18
Jan '21
Contemplating Temptation
18
Jan '21
Have you ever been tempted? This is where everyone says “of course”! You are breathing, right? There is no one who has ever lived that hasn’t been tempted to do or say something they know is wrong.
Recently I was reading the account of Jesus in the wilderness in Luke 4. I believe there were several things that the Lord wanted me to see. I wanted to share them with you.
Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and led into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. The devil tempted Him the whole time and I am sure in every way possible. I know we only look at the ones mentioned in the scripture. But, what else did the devil do to try and get Jesus to deny his Father? I am sure we all know how creative the devil, our enemy, can be. He is manipulative, finds our weak points, and is a liar.
When the days came to an end, the scripture says Jesus was hungry. Even for Him, it was exhausting.
Luke 4:3-4
If you are the Son of God command this stone to become bread. Jesus said that man does not live by bread alone but by every word of God.
Luke 4: 5-8
The devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world (the devil could offer this because it was his domain) and says he can have charge over all if Jesus would worship him. Christ says to the devil “get behind me for it is written that you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve.”
Luke 4:9-12
The devil takes him up to a pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. He tells him to throw himself down from there because it is written that He will give His angles charge over you to keep you safe. Jesus response is “It has been said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.”
Luke 4:13
When the devil had tried every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Hebrews 4:15
We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Christ is our example. After the forty days ended, the devil was still trying to think of ways to tempt Jesus. The enemy of our soul is relentless. Know that the devil is going to try his absolute best to get you to fall into sin.
Be confident, courageous, and bold in the Lord when confronting the enemy. Use the scripture, contact a brother or sister in Christ for spiritual support, and most of all, know that the Lord is with you! He has not abandoned you in your time of despair.
Psalms 52:22
Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus is our example – we are charged to follow in His footsteps. He countered every temptation with the Truth of the Word of God.
Run from sin and lean into the power of God within us through the Holy Spirit. With every temptation, our Father provides a way of escape. Be encouraged today! If you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord of your life, He is with you!
Author:
Elder, Faith Assembly
Read more...
17
Jun '19
Called to be Fishers of Men
17
Jun '19
A couple of weeks ago the sermon at our church referenced John 21: 1-14. It is amazing how you can read the Bible and see one thing, and later read it again for God to point out even more truth you had not seen before. That was the case with this passage for me.
So in the reference, Simon Peter tells his friends he’s going fishing. They say they’re going with him. Here’s the thing: I know fishing is their trade – and they must eat – but in Matthew 4:19 and Mark 1:17 – Jesus said he would make them “fishers of men” if they would follow him.
They go fish all night and catch nothing. Then as morning comes, they hear someone (they don’t know who at this point) say “Children have you any food?” The answer is no! So, Jesus tells them to cast their net out on the right side of the boat.
Now hold up. If I’m in the boat, I’m saying to myself “Are you kidding me, I have been out here all night and you don’t think I’ve tried both sides of this boat? Really?”
Back to the story. So they throw their net out on the right side. They end up catching so much they can’t even pull the net in. Simon Peter puts on his outer garment and jumps into the water because he now knows it’s Jesus speaking to them from shore. The rest of the disciples stay in the boat and bring the fish to them. When they get there, they see breakfast is already cooking. “Bring some of the fish you have just caught,” Jesus says.
Then I had questions.
Certainly there are the miracles that happened:
- Catching 153 large fish on the right side of the boat – who does that?
- The net doesn’t break – how?
- Breakfast is all ready for them when they get to shore. Who made the breakfast and where did the food come from?
After the questions, I had a few thoughts.
- In this story, Peter reminds me of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. Peter had to get to shore to be with Jesus, while the rest of the disciples stayed with the task at hand – like Martha. I want to be like Peter.
- We are all called to be fishers of men. We may share our testimony and not feel we get any responses, but God asks us to keep witnessing – keep fishing. You never know when your net will be so full you can’t bring it into the boat.
Bottom line?
Keep being a fisher of men – even when it feels like no one is listening.
Keep throwing your nets into the water.
Maybe try the right side next time.
Author:
Ken Drew, Elder at Faith Assembly
Read more...
11
Feb '19
Embracing Humility
11
Feb '19
On Wednesday evenings, Pastor Jon has been taking us thru the book of Philippians. I would like to take a moment and concentrate on Philippians 2:1-11. In these verses, we are encouraged to imitate Christ’s humility.
Let’s first look at the definition of humility:
A modest or low view of one’s own importance, humbleness. Some synonyms for humility are lowliness, meekness, submissiveness.
In verses 2- 5, Paul gives us insight into how to take on some of these positive traits as we interact with one another.
– Be like minded
– Have the same love
– Being one in the spirit and of one mind
– Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit
– Not looking to your own interests but to others
– Be like minded
– Have the same love
– Being one in the spirit and of one mind
– Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit
– Not looking to your own interests but to others
End of verse 3: “…rather in humility value others above yourself.”
Verse 5: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” So if we have the mindset of Jesus, we serve with a humble attitude.
Verses 6-11: ”Jesus, even though He was the Son of God did not use that to his advantage.” He took on a servant attitude as a human.
As you read on, verse 8 talks about how Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even the cross.
It becomes very clear in these verses that to imitate Christ, we must humble ourselves to our brothers and sisters in Christ and this world – just like Jesus did.
Finally in verse 9, God exalts Jesus to the highest place and gives him the name above all names. He states that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Living by Jesus example and imitating Him every day is what God is calling us to do as His children.
His call on our lives?
-To love our brothers and sisters in Christ,
-In unity, to cleave to the same mindset as Jesus
-To embrace being of one spirit,
-To put ourselves aside for the wellbeing of others
-To love our brothers and sisters in Christ,
-In unity, to cleave to the same mindset as Jesus
-To embrace being of one spirit,
-To put ourselves aside for the wellbeing of others
Sound familiar?
James 4:10 says: “Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up.”
Author: Ken Drew
Read more...
30
Jan '19
Doing Your Part to Seek God First
30
Jan '19
God says in Matthew 6:25-26, Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life – look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
The Blind. AKA: The Palace
I recently spent several hours on a cold wintery day with my oldest grandson in a deer blind we call the palace. It’s called the palace because this blind is larger than the first one we constructed that we call the hut. It has real windows, carpeted floor (for quietness of course), aluminum siding (to keep squirrels from chewing through the wood), and great views on all sides of God’s majestic creation.
On this day it was slow so far as deer sightings were going, but we did observe blue birds grouped up for the winter and several white breasted nuthatches just a few feet from us in an old hedge tree. My grandson wanted to know what they were doing, since food sources seemed to be long gone as was the warmer weather. This became a teaching moment about preparation. As the squirrels bury nuts for food in the winter, so too do nuthatches hide food in the bark of trees for the winter – this is called “salting a tree” and the birds were feeding from their work months before.
While God feeds the birds (as scripture says), the nuthatches still have a role to play to gather and salt the trees for winter food. I’m pretty sure they don’t worry about gathering and salting; they just inherently do what God placed in them to fulfill His design. If this is the case for nuthatches, why do we make fulfillment of God’s design for us so challenging? Oh golly, if it were that easy!
Doing Your Part to Seek God First
God tells us in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto to you. Therefore do not worry…”
Maybe fulfillment of God’s design for us is challenging because we aren’t seeking first His Kingdom. Maybe we aren’t “seeking first” because we are worrying about the tanking stock market, world news that seems to never be positive, or simply not having enough time to check everything off our to-do lists. God knows what it is in each of our cases, and He cares! This is why He tells us to seek Him and His design for our lives because He knows best.
Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Speaking from experience, this takes some of us a long time to understand and longer to apply.
God will do His part, yet we still have to do ours.
Are you trusting? Are you doing your part to “seek first” the kingdom of God?If you really pursue God, He will show Himself to you, and all these things will be added unto you.
Author: Randy Ortgiesen
Read more...