What Kind of Fruit Grows on Your Tree?

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8 (ESV)

Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit - a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. (see Matt. 12:33) He also said in John 15, that His Father is glorified when we bear much fruit. Basil of Caesarea, a 4th Century church leader taught, "A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds." Since life has been figuratively illustrated as a tree, the question is, what kind of fruit grows on your tree? 

I don't know a lot about trees; I always had trouble identifying trees even by their leaves in middle school science class. When we moved from Knoxville to Jefferson City we had a number of fruit trees in our yard. My dad knew they were fruit trees, but we just didn't know what kind of fruit they would bear ... until spring when the apple trees bloomed and produced apples. Then, late summer we discovered that we also had peach trees. We knew what type of trees they were, simply by the fruit they bore. 

This is also true of our lives. Those around us know what kind of people we are because of the fruit that we bear in our daily living. What kind of fruit grows on the tree of your life? Most people are more interested in picking fruit than in producing fruit, ("it's easier to be a consumer than a contributor" John Maxwell), but Jesus calls us to bear fruit, so what kind of fruit grows on the tree of your life? 

Galatians 5:22 tells us that the follower of Christ will bear the FRUIT of the Holy Spirit, and then it gives nine qualities to that fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (is the song stuck in your head now?). We've been studying these nine qualities on Sunday mornings at Grace Point and this week we are looking at "goodness" - what is it? Where does it come from? and How is it seen in our lives? You can join us live (9am), join us on Facebook live, or listen to the messages at our website. 

But I want to talk briefly about bearing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. I think John 15 gives us three principles for bearing healthy fruit of the Spirit. God's Spirit bears His fruit in our lives when we ... 

1. ... Remain connected to the source of fruit
Jesus says in John 14:4-5, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." Christ is the source of power that produces fruit in our lives; when we are connected to Him, He produces His fruit in our lives - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. If those things are missing from our lives, the place to start is in checking our connection to Him. Some questions to think about - Have I ever been connected to Him? (Have you ever been saved by Christ?) Am I staying connected to Him through prayer, study of His word, fellowship with His followers, regular worship, obedience, etc.? When we are connected to the right source of Christ, He will produce good fruit in our lives. If those things that are listed in Galatians 5:22 are missing from our lives, we need to check our connection to the source of fruit. 

2. ... Are pruned and disciplined
Jesus says in v.2, "He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more." Fruit bearing is God's greatest desire for His children. Just like every parent wants their children to grow up to be mature, productive adults who contribute more than they consume, God wants His children to grow up to bear fruit that pleases Him. So to produce the most fruit in our lives, He sometimes cuts things away that hinder us from bearing the most fruit - we call this "being disciplined" by God. Sometimes things He removes from our lives aren't bad things, they're just not the best things for producing His fruit. You will be fruitful only as you become disciplined by God; pruning is the price for producing. Pruning can be a painful process, but when we remember that God's goal is to get the best fruit from our lives, we can endure and cooperate with His process. Finally ...

3. ... Realize the glory it brings God when we bear much fruit. 
Jesus says in v.8, "When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father." When our lives are abounding in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control God is pleased, He is glorified. When we bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, it is evidence that we are Jesus' disciples, God is our Father and He is praised, exalted and glorified. When the tree of our life bears His fruit, we are healthy and God is pleased. 

So what kind of fruit grows on the tree of your life? Is it the fruit of God's Spirit? Is it good fruit? Because a good tree brings forth good fruit. Are you connected to the Vine? If not, get in touch with me, I'd love to help you make that connection...

Blessed, Broken and Given

"He was known to them in the breaking of the bread."  Luke 24:35 (ESV)



We've had a number of storms in the U.S. this year. I was reading an article that stated that the number of tornadoes that have been confirmed from January through June of this year is 92. Some of them were in un-populated areas or didn't touch the ground, while others created significant devastation. There were other storms too,  such as hurricanes, winter storms and flooding that have affected lives across our nation. 

I was thinking about storms because I ran across a quote from a Japanese writer that touched a nerve with me. Haruki Murakami wrote: "When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person that walked in. That's what the storm is all about." I don't know if Mr. Murakami is a Christian or not, but I think there is some truth to his statement. All of us have gone through "storms of life" that have left their mark on us and caused us to be different than we were before they hit. 

This Sunday we will observe the Lord's Supper where we will sip the cup and break bread as the Lord has instructed us to do until He returns. One of my favorite stories in the Bible about "breaking bread" is in Luke 24:13-35. It's after Jesus' crucifixion and on the day of His resurrection. Two of His disciples have left Jerusalem and are journeying to Emmaus, about seven miles away. We're not told why they are leaving Jerusalem, perhaps out of fear that what happened to Jesus might also happen to them, and during the journey the resurrected Jesus joins them. Initially His true identity is hidden from them, but when they reach Emmaus, they ask Him to stay and eat with them. And the bible says that when He was at the table with them, "He took bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them." (v.30) Suddenly their eyes were opened to His true identity and their lives were changed forever. That night they returned to Jerusalem to affirm to the other disciples that the Savior was indeed alive. And in v.35 of that chapter it says, "He was known to them in the breaking of the bread."  Luke 24:35 (ESV)

Something about the breaking of bread caused them to realize who He was. They knew Him through the breaking of bread. There was something familiar about Jesus breaking the bread that arrested their attention and opened their eyes to the truth. He took the bread, He blessed it, He broke it, then He gave it. It was familiar to them because it was a pattern they had seen in Jesus before.

Luke 9 - People had been following Him listening to Him teach; they were hungry, but there was only 5 loaves, and 2 fish to feed the crowd. But Jesus took the loaves and the fish and He blessed them, He broke them, and then He gave them to the disciples to give to the people, and more than 5,000 people were fed.

Luke 22, He gathered with His disciples for a celebration of the Passover meal, the last meal before His crucifixion, and the Bible says He took the bread, He blessed it, He broke it, and He gave it to His disciples.

1 Corinthians 11 - Paul indicates this was the pattern that the early church had learned of Jesus - passing down what had been given to him, Paul says that on the night of His last meal with His disciples, He took the bread, gave thanks or blessed it, broke it and then gave it to the disciples.

It was a familiar pattern, and maybe there is a deeper, spiritual meaning to that pattern of blessing, breaking and giving. Maybe it was familiar because it is also the pattern that God often uses in handling His people. Don't we see this same pattern in the men and women God used in the Scriptures?

Don't we see this same pattern in the life of Abraham? God took him from his family, and He blessed him with land, and material possessions, and promises and finally a son Isaac, then He broke him when he told him to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice him; but then He gave him a ram to sacrifice instead and he gave Isaac to be the heir of the promise, and through him God would bring forth a great nation for His glory. 

And don't we see this pattern in the life of Joseph? God took him from his father and his family, and sent him to be a slave in Egypt in Potiphar's home; and then He broke him when He had him put in jail, but then He gave Joseph to be the second in command in all of Egypt, and He gave him to preserve his family when his brothers came seeking food.

Don't we see this pattern in the life of Moses? God took him as a little baby, sparing him from being killed, and he blessed him by putting him in the home of Pharoah, yet being raised by his mother. But then Moses tried to do things his way and take matters into his own hands and so God broke him and put him on the back side of the dessert for 40 years. But then God gave him to the people of Israel to be the one through whom God would deliver them from slavery.

And don't we see this pattern in the life of the disciples? Jesus takes His disciples when He calls them from their businesses and families and ordinary life, and then He blesses them with miracles and wonders, and words of life. But then He breaks them when He dies on the cross and they thought everything was over. But then He rose from the dead and He gave them the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and then He gave those 120 disciples to turn the world upside down!

Isn't this the pattern we see in the life of Jesus Himself? God took Him from glory (Jesus didn't consider being equal with God something to grasp onto, Philippians 2), and He took Him from the womb of Mary and He blessed Him with a fullness of grace and truth, and He blessed Him with purpose and ministry. But then He broke Him - in the Garden of Gethsemane His sweat became as drops of blood; and He broke Him with scourging and then crucifixion. But all that was done so He could raise Him from the dead and He gave Him to be the Savior of the world.

Isn't this indicative of the way God works in the lives of those He uses greatly? It's not just about the bread, it's about life. In your life, and in my life, this is the way God often works. He blesses us with life, and good things, then He breaks us, taking us through storms of life, trials, sufferings and such and in doing so He changes us. Then He uses us and our storm experiences to be an encouragement, a source of hope and healing to others in the storms. The storm changes us and God uses us for His glory. 

And when we celebrate the Lord's Supper we are reminded of Jesus, whom God took, and blessed, a broke and gave on a cross for your sins and mine, to be the Savior of the world.

I invite you to join us Sunday as we remember the one who was blessed, and broken and given...

Don't Lose Your Joy

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:11 (NLT)

   This past Sunday I preached on "Complete Joy" from the verse above, John 15:11 (you can listen to the sermon here or watch the service at our FB page here). Part of the sermon is about what are some of the typical reasons people (including Christians) give for being "unhappy" or what I would call "joy-less." Here is part of my notes from the sermon on reasons we "lose our joy."

1. We look more at our problems than we do at Jesus. 

    John Piper gives this definition of joy - "Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world." Notice in Piper’s definition of joy - it is a good feeling in our souls, “produced by the Holy Spirit as He causes us to to SEE the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.” Seeing Christ produces joy from the Holy Spirit, but in like manner, NOT seeing Christ causes us to lose our joy.

Have you ever been discouraged? When you experience discouragement, what is usually on your mind? Are you thinking about how great God is and how glorious it is to know Jesus? Or are you thinking about how bad your problems are, how much your job sucks, or how your life never seems to get any better? When you are discouraged are you focusing on Jesus or on your problems? Discouragement doesn’t cause us to focus on our problems, focusing on our problems causes discouragement. But Likewise focusing on Jesus causes joy, it causes us to be encouraged.

2. We have unmet expectations.

We lose our joy when our expectations aren’t met - when things don’t go as we think they should or as we plan for them to go. Have you ever experienced disappointment because something you planned didn’t turn out like you thought it would? Maybe a person didn’t live up to your expectations, or maybe an event or an experience - those things happen to all of us. But how we respond to those unmet expectations makes all the difference in the world.  

Do you know why things don’t always go as you plan for them to? Because you are an imperfect, sinful, finite person living in a sin-filled imperfect world with other imperfect finite people. With all the imperfection in us and in the world, there is no way everything is going to go as planned all the time. That’s just reality. But how we respond makes all the difference in the world. Most people respond to unmet expectations with disappointment, frustration, anger - and if you do that enough it becomes a way of life and there is no joy in your life at all. You will lose your joy if you get mad every time things don’t go your way.

3. We have a Root of Bitterness in Our Heart

    In Hebrews 12 we read: 14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…” The word translated “bitterness” means a harsh, resentful of acidic spirit. Describing someone who has become resentful or bitter because they have been hurt - a person who refuses to forgive and let go.
     As young boy we lived in the country and the neighbor had cattle. In some places his fence was electrified. There were always older kids around and one day we were all playing and one of the older kids convinced some of us younger kids to join hands and have one person touch the electric fence - telling us that the current would just pass through all but the last person and only the last person would feel the shock - guess what… that weren’t true. We all felt the shock and it was the person who touched the fence that felt the most intense shock, it passed through all of us but decreased with intensity as it went.
     So get this in your mind, because this is how bitterness works. Think of the person who you refuse to forgive, and you have them by the hand and then you grab the electric fence, thinking they are going to get the shock… and they do, but guess who gets the worst of it - you do, guess who gets blisters on their hands from holding onto the electric fence - you do. Unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness hurts you more than anyone else and it will cause you to lose your joy faster than anything else. Most Christians lose their joy because they are holding onto some anger, resentment, or unforgiveness and a root of bitterness has taken hold in their lives and it is robbing them of their joy.

 The good news is that God wants you to be joyful and He has plenty of joy to give you. He speaks to you through His word so that His joy may be in you and that your joy will be complete. We'll talk more about what this means later (or you can listen to the sermon), but for now, think about whether the things I've listed are some of the reasons you may have lost your joy.

Fear Doesn't Stand A Chance

Every morning for the last couple of weeks I have woken up with the chorus of this song stuck in my head. I'm thankful, (there are worse things I could have stuck in my brain, like "Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo..." See what I mean?)

This morning, while H.E.A.R. journaling through Matthew, I came to Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus gets on a boat to get away from the crowds, and His disciples got on with Him. As they were on the Sea of Galilee a great storm blew up, (fairly common for that area) and the boat was taking on water. The disciples were frantically trying to keep the ship afloat, but Jesus was asleep in the boat. In desperation they woke Him up and asked Him to save them for they felt like they were about to sink.  Jesus gets up, not panicked at all; He speaks first to His disciples (perhaps in a “scolding” way), “Why are you afraid, where is your faith?” Then He speaks to the storm, and there was a great calm came over the sea. And those who were on the boat were amazed at Jesus wondering, “Who is this that even nature obeys Him?”

What a picture of life - I am following Jesus and thinking it will be smooth sailing because He is there. Then the storms of life hit (which He promised would happen) and I frantically try to keep the ship afloat, thinking I can do it if I just work hard enough, if I just have the right strategy or follow the right formula. Finally in desperation and fear, I cry out to Jesus for help, because my situation seems hopeless and it seems like I'm going down with the ship. And He responds by reminding me that I have no reason to fear, only to believe. Then He speaks and the storm passes, I survive, and all is well... until the next time, LOL. 

I've repeated this scene so many times in my life, you'd think I would have learned by now... and I am learning...slowly... it's a process. Fear and faith don't go together - one drives out the other - but I decide which one drives. So the Lord reminds me again, my fear doesn’t stand a chance when I live in faith and stand in His love, and so I ask Him (again) to forgive me when I forget to believe, and we're off again... 

Storms will come and go, but Jesus will always be there, and when we live in faith in Him, His presence, His love and grace, and His power ... our fear doesn't stand a chance!  

Don't Miss the Miracle

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

Most people say they have never experienced a miracle, but the truth is, not a day goes by that we don't experience a miracle. For example, take this planet we live on - scientist tell us that Earth is spinning on its axis at a rate of 1,000 miles per hour while suspended in space. On top of that, this third rock from the sun is orbiting at a rate of about 67,000 miles per hour; that's about 87 times faster than the speed of sound, or 366 times faster than a race car at Talladega. And we did it all without noticing. On a Monday when it seems like you didn't accomplish much, remember that you traveled about 1.6 million miles through space

Not a big enough miracle for you? Then just look in the mirror. Every moment of every day your body is performing thousands upon thousands of functions you don't even notice. Every moment you are inhaling oxygen, metabolizing energy, digesting food, purifying toxins from your blood, directing muscles, processing data through multiple streams of information and much, much more. Your body is an incredibly complicated masterpiece of machinery. That 7lbs of brain in your head that runs everything in your body is making about ten quadrillion calculations every second. 

Ever feel like your brain is so full of information you have no room for more? That feeling is false! According to Northwestern University psychologist Paul Reber, the brain’s memory storage capacity is around 2.5 petabytes [1 petabyte ≈ 1,000 terabytes]. For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.

One more bit of "miracle" information - every individual person has a unique personal genome sequence that describes who you are. If your personal genome sequence were written out long-hand, it would be a three-billion-word book. By comparison, the King James Version of the Bible contains 783,137 words, so your genetic code is the equivalent of nearly 4,000 Bibles. No wonder the Psalmist wrote, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Everyday you not only experience a miracle, you are a miracle. There never has been and there never will be another you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made - that's not a testament to you, that is a testament to the one who knit you together in your mother's womb. He is a God of miracles, just look in the mirror. And every day there are miracles happening all around you, so don't miss the miracles. As Albert Einstein once said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Live the miracle that is you and that is your life!

A Lineage of Grace

Last year I began H.E.A.R. journaling through the Gospel of Matthew. (H.E.A.R. is a Bible study method developed by Dr. Robby Gallaty and stands for "Highlight, Explain, Apply, and Respond." You can learn more about it here [or HEAR, lol]). This has been good prep for preaching through Matthew this year.

The first 17 verses is the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, the man God chose to raise His Son. There are  names of a lot of the great men of the Old Testament like Abraham and David, but I'm always struck by the fact that Matthew lists four women in the genealogy of the Lord. This is unusual because women are rarely listed in genealogies in the Scriptures, but what is even more remarkable is the women Matthew chose to include:

• Tamar, who deceived her father-in-law Judah into sleeping with her and bore him twins (Gen 38).
• Rahab the prostitute of Jericho who spared the Israelite spies (Joshua 2). Rahab eventually married an Israelite, Salmon and they had a son named Boaz, who would eventually marry...
• Ruth, a Moabite widow who followed her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem where she met and married Boaz (Book of Ruth) They also had a grandson named Jesse who becomes the father of Israel's greatest king, David. And David will eventually meet ...
• Bathsheba, not mentioned by name in the genealogy but is the woman with whom David had and affair and then kills her husband Uriah (2 Samuel 11).

Matthew reveals some the “skeletons” in Jesus’ family closet.

As I was thinking through the application, I was reminded that God OFTEN uses the least likely candidates to accomplish His plans and purposes. The genealogy shows that God is not limited by human perspective and understanding; His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. God often uses people we would write off as disqualified. But the truth is that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace, nor beyond His ability to be used for His glory.

The "R" in H.E.A.R. journaling stands for "Response" which means - what is my response to what I learned from studying the passage. My response to the genealogy of Jesus: Don’t write people off because of their past sins or current circumstances. Don’t attempt to limit God’s ability nor His plan. God can accomplish whatever pleases Him through whomever He pleases. Don’t miss His work or His blessing by judging others or writing them off. Join God in seeing all people as valuable, beautiful and useful to the Lord and His work. This is something I have known, because God should have written me off a long time ago, but He has faithfully pursued me and called me back to Himself and to His ministry. I'm thankful for His faithfulness even when I am not, and for the reminder of His faithfulness through the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew.

Saved to Serve

“This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.” 1 Timothy 3:1

We are beginning the process of developing Ministry Teams and selecting Elders and Deacons for our church, so I've been reading on servant-leaders in the church. I’ve been working through Paul’s first letter to his apprentice Timothy. Chapter three really stirred me up. Paul begins saying, “This is a faithful saying.” It’s the equivalent to Jesus saying in the Gospels “Truly, truly or Verily, verily.” When Jesus said those words He was saying, “Hey! Pay attention! This is important!” That is what Paul is doing here as well. Then he says, “If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.”

The word “desire” really jumped out at me in this passage. It appears twice in my translation, but it is actually two different words in the Greek. The first word translated “desire” literally means “to stretch oneself” or “to reach out for.” The image is that of a child reaching out for his mom or dad. The second word translated desire means “to set your heart upon.” It has to do with the inward emotions and this word is also translated “covet” or “lust after.” So the Bible says, it is a good thing to "stretch yourself" and "set your heart" on a place of service for the Lord.

In the tradition I have grown up in, those who served the Lord were those who received a specific calling to serve. It’s still part of our tradition – you ask people about doing things in the church and you may get the response – “I haven’t been called to do that.” That is a legit response and we shouldn’t force people into positions they are not qualified for nor passionate about. But it is also a response that is often abused. The next question to ask is, “What have you been called to do?” and the answer may be, “I don’t know?” It seems it’s easier to identify what we’re not called to do than it is to identify what we’re called to do.

What do you want to do in/through the church? Many Christians don’t want to do anything; they don’t have the desire to serve the Lord. I want to say, “Do you believe Jesus died for you and saved you so you could do nothing for Him? Do you believe God brought you to a church so you could ‘do nothing’?" It’s good to have a desire to serve the Lord; it’s good to stretch yourself and reach for a place of service in the Body of Christ. Our general calling is to serve the Lord in some capacity; we are saved to serve. 

A God of New Beginnings

"God is a God of new beginnings!" I love that statement, and I love this time of year. For some, the New Year is just another day, but for me it symbolizes the opportunity to start over, fresh and new. I've always used this time of year to reflect on the past and plan for the future. I used to make "New Year's Resolutions" and I still do, but now I call them "goals;" things I want to go after in the coming year.

In Philippians 3, writing about his own spiritual life, the Apostle Paul wrote, "...But one thing I do; forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13-14 (NIV) Paul was never content where he was in his relationship with God or his life, he was always pressing forward toward the goal and toward personal growth.

So, this time of year I set some "personal growth" goals:

1. Spiritually - Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
I always desire to deepen my relationship with the Lord. Our theme verse for Grace Point this year is 2 Peter 3:18, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen" (ESV) A goal without a plan is just a wish, so how will I accomplish this goal? By being very intentional in study, meditating, memorizing and obeying His word; by maintaining the discipline of daily prayer and being intentional about sharing my faith with others - just to name a few of the steps.

2. Physically - Become healthier
I've always struggled with my weight and two of my biggest problems are that I don't always eat the best foods and I tend to be too sedentary. So my plan is to make better food choices, eating smaller portions at a time, drinking plenty of water and being active for at least 30 minutes a day. It probably doesn't sound like much, but I've heard that small changes can make a big difference, and can lead to the ability to make bigger changes. I'll probably never run a marathon, but there are some trails in the Smoky Mountains that I'd like to hike again.

3. Mentally (attitude) - Be more positive
Near the end of each year I pray and ask God for a word or phrase that I can focus on in the coming year, and for 2019 the word I have sensed God giving me is "Believe." Faith, of course is a gift from God, but it is also an intentional mental/spiritual practice. The verse that God has highlighted is Mark 11:24, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (ESV) I want to be intentional about not only believing IN God, but believing God - taking Him at His word and acting up on it. All of that starts in the mind, and having a more positive attitude toward God and in life in general.

4. Relationally - Deepen relationships with friends and be intentional to build new friendships
I am blessed to have many friends, and to have a few very dear and close friends. More than friends, I have men in my life that encourage, challenge and mentor me. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another." I am thankful for the men who sharpen me. I also want to sharpen others. I currently meet with an accountability/prayer partner and a few different groups of men for discipleship. I want to deepen those relationships; but I'm also praying for the opportunity to develop discipleship relationships with some younger guys, and perhaps some couples. I have to be careful not to spread myself to thin, but we are called to make disciples and discipleship only happens in relationship.

5. Vocationally - improve as a preacher/pastor and teacher
When I was around 20, God made my calling clear - "Preach the gospel." Over the years I've sometimes drifted from that calling and got focused on the "busyness" of ministry (and life). Recently God has been calling me back to my original calling to preach the gospel (Acts 6 - the ministry of word and prayer). The plan is to focus less on developing church programs and activities, and focus more on proclaiming the word of God, and being myself as a pastor and preacher. Too often I slip into the "professional pastor" mode and pretend to be something I'm not just because I think it is expected with the job. God has to always remind me that He is my first calling, and He called me to be me, not what I think others think or want me to be. (I realize that may not make sense to the people reading it, but it does to me, so I guess that's what matters most, lol.)

There are a few other areas where I have some goals and am developing plans or steps to see those goals come to pass (finances, marriage, parenting, missions, etc.), but these are the "Big Five" areas. All of this is what I call a "Personal Growth Plan" and if you's like to talk about developing a growth plan for your life, I would love to spend some time with you - shoot me an email at glmiller1965@gmail.com, or a text - 865-236-4159. Thanks for taking the time to read this; as a reward for reading it all the way through, let me know you read it and I will treat you to breakfast or lunch one day in the coming weeks! (If you're a female reading this, my wife and I will treat you to a meal) God bless.

J.O.Y. at Christmas

This past Wednesday we re-read the story of the angel making the announcement of Jesus' birth to the shepherds in the fields of Judea (Luke 2:8-20). The angel prefaces the announcement of the Messiah with the words - "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people..." (v.10, emphasis added). Our group discussed how a missing element for many people during the Christmas season is "great joy." For a lot of people, including many Christians, Christmas is a time of great stress and frustration, much of it self-induced by trying to have the "perfect Christmas." The celebration of this glorious event has been overwhelmed by commercialism, perfectionism and a lot of other "isms" that distract us from the main message of Christmas - the Messiah has come!

I shared, using the acronym J.O.Y. and the story of the shepherds, how we can get back our Christmas joy. This isn't original with me, and it is a little cliche, but here is the truth if you want to experience the "great joy" the angels were talking about.

J - Jesus first
Again, it is cliche, but He is "the reason for the season." Christmas is about Christ and if you want to experience great joy at Christmas, your focus has to be on Him. Jesus was a priority for the shepherds - after the angel gave them the good news that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, the shepherds left their sheep and went to Bethlehem to find the Messiah. Think about that - they were shepherds, but they left their flocks to find the Great Shepherd. Tending those sheep wasn't just their jobs, it was their livelihood, it was their lives. But they "laid down their lives" and left their sheep in the field to go find the Messiah. They didn't let their jobs, or anything else keep them from Jesus. He was their focus, and they didn't stop when till they found Him. And after they found him, they returned "glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard..." (v.20) Yep, when they focused on Jesus, they got the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY down in their hearts!

So what is your focus this Christmas season - getting your work done, buying gifts, decorating the house, cooking the food, planning the family gathering?  None of those are bad things, and they do need to be done, but none of those things should keep us from Jesus. He is to be the focus of all that we do. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will be added unto you." Whatever you are doing this Christmas season, keep your mind on Christ, and Christ on your mind.

O - Others
The good news of great joy wasn't just for the shepherds, it was for all people. And after the shepherds had come to Jesus they "they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child." (v17). They didn't keep the good news to themselves, they shared it with others, everywhere.

The Great Commandment says we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, AND to love others like we love ourselves. Christmas is about Jesus, but it is also about letting others know about Him as well. You probably already have people in your circle of influence that need a "squirt of joy" for Christmas - what can you do to make that happen? Bake some goodies and take to emergency workers who can't be with their families during the holidays? Buy a few pair of socks and visit some elderly people in nursing homes? Invite a neighbor to join in your family celebration of Christmas? Ask the Lord who you need to reach out to, He's pretty good at communicating those kind of things.

Y - You
The angel made the message personal for the shepherds - "I bring YOU good news of great joy..." (v.10) Shepherds weren't generally well thought of in those days. They spent a lot of time with sheep and probably smelled a lot like them. It's kind of remarkable that when it came time to announce the birth of the Messiah, the angel didn't go to the priests, the rabbis, the Pharisees, the kings or any of those in authority; he came to the shepherds who were generally ignored or looked down upon. They may have even felt like they were the forgotten ones of their culture, but God doesn't forget or overlook anyone and He sent a personal message to them - a message of good news of great joy!

If God didn't overlook the shepherds, it's not likely He will overlook you either. His message of good news of great joy is for you also... so receive it, internalize it and let the good news that the Christ has come for YOU saturate your mind and infect every area of your life this Christmas season!
Jesus loves you and He has come to bring you great joy!

Saturday Sermon: "Deeply Wounded" 1 Kings 17:1-9

Last Sunday I began a new sermon series on the lives and ministries of two of the Old Testaments most significant prophets - Elijah and Elisha. These two ordinary men were used powerfully by their extraordinary God to show their people who the One True God was/is. As we study their lives, we will learn some important truths about the God we worship and serve today.

To prepare for the next message on Sunday morning, you can listen to the previous message here. Last Sunday we were introduced to the prophet Elijah and learned that God was preparing him for a significant event on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). God's plan was to teach Elijah to be totally dependent on Him, and the lesson came through a very difficult episode in Elijah's life. One of the important lessons we learned about the One true God is that “Before God can use us greatly, He must wound us deeply.” Listen to the sermon below to learn how that truth played out in Elijah's life.

Wednesday Word: Saint

To the saints and faithful brethren who are in Colosse, in Christ.” 
Colossians 1:2

Someone has said that most of our problems as followers of Christ stem from the fact that we sometimes forget who we are in Christ Jesus. We're studying the book of Colossians in our Wednesday night Bible study and in v. 2 Paul addresses his letter “To the saints and faithful brethren who are in Colosse, in Christ” (v.2)

That word "saint" is such a profound word and we so often overlook the meaning and power of it. We don’t typically refer to people using that title to identify them. "Saint" isn’t something we typically put on our business cards - “George Miller, Saint of God”. We don’t even use it when referring to people in the church, fellow believers. We use the term “Christian” which is not a common term in the Bible, in fact it is only used 3 times in the New Testament. Saint, on the other hand, is used over 60 times in the NT to refer to the people of God. The root word is used more than 200 times and it means “to be holy, to be set apart, to be sanctified.” 

This word has has to do with identity in Christ. Saints are those people who have been saved by God, have been set apart by God, who have been made holy by God. This is not usually how we identify people, even people in the church, is it? There is another word the Bible uses and it is the one we most often gravitate toward when describing people including ourselves... "sinners." We most often describe ourselves as sinners, because that’s how we see ourselves, even those of us who are saved. We often say it this way, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace…” And while technically that’s true, the Bible doesn’t generally identify followers of Christ that way - the Bible identifies us as saints of God. 

This is so important because your identity or how you see yourself determines how you will act. If you see yourself as a sinner, even a sinner saved by grace, you will have a propensity to continue to sin and excuse yourself and say, “that’s just who I am. I don’t have a choice but to be this way because... I'm just a sinner.” But when you are saved by Christ, you are set free from the power of sin - you are set apart, sanctified, made holy by Christ; you are a new creature in Christ, old things have passed away behold all things become new. You are a saved sinner, and that makes you a saint in Christ Jesus. And when you see yourself as a saint in Christ, you will begin to live out who you really are. 

The key is, “in Christ” - you are a saint in Christ. That is who you are, not because of what you have done or are doing, but because of what Christ has done and is doing in you. You have to know who you are in order to be rightly aligned to the truth of Christ. Sinner describes who you were, but saint describes who you are, and who you are becoming. In Christ, you are becoming less of who you were (sinner) and more of who you are (saint in Christ.)

There is a saying circulating on the internet: "The devil knows your name, but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin, but calls you by your name." Satan, the "accuser" condemns you because of what you have done, but Jesus forgives you because of what HE has done, and He calls you not just by your name, but by His name... and that makes you a "saint in Christ." Never let the enemy tell you that you are just a sinner, when the word of God calls you a saint.

Join us each Wednesday night at 7:00pm at Grace Point Baptist Church as we study through the book of Colossians.

Knowing vs. Knowing About

TobyMac is a very successful Christian music artist, producer and author. He has sold more than 10 million albums, won 7 Grammy Awards, and has had 6 number one singles. His music and ministry has inspired millions in their walk with Christ. (You can check out his Youtube channel here.)

My wife jokingly tells peoples sometimes that we grew up with TobyMac. At first people think she means that we personally know Toby because we grew up in the same neighborhood or something, but what she means is that we grew up listening to and being inspired and encouraged by his music. We know a lot about him from his songs, his books, and articles written about him, but we don't have personal relationship with him. We've seen him in concert several times, but he wouldn't know us if we ran into him on the street. We know about him, but we don't know Him.

Unfortunately, I fear that many who call themselves "Christian" have a similar relationship with Jesus - they know about Him from His book (the Bible), been inspired by the stories about Him, and may even be big fans, but if they ran into Jesus on the street, they might know who He is, but He wouldn't "know" them in the sense of a personal relationship (see Matthew 7:21-23). I also fear that many "Christians" will find out this truth too late.

There is a big difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone in a personal relationship. Many people in Jesus' day knew about Him; they were touched by His ministry, encouraged by His teachings, maybe even blessed by His miracles, but never transformed through a saving relationship with the Savior of the world. That is still true today.

What does it mean to truly know Jesus as Lord? The Bible is the clear that we can know Jesus and enter a relationship with Him through repenting of our sins and placing our faith in Jesus alone for our salvation (Mark 1:14-15). "Repent" is not a word we often use in common conversation, but it is an important biblical word. Pastor John MacArthur says:

The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoia . . . Literally it means “afterthought” or “change of mind,” but biblically its meaning does not stop there. As metanoia is used in the New Testament, it always speaks of a change of purpose, and specifically a turning from sin. In the sense Jesus used it, repentance calls for a repudiation of the old life and a turning to God for salvation.
Such a change of purpose is what Paul had in mind when he described the repentance of the Thessalonians: “You turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

To repent means to make a "U-Turn", turning away from the gods of self and sin, and turning to the living God to follow Christ.

To believe is to recognize our own hopeless condition as a sinner, and putting our full trust in the person and finished work of Christ on the cross to save us from our sin. A relationship with Christ doesn't come when we try harder to do better, when we call ourselves "christian", or when we begin to practice religious rituals. A relationship with Christ happens when we come to the end of ourselves and trust that Jesus is enough for our salvation. We are saved by faith in Jesus, not by any "good works" that we do (see Ephesians 2:8-10).

The message of repentance and faith in Christ for salvation is what the Bible calls the gospel, or "good news." And here is the REALLY "good news" - unlike TobyMac who isn't seeking out a relationship with me (other than to get me to buy his music), Jesus is seeking out a relationship with you. He wants you to know Him, to really know Him, not just know about Him. And He, through the Holy Spirit, calls you into a relationship with Himself; He calls you to repent and believe, to turn from yourself in repentance, and turn to God in faith, AND He gives you the ability to do it.

I know this post isn't for everyone, but my prayer is that perhaps someone who stumbles across this may realize that there is a difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Him as Savior... and God would use this to draw them to Himself. If you'd like to continue the conversation, feel free to email me at glmiller1965@gmail.com, I'd love to connect with you.

Revive Us Again

Habakkuk is my favorite Old Testament prophet and I recently taught through the book on Wednesday nights. I'm partial to the last few verses of chapter, which have been my "life verses" for the last 30 years, but the Lord has caused verse 2 of chapter 3 to burn in my heart the last few weeks. It is Habakkuk's prayer for the Lord to revive or repeat His awesome works which He had performed in the past. Basically this is Habakkuk's prayer for revival.

Habakkuk had seen the Lord work in the past. Scholars put the prophetic ministry of Habakkuk sometime after King Josiah had been killed in the Battle of Meggido with the Egyptians. During his reign, Josiah had led the nation of Judah in a great spiritual renewal. Under his leadership false idols had been torn down and removed from Jerusalem, the Temple had been restored, a scroll (probably the book of Deuteronomy) had been found, and there had been a covenant renewal ceremony. Though Habakkuk had not yet begun to prophesy during this time, he was a witness to work of the Lord in spiritually reviving his nation.

But after the death of Josiah, the nation took a turn for the worst. Habakkuk's book begins with a series of questions about how long he was going to have to cry out to God about the sin, wickedness and violence that permeated the community of God's people. By the time we get to chapter 3, the prophet is crying out for God to renew His great works during his days and have mercy on His people.

Revival is a work of God that always begins in burdened prayer from God's people. When God determines to revive His people, He first weighs on them to pray and cry out to Him. Every move of God in history has been preceded by desperate, persistent and focused prayer. As God has worked in the past, He still works now. If we are to see God "renew His works" and revive His people in our day, it will only come when God's people get serious about prayer.