“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Romans Chapter 8:

No condemnation — in Christ!

No separation – in Christ!

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

Greetings in the love and joy and peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Praise God!

We will be working through some of the passages in which Paul teaches us that we have a new “LIFE IN CHRIST.”

Do you know that the words “IN CHRIST” are used 119 times just in Paul’s letters alone?

Paul wrote thirteen letters to the churches plus his letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.  “IN CHRIST” is a dominating theme for Paul. It is fitting that the apostle Paul, who received the revelation of the mystery of the union of Jew and Gentile into one body, should coin a phrase to describe those incorporated into one body. This body is, of course, the body of Christ, the church. Pentecost is the church universal’s birthday; the day the promised Holy Spirit fell upon those who believed in Jesus.

I have a handout with a few of the 119 times where Paul tells us what life is like in Christ. If you would like one —- email me at: pastordave@theseedchristianfellowship.com and I will email you back a copy!

I would like to spend the next few minutes on verse one of Chapter 8 of Romans—possibly one of the greatest chapters in all of the living word!  In the Greek verse one is only eight words.  But these eight words are powerful and give us a promise of the freedom we have in Christ. I’m going to go over the verse as it is in presented in the Greek lineup—not in the English.

No! — oude

The first word in the Greek is an adjective with an emphasis.  The word is “No.” This word is weak in the English translation. In our texts it is a simple negative, like most other negatives. In the Greek text “no” (oude) is strongly emphasized. First, it is not the simple negative “ou” but the compound and therefore the stronger negative “oude.” Second, it occurs at the beginning of the sentence, which intensifies the negation. This word “oude” can be translated, “not one, nothing, no one, none, or just plain no.” The strong emphasis could be translated with a double negative like “no, nothing — no, not one— no—none— no,  no one–or simply no no!”

It’s important to note that this word Oude (NO, NO!) describes the noun “condemnation” for anyone who is IN CHRIST. There is simply no, no, no, not one, nothing, none—no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! That’s great news.

Therefore!— ara

The second great word in this sentence is “therefore.” To what does it refer?  Does “therefore” bring us back to the arguments of the struggle with sin in chapters 7, chapter 5 or chapter 3 of Romans? NO,NO! Most scholars say that Paul’s “therefore” is all inclusive, pointing back to the entire argument of the epistle—all 7 chapters prior!  The Good News that Paul is telling us is this—- there is no, not one, nothing, none, no, no, no condemnation for us. What Paul is really saying is this, “You know everything else I’ve written in this letter—in the previous 7 chapters…well all of that was to come to this: THEREFORE…there’s NO CONDEMNATION if you believe in Jesus Christ.

Why?  Because God’s work done in Jesus Christ (through his life, death and resurrection) and through the the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost—this all leads us to this one thing: there is now “no condemnation” for any person who is “in Christ”.

Now!— vuv

“Now” is a time word, pointing to the change that has come about as the result of our believing in the work of justification that Jesus Christ made possible by his death. Before we believed IN CHRIST, we stood condemned by God. We were due to suffer the penalty of an eternal death for our sins, the “wages of sin” being “death”.  But once we believe in Christ…therefore, there is now no condemnation.

Now — not tomorrow.

Now — not next week.

Now — not next year.

Now — not when you get your life together.

Now — not when you do good works for your sins.

NOW — is translated with words like, “at this present time, now, at this very time, just now.”

I love that word!

This past week, I was captured by that word in 2 Corinthians 5:5 — “NOW it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

I truly believe that God wants us to live in the now and not the the tomorrows or yesterdays. Will Rogers once wrote these profound words about living in the “NOW.” This is what he said, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.(1)

I know that I have at times allowed yesterday’s mistakes, sins, and failures to hold me back. What we are learning today is that if we are “in Christ,” yesterday’s sins contain no condemnation for us. Zero. None.

So What?

Now is the time to receive the undeserved and unearned gift of grace that God has given to us through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection and ascension into heaven —no, not one, none, nothing — no condemnation.

Condemnation — katakrima

This Greek word means that there has been a legal decision in a court case and the verdict is guilty. Did you hear that? “Guilty” was our status! If we were to read the opening chapters of Romans, we would see that we are to be condemned as sinners. We were condemned sinners, subject to the outpoured wrath of God. But suddenly Jesus entered our world and died for us, bearing the wrath of God in our place, and there is NOW “no condemnation” fort hose who are in Christ.  

This is such a groundbreaking chapter in the Bible. Chapter 8 starts with THERE IS NOW NOCONDEMNATION for those IN CHRIST JESUS…and ends with…THERE IS NOW NO SEPARATION from the LOVE OF GOD for those of us in Christ.

You see, what will happen when we each face the “Day of reckoning” is that we will have the greatest defender of all stand with us before the judge of all. No matter what the enemy says about us—the grace of God will cover us—if we are in Christ! Instead of a GUILTY verdict, our Lord and Savior will deliver to us a NOT GUILTY verdict—all because he paid the price of our sin on that cross at Calvary.

Oude ara vuv katakrima….

OUDE: No, nothing, no not one thing, no none, no no one, no, no, no….

ARA: Therefore…and not just chapter 7, 5 or 3…but the whole kicking kaboodle of the Bible and the fall of man has been covered by the blood of Jesus…

VUV: NOW….not yesterday, not when you were little, not in your teen years, not in your college years (OH BOY) no…not then…but NOW…just now…today, not yesterday…

KATAKRIMA: NOT GUILTY….

That’s not Greek to us anymore! How about in English? “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus. ”Romans 8:1

Let’s take a moment to pause and ponder the great grace of Jesus who pardons us…now might be a goodtime to say, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me”

I don’t know about you, but I want to run around right now and shout, “HEY! I am IN CHRIST, people! I AM LIVING IN CHRIST!”

Hey, sow a seed of faith in you today. Then go plant that seed into your family, friends, strangers, etc. Who doesn’t need to hear the living word of Jesus Christ? Not GUILTY. Saved. Justified (Just as I’ve never sinned), forgiven.That big gavel in the judges hand is going to slam onto the desk and, if you are a believer, if Jesus Christ is your lord and Savior, you are going to hear over and over again, NOT GUILTY.

Your “SO WHAT?” homework for the week: How does this SEED OF FAITH make me feel? Give me 3 words that describe how you feel knowing there’s no condemnation for you? Here are my three: free, forgiven, unafraid.

“Father God, I believe. I believe Jesus is your only son who died for my sins. Forgive me. Set me free to live in Christ…today and tomorrow. Thank you that after a long and  surly court case—you have declared me NOT GUILTY and I am free from all condemnation. Help me to turn from my wicked way and to learn how to live the rest of my life in Christ. God, help me. Amen.”

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Acts 2:17-21

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

It is my prayer that each of us grows in the grace of Jesus Christ and that we get so full of this amazing grace that we go in the power of the Holy Spirit sowing SEEDS of faith in our world. God’s love and grace are transformational, so get out there in your world and sow those seeds of faith!

God wants us to know His Ways and desires for us to be empowered by His “Ruach” Holy Spirit to live Holy lives, bearing much fruit in Him. Have you ever thought that God wants us to live a holy life? Salvation. Sanctification. Glorification. Three powerful words and three powerful life transformations. Salvation—we believe Jesus is God’s only Son, who died for our sins, then rose triumphant on the 3rd day. Sanctification—from the moment we are “saved”, we grow further and further into sanctification; being made holy in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, we take our last breath and we arrive in heaven—glorified. Triumphant.

So let’s start with a first “so what?” Holy. Are you trying to live a holy life?

In Ezekiel, the prophet gave these words to the Jewish people. “And I will put My Ruach —Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules.”  (Ezekiel 36:27)

You might not know the name Angelo Dundee, but you have undoubtedly heard of Muhammad Ali, probably the most famous professional boxer of all time. For more than two decades, Angelo Dundee was in Muhammad Ali’s corner, literally. He was Ali’s cornerman! He is the one who made Ali float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. He also trained fifteen other world boxing champions. Angelo Dundee described his job as a cornerman this way: “When you’re working with a fighter, you’re a surgeon, an engineer, and a psychologist.”[i]

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have someone even better than a surgeon-engineer-psychologist in our corner we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third PERSON of the Trinity!

The disciples were told to “go and wait” for the promise gift that Jesus would give. One note that we should see is that the disciples were obedient, and they went and waited and waited and waited. They waited ten days and then whoosh the Holy Spirit came in like a mighty wind and tongues of fire filled the place and everyone who was in the room. In verse four we read these words from Dr Luke, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Luke 2:4)

The Greek word for “all” means “all.” All one hundred and twenty of those gathered were filled, which means in Greek to be “generously supplied or overflowing” with the Holy Spirit. After being generously filled, they then began to speak. The Greek word for speak is one of those present active verbs which means the act of speaking never stopped. The Holy Spirit filled them generously and repeatedly so that they could continue to speak over and over again.

Imagine with me that you have decided to go sailing. The problem is that you know next to nothing about sailing. So, you go to the store, and you purchase several books to find out what is involved. You carefully read them and then you talk to a veteran sailor who answers questions for you. The next day, you rent a sailboat. You examine it closely to make certain that everything needed for a successful sailing experience is present and in good working order. Then, you take your boat out onto the lake. Your excitement is at a fever pitch, though you’re also afraid. But you follow the instructions you have read, and the counsel received from the experienced sailor, and you launch your boat into the water. You carefully monitor each step and hoist the sail.[ii]

At that precise moment you learn a crucial lesson. You can study sailing. You might even be able to build a sailboat. You can seek from the wisest and most veteran of sailors. You can cast your boat onto the most beautiful of lakes under a bright and inviting sun. You can successfully hoist the sail. But—and this is a big “but”—only God can make the wind blow!

“You and I can study the Bible…. We can orchestrate a worship service according to biblical guidelines. We can do everything that lies in the power of a Christian man or woman. But only the Spirit can make the wind blow inside that service!

The power of the Holy Spirit was what enabled the disciples to continually speak about Jesus. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that put wind in the sails of the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. It was to power of the Holy Spirit that the birthed the church and on the day of Pentecost three thousand people were added.

So What?

At the closing of our reading in verses seventeen through twenty-one, we hear the quote from Joel that says that Holy Spirit will be poured on all people: Young men, old men, servants, men, and women, will prophesy. The Holy Spirit will show wonders in the heavens and signs below. But the promise is this: all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. The Greek word for “saved” means “to be rescued, delivered, healed, to keep safe, and unharmed.”

When I finally came to faith in Christ a verse from Romans eight forever changed my life. It was Romans 8:15-16 — “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you aslave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry,“Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’schildren.” Romans 8:15-16

It was the Spirit of sonship that forever changed my life. What I heard was that God wanted to be my Father and I would be His son and he would be with me forever. Then verse sixteen said that it was His Spirit that would testify to my spirit that the presence of the Holy Spirit would never leave me. It was that promise of the presence of the Holy Spirit that forever changed my life. (January 1981)

Tesla. Chevy. Nissan. Porsche. Audi. VW. A dozen major carmakers are now building electric vehicles, and the market is expected to grow.

But there is a problem: The charging ports are all over the cars.

When you go to a gas station to fill up your gas-powered car, you can be pretty sure that you will pump gas into the tank from the side of the car, near the rear. But where do you put the charger into your electric car?

Could be the front. Or the back. Or one of the sides. Very confusing.

In Korea, the car-maker Hyundai recently embarked on a project of building public charging stations in Seoul, and they wanted to accommodate as many car brands as possible. According to Fast Company magazine, they tapped the consulting firm McKinsey to design a universal charger that would easily work with any electric car.

The result was the “Hyundai Hi-Charger,” and you will never guess what inspired its design. “Self-serve car washes,” says a partner at McKinsey. “They have the sprayer hanging down from the top and it kind of rotates around.”

Same with the Hyundai Hi-Charger. It has a beacon, featuring a glowing halo. The halo rotates and drops the charging cable in just the right spot, depending on the make and model of your electric car.[iii]

It is a universal charger.

The promise of Pentecost is that God is with us, always with us, and this is true for all Christians, not just those labeled Pentecostal or Charismatic. It echoes the promise made when Jesus was given the name Emmanuel, which means “God is with us” (Matthew1:23). The Holy Spirit is our Universal Charger, hovering above us and within us. Bringing us the healing, help, wisdom, knowledge and guidance we need, in every time, place, and situation.

Let me ask you again? Except let me word it a little differently: How are you doing allowing the HOLY SPIRIT (the universal charger) to grow the HOLY in you?

If we could only get a glimpse! We’ve been saved and sealed with God’s very own holy spirit. Maybe it’s a good time to pray?

”Holy Spirit, I want my life to grow in holiness. God has promised never to leave me, never to forsake me. Today, maybe show me just one thing I can do, just one thing I can say, just one thing I can read that will feed my spirit and grow my roots deeper in Jesus Christ. Amen.”

I’m praying for you. I pray for you each day. Do you know why I went into ministry? My biggest hope is to watch lives be transformed by God’s grace, love, and power!

Hey, sow a seed of faith in you today. Then go save the world.

See you Sunday.

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:2-3

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:4-5

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,
In verses four and five of the books of Acts, I was stopped in my study with the words “wait” and “promise.”  I know that there are many words in these verses that we could spend a lot of time on. We could talk about the command that Jesus gives. Why is it so hard to follow Jesus’ commands? We heard hurry and“ Go and Tell.” We heard “Go and Make.” Now we hear “Do Not Leave Jerusalem.” Is Jesus thinking clearly!?  Jerusalem is not a safe place. Does not Jesus remember what happened the last time they were all in Jerusalem? Wait! Wait in Jerusalem!

We can hardly wait for our phone to connect to the internet as the little circle goes round and round. A funny side note, I know a woman who was directed by the Holy Spirit to pick the word WAIT as her word of intention two years ago. She truly learned how to wait that year.
The Greek word that Dr. Luke uses for “wait” is “perimeno” and it is a present active verb that mean that the action is continuous– to “stay in one place and anticipate or expect” over and over and over again. Never stop waiting. Keep on waiting.

I think of Abraham and Sarah waiting almost 80 years to have a baby. I think of Daniel in the lion’s den waiting for God to rescue him in the morning. I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego waiting in a fiery furnace. I think of Moses and the Israelites waiting and wandering in the wilderness for forty years. It was forty days that the Israelites waited when Goliath stood and challenged them and mocked God. Then David showed up with a sling shot and five smooth stones. Zechariah and Elizabeth waited for years for their baby, John the Baptist. How about the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethsaida? He waited for 38 years to be healed. Martha and Mary waited for Jesus to show up but then their brother died. Lazarus had been dead four days by the time Jesus showed up and what does he do? Resurrection time! Those are just some of the stories of the people in the bible who are waiting.

Are you waiting on Jesus? You, my friend, are in great company.

Jesus commanded the disciples to wait for the promise. The promise was the Holy Spirit. The person and the power of the Holy Spirit. In next week’s SEED OF FAITH we will spend some more time talking about the Holy Spirit—just wait!
But rest assured. When Jesus promises something — it will come to be fulfilled. It would be good to hold onto some of the promises in the Bible. One of the best promises we have been given is that we will have the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Remember the ending of Matthew. Jesus gave the Great Commission and said — “Remember I will be with you always even to the end of the age.”

So What?

We can all be witnesses. Can I Get A Witness!?
Here is your SO WHAT PASTOR DAVE homework for the week: As you wait, pray. Yep. When you go the grocery store and are waiting in line, stop, look around and pray for the people you see. Do the same at the gas station, at the doctor’s, everywhere you go—and as you are forced to GO AND WAIT…why not try praying for the places we go and people we see? I always ask the Holy Spirit to give me the people’s heart as I pray. We never know how our prayers will affect another heart. Let me give you an example: 31 years ago our eldest daughter graduated from High School. We threw a big party for her and invited everyone we knew! A young girlfriend of our daughter’s came to the party but decided she was to shy to come in. She dropped off her gift and left. My wife is a terrific communicator and she sensed that this young girl needed prayer. She prayed for her, asked our daughter who she was, and then Jac sent her a card thanking her for coming to the party and leaving a gift. Inside her card my wife enclosed a magnet—a GOD loves you magnet.
You are going to have to read next week’s SEED OF FAITH in order to understand how important it is in the kingdom of God for us to learn to wait. Let’s put Habukkuk to memory: Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

We sang a song last week by the group CAIN called THE COMISSION. Somewhere in the song we sang, “I have the purpose…God has the plan.” May we always remember that. The song is not IN MY TIME…but IN HIS TIME. God will make all things beautiful IN HIS TIME.

Want to know what happened in 31 years time with this young lady?

WAIT.

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

After Easter worship, my wife and I jumped on a plane! That’s right, as soon as worship services and the egg hunt were completed, my wife and I flew to Texas in order to show up for five of our two grandsons’ baseball games for the week. What a joy and blessing it was to be there. Our younger grandson plays high school base ball and had two great games.  Of course, I could brag and show you videos and pictures. His older brother is a freshman in college. If you don’t know this, college sports are a whole other beast of athletism. Mason is a lefthanded pitcher. He is one pitcher on a team of 20 pitchers. Freshman usually have to pay their dues and that translates to: we sat in the stands and watched an all-day during double hitter and only saw our grandson warm up! We left Waco at 10 am, drove to Dallas, spent the day and returned home at 10 pm. It was a long, 12-hour day. Our grandson may not have gotten the chance to pitch in the game but the important thing is that we showed up. We cheered the team on (they won one, lost one.) We were able to watch our grandson snag balls during infield practice, and warm up in the dugout. After the first game, he was able to talk with us for a few minutes in the stands. He apologized for not playing and that we drove such along way for that. We told him, “Mason, just remember to show up. Life isn’t about showing up because you’re the star of the game. Life is just about showing up no matter what.”

When Jesus met Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in the garden by the empty tomb, He told them not to be afraid, but He actually told them more. Listen to Jesus’ words … Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Matthew 28:10

If you have read the Bible, you know that there are many resurrection appearances of Jesus that have been recorded. The New Testament indicates that there were at least ten appearances of the risen Lord, plus another appearance to Paul some years later. As we noted in our opening reading of the Gospel of John, Jesus appeared in the Upper room not once but twice. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appears to the disciples walking down the road to Emmaus after the resurrection.  In John we find Jesus appearing to the disciples on the seashore in Galilee and cooking fish tacos for their morning breakfast. We hear of Jesus forgiving Peter three times by asking Peter to love Him and feed His sheep. Did Jesus do that so that He and bff Pete were “even up” for the three times that Peter denied knowing Jesus? Maybe.  In eight of these appearance accounts, Christ gives an explicit commission, and in five of the eight he commands his followers to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Our reading in Matthew comes after breakfast by the sea. Some scholars suggest that the timing of Matthew’s account is some fifty to fifty-five days after the resurrection. We could spend some time trying to put all the pieces together chronologically, but I do not think that is what we are called to do.

In Matthew, Jesus gives some powerful action points that are necessary for His followers to follow in order to fulfill their supreme mission on earth–to reach the mountain peak of their calling, as it were. These action points I would like to address over the next few Seeds of Faith: show up, worship, obedience — go make, baptize, and teach.

Notice the ending of verse 10 and the action in verse 11.  The women were told to go and tell the disciples (hiding in the upper room) to go the Galilee for there they would see Jesus. You know what the disciples did? They went.  That is what verse eleven tells us. They showed up, they were available.

I wonder how often I have failed to show up. I try and listen to what God is trying to tell and ask of me through the Holy Spirit each moment of each day. Sometimes I miss the boat and the result is I miss the opportunity to see God at work in my life and in the lives of others.

While we were in Texas, my wife and I went to one of my favorite Christian book stores (Mardel) to walk around and browse the books and Christian art. We picked out only a few books this trip knowing that we only had so much room in our 48 pound suitcases! We were standing in the checkout line—which was long—and my wife started waving all the other people behind us to go ahead of us. They only had one or two items and we had 7 books and we were in no hurry. The lady just in front of my wife thanked us because she only had a small amount of time before she had to go pick up her kids and she had prayed that she’d get in and out in record time. You know my wife, they talked about kids and then my wife noticed the title of the two books this woman was buying, The books were by Lysa Terkeurst! She was buying Lysa’s newest book called, “You’ll Get Through This”. The woman saw my cross and asked if I was a pastor. Then she shared with us that she was going through a messy divorce. They had been married 35 years and he just left for another younger woman. By now she was crying. Jac asked her about the books she has read by Lysa. Turns out, she has read almost all of them—except, she missed GOOD  BOUNDARIES AND GOODBYES—the very study our SEED BOSSY women are studying this Spring! Jac was like, “NO! NO! You need to get this book before you get that book! This boundaries book is the precursor and foundation of that book! First, you need to know about boundaries and good byes!” You got it, I had already left the line and had gone to pick up the study guide and the book. Jac is leading the women’s study at the SEED. While I was gone, the woman told Jac, “OK. I will go home, go to work and make more money and come back and get that study in two weeks.” After the woman checked out, Jac asked her if she could wait just another moment for a blessing. You got it. THE SEED bought this woman the tools she needed to finish her mountain climbing for this season. Oh, how she cried. After we were done checking out our own 7 books, we went off to the side of the checkout aisle and prayed for this broken-hearted person. Jac wrote down an encouraging note in her book, showed her how to access the 6 videos online and left her cell phone number.

SO WHAT?

Point number one!  Show up — be available. As we were listening to the Christian radio in Waco, a caller shared that she had participated in the local PAY IT FORWARD TUESDAY last week. You know, you’re in the drive up line and someone pays for the car behind them? This person drove through the bistro and said, “ I want to pay for mine and for the car behind me.” The next Tuesday this woman showed up again and the bistro told her that the last time they paid it forward—20 cars!

What I’m trying to tell you is that you don’t always go out and say, “Here I am. Showing up!” Sometimes you simply are nothing but available. You’re there and ALL OF A SUDDENLY…there’s an opportunity to watch God work…and God may even be using you to do just that!

That’s what Jesus is commanding here. “Go tell the family of God to JUST SHOW UP. I’ll take care of the rest.”

See you Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers,

It is my prayer that you are staying healthy and are walking with Jesus as you season your world.

This a two-part message. This week will talk about being a little salty. Next week, we will see how light can shine.

In the days of Jesus, and for many centuries thereafter, salt was the most common preservative used. There were no refrigerators, no deep freezers in ancient times. Salt was used to keep things from going bad and becoming rotten, particularly meat. When Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot” Jesus was telling His disciples that they were called to be the preserving agent in a decaying world.

This simple principle from Jesus is that you and I are called to be a preserving force in our world–wherever we are called to live, work, play and worship.

Think of it this way — salt that never leaves the box on the shelf will do no good in preserving anything. To be effective, salt has to be rubbed into the meat. Have you gone into the grocery store and looked at all of the “rubs” they have for seasoning your steak? In this same way, we must allow God to use us as flavorful seasoning (rub) for our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, families, and churches. A small amount of love and kindness goes a long way in making our world a better place.

Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride–common table salt–the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor.

Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various, contrary doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, truth can turn people away from the gospel. But when truth and love are combined in an individual or in a church then we have what Jesus called “the salt of the earth,” and we are able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.

The other day I went to the grocery store to do some shopping. I went to buy juice for home communions, I came across an insight on flavoring. I was holding a bottle of Blueberry Pomegranate Juice. There was a picture of a ripe pomegranate spilling its exotic, glistening seeds onto mounds of fat, perfect blueberries. I read the ingredient list: “Filtered water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate.” Where was the blueberry? Where was the pomegranate? Finally, I found them, fifth and seventh in a list of nine ingredients.

By law, food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. Meaning a product contains the greatest proportion of the first ingredient on the list and successively less of those farther down the list. According to the jug in my hand, it contained mostly water—a few other juices, with just enough blueberry and pomegranate for flavor and color.

In the bottom corner of the front label in small, easy-to-miss, were the tell-tale words: “Flavored juice blend with other natural ingredients.” The enticing pictures and clever labeling were decoys used to sell a diluted, blueberry-pomegranate flavored product convincingly disguised to look like something it was not. I put the juice back on the shelf. I chose the juice that was more costly—but it had more of what I was looking for.

So What?

That jug of juice made me think, what if we had an ingredients list printed on us?

Would Jesus be the main ingredient?

If not, how far down the list would He be?

Would our “label” accurately represent our contents?

Or would we falsely project a misleading outward-appearance that cleverly masked our diluted ingredients? Our packaging may be convincing. We may look and sound like the real thing but what if someone came looking for Jesus and found something else?

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertaker.” (Today In The Word, June, 1988, p. 13).

More than a hundred years ago the atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche reproached a group of Christians. Nietzsche said: “Yuck, you make me sick!” When their spokesman asked why, he answered, “because you redeemed don’t look like you are redeemed. You are as fearful, guilt-ridden, anxious confused, and adrift in an alien environment as I am. I am allowed. I do not believe. I have nothing to hope for. But you people claim you have a Savior. Why don’t you look like you are saved?” (Brennan Manning, Souvenirs of Solitude, 2009, Colorado Springs, NavPress)

Every Sunday my loving wife prays for me before church. Every Sunday she concludes with the same prayer, “Lord, help Dave to be funny. Let him reflect the peace and joy he has in knowing you. Amen.” Knowing Jesus really is the best part of my life. And Jesus wants us to be SALT to our world. He wants us to RUB off on others. It only takes a small amount of salt to flavor whatever we are using it on; the same way with us—it only takes a small amount of the love of Jesus to rub off on those in our tiny sector of the world. That’s our job: to be the SALT of the earth.

I leave you with your “SO WHAT?” homework:

• Am I the SALT of the Savior? Divide my life into who I am, what I’m doing, and where I’m going—and let’s spread the love of God everywhere we are.

• What if I had an ingredients list printed on me? Would Jesus be the main ingredient? What do I need to do in order to be more like Christ?

My prayer for you today: Be funny! (Just kidding.) Seriously, let’s take some time to sit with this SEED OF FAITH. Let’s look at our lives. If I’m the SALT of the EARTH, am I RUBBING off on those I live with? work with? worship with? Everywhere I go, am I seasoning others with God’s tremendous love? “Dear Father, I want others to know you and to experience your grace and love and forgiveness. Help me to fill my heart, mind, soul, spirit, body and strength with your living words of life so that I can be a living, walking, talking gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t want Jesus to be the last ingredient on my label; I want Jesus listed first. Help me to be more like Jesus. Amen.” 

See you Sunday! 

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www,theseedchristianfellowship.com

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Matthew 4:1

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers:

Greetings! Today’s assignment? Read Matthew 4:1-11. Put yourself in the story and then put the story in you!

The enemy of our soul loves to get us when we are alone or lonely. I think that is why worry or being anxious was listed as the number one temptation. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, led into the desert, and tempted. And right before all of this, Jesus was baptized…the dove descended and THE VOICE of God was heard saying God was well pleased with Jesus! Immediately Jesus is out in the desert having not eaten for 40 days. (Are you there in the story? Ever taken a tour of the desert?)

There’s one thing I’ve noticed: Temptation doesn’t come when we are the strongest; temptations come when we are the weakest. Or, maybe when we are strong—we can resist easier. It is when we are tired, worn out, poured out—that we often fall to temptation.  One of my spiritual directors taught me HALT. He told me that most temptations and failures come when these four things happen:
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired|
As a pastor, I am constantly trying to scan my horizon so that I am not hungry, angry, lonely, and tired all at the same time. I know what happens when I am all four of those dangers. I am at my weakest.
True confession here, I do not sit and read my Bible and do my daily devotionals because I am some sort of religious freak. I read my Bible because for me not to HALT…I need to fill my mind and heart and spirit and soul with God’s living word

Jesus being in the wilderness for forty days parallels the stories of Moses on Mt. Horeb for forty days (Exodus 34:2,28; Deut. 9:9) and Elijah on the way to the same mountain in I Kings 19. Paul also went into the wilderness after his conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul’s wanderings in the wilderness of Arabia are recorded in Galatians 1:17. More importantly Jesus’ wilderness experience reflects the wandering of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The temptation of Jesus also parallels the temptation of Adam. In fact, you could say that the first Adam had everything that he wanted. He was in the Garden of Eden with everything at his disposal and the serpent came slinking into the Garden in the form of a snake and said, “Did God really say?”

The first temptation here in our story is a simple test to destroy the confidence that Jesus had in His Heavenly Father. Do you see how subtle the devil is? He comes along and twists a word of two and says — ““If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” The devil speaks lies and accusations and tempts Jesus to distrust the powerful words that were spoken earlier at Jesus’ baptism — “This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.” What a contrast — “If you are God’s son” and “This is my beloved son.” Whom will you believe? God says you are precious in His sight, beloved…Satan wants us to question IF we are God’s child.

Temptation is serious business. Remember that God will not tempt you, but God will test you to see what you are made of.
Temptation is common to all people—pastor or not. Temptation is a time of trial and testing. It is a process of experience. I think Jesus was trying to show his disciples that our lives will be filled with temptations. He went first to show us the way to overcome. Are you in this story, yet?

Jesus had a choice to either believe the devil’s words or to believe the words that His heavenly Father spoke to Him. The devil first tries to get Jesus to distrust God. The devil plants doubt in Jesus mind that he will not be provided for His personal needs. Jesus responds with the clue to overcoming, “It is written!”

The devil speaks and then Jesus speaks — “It is written.” Jesus knew how to defeat the devil’s wily schemes! Jesus knew the Words of God. Jesus believed what His heavenly Father spoke about Him. This is why it is so important for you and me to spend time in God’s word. Read a verse…read a chapter…read a psalm…so that you can reply to the tempter, “IT IS WRITTEN… GET OUTTA HERE!”

First Temptation — Serving Self
Why are our physical needs so hard to trust God with? Was God capable of feeding Jesus?
Remembering the mocking cry at the cross — Matthew 27:40, 42-43 “If you are the Son of God…”?
How often do we put our physical needs above our spiritual needs? Seems to me that during one week, there are 3 meals a day—or 21 meals a week that are available for us to feed our physical body. How many of us are opening our LIVING WORD 21 times a week? How about just 7? How about once a day? Buckle up. Open up.
“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” Luke 4:4 Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 that says: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Second Temptation — Testing God
The devil quotes Scripture — Psalm 91:11-12 with a subtle twist — Satan left out the important phrase “in all Your ways.
Jesus replies, “It is written, ‘Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.’” Deuteronomy 6:16
This story is when the Israelites started quarreling with Moses in the desert and they tested God! Moses named the place MASSAH—which means TEST—and MERIBAH—which means ARGUING. The people were griping and saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?” Evidently, the people weren’t getting their way. They were being tested and they didn’t like it. (Sound familiar?)

Third Temptation — Worshipping Satan
First, Satan suggests what Jesus should do for himself. Second, Satan suggests what God should do for Jesus. Third, Satan suggests what Satan can do for Jesus — that is how Satan comes to us. Telling us that what we desire belongs to us and he will give it to us. Do you think self-will is Satan’s will or is it the opposite of God’s will?
What does Matthew 6:24 remind us to do — “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
One of my favorite passages in the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 6:33 … “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When Jesus is tempted to worship something or someone us his reply is simple but not easy. It is written — “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” Deuteronomy 6:13

Many of us can recognize a huge, Niagara-like temptation when we see it. Many of us decide to go a different route. But so often it is a million little decisions that lead us into a lifestyle of sin and failure.
We begin the story of Jesus in the wilderness by saying, “Me, too! Yes, me too—on being tempted and tested!” Remember that Jesus went into the desert full of the Holy Spirit. He had just been baptized. He had just heard the Father’s voice. A huge weapon in our arsenal against the wilderness and temptation is to fill our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits with God’s word.
I referee high school wrestling. This weekend was a big tournament and I reffed 12 hours each day. When I got home last night, I said I wanted to go to In N Out. Listen, at 8:30 pm that place was full. There were cars everywhere. There was nowhere to sit and the drive up was backed out past the intersection. We parked and walked inside. We were number 47. As we scanned the packed dining room with no place to sit, I heard them call number 3. I looked at my wife and said, “You got to be kidding me.” After 15 minutes, I spotted a family leaving so I walked over to claim the seats. Funny thing, so did another guy! We got there first. Those seats were ours! But there was a problem. We only need two seats, he needed all four. My wife said, “We can eat in our car…” We talked back and forth with the guy who didn’t want to take our seats from us. “NO! We insist” cried my lovely wife and she grabbed my arm and walked me away. Ten minutes later, we got two seats at the back counter. There we sat and continued waiting for number 47! Remember the guy who stole my table? He walked up to us and said, “Please, here’s $20—I want to buy your dinner for giving up your seats to my family. I feel guilty for taking them.” We talked back and forth and ended up shaking hands but telling him to go for yogurt after dinner! Tempted. Hungry. But not LONELY. Seriously, this could have ended differently for me.

This week I want you to do a daily, personal inventory. Every day ask yourself: Am I hungry, angry, lonely or tired? Listen, you don’t have to be all four before you HALT and go find quiet time to read God’s word, or listen to Christian music. An amazing thing happens when we read or hear God’s word…it becomes the living word inside of us and the living word is what will help us to overcome our hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness—our trials, tests, and temptations.

Is this story in you, yet? The story of how Jesus overcame temptation three times in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. This story…offers us some key wisdom for the tests, trials, and turbulence in our lives.

IT IS WRITTEN…say it with me…IT IS WRITTEN…and the quote your favorite bible verses out loud. We are more than conquerors, friends, we are overcomers because CHRIST overcame hell, death, and the grave. On the third day, He rose.

See You Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers and fellow ADVENT adventurers,

We are in the fourth week of Advent! The first week of Advent was the candle of Hope.  The second week of Advent was the candle of Love.  The third week of advent was the candle of Joy.  This week is the candle of Peace. 

I have a few acronyms to make it easier to remember what we’re doing:
 
HOPE          
Heaven’s
One
Promise                
Eternity

LOVE
Listen 
Observe
Value
Encourage

JOY
Jesus
Others
You

PEACE
Peace
Exists
As 
Christ
Enters 

Who here needs peace?  Who needs the peace of Christ to enter into your life, home, workplace, finances, relationships, health?

I encourage you to stop right now and read Luke 2:8-20. Twelve short verses that tell quite a story. Then, when you have read the story, read it again and put yourself into it. Are you a shepherd boy? or maybe you are the innkeeper sharing your barn? Maybe you’re an angel? Maybe you are Joseph or Mary? These last few days before Christmas, let’s work on putting this story, the Christmas story, into us so that we can live the story from a manger point of view. 
Peace With God.
Christ of the Andes is an impressive symbol of peace. Once Chile and Argentina were enemies and fought constantly. At last they decided it was in their mutual interest to live in peace. So, high upon their natural boundaries, the Andes Mountains, they erected a great statue of Christ with outstretched arms. The inscription reads: “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the Argentines and Chileans break the peace sworn at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.” Christmas reminds us of the coming of peace to earth.[i]
 
Have you ever stopped to ponder and pray about why Jesus came to earth?  Why did Jesus come as a little baby?  Surly the people of Israel were not looking for newborn baby born in manger. They were looking for a Prince of Peace coming in as a conquering King, riding a white horse and setting them free.
 
The world that Jesus entered was filled with pain, problems, trails, trouble, tribulations, despair, desolation, and depression.  The people were held captive by their Roman rulers and they wanted to be free.  More importantly, they were also being held captive by their sin that separated them from God. The Prince of Peace came to bring Peace to the world through his reconciling life, death, and resurrection. Right here in this second chapter of Luke, the God of Peace breaks through the cosmos and walks into our broken world.
 
The angels sing — “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
 
God sent His one and only Son into this broken world to reconcile us. “Reconcile: to cause friendly relations between, cause to exist in harmony, to become compatible with.” You heard that right. God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to the earth when the time was right. God’s plan A? To reconcile the people who believe. Because of Jesus Christ, we can be in a right relationship with God, we can exist in harmony and we can be compatible with God, and others and ourselves. 
 
In Isaiah 53 we have one of the prophecies called the Servant Song.  Listen to how the prophet Isaiah puts our peace. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
 
Pause and ponder those words as we reflect on the little baby born in dirty, dusty, smelly, non-heated, cold, dark, stable; outside, in a cave of rock. Brrr.  This baby will be pierced for our transgression and sins. This child born to us will be crushed for our iniquities and immoralities, for our half-truths, lies, gossip, jealousy, shame, guilt and foolishness. The punishments that will be laid upon this baby boy will bring us peace!  By His wounds we will be healed. Sounds quite unfair, one-sided, and lop-sided to me.
 
The God of peace broke through our world in order to bring peace between you and me and between us and God. RECONCILE—compatible, harmony, friendly relations—like Argentina and Chile!
 
Jesus is our peace, not in some wily-nilly emotional way. Jesus is our Prince of Peace in a real and concrete way. Jesus is our Prince of Peace by coming into this broken world and making us whole and complete by forgiving us, healing us, and restoring us back into a relationship with God who created us and loves us. RECONCILIATION—a good word in the story to put into your heart this morning.

 So What?
When I was serving a church in Texas, I worked a grace weekend called Walk to Emmaus.  I was one of the three clergy, pastors, or spiritual directors as they called them on the weekend.  I gave a talk about God’s Justifying Grace.  The talk centers on the fact that God has sent His one and only Son Jesus to justify us and set us free.  Justify—just as if I’d never sinned.  That’s how God sees us as soon as we believe in Jesus Christ.
 
After giving that talk, a man in his 80’s, came up to me asked me if he could talk with me. He told me that he had been a bomber pilot in WWII and flew combat missions over Germany and France.  He told me that he could never forgive himself for dropping bombs that hurt and killed innocent people. He said that after hearing the talk about Justifying Grace that somehow God had given him a peace that surpassed all his understanding. He cried and cried in my arms. This man had peace as Christ entered his life.
 
P — Peace
E — Exists
A — As
C — Christ
E — Enters
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what I do, God will never stop loving me.
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what happens, God will never leave me alone.
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what will happen in the New Year or the years to come, the Prince of Peace will be with me.
 
Real peace is knowing that the guilt of the past failures, mistakes and sins are forgiven.
 
Real peace is knowing that grief of the losses we have experienced will be overcome by the Prince of Peace.
 
Real peace is knowing that we can give up the grudges that cause us to become resentful and give them to the Prince of Peace.
 
Peace exists as Christ enters.
 
The “SO WHAT?” for you today, this final week of the Advent Season, is for you to allow the Prince of Peace to enter into your life.  No matter what you have done.  No matter where you are.  No matter what your circumstances, difficulties, failures, faults sins, guilt, grief, and grudges are.
 
Peace exists as Christ enters. Pray it with me: Everlasting Father, Mighty Counselor, Prince of PEACE…enter your story into my heart—right now…and every second after…and remind me of the greatest story ever told. The story where God prepared the world for the most magical night of all: CHRISTMAS…and may I sing with the angels, may I scream with the angels: GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND PEACE..PEACE..to His people on earth! I choose right now to live in harmony with you—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Forgive me for my sins. I am so very sorry for my selfish choices. Thank you, Jesus, for your birth…your life…and your death and resurrection. I am a NEW creation. BORN AGAIN…to live out your story in my story. WOW. Amen.

See you Saturday night, 5 pm, online or at church as we gather to remember CHRISTMAS EVE!

Merry Christmas! I pray you are prepared for the birthday of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Hey! I’m thinking of having ANGEL FOOD CAKE on Christmas Day; a concrete way of putting myself into the story and putting the story into me! GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave 
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com 

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers!

It is my prayer that we are learning to grow in the grace of Christ each day. I have been thinking about the wonderful hymn, “How Great Thou Art.” I encourage you to take a minute and YouTube your favorite version of this song and sing at the top of your lungs.  Pause and ponder the powerful lyrics and the deep meaning behind the words.

This is an inspiring hymn of praise and adoration, reminding us of God’s unlimited power and love. Although written in 1886, the hymn has become familiar to congregations everywhere around the world.
It especially became an international favorite after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team used it in their crusades during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.

The original text was written by a Swedish pastor, Carl Boberg, in 1886. While visiting a beautiful country estate, Boberg was caught in a sudden thunderstorm. The awesome and violent lightning and thunder quickly ended, leaving clear,  brilliant sunshine and the calm, sweet singing of the birds in the trees. Falling on his knees in awe and adoration of Almighty God, the pastor wrote nine stanzas of praise. Swedish congregations began to sing his lines to one of their old folk tunes. The text was later translated into German and Russian and ultimately into English by the Reverend S. K. Hine and his wife, English missionaries to the people of the Ukraine. When war broke out in 1939, it was necessary for the Hines to return to Britain, where Mr. Hine added the fourth stanza to this hymn. These four stanzas by Stuart Hine have since ministered and inspired God’s people worldwide:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy pow’r thruout the universe displayed!

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in—That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Refrain: Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; how great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; how great Thou art, how great Thou art![i]

Worship
The first three verses of Psalm 145 teach us so much about worship. When we think of God and His greatness, what is it that we can give to God? The only thing that we can give to God is our praise — our worship.

In the first three verses are three nearly parallel lines — “I will praise you — I will praise you everyday — I will praise you forever and ever.”

“I will praise” you. Praise is worship; it is acknowledging God to be who God truly is. God is the Sovereign Lord of creation. God is holy, just, righteous, merciful, awesome, and majestic. God is with us forever and ever. Say it with David, “I WILL PRAISE YOU, GOD!”.

What worship is not: worship is not coming to God in order to get things from God. Worship is not confessing our sins or pleading for grace, though these things flow naturally from worship. Worship is simple but so difficult for so many. Worship is acknowledging God to be God. Indeed, it is doing precisely what David does in the remainder of this Psalm.

 I will praise you “every day.” David is not going to praise God merely on the Sabbath, though the seventh day (or for us the first day of the week, Sunday) is explicitly set aside for that purpose. Rather, David is going to praise God “every day,” Monday through Sunday. Wow! What a profound statement! Especially in our culture today when so many people are disconnecting from church and worship of God, here is the word of God reminding us to praise God every day. Worship is not just one hour a week. Worship is a 24/7/365 deal. Let’s get on it.

I will praise you “for ever and ever.” “For ever and ever” means more than merely “to the end of my days, until I die.” It means “forever,” indicating David’s belief he would be worshiping God in heaven even after his worship on earth was ended. Fantastic! Forever and ever and ever and ever.

Friends, the Good News for us today is that we will be worshiping God forever and ever–along with the other redeemed saints from all the other ages of world history. Can you only imagine that? Praising God with Peter and Paul and Mary. Praising God with Bonhoeffer. Praising God with Calvin. Praising God with Luther. Praising God with Augustine. Praising God with Mother Teresa.

The “so what” question is right here, right now. “Why don’t I practice worshiping God right now?”

If we were to break down this wonderful Psalm, we would say that David praises God for his greatness (vv. 5–7). David does not stop with praising God for His greatness, David praises God for his grace (vv. 8–13a), his faithfulness (vv. 13b–16), and his righteousness (vv. 17–20).

Here’s your “so what” homework:

• Praise God for His greatness!
• Praise God for His grace!
• Praise God for his faithfulness!
• Praise God for his righteousness!

Yes! Try it right now. Right here as you finish reading this SEED OF FAITH, let that mustard seed of faith grow. Tell God why you think God is great! Tell God about His great grace for you! Tell God about how faithful God has been to you. Thank God for his righteousness. We got this. You can travel to work, school, the grocery store and the mall and thank God for the many beautiful things you see or hear. Thank God for His grace: his glorious riches at Christ’s expense. Wow, you could drive cross country on that one. Look back over your life and thank God for His faithfulness to you. Lastly, praise God for His righteousness. Tell God you want to walk rightly, you want to follow Jesus and you need daily help and strength to do that.

Let’s practice this wonderful advice from David and Psalm 145. And after you are done with this great PRAISE session, play the song and sing along.

HOW GREAT THOU ART. What an opportunity we have to be able to turn our lives into a song of praise.

God loves You and so do I,
Dave

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:21-26

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers,

Do you know the famous hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness?” The verses are familiar to many Christians, it is a well-known hymn written by Thomas O. Chisholm (1866–1960):

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not:
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

The story of how Chisholm came to write his great hymn reveals a profound truth about God’s faithfulness. Some of our great hymns are written in response to a dramatic spiritual experience. That is not the case with “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. This hymn was not the product of a single experience but of a lifetime of God’s faithful care. Not long before his death, Chisholm wrote:
“My income has never been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. But I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”[i]

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Romans Chapter 8:

No condemnation — in Christ!

No separation – in Christ!

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

Greetings in the love and joy and peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Praise God!

We will be working through some of the passages in which Paul teaches us that we have a new “LIFE IN CHRIST.”

Do you know that the words “IN CHRIST” are used 119 times just in Paul’s letters alone?

Paul wrote thirteen letters to the churches plus his letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.  “IN CHRIST” is a dominating theme for Paul. It is fitting that the apostle Paul, who received the revelation of the mystery of the union of Jew and Gentile into one body, should coin a phrase to describe those incorporated into one body. This body is, of course, the body of Christ, the church. Pentecost is the church universal’s birthday; the day the promised Holy Spirit fell upon those who believed in Jesus.

I have a handout with a few of the 119 times where Paul tells us what life is like in Christ. If you would like one —- email me at: pastordave@theseedchristianfellowship.com and I will email you back a copy!

I would like to spend the next few minutes on verse one of Chapter 8 of Romans—possibly one of the greatest chapters in all of the living word!  In the Greek verse one is only eight words.  But these eight words are powerful and give us a promise of the freedom we have in Christ. I’m going to go over the verse as it is in presented in the Greek lineup—not in the English.

No! — oude

The first word in the Greek is an adjective with an emphasis.  The word is “No.” This word is weak in the English translation. In our texts it is a simple negative, like most other negatives. In the Greek text “no” (oude) is strongly emphasized. First, it is not the simple negative “ou” but the compound and therefore the stronger negative “oude.” Second, it occurs at the beginning of the sentence, which intensifies the negation. This word “oude” can be translated, “not one, nothing, no one, none, or just plain no.” The strong emphasis could be translated with a double negative like “no, nothing — no, not one— no—none— no,  no one–or simply no no!”

It’s important to note that this word Oude (NO, NO!) describes the noun “condemnation” for anyone who is IN CHRIST. There is simply no, no, no, not one, nothing, none—no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! That’s great news.

Therefore!— ara

The second great word in this sentence is “therefore.” To what does it refer?  Does “therefore” bring us back to the arguments of the struggle with sin in chapters 7, chapter 5 or chapter 3 of Romans? NO,NO! Most scholars say that Paul’s “therefore” is all inclusive, pointing back to the entire argument of the epistle—all 7 chapters prior!  The Good News that Paul is telling us is this—- there is no, not one, nothing, none, no, no, no condemnation for us. What Paul is really saying is this, “You know everything else I’ve written in this letter—in the previous 7 chapters…well all of that was to come to this: THEREFORE…there’s NO CONDEMNATION if you believe in Jesus Christ.

Why?  Because God’s work done in Jesus Christ (through his life, death and resurrection) and through the the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost—this all leads us to this one thing: there is now “no condemnation” for any person who is “in Christ”.

Now!— vuv

“Now” is a time word, pointing to the change that has come about as the result of our believing in the work of justification that Jesus Christ made possible by his death. Before we believed IN CHRIST, we stood condemned by God. We were due to suffer the penalty of an eternal death for our sins, the “wages of sin” being “death”.  But once we believe in Christ…therefore, there is now no condemnation.

Now — not tomorrow.

Now — not next week.

Now — not next year.

Now — not when you get your life together.

Now — not when you do good works for your sins.

NOW — is translated with words like, “at this present time, now, at this very time, just now.”

I love that word!

This past week, I was captured by that word in 2 Corinthians 5:5 — “NOW it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

I truly believe that God wants us to live in the now and not the the tomorrows or yesterdays. Will Rogers once wrote these profound words about living in the “NOW.” This is what he said, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.(1)

I know that I have at times allowed yesterday’s mistakes, sins, and failures to hold me back. What we are learning today is that if we are “in Christ,” yesterday’s sins contain no condemnation for us. Zero. None.

So What?

Now is the time to receive the undeserved and unearned gift of grace that God has given to us through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection and ascension into heaven —no, not one, none, nothing — no condemnation.

Condemnation — katakrima

This Greek word means that there has been a legal decision in a court case and the verdict is guilty. Did you hear that? “Guilty” was our status! If we were to read the opening chapters of Romans, we would see that we are to be condemned as sinners. We were condemned sinners, subject to the outpoured wrath of God. But suddenly Jesus entered our world and died for us, bearing the wrath of God in our place, and there is NOW “no condemnation” fort hose who are in Christ.  

This is such a groundbreaking chapter in the Bible. Chapter 8 starts with THERE IS NOW NOCONDEMNATION for those IN CHRIST JESUS…and ends with…THERE IS NOW NO SEPARATION from the LOVE OF GOD for those of us in Christ.

You see, what will happen when we each face the “Day of reckoning” is that we will have the greatest defender of all stand with us before the judge of all. No matter what the enemy says about us—the grace of God will cover us—if we are in Christ! Instead of a GUILTY verdict, our Lord and Savior will deliver to us a NOT GUILTY verdict—all because he paid the price of our sin on that cross at Calvary.

Oude ara vuv katakrima….

OUDE: No, nothing, no not one thing, no none, no no one, no, no, no….

ARA: Therefore…and not just chapter 7, 5 or 3…but the whole kicking kaboodle of the Bible and the fall of man has been covered by the blood of Jesus…

VUV: NOW….not yesterday, not when you were little, not in your teen years, not in your college years (OH BOY) no…not then…but NOW…just now…today, not yesterday…

KATAKRIMA: NOT GUILTY….

That’s not Greek to us anymore! How about in English? “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus. ”Romans 8:1

Let’s take a moment to pause and ponder the great grace of Jesus who pardons us…now might be a goodtime to say, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me”

I don’t know about you, but I want to run around right now and shout, “HEY! I am IN CHRIST, people! I AM LIVING IN CHRIST!”

Hey, sow a seed of faith in you today. Then go plant that seed into your family, friends, strangers, etc. Who doesn’t need to hear the living word of Jesus Christ? Not GUILTY. Saved. Justified (Just as I’ve never sinned), forgiven.That big gavel in the judges hand is going to slam onto the desk and, if you are a believer, if Jesus Christ is your lord and Savior, you are going to hear over and over again, NOT GUILTY.

Your “SO WHAT?” homework for the week: How does this SEED OF FAITH make me feel? Give me 3 words that describe how you feel knowing there’s no condemnation for you? Here are my three: free, forgiven, unafraid.

“Father God, I believe. I believe Jesus is your only son who died for my sins. Forgive me. Set me free to live in Christ…today and tomorrow. Thank you that after a long and  surly court case—you have declared me NOT GUILTY and I am free from all condemnation. Help me to turn from my wicked way and to learn how to live the rest of my life in Christ. God, help me. Amen.”

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Acts 2:17-21

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

It is my prayer that each of us grows in the grace of Jesus Christ and that we get so full of this amazing grace that we go in the power of the Holy Spirit sowing SEEDS of faith in our world. God’s love and grace are transformational, so get out there in your world and sow those seeds of faith!

God wants us to know His Ways and desires for us to be empowered by His “Ruach” Holy Spirit to live Holy lives, bearing much fruit in Him. Have you ever thought that God wants us to live a holy life? Salvation. Sanctification. Glorification. Three powerful words and three powerful life transformations. Salvation—we believe Jesus is God’s only Son, who died for our sins, then rose triumphant on the 3rd day. Sanctification—from the moment we are “saved”, we grow further and further into sanctification; being made holy in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, we take our last breath and we arrive in heaven—glorified. Triumphant.

So let’s start with a first “so what?” Holy. Are you trying to live a holy life?

In Ezekiel, the prophet gave these words to the Jewish people. “And I will put My Ruach —Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules.”  (Ezekiel 36:27)

You might not know the name Angelo Dundee, but you have undoubtedly heard of Muhammad Ali, probably the most famous professional boxer of all time. For more than two decades, Angelo Dundee was in Muhammad Ali’s corner, literally. He was Ali’s cornerman! He is the one who made Ali float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. He also trained fifteen other world boxing champions. Angelo Dundee described his job as a cornerman this way: “When you’re working with a fighter, you’re a surgeon, an engineer, and a psychologist.”[i]

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have someone even better than a surgeon-engineer-psychologist in our corner we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third PERSON of the Trinity!

The disciples were told to “go and wait” for the promise gift that Jesus would give. One note that we should see is that the disciples were obedient, and they went and waited and waited and waited. They waited ten days and then whoosh the Holy Spirit came in like a mighty wind and tongues of fire filled the place and everyone who was in the room. In verse four we read these words from Dr Luke, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Luke 2:4)

The Greek word for “all” means “all.” All one hundred and twenty of those gathered were filled, which means in Greek to be “generously supplied or overflowing” with the Holy Spirit. After being generously filled, they then began to speak. The Greek word for speak is one of those present active verbs which means the act of speaking never stopped. The Holy Spirit filled them generously and repeatedly so that they could continue to speak over and over again.

Imagine with me that you have decided to go sailing. The problem is that you know next to nothing about sailing. So, you go to the store, and you purchase several books to find out what is involved. You carefully read them and then you talk to a veteran sailor who answers questions for you. The next day, you rent a sailboat. You examine it closely to make certain that everything needed for a successful sailing experience is present and in good working order. Then, you take your boat out onto the lake. Your excitement is at a fever pitch, though you’re also afraid. But you follow the instructions you have read, and the counsel received from the experienced sailor, and you launch your boat into the water. You carefully monitor each step and hoist the sail.[ii]

At that precise moment you learn a crucial lesson. You can study sailing. You might even be able to build a sailboat. You can seek from the wisest and most veteran of sailors. You can cast your boat onto the most beautiful of lakes under a bright and inviting sun. You can successfully hoist the sail. But—and this is a big “but”—only God can make the wind blow!

“You and I can study the Bible…. We can orchestrate a worship service according to biblical guidelines. We can do everything that lies in the power of a Christian man or woman. But only the Spirit can make the wind blow inside that service!

The power of the Holy Spirit was what enabled the disciples to continually speak about Jesus. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that put wind in the sails of the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. It was to power of the Holy Spirit that the birthed the church and on the day of Pentecost three thousand people were added.

So What?

At the closing of our reading in verses seventeen through twenty-one, we hear the quote from Joel that says that Holy Spirit will be poured on all people: Young men, old men, servants, men, and women, will prophesy. The Holy Spirit will show wonders in the heavens and signs below. But the promise is this: all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. The Greek word for “saved” means “to be rescued, delivered, healed, to keep safe, and unharmed.”

When I finally came to faith in Christ a verse from Romans eight forever changed my life. It was Romans 8:15-16 — “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you aslave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry,“Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’schildren.” Romans 8:15-16

It was the Spirit of sonship that forever changed my life. What I heard was that God wanted to be my Father and I would be His son and he would be with me forever. Then verse sixteen said that it was His Spirit that would testify to my spirit that the presence of the Holy Spirit would never leave me. It was that promise of the presence of the Holy Spirit that forever changed my life. (January 1981)

Tesla. Chevy. Nissan. Porsche. Audi. VW. A dozen major carmakers are now building electric vehicles, and the market is expected to grow.

But there is a problem: The charging ports are all over the cars.

When you go to a gas station to fill up your gas-powered car, you can be pretty sure that you will pump gas into the tank from the side of the car, near the rear. But where do you put the charger into your electric car?

Could be the front. Or the back. Or one of the sides. Very confusing.

In Korea, the car-maker Hyundai recently embarked on a project of building public charging stations in Seoul, and they wanted to accommodate as many car brands as possible. According to Fast Company magazine, they tapped the consulting firm McKinsey to design a universal charger that would easily work with any electric car.

The result was the “Hyundai Hi-Charger,” and you will never guess what inspired its design. “Self-serve car washes,” says a partner at McKinsey. “They have the sprayer hanging down from the top and it kind of rotates around.”

Same with the Hyundai Hi-Charger. It has a beacon, featuring a glowing halo. The halo rotates and drops the charging cable in just the right spot, depending on the make and model of your electric car.[iii]

It is a universal charger.

The promise of Pentecost is that God is with us, always with us, and this is true for all Christians, not just those labeled Pentecostal or Charismatic. It echoes the promise made when Jesus was given the name Emmanuel, which means “God is with us” (Matthew1:23). The Holy Spirit is our Universal Charger, hovering above us and within us. Bringing us the healing, help, wisdom, knowledge and guidance we need, in every time, place, and situation.

Let me ask you again? Except let me word it a little differently: How are you doing allowing the HOLY SPIRIT (the universal charger) to grow the HOLY in you?

If we could only get a glimpse! We’ve been saved and sealed with God’s very own holy spirit. Maybe it’s a good time to pray?

”Holy Spirit, I want my life to grow in holiness. God has promised never to leave me, never to forsake me. Today, maybe show me just one thing I can do, just one thing I can say, just one thing I can read that will feed my spirit and grow my roots deeper in Jesus Christ. Amen.”

I’m praying for you. I pray for you each day. Do you know why I went into ministry? My biggest hope is to watch lives be transformed by God’s grace, love, and power!

Hey, sow a seed of faith in you today. Then go save the world.

See you Sunday.

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:2-3

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:4-5

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,
In verses four and five of the books of Acts, I was stopped in my study with the words “wait” and “promise.”  I know that there are many words in these verses that we could spend a lot of time on. We could talk about the command that Jesus gives. Why is it so hard to follow Jesus’ commands? We heard hurry and“ Go and Tell.” We heard “Go and Make.” Now we hear “Do Not Leave Jerusalem.” Is Jesus thinking clearly!?  Jerusalem is not a safe place. Does not Jesus remember what happened the last time they were all in Jerusalem? Wait! Wait in Jerusalem!

We can hardly wait for our phone to connect to the internet as the little circle goes round and round. A funny side note, I know a woman who was directed by the Holy Spirit to pick the word WAIT as her word of intention two years ago. She truly learned how to wait that year.
The Greek word that Dr. Luke uses for “wait” is “perimeno” and it is a present active verb that mean that the action is continuous– to “stay in one place and anticipate or expect” over and over and over again. Never stop waiting. Keep on waiting.

I think of Abraham and Sarah waiting almost 80 years to have a baby. I think of Daniel in the lion’s den waiting for God to rescue him in the morning. I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego waiting in a fiery furnace. I think of Moses and the Israelites waiting and wandering in the wilderness for forty years. It was forty days that the Israelites waited when Goliath stood and challenged them and mocked God. Then David showed up with a sling shot and five smooth stones. Zechariah and Elizabeth waited for years for their baby, John the Baptist. How about the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethsaida? He waited for 38 years to be healed. Martha and Mary waited for Jesus to show up but then their brother died. Lazarus had been dead four days by the time Jesus showed up and what does he do? Resurrection time! Those are just some of the stories of the people in the bible who are waiting.

Are you waiting on Jesus? You, my friend, are in great company.

Jesus commanded the disciples to wait for the promise. The promise was the Holy Spirit. The person and the power of the Holy Spirit. In next week’s SEED OF FAITH we will spend some more time talking about the Holy Spirit—just wait!
But rest assured. When Jesus promises something — it will come to be fulfilled. It would be good to hold onto some of the promises in the Bible. One of the best promises we have been given is that we will have the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Remember the ending of Matthew. Jesus gave the Great Commission and said — “Remember I will be with you always even to the end of the age.”

So What?

We can all be witnesses. Can I Get A Witness!?
Here is your SO WHAT PASTOR DAVE homework for the week: As you wait, pray. Yep. When you go the grocery store and are waiting in line, stop, look around and pray for the people you see. Do the same at the gas station, at the doctor’s, everywhere you go—and as you are forced to GO AND WAIT…why not try praying for the places we go and people we see? I always ask the Holy Spirit to give me the people’s heart as I pray. We never know how our prayers will affect another heart. Let me give you an example: 31 years ago our eldest daughter graduated from High School. We threw a big party for her and invited everyone we knew! A young girlfriend of our daughter’s came to the party but decided she was to shy to come in. She dropped off her gift and left. My wife is a terrific communicator and she sensed that this young girl needed prayer. She prayed for her, asked our daughter who she was, and then Jac sent her a card thanking her for coming to the party and leaving a gift. Inside her card my wife enclosed a magnet—a GOD loves you magnet.
You are going to have to read next week’s SEED OF FAITH in order to understand how important it is in the kingdom of God for us to learn to wait. Let’s put Habukkuk to memory: Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

We sang a song last week by the group CAIN called THE COMISSION. Somewhere in the song we sang, “I have the purpose…God has the plan.” May we always remember that. The song is not IN MY TIME…but IN HIS TIME. God will make all things beautiful IN HIS TIME.

Want to know what happened in 31 years time with this young lady?

WAIT.

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

After Easter worship, my wife and I jumped on a plane! That’s right, as soon as worship services and the egg hunt were completed, my wife and I flew to Texas in order to show up for five of our two grandsons’ baseball games for the week. What a joy and blessing it was to be there. Our younger grandson plays high school base ball and had two great games.  Of course, I could brag and show you videos and pictures. His older brother is a freshman in college. If you don’t know this, college sports are a whole other beast of athletism. Mason is a lefthanded pitcher. He is one pitcher on a team of 20 pitchers. Freshman usually have to pay their dues and that translates to: we sat in the stands and watched an all-day during double hitter and only saw our grandson warm up! We left Waco at 10 am, drove to Dallas, spent the day and returned home at 10 pm. It was a long, 12-hour day. Our grandson may not have gotten the chance to pitch in the game but the important thing is that we showed up. We cheered the team on (they won one, lost one.) We were able to watch our grandson snag balls during infield practice, and warm up in the dugout. After the first game, he was able to talk with us for a few minutes in the stands. He apologized for not playing and that we drove such along way for that. We told him, “Mason, just remember to show up. Life isn’t about showing up because you’re the star of the game. Life is just about showing up no matter what.”

When Jesus met Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in the garden by the empty tomb, He told them not to be afraid, but He actually told them more. Listen to Jesus’ words … Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Matthew 28:10

If you have read the Bible, you know that there are many resurrection appearances of Jesus that have been recorded. The New Testament indicates that there were at least ten appearances of the risen Lord, plus another appearance to Paul some years later. As we noted in our opening reading of the Gospel of John, Jesus appeared in the Upper room not once but twice. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appears to the disciples walking down the road to Emmaus after the resurrection.  In John we find Jesus appearing to the disciples on the seashore in Galilee and cooking fish tacos for their morning breakfast. We hear of Jesus forgiving Peter three times by asking Peter to love Him and feed His sheep. Did Jesus do that so that He and bff Pete were “even up” for the three times that Peter denied knowing Jesus? Maybe.  In eight of these appearance accounts, Christ gives an explicit commission, and in five of the eight he commands his followers to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Our reading in Matthew comes after breakfast by the sea. Some scholars suggest that the timing of Matthew’s account is some fifty to fifty-five days after the resurrection. We could spend some time trying to put all the pieces together chronologically, but I do not think that is what we are called to do.

In Matthew, Jesus gives some powerful action points that are necessary for His followers to follow in order to fulfill their supreme mission on earth–to reach the mountain peak of their calling, as it were. These action points I would like to address over the next few Seeds of Faith: show up, worship, obedience — go make, baptize, and teach.

Notice the ending of verse 10 and the action in verse 11.  The women were told to go and tell the disciples (hiding in the upper room) to go the Galilee for there they would see Jesus. You know what the disciples did? They went.  That is what verse eleven tells us. They showed up, they were available.

I wonder how often I have failed to show up. I try and listen to what God is trying to tell and ask of me through the Holy Spirit each moment of each day. Sometimes I miss the boat and the result is I miss the opportunity to see God at work in my life and in the lives of others.

While we were in Texas, my wife and I went to one of my favorite Christian book stores (Mardel) to walk around and browse the books and Christian art. We picked out only a few books this trip knowing that we only had so much room in our 48 pound suitcases! We were standing in the checkout line—which was long—and my wife started waving all the other people behind us to go ahead of us. They only had one or two items and we had 7 books and we were in no hurry. The lady just in front of my wife thanked us because she only had a small amount of time before she had to go pick up her kids and she had prayed that she’d get in and out in record time. You know my wife, they talked about kids and then my wife noticed the title of the two books this woman was buying, The books were by Lysa Terkeurst! She was buying Lysa’s newest book called, “You’ll Get Through This”. The woman saw my cross and asked if I was a pastor. Then she shared with us that she was going through a messy divorce. They had been married 35 years and he just left for another younger woman. By now she was crying. Jac asked her about the books she has read by Lysa. Turns out, she has read almost all of them—except, she missed GOOD  BOUNDARIES AND GOODBYES—the very study our SEED BOSSY women are studying this Spring! Jac was like, “NO! NO! You need to get this book before you get that book! This boundaries book is the precursor and foundation of that book! First, you need to know about boundaries and good byes!” You got it, I had already left the line and had gone to pick up the study guide and the book. Jac is leading the women’s study at the SEED. While I was gone, the woman told Jac, “OK. I will go home, go to work and make more money and come back and get that study in two weeks.” After the woman checked out, Jac asked her if she could wait just another moment for a blessing. You got it. THE SEED bought this woman the tools she needed to finish her mountain climbing for this season. Oh, how she cried. After we were done checking out our own 7 books, we went off to the side of the checkout aisle and prayed for this broken-hearted person. Jac wrote down an encouraging note in her book, showed her how to access the 6 videos online and left her cell phone number.

SO WHAT?

Point number one!  Show up — be available. As we were listening to the Christian radio in Waco, a caller shared that she had participated in the local PAY IT FORWARD TUESDAY last week. You know, you’re in the drive up line and someone pays for the car behind them? This person drove through the bistro and said, “ I want to pay for mine and for the car behind me.” The next Tuesday this woman showed up again and the bistro told her that the last time they paid it forward—20 cars!

What I’m trying to tell you is that you don’t always go out and say, “Here I am. Showing up!” Sometimes you simply are nothing but available. You’re there and ALL OF A SUDDENLY…there’s an opportunity to watch God work…and God may even be using you to do just that!

That’s what Jesus is commanding here. “Go tell the family of God to JUST SHOW UP. I’ll take care of the rest.”

See you Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers,

It is my prayer that you are staying healthy and are walking with Jesus as you season your world.

This a two-part message. This week will talk about being a little salty. Next week, we will see how light can shine.

In the days of Jesus, and for many centuries thereafter, salt was the most common preservative used. There were no refrigerators, no deep freezers in ancient times. Salt was used to keep things from going bad and becoming rotten, particularly meat. When Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot” Jesus was telling His disciples that they were called to be the preserving agent in a decaying world.

This simple principle from Jesus is that you and I are called to be a preserving force in our world–wherever we are called to live, work, play and worship.

Think of it this way — salt that never leaves the box on the shelf will do no good in preserving anything. To be effective, salt has to be rubbed into the meat. Have you gone into the grocery store and looked at all of the “rubs” they have for seasoning your steak? In this same way, we must allow God to use us as flavorful seasoning (rub) for our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, families, and churches. A small amount of love and kindness goes a long way in making our world a better place.

Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride–common table salt–the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor.

Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various, contrary doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, truth can turn people away from the gospel. But when truth and love are combined in an individual or in a church then we have what Jesus called “the salt of the earth,” and we are able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.

The other day I went to the grocery store to do some shopping. I went to buy juice for home communions, I came across an insight on flavoring. I was holding a bottle of Blueberry Pomegranate Juice. There was a picture of a ripe pomegranate spilling its exotic, glistening seeds onto mounds of fat, perfect blueberries. I read the ingredient list: “Filtered water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate.” Where was the blueberry? Where was the pomegranate? Finally, I found them, fifth and seventh in a list of nine ingredients.

By law, food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. Meaning a product contains the greatest proportion of the first ingredient on the list and successively less of those farther down the list. According to the jug in my hand, it contained mostly water—a few other juices, with just enough blueberry and pomegranate for flavor and color.

In the bottom corner of the front label in small, easy-to-miss, were the tell-tale words: “Flavored juice blend with other natural ingredients.” The enticing pictures and clever labeling were decoys used to sell a diluted, blueberry-pomegranate flavored product convincingly disguised to look like something it was not. I put the juice back on the shelf. I chose the juice that was more costly—but it had more of what I was looking for.

So What?

That jug of juice made me think, what if we had an ingredients list printed on us?

Would Jesus be the main ingredient?

If not, how far down the list would He be?

Would our “label” accurately represent our contents?

Or would we falsely project a misleading outward-appearance that cleverly masked our diluted ingredients? Our packaging may be convincing. We may look and sound like the real thing but what if someone came looking for Jesus and found something else?

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertaker.” (Today In The Word, June, 1988, p. 13).

More than a hundred years ago the atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche reproached a group of Christians. Nietzsche said: “Yuck, you make me sick!” When their spokesman asked why, he answered, “because you redeemed don’t look like you are redeemed. You are as fearful, guilt-ridden, anxious confused, and adrift in an alien environment as I am. I am allowed. I do not believe. I have nothing to hope for. But you people claim you have a Savior. Why don’t you look like you are saved?” (Brennan Manning, Souvenirs of Solitude, 2009, Colorado Springs, NavPress)

Every Sunday my loving wife prays for me before church. Every Sunday she concludes with the same prayer, “Lord, help Dave to be funny. Let him reflect the peace and joy he has in knowing you. Amen.” Knowing Jesus really is the best part of my life. And Jesus wants us to be SALT to our world. He wants us to RUB off on others. It only takes a small amount of salt to flavor whatever we are using it on; the same way with us—it only takes a small amount of the love of Jesus to rub off on those in our tiny sector of the world. That’s our job: to be the SALT of the earth.

I leave you with your “SO WHAT?” homework:

• Am I the SALT of the Savior? Divide my life into who I am, what I’m doing, and where I’m going—and let’s spread the love of God everywhere we are.

• What if I had an ingredients list printed on me? Would Jesus be the main ingredient? What do I need to do in order to be more like Christ?

My prayer for you today: Be funny! (Just kidding.) Seriously, let’s take some time to sit with this SEED OF FAITH. Let’s look at our lives. If I’m the SALT of the EARTH, am I RUBBING off on those I live with? work with? worship with? Everywhere I go, am I seasoning others with God’s tremendous love? “Dear Father, I want others to know you and to experience your grace and love and forgiveness. Help me to fill my heart, mind, soul, spirit, body and strength with your living words of life so that I can be a living, walking, talking gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t want Jesus to be the last ingredient on my label; I want Jesus listed first. Help me to be more like Jesus. Amen.” 

See you Sunday! 

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www,theseedchristianfellowship.com

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Matthew 4:1

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers:

Greetings! Today’s assignment? Read Matthew 4:1-11. Put yourself in the story and then put the story in you!

The enemy of our soul loves to get us when we are alone or lonely. I think that is why worry or being anxious was listed as the number one temptation. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, led into the desert, and tempted. And right before all of this, Jesus was baptized…the dove descended and THE VOICE of God was heard saying God was well pleased with Jesus! Immediately Jesus is out in the desert having not eaten for 40 days. (Are you there in the story? Ever taken a tour of the desert?)

There’s one thing I’ve noticed: Temptation doesn’t come when we are the strongest; temptations come when we are the weakest. Or, maybe when we are strong—we can resist easier. It is when we are tired, worn out, poured out—that we often fall to temptation.  One of my spiritual directors taught me HALT. He told me that most temptations and failures come when these four things happen:
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired|
As a pastor, I am constantly trying to scan my horizon so that I am not hungry, angry, lonely, and tired all at the same time. I know what happens when I am all four of those dangers. I am at my weakest.
True confession here, I do not sit and read my Bible and do my daily devotionals because I am some sort of religious freak. I read my Bible because for me not to HALT…I need to fill my mind and heart and spirit and soul with God’s living word

Jesus being in the wilderness for forty days parallels the stories of Moses on Mt. Horeb for forty days (Exodus 34:2,28; Deut. 9:9) and Elijah on the way to the same mountain in I Kings 19. Paul also went into the wilderness after his conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul’s wanderings in the wilderness of Arabia are recorded in Galatians 1:17. More importantly Jesus’ wilderness experience reflects the wandering of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The temptation of Jesus also parallels the temptation of Adam. In fact, you could say that the first Adam had everything that he wanted. He was in the Garden of Eden with everything at his disposal and the serpent came slinking into the Garden in the form of a snake and said, “Did God really say?”

The first temptation here in our story is a simple test to destroy the confidence that Jesus had in His Heavenly Father. Do you see how subtle the devil is? He comes along and twists a word of two and says — ““If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” The devil speaks lies and accusations and tempts Jesus to distrust the powerful words that were spoken earlier at Jesus’ baptism — “This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.” What a contrast — “If you are God’s son” and “This is my beloved son.” Whom will you believe? God says you are precious in His sight, beloved…Satan wants us to question IF we are God’s child.

Temptation is serious business. Remember that God will not tempt you, but God will test you to see what you are made of.
Temptation is common to all people—pastor or not. Temptation is a time of trial and testing. It is a process of experience. I think Jesus was trying to show his disciples that our lives will be filled with temptations. He went first to show us the way to overcome. Are you in this story, yet?

Jesus had a choice to either believe the devil’s words or to believe the words that His heavenly Father spoke to Him. The devil first tries to get Jesus to distrust God. The devil plants doubt in Jesus mind that he will not be provided for His personal needs. Jesus responds with the clue to overcoming, “It is written!”

The devil speaks and then Jesus speaks — “It is written.” Jesus knew how to defeat the devil’s wily schemes! Jesus knew the Words of God. Jesus believed what His heavenly Father spoke about Him. This is why it is so important for you and me to spend time in God’s word. Read a verse…read a chapter…read a psalm…so that you can reply to the tempter, “IT IS WRITTEN… GET OUTTA HERE!”

First Temptation — Serving Self
Why are our physical needs so hard to trust God with? Was God capable of feeding Jesus?
Remembering the mocking cry at the cross — Matthew 27:40, 42-43 “If you are the Son of God…”?
How often do we put our physical needs above our spiritual needs? Seems to me that during one week, there are 3 meals a day—or 21 meals a week that are available for us to feed our physical body. How many of us are opening our LIVING WORD 21 times a week? How about just 7? How about once a day? Buckle up. Open up.
“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” Luke 4:4 Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 that says: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Second Temptation — Testing God
The devil quotes Scripture — Psalm 91:11-12 with a subtle twist — Satan left out the important phrase “in all Your ways.
Jesus replies, “It is written, ‘Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.’” Deuteronomy 6:16
This story is when the Israelites started quarreling with Moses in the desert and they tested God! Moses named the place MASSAH—which means TEST—and MERIBAH—which means ARGUING. The people were griping and saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?” Evidently, the people weren’t getting their way. They were being tested and they didn’t like it. (Sound familiar?)

Third Temptation — Worshipping Satan
First, Satan suggests what Jesus should do for himself. Second, Satan suggests what God should do for Jesus. Third, Satan suggests what Satan can do for Jesus — that is how Satan comes to us. Telling us that what we desire belongs to us and he will give it to us. Do you think self-will is Satan’s will or is it the opposite of God’s will?
What does Matthew 6:24 remind us to do — “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
One of my favorite passages in the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 6:33 … “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When Jesus is tempted to worship something or someone us his reply is simple but not easy. It is written — “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” Deuteronomy 6:13

Many of us can recognize a huge, Niagara-like temptation when we see it. Many of us decide to go a different route. But so often it is a million little decisions that lead us into a lifestyle of sin and failure.
We begin the story of Jesus in the wilderness by saying, “Me, too! Yes, me too—on being tempted and tested!” Remember that Jesus went into the desert full of the Holy Spirit. He had just been baptized. He had just heard the Father’s voice. A huge weapon in our arsenal against the wilderness and temptation is to fill our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits with God’s word.
I referee high school wrestling. This weekend was a big tournament and I reffed 12 hours each day. When I got home last night, I said I wanted to go to In N Out. Listen, at 8:30 pm that place was full. There were cars everywhere. There was nowhere to sit and the drive up was backed out past the intersection. We parked and walked inside. We were number 47. As we scanned the packed dining room with no place to sit, I heard them call number 3. I looked at my wife and said, “You got to be kidding me.” After 15 minutes, I spotted a family leaving so I walked over to claim the seats. Funny thing, so did another guy! We got there first. Those seats were ours! But there was a problem. We only need two seats, he needed all four. My wife said, “We can eat in our car…” We talked back and forth with the guy who didn’t want to take our seats from us. “NO! We insist” cried my lovely wife and she grabbed my arm and walked me away. Ten minutes later, we got two seats at the back counter. There we sat and continued waiting for number 47! Remember the guy who stole my table? He walked up to us and said, “Please, here’s $20—I want to buy your dinner for giving up your seats to my family. I feel guilty for taking them.” We talked back and forth and ended up shaking hands but telling him to go for yogurt after dinner! Tempted. Hungry. But not LONELY. Seriously, this could have ended differently for me.

This week I want you to do a daily, personal inventory. Every day ask yourself: Am I hungry, angry, lonely or tired? Listen, you don’t have to be all four before you HALT and go find quiet time to read God’s word, or listen to Christian music. An amazing thing happens when we read or hear God’s word…it becomes the living word inside of us and the living word is what will help us to overcome our hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness—our trials, tests, and temptations.

Is this story in you, yet? The story of how Jesus overcame temptation three times in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. This story…offers us some key wisdom for the tests, trials, and turbulence in our lives.

IT IS WRITTEN…say it with me…IT IS WRITTEN…and the quote your favorite bible verses out loud. We are more than conquerors, friends, we are overcomers because CHRIST overcame hell, death, and the grave. On the third day, He rose.

See You Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers and fellow ADVENT adventurers,

We are in the fourth week of Advent! The first week of Advent was the candle of Hope.  The second week of Advent was the candle of Love.  The third week of advent was the candle of Joy.  This week is the candle of Peace. 

I have a few acronyms to make it easier to remember what we’re doing:
 
HOPE          
Heaven’s
One
Promise                
Eternity

LOVE
Listen 
Observe
Value
Encourage

JOY
Jesus
Others
You

PEACE
Peace
Exists
As 
Christ
Enters 

Who here needs peace?  Who needs the peace of Christ to enter into your life, home, workplace, finances, relationships, health?

I encourage you to stop right now and read Luke 2:8-20. Twelve short verses that tell quite a story. Then, when you have read the story, read it again and put yourself into it. Are you a shepherd boy? or maybe you are the innkeeper sharing your barn? Maybe you’re an angel? Maybe you are Joseph or Mary? These last few days before Christmas, let’s work on putting this story, the Christmas story, into us so that we can live the story from a manger point of view. 
Peace With God.
Christ of the Andes is an impressive symbol of peace. Once Chile and Argentina were enemies and fought constantly. At last they decided it was in their mutual interest to live in peace. So, high upon their natural boundaries, the Andes Mountains, they erected a great statue of Christ with outstretched arms. The inscription reads: “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the Argentines and Chileans break the peace sworn at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.” Christmas reminds us of the coming of peace to earth.[i]
 
Have you ever stopped to ponder and pray about why Jesus came to earth?  Why did Jesus come as a little baby?  Surly the people of Israel were not looking for newborn baby born in manger. They were looking for a Prince of Peace coming in as a conquering King, riding a white horse and setting them free.
 
The world that Jesus entered was filled with pain, problems, trails, trouble, tribulations, despair, desolation, and depression.  The people were held captive by their Roman rulers and they wanted to be free.  More importantly, they were also being held captive by their sin that separated them from God. The Prince of Peace came to bring Peace to the world through his reconciling life, death, and resurrection. Right here in this second chapter of Luke, the God of Peace breaks through the cosmos and walks into our broken world.
 
The angels sing — “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
 
God sent His one and only Son into this broken world to reconcile us. “Reconcile: to cause friendly relations between, cause to exist in harmony, to become compatible with.” You heard that right. God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to the earth when the time was right. God’s plan A? To reconcile the people who believe. Because of Jesus Christ, we can be in a right relationship with God, we can exist in harmony and we can be compatible with God, and others and ourselves. 
 
In Isaiah 53 we have one of the prophecies called the Servant Song.  Listen to how the prophet Isaiah puts our peace. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
 
Pause and ponder those words as we reflect on the little baby born in dirty, dusty, smelly, non-heated, cold, dark, stable; outside, in a cave of rock. Brrr.  This baby will be pierced for our transgression and sins. This child born to us will be crushed for our iniquities and immoralities, for our half-truths, lies, gossip, jealousy, shame, guilt and foolishness. The punishments that will be laid upon this baby boy will bring us peace!  By His wounds we will be healed. Sounds quite unfair, one-sided, and lop-sided to me.
 
The God of peace broke through our world in order to bring peace between you and me and between us and God. RECONCILE—compatible, harmony, friendly relations—like Argentina and Chile!
 
Jesus is our peace, not in some wily-nilly emotional way. Jesus is our Prince of Peace in a real and concrete way. Jesus is our Prince of Peace by coming into this broken world and making us whole and complete by forgiving us, healing us, and restoring us back into a relationship with God who created us and loves us. RECONCILIATION—a good word in the story to put into your heart this morning.

 So What?
When I was serving a church in Texas, I worked a grace weekend called Walk to Emmaus.  I was one of the three clergy, pastors, or spiritual directors as they called them on the weekend.  I gave a talk about God’s Justifying Grace.  The talk centers on the fact that God has sent His one and only Son Jesus to justify us and set us free.  Justify—just as if I’d never sinned.  That’s how God sees us as soon as we believe in Jesus Christ.
 
After giving that talk, a man in his 80’s, came up to me asked me if he could talk with me. He told me that he had been a bomber pilot in WWII and flew combat missions over Germany and France.  He told me that he could never forgive himself for dropping bombs that hurt and killed innocent people. He said that after hearing the talk about Justifying Grace that somehow God had given him a peace that surpassed all his understanding. He cried and cried in my arms. This man had peace as Christ entered his life.
 
P — Peace
E — Exists
A — As
C — Christ
E — Enters
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what I do, God will never stop loving me.
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what happens, God will never leave me alone.
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what will happen in the New Year or the years to come, the Prince of Peace will be with me.
 
Real peace is knowing that the guilt of the past failures, mistakes and sins are forgiven.
 
Real peace is knowing that grief of the losses we have experienced will be overcome by the Prince of Peace.
 
Real peace is knowing that we can give up the grudges that cause us to become resentful and give them to the Prince of Peace.
 
Peace exists as Christ enters.
 
The “SO WHAT?” for you today, this final week of the Advent Season, is for you to allow the Prince of Peace to enter into your life.  No matter what you have done.  No matter where you are.  No matter what your circumstances, difficulties, failures, faults sins, guilt, grief, and grudges are.
 
Peace exists as Christ enters. Pray it with me: Everlasting Father, Mighty Counselor, Prince of PEACE…enter your story into my heart—right now…and every second after…and remind me of the greatest story ever told. The story where God prepared the world for the most magical night of all: CHRISTMAS…and may I sing with the angels, may I scream with the angels: GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND PEACE..PEACE..to His people on earth! I choose right now to live in harmony with you—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Forgive me for my sins. I am so very sorry for my selfish choices. Thank you, Jesus, for your birth…your life…and your death and resurrection. I am a NEW creation. BORN AGAIN…to live out your story in my story. WOW. Amen.

See you Saturday night, 5 pm, online or at church as we gather to remember CHRISTMAS EVE!

Merry Christmas! I pray you are prepared for the birthday of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Hey! I’m thinking of having ANGEL FOOD CAKE on Christmas Day; a concrete way of putting myself into the story and putting the story into me! GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave 
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com 

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers!

It is my prayer that we are learning to grow in the grace of Christ each day. I have been thinking about the wonderful hymn, “How Great Thou Art.” I encourage you to take a minute and YouTube your favorite version of this song and sing at the top of your lungs.  Pause and ponder the powerful lyrics and the deep meaning behind the words.

This is an inspiring hymn of praise and adoration, reminding us of God’s unlimited power and love. Although written in 1886, the hymn has become familiar to congregations everywhere around the world.
It especially became an international favorite after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team used it in their crusades during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.

The original text was written by a Swedish pastor, Carl Boberg, in 1886. While visiting a beautiful country estate, Boberg was caught in a sudden thunderstorm. The awesome and violent lightning and thunder quickly ended, leaving clear,  brilliant sunshine and the calm, sweet singing of the birds in the trees. Falling on his knees in awe and adoration of Almighty God, the pastor wrote nine stanzas of praise. Swedish congregations began to sing his lines to one of their old folk tunes. The text was later translated into German and Russian and ultimately into English by the Reverend S. K. Hine and his wife, English missionaries to the people of the Ukraine. When war broke out in 1939, it was necessary for the Hines to return to Britain, where Mr. Hine added the fourth stanza to this hymn. These four stanzas by Stuart Hine have since ministered and inspired God’s people worldwide:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy pow’r thruout the universe displayed!

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in—That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Refrain: Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; how great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; how great Thou art, how great Thou art![i]

Worship
The first three verses of Psalm 145 teach us so much about worship. When we think of God and His greatness, what is it that we can give to God? The only thing that we can give to God is our praise — our worship.

In the first three verses are three nearly parallel lines — “I will praise you — I will praise you everyday — I will praise you forever and ever.”

“I will praise” you. Praise is worship; it is acknowledging God to be who God truly is. God is the Sovereign Lord of creation. God is holy, just, righteous, merciful, awesome, and majestic. God is with us forever and ever. Say it with David, “I WILL PRAISE YOU, GOD!”.

What worship is not: worship is not coming to God in order to get things from God. Worship is not confessing our sins or pleading for grace, though these things flow naturally from worship. Worship is simple but so difficult for so many. Worship is acknowledging God to be God. Indeed, it is doing precisely what David does in the remainder of this Psalm.

 I will praise you “every day.” David is not going to praise God merely on the Sabbath, though the seventh day (or for us the first day of the week, Sunday) is explicitly set aside for that purpose. Rather, David is going to praise God “every day,” Monday through Sunday. Wow! What a profound statement! Especially in our culture today when so many people are disconnecting from church and worship of God, here is the word of God reminding us to praise God every day. Worship is not just one hour a week. Worship is a 24/7/365 deal. Let’s get on it.

I will praise you “for ever and ever.” “For ever and ever” means more than merely “to the end of my days, until I die.” It means “forever,” indicating David’s belief he would be worshiping God in heaven even after his worship on earth was ended. Fantastic! Forever and ever and ever and ever.

Friends, the Good News for us today is that we will be worshiping God forever and ever–along with the other redeemed saints from all the other ages of world history. Can you only imagine that? Praising God with Peter and Paul and Mary. Praising God with Bonhoeffer. Praising God with Calvin. Praising God with Luther. Praising God with Augustine. Praising God with Mother Teresa.

The “so what” question is right here, right now. “Why don’t I practice worshiping God right now?”

If we were to break down this wonderful Psalm, we would say that David praises God for his greatness (vv. 5–7). David does not stop with praising God for His greatness, David praises God for his grace (vv. 8–13a), his faithfulness (vv. 13b–16), and his righteousness (vv. 17–20).

Here’s your “so what” homework:

• Praise God for His greatness!
• Praise God for His grace!
• Praise God for his faithfulness!
• Praise God for his righteousness!

Yes! Try it right now. Right here as you finish reading this SEED OF FAITH, let that mustard seed of faith grow. Tell God why you think God is great! Tell God about His great grace for you! Tell God about how faithful God has been to you. Thank God for his righteousness. We got this. You can travel to work, school, the grocery store and the mall and thank God for the many beautiful things you see or hear. Thank God for His grace: his glorious riches at Christ’s expense. Wow, you could drive cross country on that one. Look back over your life and thank God for His faithfulness to you. Lastly, praise God for His righteousness. Tell God you want to walk rightly, you want to follow Jesus and you need daily help and strength to do that.

Let’s practice this wonderful advice from David and Psalm 145. And after you are done with this great PRAISE session, play the song and sing along.

HOW GREAT THOU ART. What an opportunity we have to be able to turn our lives into a song of praise.

God loves You and so do I,
Dave

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:21-26

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers,

Do you know the famous hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness?” The verses are familiar to many Christians, it is a well-known hymn written by Thomas O. Chisholm (1866–1960):

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not:
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

The story of how Chisholm came to write his great hymn reveals a profound truth about God’s faithfulness. Some of our great hymns are written in response to a dramatic spiritual experience. That is not the case with “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. This hymn was not the product of a single experience but of a lifetime of God’s faithful care. Not long before his death, Chisholm wrote:
“My income has never been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. But I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”[i]

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Romans Chapter 8:

No condemnation — in Christ!

No separation – in Christ!

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

Greetings in the love and joy and peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Praise God!

We will be working through some of the passages in which Paul teaches us that we have a new “LIFE IN CHRIST.”

Do you know that the words “IN CHRIST” are used 119 times just in Paul’s letters alone?

Paul wrote thirteen letters to the churches plus his letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.  “IN CHRIST” is a dominating theme for Paul. It is fitting that the apostle Paul, who received the revelation of the mystery of the union of Jew and Gentile into one body, should coin a phrase to describe those incorporated into one body. This body is, of course, the body of Christ, the church. Pentecost is the church universal’s birthday; the day the promised Holy Spirit fell upon those who believed in Jesus.

I have a handout with a few of the 119 times where Paul tells us what life is like in Christ. If you would like one —- email me at: pastordave@theseedchristianfellowship.com and I will email you back a copy!

I would like to spend the next few minutes on verse one of Chapter 8 of Romans—possibly one of the greatest chapters in all of the living word!  In the Greek verse one is only eight words.  But these eight words are powerful and give us a promise of the freedom we have in Christ. I’m going to go over the verse as it is in presented in the Greek lineup—not in the English.

No! — oude

The first word in the Greek is an adjective with an emphasis.  The word is “No.” This word is weak in the English translation. In our texts it is a simple negative, like most other negatives. In the Greek text “no” (oude) is strongly emphasized. First, it is not the simple negative “ou” but the compound and therefore the stronger negative “oude.” Second, it occurs at the beginning of the sentence, which intensifies the negation. This word “oude” can be translated, “not one, nothing, no one, none, or just plain no.” The strong emphasis could be translated with a double negative like “no, nothing — no, not one— no—none— no,  no one–or simply no no!”

It’s important to note that this word Oude (NO, NO!) describes the noun “condemnation” for anyone who is IN CHRIST. There is simply no, no, no, not one, nothing, none—no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! That’s great news.

Therefore!— ara

The second great word in this sentence is “therefore.” To what does it refer?  Does “therefore” bring us back to the arguments of the struggle with sin in chapters 7, chapter 5 or chapter 3 of Romans? NO,NO! Most scholars say that Paul’s “therefore” is all inclusive, pointing back to the entire argument of the epistle—all 7 chapters prior!  The Good News that Paul is telling us is this—- there is no, not one, nothing, none, no, no, no condemnation for us. What Paul is really saying is this, “You know everything else I’ve written in this letter—in the previous 7 chapters…well all of that was to come to this: THEREFORE…there’s NO CONDEMNATION if you believe in Jesus Christ.

Why?  Because God’s work done in Jesus Christ (through his life, death and resurrection) and through the the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost—this all leads us to this one thing: there is now “no condemnation” for any person who is “in Christ”.

Now!— vuv

“Now” is a time word, pointing to the change that has come about as the result of our believing in the work of justification that Jesus Christ made possible by his death. Before we believed IN CHRIST, we stood condemned by God. We were due to suffer the penalty of an eternal death for our sins, the “wages of sin” being “death”.  But once we believe in Christ…therefore, there is now no condemnation.

Now — not tomorrow.

Now — not next week.

Now — not next year.

Now — not when you get your life together.

Now — not when you do good works for your sins.

NOW — is translated with words like, “at this present time, now, at this very time, just now.”

I love that word!

This past week, I was captured by that word in 2 Corinthians 5:5 — “NOW it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

I truly believe that God wants us to live in the now and not the the tomorrows or yesterdays. Will Rogers once wrote these profound words about living in the “NOW.” This is what he said, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.(1)

I know that I have at times allowed yesterday’s mistakes, sins, and failures to hold me back. What we are learning today is that if we are “in Christ,” yesterday’s sins contain no condemnation for us. Zero. None.

So What?

Now is the time to receive the undeserved and unearned gift of grace that God has given to us through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection and ascension into heaven —no, not one, none, nothing — no condemnation.

Condemnation — katakrima

This Greek word means that there has been a legal decision in a court case and the verdict is guilty. Did you hear that? “Guilty” was our status! If we were to read the opening chapters of Romans, we would see that we are to be condemned as sinners. We were condemned sinners, subject to the outpoured wrath of God. But suddenly Jesus entered our world and died for us, bearing the wrath of God in our place, and there is NOW “no condemnation” fort hose who are in Christ.  

This is such a groundbreaking chapter in the Bible. Chapter 8 starts with THERE IS NOW NOCONDEMNATION for those IN CHRIST JESUS…and ends with…THERE IS NOW NO SEPARATION from the LOVE OF GOD for those of us in Christ.

You see, what will happen when we each face the “Day of reckoning” is that we will have the greatest defender of all stand with us before the judge of all. No matter what the enemy says about us—the grace of God will cover us—if we are in Christ! Instead of a GUILTY verdict, our Lord and Savior will deliver to us a NOT GUILTY verdict—all because he paid the price of our sin on that cross at Calvary.

Oude ara vuv katakrima….

OUDE: No, nothing, no not one thing, no none, no no one, no, no, no….

ARA: Therefore…and not just chapter 7, 5 or 3…but the whole kicking kaboodle of the Bible and the fall of man has been covered by the blood of Jesus…

VUV: NOW….not yesterday, not when you were little, not in your teen years, not in your college years (OH BOY) no…not then…but NOW…just now…today, not yesterday…

KATAKRIMA: NOT GUILTY….

That’s not Greek to us anymore! How about in English? “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus. ”Romans 8:1

Let’s take a moment to pause and ponder the great grace of Jesus who pardons us…now might be a goodtime to say, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me”

I don’t know about you, but I want to run around right now and shout, “HEY! I am IN CHRIST, people! I AM LIVING IN CHRIST!”

Hey, sow a seed of faith in you today. Then go plant that seed into your family, friends, strangers, etc. Who doesn’t need to hear the living word of Jesus Christ? Not GUILTY. Saved. Justified (Just as I’ve never sinned), forgiven.That big gavel in the judges hand is going to slam onto the desk and, if you are a believer, if Jesus Christ is your lord and Savior, you are going to hear over and over again, NOT GUILTY.

Your “SO WHAT?” homework for the week: How does this SEED OF FAITH make me feel? Give me 3 words that describe how you feel knowing there’s no condemnation for you? Here are my three: free, forgiven, unafraid.

“Father God, I believe. I believe Jesus is your only son who died for my sins. Forgive me. Set me free to live in Christ…today and tomorrow. Thank you that after a long and  surly court case—you have declared me NOT GUILTY and I am free from all condemnation. Help me to turn from my wicked way and to learn how to live the rest of my life in Christ. God, help me. Amen.”

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Acts 2:17-21

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

It is my prayer that each of us grows in the grace of Jesus Christ and that we get so full of this amazing grace that we go in the power of the Holy Spirit sowing SEEDS of faith in our world. God’s love and grace are transformational, so get out there in your world and sow those seeds of faith!

God wants us to know His Ways and desires for us to be empowered by His “Ruach” Holy Spirit to live Holy lives, bearing much fruit in Him. Have you ever thought that God wants us to live a holy life? Salvation. Sanctification. Glorification. Three powerful words and three powerful life transformations. Salvation—we believe Jesus is God’s only Son, who died for our sins, then rose triumphant on the 3rd day. Sanctification—from the moment we are “saved”, we grow further and further into sanctification; being made holy in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, we take our last breath and we arrive in heaven—glorified. Triumphant.

So let’s start with a first “so what?” Holy. Are you trying to live a holy life?

In Ezekiel, the prophet gave these words to the Jewish people. “And I will put My Ruach —Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules.”  (Ezekiel 36:27)

You might not know the name Angelo Dundee, but you have undoubtedly heard of Muhammad Ali, probably the most famous professional boxer of all time. For more than two decades, Angelo Dundee was in Muhammad Ali’s corner, literally. He was Ali’s cornerman! He is the one who made Ali float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. He also trained fifteen other world boxing champions. Angelo Dundee described his job as a cornerman this way: “When you’re working with a fighter, you’re a surgeon, an engineer, and a psychologist.”[i]

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have someone even better than a surgeon-engineer-psychologist in our corner we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third PERSON of the Trinity!

The disciples were told to “go and wait” for the promise gift that Jesus would give. One note that we should see is that the disciples were obedient, and they went and waited and waited and waited. They waited ten days and then whoosh the Holy Spirit came in like a mighty wind and tongues of fire filled the place and everyone who was in the room. In verse four we read these words from Dr Luke, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Luke 2:4)

The Greek word for “all” means “all.” All one hundred and twenty of those gathered were filled, which means in Greek to be “generously supplied or overflowing” with the Holy Spirit. After being generously filled, they then began to speak. The Greek word for speak is one of those present active verbs which means the act of speaking never stopped. The Holy Spirit filled them generously and repeatedly so that they could continue to speak over and over again.

Imagine with me that you have decided to go sailing. The problem is that you know next to nothing about sailing. So, you go to the store, and you purchase several books to find out what is involved. You carefully read them and then you talk to a veteran sailor who answers questions for you. The next day, you rent a sailboat. You examine it closely to make certain that everything needed for a successful sailing experience is present and in good working order. Then, you take your boat out onto the lake. Your excitement is at a fever pitch, though you’re also afraid. But you follow the instructions you have read, and the counsel received from the experienced sailor, and you launch your boat into the water. You carefully monitor each step and hoist the sail.[ii]

At that precise moment you learn a crucial lesson. You can study sailing. You might even be able to build a sailboat. You can seek from the wisest and most veteran of sailors. You can cast your boat onto the most beautiful of lakes under a bright and inviting sun. You can successfully hoist the sail. But—and this is a big “but”—only God can make the wind blow!

“You and I can study the Bible…. We can orchestrate a worship service according to biblical guidelines. We can do everything that lies in the power of a Christian man or woman. But only the Spirit can make the wind blow inside that service!

The power of the Holy Spirit was what enabled the disciples to continually speak about Jesus. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that put wind in the sails of the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. It was to power of the Holy Spirit that the birthed the church and on the day of Pentecost three thousand people were added.

So What?

At the closing of our reading in verses seventeen through twenty-one, we hear the quote from Joel that says that Holy Spirit will be poured on all people: Young men, old men, servants, men, and women, will prophesy. The Holy Spirit will show wonders in the heavens and signs below. But the promise is this: all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. The Greek word for “saved” means “to be rescued, delivered, healed, to keep safe, and unharmed.”

When I finally came to faith in Christ a verse from Romans eight forever changed my life. It was Romans 8:15-16 — “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you aslave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry,“Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’schildren.” Romans 8:15-16

It was the Spirit of sonship that forever changed my life. What I heard was that God wanted to be my Father and I would be His son and he would be with me forever. Then verse sixteen said that it was His Spirit that would testify to my spirit that the presence of the Holy Spirit would never leave me. It was that promise of the presence of the Holy Spirit that forever changed my life. (January 1981)

Tesla. Chevy. Nissan. Porsche. Audi. VW. A dozen major carmakers are now building electric vehicles, and the market is expected to grow.

But there is a problem: The charging ports are all over the cars.

When you go to a gas station to fill up your gas-powered car, you can be pretty sure that you will pump gas into the tank from the side of the car, near the rear. But where do you put the charger into your electric car?

Could be the front. Or the back. Or one of the sides. Very confusing.

In Korea, the car-maker Hyundai recently embarked on a project of building public charging stations in Seoul, and they wanted to accommodate as many car brands as possible. According to Fast Company magazine, they tapped the consulting firm McKinsey to design a universal charger that would easily work with any electric car.

The result was the “Hyundai Hi-Charger,” and you will never guess what inspired its design. “Self-serve car washes,” says a partner at McKinsey. “They have the sprayer hanging down from the top and it kind of rotates around.”

Same with the Hyundai Hi-Charger. It has a beacon, featuring a glowing halo. The halo rotates and drops the charging cable in just the right spot, depending on the make and model of your electric car.[iii]

It is a universal charger.

The promise of Pentecost is that God is with us, always with us, and this is true for all Christians, not just those labeled Pentecostal or Charismatic. It echoes the promise made when Jesus was given the name Emmanuel, which means “God is with us” (Matthew1:23). The Holy Spirit is our Universal Charger, hovering above us and within us. Bringing us the healing, help, wisdom, knowledge and guidance we need, in every time, place, and situation.

Let me ask you again? Except let me word it a little differently: How are you doing allowing the HOLY SPIRIT (the universal charger) to grow the HOLY in you?

If we could only get a glimpse! We’ve been saved and sealed with God’s very own holy spirit. Maybe it’s a good time to pray?

”Holy Spirit, I want my life to grow in holiness. God has promised never to leave me, never to forsake me. Today, maybe show me just one thing I can do, just one thing I can say, just one thing I can read that will feed my spirit and grow my roots deeper in Jesus Christ. Amen.”

I’m praying for you. I pray for you each day. Do you know why I went into ministry? My biggest hope is to watch lives be transformed by God’s grace, love, and power!

Hey, sow a seed of faith in you today. Then go save the world.

See you Sunday.

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:2-3

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:4-5

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,
In verses four and five of the books of Acts, I was stopped in my study with the words “wait” and “promise.”  I know that there are many words in these verses that we could spend a lot of time on. We could talk about the command that Jesus gives. Why is it so hard to follow Jesus’ commands? We heard hurry and“ Go and Tell.” We heard “Go and Make.” Now we hear “Do Not Leave Jerusalem.” Is Jesus thinking clearly!?  Jerusalem is not a safe place. Does not Jesus remember what happened the last time they were all in Jerusalem? Wait! Wait in Jerusalem!

We can hardly wait for our phone to connect to the internet as the little circle goes round and round. A funny side note, I know a woman who was directed by the Holy Spirit to pick the word WAIT as her word of intention two years ago. She truly learned how to wait that year.
The Greek word that Dr. Luke uses for “wait” is “perimeno” and it is a present active verb that mean that the action is continuous– to “stay in one place and anticipate or expect” over and over and over again. Never stop waiting. Keep on waiting.

I think of Abraham and Sarah waiting almost 80 years to have a baby. I think of Daniel in the lion’s den waiting for God to rescue him in the morning. I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego waiting in a fiery furnace. I think of Moses and the Israelites waiting and wandering in the wilderness for forty years. It was forty days that the Israelites waited when Goliath stood and challenged them and mocked God. Then David showed up with a sling shot and five smooth stones. Zechariah and Elizabeth waited for years for their baby, John the Baptist. How about the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethsaida? He waited for 38 years to be healed. Martha and Mary waited for Jesus to show up but then their brother died. Lazarus had been dead four days by the time Jesus showed up and what does he do? Resurrection time! Those are just some of the stories of the people in the bible who are waiting.

Are you waiting on Jesus? You, my friend, are in great company.

Jesus commanded the disciples to wait for the promise. The promise was the Holy Spirit. The person and the power of the Holy Spirit. In next week’s SEED OF FAITH we will spend some more time talking about the Holy Spirit—just wait!
But rest assured. When Jesus promises something — it will come to be fulfilled. It would be good to hold onto some of the promises in the Bible. One of the best promises we have been given is that we will have the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Remember the ending of Matthew. Jesus gave the Great Commission and said — “Remember I will be with you always even to the end of the age.”

So What?

We can all be witnesses. Can I Get A Witness!?
Here is your SO WHAT PASTOR DAVE homework for the week: As you wait, pray. Yep. When you go the grocery store and are waiting in line, stop, look around and pray for the people you see. Do the same at the gas station, at the doctor’s, everywhere you go—and as you are forced to GO AND WAIT…why not try praying for the places we go and people we see? I always ask the Holy Spirit to give me the people’s heart as I pray. We never know how our prayers will affect another heart. Let me give you an example: 31 years ago our eldest daughter graduated from High School. We threw a big party for her and invited everyone we knew! A young girlfriend of our daughter’s came to the party but decided she was to shy to come in. She dropped off her gift and left. My wife is a terrific communicator and she sensed that this young girl needed prayer. She prayed for her, asked our daughter who she was, and then Jac sent her a card thanking her for coming to the party and leaving a gift. Inside her card my wife enclosed a magnet—a GOD loves you magnet.
You are going to have to read next week’s SEED OF FAITH in order to understand how important it is in the kingdom of God for us to learn to wait. Let’s put Habukkuk to memory: Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

We sang a song last week by the group CAIN called THE COMISSION. Somewhere in the song we sang, “I have the purpose…God has the plan.” May we always remember that. The song is not IN MY TIME…but IN HIS TIME. God will make all things beautiful IN HIS TIME.

Want to know what happened in 31 years time with this young lady?

WAIT.

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

After Easter worship, my wife and I jumped on a plane! That’s right, as soon as worship services and the egg hunt were completed, my wife and I flew to Texas in order to show up for five of our two grandsons’ baseball games for the week. What a joy and blessing it was to be there. Our younger grandson plays high school base ball and had two great games.  Of course, I could brag and show you videos and pictures. His older brother is a freshman in college. If you don’t know this, college sports are a whole other beast of athletism. Mason is a lefthanded pitcher. He is one pitcher on a team of 20 pitchers. Freshman usually have to pay their dues and that translates to: we sat in the stands and watched an all-day during double hitter and only saw our grandson warm up! We left Waco at 10 am, drove to Dallas, spent the day and returned home at 10 pm. It was a long, 12-hour day. Our grandson may not have gotten the chance to pitch in the game but the important thing is that we showed up. We cheered the team on (they won one, lost one.) We were able to watch our grandson snag balls during infield practice, and warm up in the dugout. After the first game, he was able to talk with us for a few minutes in the stands. He apologized for not playing and that we drove such along way for that. We told him, “Mason, just remember to show up. Life isn’t about showing up because you’re the star of the game. Life is just about showing up no matter what.”

When Jesus met Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in the garden by the empty tomb, He told them not to be afraid, but He actually told them more. Listen to Jesus’ words … Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Matthew 28:10

If you have read the Bible, you know that there are many resurrection appearances of Jesus that have been recorded. The New Testament indicates that there were at least ten appearances of the risen Lord, plus another appearance to Paul some years later. As we noted in our opening reading of the Gospel of John, Jesus appeared in the Upper room not once but twice. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appears to the disciples walking down the road to Emmaus after the resurrection.  In John we find Jesus appearing to the disciples on the seashore in Galilee and cooking fish tacos for their morning breakfast. We hear of Jesus forgiving Peter three times by asking Peter to love Him and feed His sheep. Did Jesus do that so that He and bff Pete were “even up” for the three times that Peter denied knowing Jesus? Maybe.  In eight of these appearance accounts, Christ gives an explicit commission, and in five of the eight he commands his followers to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Our reading in Matthew comes after breakfast by the sea. Some scholars suggest that the timing of Matthew’s account is some fifty to fifty-five days after the resurrection. We could spend some time trying to put all the pieces together chronologically, but I do not think that is what we are called to do.

In Matthew, Jesus gives some powerful action points that are necessary for His followers to follow in order to fulfill their supreme mission on earth–to reach the mountain peak of their calling, as it were. These action points I would like to address over the next few Seeds of Faith: show up, worship, obedience — go make, baptize, and teach.

Notice the ending of verse 10 and the action in verse 11.  The women were told to go and tell the disciples (hiding in the upper room) to go the Galilee for there they would see Jesus. You know what the disciples did? They went.  That is what verse eleven tells us. They showed up, they were available.

I wonder how often I have failed to show up. I try and listen to what God is trying to tell and ask of me through the Holy Spirit each moment of each day. Sometimes I miss the boat and the result is I miss the opportunity to see God at work in my life and in the lives of others.

While we were in Texas, my wife and I went to one of my favorite Christian book stores (Mardel) to walk around and browse the books and Christian art. We picked out only a few books this trip knowing that we only had so much room in our 48 pound suitcases! We were standing in the checkout line—which was long—and my wife started waving all the other people behind us to go ahead of us. They only had one or two items and we had 7 books and we were in no hurry. The lady just in front of my wife thanked us because she only had a small amount of time before she had to go pick up her kids and she had prayed that she’d get in and out in record time. You know my wife, they talked about kids and then my wife noticed the title of the two books this woman was buying, The books were by Lysa Terkeurst! She was buying Lysa’s newest book called, “You’ll Get Through This”. The woman saw my cross and asked if I was a pastor. Then she shared with us that she was going through a messy divorce. They had been married 35 years and he just left for another younger woman. By now she was crying. Jac asked her about the books she has read by Lysa. Turns out, she has read almost all of them—except, she missed GOOD  BOUNDARIES AND GOODBYES—the very study our SEED BOSSY women are studying this Spring! Jac was like, “NO! NO! You need to get this book before you get that book! This boundaries book is the precursor and foundation of that book! First, you need to know about boundaries and good byes!” You got it, I had already left the line and had gone to pick up the study guide and the book. Jac is leading the women’s study at the SEED. While I was gone, the woman told Jac, “OK. I will go home, go to work and make more money and come back and get that study in two weeks.” After the woman checked out, Jac asked her if she could wait just another moment for a blessing. You got it. THE SEED bought this woman the tools she needed to finish her mountain climbing for this season. Oh, how she cried. After we were done checking out our own 7 books, we went off to the side of the checkout aisle and prayed for this broken-hearted person. Jac wrote down an encouraging note in her book, showed her how to access the 6 videos online and left her cell phone number.

SO WHAT?

Point number one!  Show up — be available. As we were listening to the Christian radio in Waco, a caller shared that she had participated in the local PAY IT FORWARD TUESDAY last week. You know, you’re in the drive up line and someone pays for the car behind them? This person drove through the bistro and said, “ I want to pay for mine and for the car behind me.” The next Tuesday this woman showed up again and the bistro told her that the last time they paid it forward—20 cars!

What I’m trying to tell you is that you don’t always go out and say, “Here I am. Showing up!” Sometimes you simply are nothing but available. You’re there and ALL OF A SUDDENLY…there’s an opportunity to watch God work…and God may even be using you to do just that!

That’s what Jesus is commanding here. “Go tell the family of God to JUST SHOW UP. I’ll take care of the rest.”

See you Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers,

It is my prayer that you are staying healthy and are walking with Jesus as you season your world.

This a two-part message. This week will talk about being a little salty. Next week, we will see how light can shine.

In the days of Jesus, and for many centuries thereafter, salt was the most common preservative used. There were no refrigerators, no deep freezers in ancient times. Salt was used to keep things from going bad and becoming rotten, particularly meat. When Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot” Jesus was telling His disciples that they were called to be the preserving agent in a decaying world.

This simple principle from Jesus is that you and I are called to be a preserving force in our world–wherever we are called to live, work, play and worship.

Think of it this way — salt that never leaves the box on the shelf will do no good in preserving anything. To be effective, salt has to be rubbed into the meat. Have you gone into the grocery store and looked at all of the “rubs” they have for seasoning your steak? In this same way, we must allow God to use us as flavorful seasoning (rub) for our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, families, and churches. A small amount of love and kindness goes a long way in making our world a better place.

Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride–common table salt–the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor.

Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various, contrary doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, truth can turn people away from the gospel. But when truth and love are combined in an individual or in a church then we have what Jesus called “the salt of the earth,” and we are able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.

The other day I went to the grocery store to do some shopping. I went to buy juice for home communions, I came across an insight on flavoring. I was holding a bottle of Blueberry Pomegranate Juice. There was a picture of a ripe pomegranate spilling its exotic, glistening seeds onto mounds of fat, perfect blueberries. I read the ingredient list: “Filtered water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate.” Where was the blueberry? Where was the pomegranate? Finally, I found them, fifth and seventh in a list of nine ingredients.

By law, food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. Meaning a product contains the greatest proportion of the first ingredient on the list and successively less of those farther down the list. According to the jug in my hand, it contained mostly water—a few other juices, with just enough blueberry and pomegranate for flavor and color.

In the bottom corner of the front label in small, easy-to-miss, were the tell-tale words: “Flavored juice blend with other natural ingredients.” The enticing pictures and clever labeling were decoys used to sell a diluted, blueberry-pomegranate flavored product convincingly disguised to look like something it was not. I put the juice back on the shelf. I chose the juice that was more costly—but it had more of what I was looking for.

So What?

That jug of juice made me think, what if we had an ingredients list printed on us?

Would Jesus be the main ingredient?

If not, how far down the list would He be?

Would our “label” accurately represent our contents?

Or would we falsely project a misleading outward-appearance that cleverly masked our diluted ingredients? Our packaging may be convincing. We may look and sound like the real thing but what if someone came looking for Jesus and found something else?

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertaker.” (Today In The Word, June, 1988, p. 13).

More than a hundred years ago the atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche reproached a group of Christians. Nietzsche said: “Yuck, you make me sick!” When their spokesman asked why, he answered, “because you redeemed don’t look like you are redeemed. You are as fearful, guilt-ridden, anxious confused, and adrift in an alien environment as I am. I am allowed. I do not believe. I have nothing to hope for. But you people claim you have a Savior. Why don’t you look like you are saved?” (Brennan Manning, Souvenirs of Solitude, 2009, Colorado Springs, NavPress)

Every Sunday my loving wife prays for me before church. Every Sunday she concludes with the same prayer, “Lord, help Dave to be funny. Let him reflect the peace and joy he has in knowing you. Amen.” Knowing Jesus really is the best part of my life. And Jesus wants us to be SALT to our world. He wants us to RUB off on others. It only takes a small amount of salt to flavor whatever we are using it on; the same way with us—it only takes a small amount of the love of Jesus to rub off on those in our tiny sector of the world. That’s our job: to be the SALT of the earth.

I leave you with your “SO WHAT?” homework:

• Am I the SALT of the Savior? Divide my life into who I am, what I’m doing, and where I’m going—and let’s spread the love of God everywhere we are.

• What if I had an ingredients list printed on me? Would Jesus be the main ingredient? What do I need to do in order to be more like Christ?

My prayer for you today: Be funny! (Just kidding.) Seriously, let’s take some time to sit with this SEED OF FAITH. Let’s look at our lives. If I’m the SALT of the EARTH, am I RUBBING off on those I live with? work with? worship with? Everywhere I go, am I seasoning others with God’s tremendous love? “Dear Father, I want others to know you and to experience your grace and love and forgiveness. Help me to fill my heart, mind, soul, spirit, body and strength with your living words of life so that I can be a living, walking, talking gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t want Jesus to be the last ingredient on my label; I want Jesus listed first. Help me to be more like Jesus. Amen.” 

See you Sunday! 

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www,theseedchristianfellowship.com

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Matthew 4:1

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers:

Greetings! Today’s assignment? Read Matthew 4:1-11. Put yourself in the story and then put the story in you!

The enemy of our soul loves to get us when we are alone or lonely. I think that is why worry or being anxious was listed as the number one temptation. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, led into the desert, and tempted. And right before all of this, Jesus was baptized…the dove descended and THE VOICE of God was heard saying God was well pleased with Jesus! Immediately Jesus is out in the desert having not eaten for 40 days. (Are you there in the story? Ever taken a tour of the desert?)

There’s one thing I’ve noticed: Temptation doesn’t come when we are the strongest; temptations come when we are the weakest. Or, maybe when we are strong—we can resist easier. It is when we are tired, worn out, poured out—that we often fall to temptation.  One of my spiritual directors taught me HALT. He told me that most temptations and failures come when these four things happen:
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired|
As a pastor, I am constantly trying to scan my horizon so that I am not hungry, angry, lonely, and tired all at the same time. I know what happens when I am all four of those dangers. I am at my weakest.
True confession here, I do not sit and read my Bible and do my daily devotionals because I am some sort of religious freak. I read my Bible because for me not to HALT…I need to fill my mind and heart and spirit and soul with God’s living word

Jesus being in the wilderness for forty days parallels the stories of Moses on Mt. Horeb for forty days (Exodus 34:2,28; Deut. 9:9) and Elijah on the way to the same mountain in I Kings 19. Paul also went into the wilderness after his conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul’s wanderings in the wilderness of Arabia are recorded in Galatians 1:17. More importantly Jesus’ wilderness experience reflects the wandering of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The temptation of Jesus also parallels the temptation of Adam. In fact, you could say that the first Adam had everything that he wanted. He was in the Garden of Eden with everything at his disposal and the serpent came slinking into the Garden in the form of a snake and said, “Did God really say?”

The first temptation here in our story is a simple test to destroy the confidence that Jesus had in His Heavenly Father. Do you see how subtle the devil is? He comes along and twists a word of two and says — ““If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” The devil speaks lies and accusations and tempts Jesus to distrust the powerful words that were spoken earlier at Jesus’ baptism — “This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.” What a contrast — “If you are God’s son” and “This is my beloved son.” Whom will you believe? God says you are precious in His sight, beloved…Satan wants us to question IF we are God’s child.

Temptation is serious business. Remember that God will not tempt you, but God will test you to see what you are made of.
Temptation is common to all people—pastor or not. Temptation is a time of trial and testing. It is a process of experience. I think Jesus was trying to show his disciples that our lives will be filled with temptations. He went first to show us the way to overcome. Are you in this story, yet?

Jesus had a choice to either believe the devil’s words or to believe the words that His heavenly Father spoke to Him. The devil first tries to get Jesus to distrust God. The devil plants doubt in Jesus mind that he will not be provided for His personal needs. Jesus responds with the clue to overcoming, “It is written!”

The devil speaks and then Jesus speaks — “It is written.” Jesus knew how to defeat the devil’s wily schemes! Jesus knew the Words of God. Jesus believed what His heavenly Father spoke about Him. This is why it is so important for you and me to spend time in God’s word. Read a verse…read a chapter…read a psalm…so that you can reply to the tempter, “IT IS WRITTEN… GET OUTTA HERE!”

First Temptation — Serving Self
Why are our physical needs so hard to trust God with? Was God capable of feeding Jesus?
Remembering the mocking cry at the cross — Matthew 27:40, 42-43 “If you are the Son of God…”?
How often do we put our physical needs above our spiritual needs? Seems to me that during one week, there are 3 meals a day—or 21 meals a week that are available for us to feed our physical body. How many of us are opening our LIVING WORD 21 times a week? How about just 7? How about once a day? Buckle up. Open up.
“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” Luke 4:4 Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 that says: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Second Temptation — Testing God
The devil quotes Scripture — Psalm 91:11-12 with a subtle twist — Satan left out the important phrase “in all Your ways.
Jesus replies, “It is written, ‘Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.’” Deuteronomy 6:16
This story is when the Israelites started quarreling with Moses in the desert and they tested God! Moses named the place MASSAH—which means TEST—and MERIBAH—which means ARGUING. The people were griping and saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?” Evidently, the people weren’t getting their way. They were being tested and they didn’t like it. (Sound familiar?)

Third Temptation — Worshipping Satan
First, Satan suggests what Jesus should do for himself. Second, Satan suggests what God should do for Jesus. Third, Satan suggests what Satan can do for Jesus — that is how Satan comes to us. Telling us that what we desire belongs to us and he will give it to us. Do you think self-will is Satan’s will or is it the opposite of God’s will?
What does Matthew 6:24 remind us to do — “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
One of my favorite passages in the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 6:33 … “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When Jesus is tempted to worship something or someone us his reply is simple but not easy. It is written — “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” Deuteronomy 6:13

Many of us can recognize a huge, Niagara-like temptation when we see it. Many of us decide to go a different route. But so often it is a million little decisions that lead us into a lifestyle of sin and failure.
We begin the story of Jesus in the wilderness by saying, “Me, too! Yes, me too—on being tempted and tested!” Remember that Jesus went into the desert full of the Holy Spirit. He had just been baptized. He had just heard the Father’s voice. A huge weapon in our arsenal against the wilderness and temptation is to fill our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits with God’s word.
I referee high school wrestling. This weekend was a big tournament and I reffed 12 hours each day. When I got home last night, I said I wanted to go to In N Out. Listen, at 8:30 pm that place was full. There were cars everywhere. There was nowhere to sit and the drive up was backed out past the intersection. We parked and walked inside. We were number 47. As we scanned the packed dining room with no place to sit, I heard them call number 3. I looked at my wife and said, “You got to be kidding me.” After 15 minutes, I spotted a family leaving so I walked over to claim the seats. Funny thing, so did another guy! We got there first. Those seats were ours! But there was a problem. We only need two seats, he needed all four. My wife said, “We can eat in our car…” We talked back and forth with the guy who didn’t want to take our seats from us. “NO! We insist” cried my lovely wife and she grabbed my arm and walked me away. Ten minutes later, we got two seats at the back counter. There we sat and continued waiting for number 47! Remember the guy who stole my table? He walked up to us and said, “Please, here’s $20—I want to buy your dinner for giving up your seats to my family. I feel guilty for taking them.” We talked back and forth and ended up shaking hands but telling him to go for yogurt after dinner! Tempted. Hungry. But not LONELY. Seriously, this could have ended differently for me.

This week I want you to do a daily, personal inventory. Every day ask yourself: Am I hungry, angry, lonely or tired? Listen, you don’t have to be all four before you HALT and go find quiet time to read God’s word, or listen to Christian music. An amazing thing happens when we read or hear God’s word…it becomes the living word inside of us and the living word is what will help us to overcome our hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness—our trials, tests, and temptations.

Is this story in you, yet? The story of how Jesus overcame temptation three times in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. This story…offers us some key wisdom for the tests, trials, and turbulence in our lives.

IT IS WRITTEN…say it with me…IT IS WRITTEN…and the quote your favorite bible verses out loud. We are more than conquerors, friends, we are overcomers because CHRIST overcame hell, death, and the grave. On the third day, He rose.

See You Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers and fellow ADVENT adventurers,

We are in the fourth week of Advent! The first week of Advent was the candle of Hope.  The second week of Advent was the candle of Love.  The third week of advent was the candle of Joy.  This week is the candle of Peace. 

I have a few acronyms to make it easier to remember what we’re doing:
 
HOPE          
Heaven’s
One
Promise                
Eternity

LOVE
Listen 
Observe
Value
Encourage

JOY
Jesus
Others
You

PEACE
Peace
Exists
As 
Christ
Enters 

Who here needs peace?  Who needs the peace of Christ to enter into your life, home, workplace, finances, relationships, health?

I encourage you to stop right now and read Luke 2:8-20. Twelve short verses that tell quite a story. Then, when you have read the story, read it again and put yourself into it. Are you a shepherd boy? or maybe you are the innkeeper sharing your barn? Maybe you’re an angel? Maybe you are Joseph or Mary? These last few days before Christmas, let’s work on putting this story, the Christmas story, into us so that we can live the story from a manger point of view. 
Peace With God.
Christ of the Andes is an impressive symbol of peace. Once Chile and Argentina were enemies and fought constantly. At last they decided it was in their mutual interest to live in peace. So, high upon their natural boundaries, the Andes Mountains, they erected a great statue of Christ with outstretched arms. The inscription reads: “Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the Argentines and Chileans break the peace sworn at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.” Christmas reminds us of the coming of peace to earth.[i]
 
Have you ever stopped to ponder and pray about why Jesus came to earth?  Why did Jesus come as a little baby?  Surly the people of Israel were not looking for newborn baby born in manger. They were looking for a Prince of Peace coming in as a conquering King, riding a white horse and setting them free.
 
The world that Jesus entered was filled with pain, problems, trails, trouble, tribulations, despair, desolation, and depression.  The people were held captive by their Roman rulers and they wanted to be free.  More importantly, they were also being held captive by their sin that separated them from God. The Prince of Peace came to bring Peace to the world through his reconciling life, death, and resurrection. Right here in this second chapter of Luke, the God of Peace breaks through the cosmos and walks into our broken world.
 
The angels sing — “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
 
God sent His one and only Son into this broken world to reconcile us. “Reconcile: to cause friendly relations between, cause to exist in harmony, to become compatible with.” You heard that right. God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to the earth when the time was right. God’s plan A? To reconcile the people who believe. Because of Jesus Christ, we can be in a right relationship with God, we can exist in harmony and we can be compatible with God, and others and ourselves. 
 
In Isaiah 53 we have one of the prophecies called the Servant Song.  Listen to how the prophet Isaiah puts our peace. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
 
Pause and ponder those words as we reflect on the little baby born in dirty, dusty, smelly, non-heated, cold, dark, stable; outside, in a cave of rock. Brrr.  This baby will be pierced for our transgression and sins. This child born to us will be crushed for our iniquities and immoralities, for our half-truths, lies, gossip, jealousy, shame, guilt and foolishness. The punishments that will be laid upon this baby boy will bring us peace!  By His wounds we will be healed. Sounds quite unfair, one-sided, and lop-sided to me.
 
The God of peace broke through our world in order to bring peace between you and me and between us and God. RECONCILE—compatible, harmony, friendly relations—like Argentina and Chile!
 
Jesus is our peace, not in some wily-nilly emotional way. Jesus is our Prince of Peace in a real and concrete way. Jesus is our Prince of Peace by coming into this broken world and making us whole and complete by forgiving us, healing us, and restoring us back into a relationship with God who created us and loves us. RECONCILIATION—a good word in the story to put into your heart this morning.

 So What?
When I was serving a church in Texas, I worked a grace weekend called Walk to Emmaus.  I was one of the three clergy, pastors, or spiritual directors as they called them on the weekend.  I gave a talk about God’s Justifying Grace.  The talk centers on the fact that God has sent His one and only Son Jesus to justify us and set us free.  Justify—just as if I’d never sinned.  That’s how God sees us as soon as we believe in Jesus Christ.
 
After giving that talk, a man in his 80’s, came up to me asked me if he could talk with me. He told me that he had been a bomber pilot in WWII and flew combat missions over Germany and France.  He told me that he could never forgive himself for dropping bombs that hurt and killed innocent people. He said that after hearing the talk about Justifying Grace that somehow God had given him a peace that surpassed all his understanding. He cried and cried in my arms. This man had peace as Christ entered his life.
 
P — Peace
E — Exists
A — As
C — Christ
E — Enters
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what I do, God will never stop loving me.
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what happens, God will never leave me alone.
 
Real peace is knowing that no matter what will happen in the New Year or the years to come, the Prince of Peace will be with me.
 
Real peace is knowing that the guilt of the past failures, mistakes and sins are forgiven.
 
Real peace is knowing that grief of the losses we have experienced will be overcome by the Prince of Peace.
 
Real peace is knowing that we can give up the grudges that cause us to become resentful and give them to the Prince of Peace.
 
Peace exists as Christ enters.
 
The “SO WHAT?” for you today, this final week of the Advent Season, is for you to allow the Prince of Peace to enter into your life.  No matter what you have done.  No matter where you are.  No matter what your circumstances, difficulties, failures, faults sins, guilt, grief, and grudges are.
 
Peace exists as Christ enters. Pray it with me: Everlasting Father, Mighty Counselor, Prince of PEACE…enter your story into my heart—right now…and every second after…and remind me of the greatest story ever told. The story where God prepared the world for the most magical night of all: CHRISTMAS…and may I sing with the angels, may I scream with the angels: GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND PEACE..PEACE..to His people on earth! I choose right now to live in harmony with you—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Forgive me for my sins. I am so very sorry for my selfish choices. Thank you, Jesus, for your birth…your life…and your death and resurrection. I am a NEW creation. BORN AGAIN…to live out your story in my story. WOW. Amen.

See you Saturday night, 5 pm, online or at church as we gather to remember CHRISTMAS EVE!

Merry Christmas! I pray you are prepared for the birthday of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Hey! I’m thinking of having ANGEL FOOD CAKE on Christmas Day; a concrete way of putting myself into the story and putting the story into me! GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave 
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com 

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers!

It is my prayer that we are learning to grow in the grace of Christ each day. I have been thinking about the wonderful hymn, “How Great Thou Art.” I encourage you to take a minute and YouTube your favorite version of this song and sing at the top of your lungs.  Pause and ponder the powerful lyrics and the deep meaning behind the words.

This is an inspiring hymn of praise and adoration, reminding us of God’s unlimited power and love. Although written in 1886, the hymn has become familiar to congregations everywhere around the world.
It especially became an international favorite after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team used it in their crusades during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.

The original text was written by a Swedish pastor, Carl Boberg, in 1886. While visiting a beautiful country estate, Boberg was caught in a sudden thunderstorm. The awesome and violent lightning and thunder quickly ended, leaving clear,  brilliant sunshine and the calm, sweet singing of the birds in the trees. Falling on his knees in awe and adoration of Almighty God, the pastor wrote nine stanzas of praise. Swedish congregations began to sing his lines to one of their old folk tunes. The text was later translated into German and Russian and ultimately into English by the Reverend S. K. Hine and his wife, English missionaries to the people of the Ukraine. When war broke out in 1939, it was necessary for the Hines to return to Britain, where Mr. Hine added the fourth stanza to this hymn. These four stanzas by Stuart Hine have since ministered and inspired God’s people worldwide:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy pow’r thruout the universe displayed!

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in—That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Refrain: Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; how great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; how great Thou art, how great Thou art![i]

Worship
The first three verses of Psalm 145 teach us so much about worship. When we think of God and His greatness, what is it that we can give to God? The only thing that we can give to God is our praise — our worship.

In the first three verses are three nearly parallel lines — “I will praise you — I will praise you everyday — I will praise you forever and ever.”

“I will praise” you. Praise is worship; it is acknowledging God to be who God truly is. God is the Sovereign Lord of creation. God is holy, just, righteous, merciful, awesome, and majestic. God is with us forever and ever. Say it with David, “I WILL PRAISE YOU, GOD!”.

What worship is not: worship is not coming to God in order to get things from God. Worship is not confessing our sins or pleading for grace, though these things flow naturally from worship. Worship is simple but so difficult for so many. Worship is acknowledging God to be God. Indeed, it is doing precisely what David does in the remainder of this Psalm.

 I will praise you “every day.” David is not going to praise God merely on the Sabbath, though the seventh day (or for us the first day of the week, Sunday) is explicitly set aside for that purpose. Rather, David is going to praise God “every day,” Monday through Sunday. Wow! What a profound statement! Especially in our culture today when so many people are disconnecting from church and worship of God, here is the word of God reminding us to praise God every day. Worship is not just one hour a week. Worship is a 24/7/365 deal. Let’s get on it.

I will praise you “for ever and ever.” “For ever and ever” means more than merely “to the end of my days, until I die.” It means “forever,” indicating David’s belief he would be worshiping God in heaven even after his worship on earth was ended. Fantastic! Forever and ever and ever and ever.

Friends, the Good News for us today is that we will be worshiping God forever and ever–along with the other redeemed saints from all the other ages of world history. Can you only imagine that? Praising God with Peter and Paul and Mary. Praising God with Bonhoeffer. Praising God with Calvin. Praising God with Luther. Praising God with Augustine. Praising God with Mother Teresa.

The “so what” question is right here, right now. “Why don’t I practice worshiping God right now?”

If we were to break down this wonderful Psalm, we would say that David praises God for his greatness (vv. 5–7). David does not stop with praising God for His greatness, David praises God for his grace (vv. 8–13a), his faithfulness (vv. 13b–16), and his righteousness (vv. 17–20).

Here’s your “so what” homework:

• Praise God for His greatness!
• Praise God for His grace!
• Praise God for his faithfulness!
• Praise God for his righteousness!

Yes! Try it right now. Right here as you finish reading this SEED OF FAITH, let that mustard seed of faith grow. Tell God why you think God is great! Tell God about His great grace for you! Tell God about how faithful God has been to you. Thank God for his righteousness. We got this. You can travel to work, school, the grocery store and the mall and thank God for the many beautiful things you see or hear. Thank God for His grace: his glorious riches at Christ’s expense. Wow, you could drive cross country on that one. Look back over your life and thank God for His faithfulness to you. Lastly, praise God for His righteousness. Tell God you want to walk rightly, you want to follow Jesus and you need daily help and strength to do that.

Let’s practice this wonderful advice from David and Psalm 145. And after you are done with this great PRAISE session, play the song and sing along.

HOW GREAT THOU ART. What an opportunity we have to be able to turn our lives into a song of praise.

God loves You and so do I,
Dave

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:21-26

Dear Faithful Seed-Sowers,

Do you know the famous hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness?” The verses are familiar to many Christians, it is a well-known hymn written by Thomas O. Chisholm (1866–1960):

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not:
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

The story of how Chisholm came to write his great hymn reveals a profound truth about God’s faithfulness. Some of our great hymns are written in response to a dramatic spiritual experience. That is not the case with “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. This hymn was not the product of a single experience but of a lifetime of God’s faithful care. Not long before his death, Chisholm wrote:
“My income has never been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. But I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”[i]