Month: March 2017

GET TOGETHER- JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORYNe 8:10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (NKJV) Joh 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. (NKJV)

                        One of my favorite old hymns (millennials don’t stop reading I love the new stuff as well) is Joy Unspeakable. The chorus has these words “It is joy unspeakable and full of glory Oh, the half has never been told.” I also love that old song I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down In My Heart as well. Although I must admit that one of the things that challenges me the most about that song is watching people sing it with a frown on their face.

            Nehemiah had been given an assignment from God. He was charged with going back to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile and restoring the city. It took him only six months to do this although at times he faced discouragement, harassment, and strong opposition while he was at work doing the rebuilding. After he rebuilt the city he would also serve as the Governor of Judah for another thirteen years after that. I am sure those words about the joy of the Lord being our strength were words that he would have to draw on and stand on many times during this assignment.

            The Hebrew word for joy here is chedvah, khed-vaw’. Joy is gladness, it is happiness. Some people like to say that Jesus didn’t promise to make us happy. I understand what they are saying. On the other hand, the Lord didn’t tell Israel that He was going to take them into a land where it was barren, depressing and that they would just have to suck it up.

            This morning the Holy Spirit chastened me about letting the enemy steal joy. He said that this world needs to see some genuine Holy Spirit joy. Yes, Hell will try to rob us from experiencing the goodness that God desires for us to experience. I am not talking about selfish narcissism, but I am talking about walking in the will of God and putting God first in our lives. That is when we will experience true joy.

            Jesus explained it like this. He said that for us to Have this joy we have to abide in Him: Joh 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (NKJV) When I lose my joy is when I start focusing on the problems rather than the Problem Solver. Because He is the Problem Solver we can experience true joy: Joh 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (NKJV) When we abide we can ask and it will be done. Then we experience true joy. We begin to bear fruit.

            To experience true joy we have to make a decision to love God first and to love our neighbor no matter what. Even if our neighbor sometimes may be a little challenging to love. Hey, don’t you think God could have said that we were a little challenging to love? But He didn’t because He loved us when to many people we would have been considered unlovable.

            Jesus talks to His the disciples about joy as a part of His farewell discourse as He is looking at dying a cruel death on a Roman Cross. He knows how these guys are going to abandon Him. He knows that the religious leaders are going to mock Him. he knows that nails will be going into His hands and feet. He knows that a spear will go into His side. He knows that he will be beaten to a pulp. And yet He is teaching on joy!

            The Greek word for joy here is chara, khar-ah’. It means a state of joy and gladness. Just like Nehemiah the Lord has assignments for all of us. We at times will face ridicule, discouragement, be misunderstood and sometimes just outright attacks from Hell to rob us of our joy. Let’s do what Jesus commanded us to do. Let’s love the Lord with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. Let’s love our neighbor as ourselves. Let’s love our enemies. And most of all abide in Him. When we do that I believe that we will experience joy unspeakable and full of glory. Our friends need what we have. Those that don’t like us need this joy. And to be honest I enjoy life a whole lot better when joy is flowing. I pray for you today that in Jesus your joy will be complete.

LET US PRAY

Lord we are often surrounded by bad news. Help us to be good news people. Lord we are often surrounded by strife, malice, contention unrighteous anger and bitterness. Help us to be salt, and light and living water givers in those places and environments. Help us most of all to abide in You.

In Jesus Name

Amen

We are so thankful for so many wonderful friends. We are thankful that God doesn’t give us what we deserve, but that God gives us His best! And you are some of His best!

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

GET TOGETHER- Jesus Didn’t Dodge Sinners He Loved ThemMt 9:11-13 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
This past week the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart very plainly about something. That something was that Jesus really loved all those people that He healed, delivered, and performed miracles either for, or in their life in some way. 

 The Holy Spirit has put a lot of people on my heart to pray for. Some are people on drugs. Some are people living sexual lifestyles that are in opposition to the Bible, some are people that I have seen make professions of faith, but don’t appear to be serving the Lord in a congregation. Others are some very “good people”, but to my knowledge they have not made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. One thing that the Holy Spirit impressed upon me was that when I pray for these people I really must pray out of love for them. 

I can remember well Christians who treated me like I was a human being before I met Christ and the love that they showed to me. I can remember one guy who kept score on a softball team that we played against. Some of us would be doing some things that we did not need to be doing after we had finished a game and while we were waiting on the next game to start. This guy would come around and just talk to us. He wasn’t handing out tracts, or really pointing his finger at us. But I knew that he was a Christian. I also remember some preachers who would buy bar-b-que from me and every once and a while I would ask them a theological question. Usually my question would be do you think that we are getting close to the end. I knew if we had been that I was in trouble. 

 Sometimes as Christians we like to stay in the safe place. We either avoid the unsaved, or if we do interact with them we often don’t come across as loving. I am certainly not advocating that a person that has had a problem with certain sins in their past go put themselves in a position where they could be tempted to succumb to that lifestyle again. On the other hand, we can be more like Jesus and meet some people who have not come to Christ and let our light shine while we are with them. 

 Perhaps when you attend a sporting event that is a good time to associate with someone that has not come to Christ. Other opportunities could be on your lunch break at work. I have the blessings of leading a devotional at a plant where a few weeks ago, one of the employees accepted Christ during the devotional time. 

Associating with unsaved people isn’t an endorsement of any lifestyle that person may be living. It is an opportunity for them to know that you love them, that you care about them and that they can see something in you that they don’t have. 

One of the people that had a strong influence on me was one of our former football coaches in my former hometown. This man lived a holy life without putting on a religious façade. I remember going to a fish fry at his house. I drank diet Pepsi rather than what I had been drinking in the past on occasions such as that. I can say two things about this man. He never judged me, but he never compromised what he believed. Isn’t that just like Jesus? Isn’t that who Jesus is calling us to be in this callous and finger pointing culture that we live in. Jesus said it like this “Mt 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (NKJV)

  Remember Jesus didn’t eat and drink with sinners and tax collectors to endorse their sinful lifestyles. He ate with them to call them to repentance. I have found that the Holy Spirit does a lot better job than I do concerning convicting people of their sins. Pray for them, love them, and yes let them hear what God has done for you. But most of all remember that you must love them. Jesus said it like this Mt 22:39 “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ His love is different than the way that the world loves Lu 6:32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

  Let’s pray for people, love people, demonstrate love to people, and expect the Holy Spirit to call them to repentance from sin as they receive as we have the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let Us Pray

Lord Jesus we thank You for the Christians who loved us, prayed for us and associated with us before we came to know your forgiveness and mercy. Today help us to do the same for those that you have put in our path. We are soo excited about them being our future brothers and sisters in Christ!

In Jesus Name

Amen
Please pray for me. I am praying about whether I need to order more of my first two books, or whether it is time to write another one. Please keep me in prayer concerning that.

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston