope because I truly desire not to be much trouble. When we forgive others, including ourselves, we are released from the chains of regret, bitterness and dismay.

Give and receive forgiveness easily and often. This will remind you of His great gift to you and help to keep you in perspective and walking in grace. I hope this little illustration helps you as the family of God to forgive each other.

Watch your step, (uhhh, and your words?)

Pastor Fred

Go the Distance

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter (finisher) of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

I recently had the opportunity to run in the Orange County Half Marathon, a twisting and turning route that travels through the industrial parts of Irvine near Sand Canyon and Barranca Parkway. It was a nice cool day for a run, and despite the fact that through the holidays I had not had much time to get any training runs in, I decided to go ahead and participate in the event. I got up in the wee hours of the dark morning, went through my pre-race disciplines, put on my TEAM 413 shirt that has the bold scripture on the back of it from Philippians 4:13…reminded myself that I CAN do ALL THINGS through Christ Who gives me strength… laced up my shoes and drove over to the starting line location with my oatmeal and coffee in hand. I didn’t see anyone else at the starting line with a TEAM 413 shirt on, so I happily figured that God had sent me there to be a testimony that day to other runners and walkers, and I was excited to once again have an opportunity to share my faith with others. However, as the miles began to increase, I started to notice that at several places along the route, there were MANY switchback opportunities to cut across to the other side and shave off miles from the 13.1 distance. In most races, there are places you need to run across with your timing chip to show you completed all the areas of the race, but in this race I knew there were none of these checkpoints, so in reality no one would actually KNOW if you ran the full distance or not. Normally, this would not even be an issue for me, but because I had not prepared fully for this race, and my legs were starting to remind me of WHY you need to do more consistent weekly long runs to prepare…. I must confess that the temptations started to tug at my mind as I began to get physically and mentally weary of the race. The GOOD NEWS is that as each assault came to cheat, I was reminded of the scripture message that was on my shirt and I realized what a poor testimony I would be to those running behind me if they saw a “Christian” run to the other side and cut the race short and get a medal for not running the full distance. Perhaps a person was behind me that was an unbeliever, what if my actions would cement their opinion that all Christians were fakes, and what if my stupid and selfish actions kept someone from spending eternity with God. I kept hearing the Spirit of God over and over again quoting Hebrews 12:1 to my mind, (our devotion verse for today). I WAS surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, who would “witness” my actions whether they were honorable or hypocritical. What if someone needed to see the message on my back as an encouragement to keep running, only to watch me run over to the other side and NOT do all things through Christ but through my own flesh as I did not run the race marked before me. God’s Spirit “ran” with me for the ENTIRE race and I am here to say (as God is my witness) that I finished the race, I ran the full distance, and I raised my hands at the end and glorified God for reminding me to be true and faithful to HIS WORD as His ambassador.

Isn’t life like this at times? We start our races strong, but as in a marathon, life is a LONG endurance event, certainly not a sprint. The devil will come at you and try to convince you to take shortcuts, he tries to convince you that no one will know, and that we should take the easy way out when we are faced with decisions that mean we have to persevere and follow a tough race route that God has put in front of us. Our passage today reminds us to “fix our eyes on Jesus”, HE is to be our focal point when times are tough. He is the One Who authored your faith, and He is the One Who will “perfect” or “Finish” it. The Greek word here for “Perfector” is also used in photography when someone would place a negative in the chemicals and wait until the images became visible on the blank paper. God has already taken the snapshot of His Plan for your ENTIRE life, we just need to persevere and allow Jesus to “Perfect” it, to bring it to completion, to allow it to be seen before our eyes and the eyes of the world. Paul reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, people who are watching to see what is different in those who claim to be CHRISTians…. Can they see it in you? I challenge you to prayerfully remember that you are a witness one way or another.. either to bring glory to the name of Jesus or shame. Your actions, your words, your decisions, your choices, your disciplines (or lack of them) testify to whether Christ is alive and working in and through you. Take your opportunity and use it to glorify God in ALL areas of your life-race. Run strong, run faithfully, don’t cut corners, don’t listen to the devil when he tries to hinder you or entangle your feet as you run.

I wish I could tell you that as you get older and more mature in your walk with God that you are immune to temptation and sin, but this is sadly not the case. The devil is relentless until the day we die (if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior), then we are completely set free from that possibility and are joined with God for eternity in heaven, Halleluiah! Our women’s bible study group recently finished our 5 month study of the life of David, a man after God’s own heart, and his life, all the way to the end, was filled with tragic stories of his failure to make the right choices in his personal and private life. And yet, God forgave Him, restored him and had an intimate relationship with him all the days of his life. I share my story with you today to encourage you to KEEP RUNNING your race, and allow the Holy Spirit to rest on you and lead you and guide your and REMIND you that you ARE representing Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

Shalom, sister Lahoma