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What did the Holy Spirit get your attention with? 

Knowing the times we are living in, how does that affect the way you are serving Christ? and others? 

Don’t be Fearful!
1 Thessalonians 5:9, 11
"9 For God has not destined us for wrath"
"11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up"

Don’t Major on Bible Prophecy Only!
Acts 20:27
“for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God”

Don’t Miss the Point!
Luke 21:28
 “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Don’t Miss the Gospel!
Mark 1:15
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Have you ever spoken to someone about death? They always believe, like most people, they will go to heaven. Even when they don’t believe or even know who Jesus is. Scripture tells us that we are to testify that Jesus Christ is the judge of the living and the dead. It’s because of His purchase we receive forgiveness of sins. Meaning, it is only by Jesus we are saved from sin, death, and hades (hell). In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Why? Because the Father appointed Jesus to be the judge of the living and the dead. We often see Satan depicted as the one ruling in hades over lost souls who didn’t get to heaven. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Satan (known by many names) deceives us by trying to demonstrate to us how powerful he is. Which I will attest he is powerful and not to be trifled with. But, and that’s a Big But! It’s not satan who rules over hades, It’s God! God is the creator of all things. It’s God who created satan, hades and death and all three will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity. (Rev 20:10/20:14) It’s Jesus who conquered sin on the cross. It’s Jesus who has defeated death and hades and holds the keys setting the captives free. Have you been freed?

February 6, 2024
“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44)

1. holiness, sacredness, consecration, through dedication to the deity, often as absolute noun in construct- relationship. [1] David J. A. Clines, ed., “ק֫דֶשׁ,” The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009), 389.

We see in scripture of the Lord telling Moses what the priests should wear, how they should look, what materials the garments should be made out of. In Exodus 28:36, The Lord tells Moses, ““You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord.’” This signet was to be worn on the turban (headwear) right in the middle of it. It’s almost like a stamp on there forehead, “Holy to the LORD”. In the Hebrew it would read Holy to YHWH. What does Holy to YHWH mean? We see a glimpse of this in Leviticus 11. Specifically, Leviticus 11: 44.  The Lord tells Moses, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves, and be holy, for I am holy.” Consecrate yourselves, in other words, dedicate yourselves. The Lord is saying dedicate yourselves to me. Set yourselves apart to me. Think of a wedding. When I said “I do” on my wedding day, that meant I was dedicating my life to my wife. I was set apart from every other woman and set apart to her. I will not chase after other women. She is the only one. This is similar when we say “yes” to the Lord. The Lord has given us example after example of His dedication to us all throughout the scriptures. The best demonstration of His commitment to us is the death of His Son Jesus on the cross. Think about that for a moment. Saying “I do” to the Lord shouldn’t be lip service. It shouldn’t be a flippant “okay, I will follow you as long as you can do this for me” attitude. It should be heartfelt, eager, and passionate. We should be saying, “Lord, I want to know you more and more each day!” “Lord, I want to be pleasing in your sight.” “Lord, I don’t want to be distracted by anyone or anything else to take me away from you!” The God of the universe who knitted you in your mother’s womb knows you more than you could ever know yourself. He wants you to know Him and be committed to Him and Him alone. Consecrate yourselves and be Holy to YHWH.

If you have ever traveled through Redmond Oregon heading to Bend Oregon you may have stopped at a place called Dry Canyon. It is a little rest area with trails to stretch yours and your dogs legs from being cramped in a car for a while. On this trail is a bridge that takes you to the other side. This bridge looks large when looking right at it, but if you look at it from a top-down view you would see how really small this bridge is to the surrounding canyon that it connects to. There are signs all around for people and their animals. These signs are warnings to stay on the path if not you will fall off the cliff and well, die. From what I read there have been many dogs that have ran and not knowing it was a cliff and fell to their death. These signs are to keep us on the right path and to keep us from death. “Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” (John 14:5–6). Just as the physical path we walk in this life, we too have spiritual paths with spiritual signs. We only need to heed what they are. The scripture explains of the coming of Christ and what He was here to do. To live a righteous life, die, be buried for our sin and trespasses against God. The biggest sign of all wasn’t that He died. It was because He didn’t stay dead. He rose from the grave, defeating death, defeating sin, He is our reigning King. Our path to the Father, to salvation isn’t through enlightenment, it isn’t through pleasure, it isn’t through another religion, it’s the narrow path we choose. That choice is Christ. We have to make a choice, just like walking on the path in Dry Canyon. Are we going to make the choice to follow the signs and live or are we going to choose to ignore the signs and take the wide path that will lead to our destruction?

Have you fully given your life to following Jesus Christ? If you haven’t, why not?

What are some reasons that take you off the path?

How do you get back on the path?

Do you find the path easy or difficult?
 

King David, the man God said was after His own heart writes a song. At the end of it, it says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11) I encourage you to read all of Psalm 16. God has made known to us the path of Life through Jesus Christ. In His presence there is a fullness of JOY! I pray you choose the narrow path.

1 Corinthians 11:1
Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

When was the last time you told someone to imitate you? Is this something you're even willing to say? These are some heavy words that not many people are willing to say. Mostly, because a life worth imitating is hard to come by these days.

As hard as these words may be to say, I’m encouraged by Paul’s next words. He tells the Corinthian people to imitate him, “just as I also imitate Christ.” Paul was not perfect, nor did he ever claim to be perfect. He claimed quite the opposite in fact, telling Timothy  that he was the worst sinner. So why are his words so encouraging? Because if I am following Christ it means that I am naturally imitating Him as well.

One cannot spend time with Jesus and not be changed by Him. The more I imitate Him the more I become like Him. Then the more I ask others to imitate me as I imitate Christ the more they become like Him. This is true discipleship! Pouring into others what has been poured into you.

How well have you been imitating Christ? If you’ve not been doing a good job of it or not been doing it at all, now is the best time to start. The more you and I imitate Christ the more He will change our lives. We are called to make disciples who make disciples of Jesus and we cannot do that if we are not willing to imitate Him. I encourage you to spend time imitating Christ more and more each day in order to fulfill your purpose for Him, and see what He does in your life and in the lives of those around you.

But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭3:6‬

A man born lame was asking for money as Peter and John walked by him into the temple. Peter then tells him that he has no money but what he does have he will give him; which was being healed in Jesus’ name. So what is significant about this? Why is this so powerful?

When Jesus first called Peter to follow Him, He knew the rocky path Peter would have to walk. A path full of ups and downs. Peter would walk on water but he would also deny Jesus three times, he would claim Jesus to be the Messiah but he would also be rebuked for trying to keep Jesus from fulfilling His mission. What was Jesus’ mission? To be the sin sacrifice for all people and to conquer sin and death once and for all. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection would change the world.

Much like most people, I’m sure Peter tried changing his world by being a good person, donating time and money to those more in need, obeying the law, etc. All these things are not bad, they are actually very good things, they just don’t change our world in an eternal way. They have a temporary impact on our world but nothing close to the eternal impact Jesus has.

Once Peter came to realize his true mission, he would have an eternal impact on his world. He recognized that he didn’t have the means in and of himself to make an eternal impact on others, but Jesus does. Peter could have tried to heal the lame man in his own name, Moses’ name or any other name and it wouldn’t have worked. He recognized his world can only be changed with Jesus and it’s in Jesus’ name and power that he healed the lame man.

When was the last time you did something in Jesus’ name? It didn't have to be a miraculous thing like healing someone but something as simple as sharing your faith with someone. Our world is changed when we take the opportunity to share Jesus and what He has done in our lives and what He can do in others lives. How amazing would it be if we all shared Jesus with boldness to everyone we could. We would be living in a whole new world!

What opportunities has God given you to change your world with Jesus? Are you looking for those opportunities? I encourage you to pray and seek opportunities to have an eternal impact on others lives by sharing Jesus with them. 

I love the simplicity and reminder of what we are called to be as disciples of Jesus. We are to be witnesses of Jesus to everyone in our sphere of influence. What does that even mean though? It means that we are to share the truth of Jesus with everyone we can. Maybe that is a neighbor, co-worker, family member or even someone standing in the grocery line next to you. Just like a witness in court telling what they saw and heard, we are to tell others what we have seen and heard Jesus say and do in our lives and through His word.

Being a witness of Jesus can be a scary thing sometimes! I’ve heard people often ask how to be a witness of Jesus? The Bible gives us a simple answer and it is found in Acts 1:8. Jesus says, ”when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be…”. It’s not about how we are going to be a witness but Who is going to witness through us.

I believe people tend to overcomplicate the process of being a witness, and I’m just as guilty as anyone. We tend to have classes, create curriculum and have videos walking us through how to be a witness for Jesus; when the process is so simple. When we exchange time trying to figure out how to be a witness for spending time with Who is the witness, then we can’t help but share Jesus with others. The Holy Spirit gives us power and our fears and anxiety tend to go away and it becomes a natural thing. Not because we train or read a book on witnessing, but because when the Holy Spirit comes upon us witnessing is no longer something we do, but a witness is who we are.

When was the last time you were a witness for Jesus? What happened? The more time we spend with the Who, the Holy Spirit, then the less time we spend worrying about the how. Spend time in God’s word today in order to get to know Him for Who He says He is. The more you know Him the more natural it becomes to be His witness. I encourage you to share Jesus with at least one person this week and see how He works in that person's life!

Luke 10:40-42
But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Christmas is an exciting time to celebrate the birth of our Savior. However, many people fail to keep the true meaning of Christmas in plain sight. Many are distracted with dinner, plans, buying presents, decorations and so much more. These are not bad things, however they tend to take the place of what is truly important. 

This reminds me of the story of Mary and Martha. Martha invited Jesus into her home expecting her sister Mary to assist her in preparing food and drinks. Mary instead is focused on Jesus, sitting at His feet listening to what He has to teach and say. Martha, becoming frustrated with her sister’s choice, says to Jesus, “do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” Martha then asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Jesus’s reply to her was “you are worried and troubled about many things…Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mary’s focus was on Jesus while Martha was looking at everything around her. What are you focused on this Christmas season? Are you allowing yourself to be worried and troubled about many things, focusing on the many distractions, or is your focus on celebrating the birth of the King? May we keep our focus on Jesus this Christmas season and share the gift of salvation that only He gives with everyone we can.

“And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”        
                                                                                                                               ‭‭Judges‬ ‭6:14-16‬

These verses are part of the Lord’s calling of Gideon to defeat the Midianites and release Israel from their hand of oppression. “Do I not send you?” What a question for the Lord to ask! Once the question is asked Gideon begins making excuses for why he is unqualified and not enough to be used by God. Sound familiar? I’ve heard story after story of friends and family doing the same thing, and I’ve also got stories of my own excuses.

Even with the excuses the fact remains that the Lord asked “Do I not send you?” Let’s put it another way. YOU ARE THE ONE I’m sending. You and I, like Gideon, are the ones God is using to share the love of Christ to the world. Not only that, but YOU ARE ENOUGH! We can use all the excuses we want but what it comes down to is the Lord says “But I will be with you.” You don’t need to have a title, be skilled at leading people, have a high education or have your life put together. Why? Because the Lord will be with you.

Let’s live in the truth of God’s word from here on out. Knowing that you are the one, you are enough and you are restored because of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross because of His love for us. Let’s also share this message with the world!