November 12, 2016 – 42 Days Until My Head Explodes, Or
Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” 1 Timothy 4:1-10

I don’t think I have seen a scarier Santa – almost devilish. And who is he talking to? Is he calling the parents of the children around the world trying to find out who is naughty and who is nice? Or, has he just been eating and drinking too much hot chocolate and cookies?

Watch what you are feeding on! This is what the writer of 1 Timothy is asking and warning. Be nourished on the words of the faith and the good doctrine that you have followed. What are you nourished by? That is the question this passage raises before us. What do you feed on daily? What do you put in your mind? What is your habitual input in your life? The sports pages, perhaps? Soap operas? The Dow Jones Averages? TV movies? Best-seller novels? If any of those things are your daily diet, then I can guarantee you will be a spiritually undernourished servant of Jesus Christ, because the apostle makes clear that what you feed on is what is going to determine how effective you become. Not one of them is wrong in itself. We are not to eliminate them, but we are to regulate them. That is the point Paul makes. Regulate them as things that can be very dangerously distracting to us and often too easily controlling of our thoughts. The apostle urges Timothy to seek out what really feeds his spiritual life. What do you essentially need? What we all need is more Jesus in our lives. That is what Christians need.

Pastor Dave

November 11, 2016 – 43 Days Until My Head Explodes, Or
Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” Hebrews 11:1-3

The words “Faith” and “Belief” are words we sometimes throw around loosely and interchangeably. Faith is much stronger than belief. Faith is an active word; belief is passive. Surveys show time and time again that if you ask average Americans if they believe in G-d, they will overwhelmingly answer yes. Many people believe in G-d, but do they have faith? Belief in something is when you are stranded on the top of a burning building (almost like the scary frosty balloon in our picture) and down below are firefighters with a large net. In your mind you “believe” you will be able to jump just the right distance; the net will hold you and you will be safe. You can believe all you want, but belief alone will not save you. “Faith” is what you demonstrate when you jump. Faith saves you from the pending disaster. Faith is acting on your belief. Some of us just need to get off the “I believe in G-d” bandwagon and onto the “I have an active, alive faith in G-d” wagon.

We are now two days passed the presidential election of 2016 – and many people are questioning their faith – their faith in the electoral process, faith in humanity, and faith in G-d. They had a belief that G-d would work things out to bring about the “right result” of this election, and when it did not go the way they thought it should, then they believed that G-d was absent – if not non-existent. How they moved from G-d only loves one candidate, to G-d loves the wrong candidate, and/or G-d should only allow one outcome, to G-d allowed evil to prevail – well that is truly a mystery to me. We need to stop and reassess the situation – realizing that we cannot decide where and when and how G-d acts – we simply need to trust that G-d acts – and have the faith that G-d is active in all things.

And now is not the time to abandon G-d or our faith in G-d. Now is not the time to leave the church but to lean on our faith. In other words, we need to stay the course, trusting that G-d will lead us from despair, to doing the works of G-d. And those works that are most needed right now is prayer, and doing the works of an active faith. Let your faith take you to places you would never believe you could go – for if you do, you will find yourself alive in faith and soaring, just like frosty, above the worries and the fears of this life.

Pastor Dave