God

No Throw Away People

/ pastorpete51 / 11 Comments

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 ESV

“They’re a bunch of rapists, murderers and drug dealers. Filthy animals! Let’s lock ’em up and throw away the key!” When we read accounts of the recent deportation of gang members to a prison in El Salvador, if we are honest, we might have to admit that we have used these kinds of words. Does our heart secretly do a little dance each time we hear of another one being thrown in the clink, deported or shot by the police? I struggle with these very thoughts myself, but the Holy Spirit reminded me recently that God created each one of those young men and women in His own image. He breathed the same breath of life into their lungs, knit them together in their mothers’ wombs, and planned a home in heaven for them, just as He has done for me. Though they may have covered themselves with tattoos, and have lived a lifestyle contrary to God’s will, it in no way means that they have no value to Him. When Jesus looks down from heaven over them, He doesn’t say, “Well I told them so! Now they’ve finally gotten what they deserved!”

Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com

In fact, in the Bible we can find a list of men and women, a lot like them. “Yeah, like who?” you might ask with a gasp. Well, we could start with a murderous guy named Saul, who tells us that he was the chief ringleader of sinners. Then there was the working stiff named Peter. He fell to his knees in shame when Jesus blessed him with a boatload of fish, shouting, “Go away from here, I am a sinful man!” We also mustn’t forget the unfaithful woman caught in bed with her neighbor, the corrupt tax collector named Zaccheus and the brutal executioner standing at the foot of the cross, waiting for Jesus to die so he could go home for the night. None of these folks sounds like the type of company we hope to have sitting next to us in church on Sunday, but Jesus does! No, He didn’t join them in their sins, but He loved them with a radical love, that drove Him to the cross, accepted nails to be driven through His hands and feet, and allowed Himself to be stripped, crowned with thorns and spit on. His kind of love reached the thief dying next to Him, forgave those who killed him and even allowed Judas to kiss Him. The God who loved the world so much that He gave His only Son to die for us, came for sinners, because there were no other kinds of people. We all deserve to be locked away in the dark place of eternal punishment named hell and have the key thrown away forever. But instead of throwing us away, Jesus took our place and gave eternal life to everyone who repents and believes in Him: no exceptions! Now He commands (not suggests) that we offer that same love and forgiveness to others, because there are no, “Throw away people.” and no one so far away, that they cannot return to Him!

The Garden of Our Hearts

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Matthew 13:23 ESV

Too many times, we read about the Parable of the Sower and come to the conclusion that it is about becoming a Christian. Now, Jesus certainly does intend for us to include the time when a person first hears the gospel as one part of His story, but we need to remember that our relationship with Christ is more than a onetime experience. Being a Christian is becoming a garden where God comes to plant new seed every day. Sometimes our hearts are so hard, that we open the Bible, hear a nice sermon on the car radio or maybe even visit with someone on staff from our church, but our heart is elsewhere. We already have our day planned. No one, including God is going to alter our schedule, because we already know what is best. On the other hand, maybe we turn on Christian radio station and smile, tap our feet to the music and begin our drive to work with a cheerful “Christian” attitude. But somewhere along the way we get cut off in traffic, a construction zone blocks the road to our job, or we run into a snow squall along the way. Our smile disappears, we flick off the radio and that joyful feeling evaporates. Some days we may even dodge both of those obstacles and still are staying on track but there has also been something besides God’s word that has taken root in our heart. We may be harboring a secret sin, a longing for something outside of God’s plan for us. This is more than just an unexpected distraction, rather this is a desire for sin that we have hidden from everyone, including ourselves. This kind of problem may stay hidden for days, weeks or even years, but when we allow it to grow in God’s garden, it puts down deeper and deeper roots, until it chokes out God’s word and His plan for our lives. By this time the Christian life may seem hopeless, and we wonder where the excitement and joy of serving God has gone, but the good news is that there is still hope because every day Jesus goes out again to plant. This is a new day, and our Christian life is not just about our efforts, or getting goals accomplished, it is Christ in you and me. Just as a garden is not just about digging up the soil, weeding and taking out the stones. A garden is nothing until someone plants a seed and Jesus is planting a seed that contains the life of heaven in us again this morning. If we will only allow the gentle rainfall of His Spirit to soften our heart, invite His strong hands to dig out the stones of shallowness and pull out the weeds of sin, then that seed will grow again as God intended. We may not see the harvest this afternoon, but with quiet trust and patience one day it will yield the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control: (Galatians 5:22-23). So don’t give up hope, but instead let’s ask ourselves, “What is my life producing today, and Is Christ alive and growing in my heart?”

Nothing But the Blood

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13 NLT

I still remember the “I Found It” campaign, launched by Campus Crusade back in 1976. Billboards, bumper stickers and even lapel pins sported that phrase. The intent was to stir conversations, that would give Christians the opportunity to share the message of Christ. It was an interesting approach, but its message that, before being saved, we were searching for Christ and had somehow found Him, doesn’t line up well with the Bible. The entire Gospel is rather about Jesus coming as a shepherd searching for His lost sheep. He didn’t come because we were looking for Him, but because He was looking for us. The Good News of salvation is that the Holy Son of God, gave Himself as an innocent sacrifice for people like us, who had rejected Him. On the cross, as His blood poured down its timbers and touched the ground, a miracle occurred, a door opened wide, and a love story was told. Through the blood of Jesus, God reached out and claimed us as His own. “How can I be included?” you might ask. The answer is that, if God can redeem a failure like Peter, who had denied Him at His trial, a hater of Christians like Paul, and a doubter like Thomas, who demanded to put His hands on the nail prints before He would believe, then He can redeem you and me! In fact, I can’t find a thing, until He finds me first, not because of what I have done but through “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!” Last Sunday, we introduced that hymn into our growing songbook at the nursing home. I hope you will enjoy listening to our simple rendition of this classic, coupled with the more contemporary Maranatha song, “White as Snow.” Have a blessed day everyone!