CHANCE TO BELIEVE

MATTHEW 4:18,19
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net
into the lake, for they were fishermen.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

CHANCE TO BELIEVE

Follow the Lord wheresoever He went,
Stay close to the Son our Father sent;
Listen to His Spirit and go where He goes,
Keep moving forward as you follow.

Love the Lord with all of your heart,
Preach what it means to be set apart;
Hold onto FAITH that will lift you up,
Don’t deny anyone a chance to love.

TRUST in the Lord God with all your soul,
Teach the truth that makes men whole;
Talk to others in peace and gentleness,
Invite them to follow the God you trust.

TURN to the Light while you still have it,
Fight the good fight of faith in the Spirit;
Cherish the Truth by God’s grace you received,
Pass it on so others have the chance to believe.

Jeffree Pollock
June 26, 2OO8

At once they left their nets and followed him.
MATTHEW 4:20

[6] Humans can reproduce only human life,
      but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
[7] So don’t be surprised when I say,
     `You must be born again.’

John 3:6-7 (New Living Translation)

Mark 1:17
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Mark 8:34
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to
my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know
the truth, and the truth will set you free.” —– John 31, 32
 
Light of the World
Jill Carattini

“God is light,” said Irenaeus of Lyon.  “But God is unlike any light we have ever known.”  In our best attempts to consider God, we are essentially asking the everlasting light to lighten our darkness, for theology is an attempt to consider that which cannot be put into words. God cannot be defined by human language as if merely another subject of study or object of our attention; our finite minds and words cannot begin to specify with any precision the reality of that which is infinite.  As Gregory of Nazianzen observed centuries before us, “It is difficult to conceive God, but to define Him in words is an impossibility.”  For the subject of theology is, in fact, a Subject.  That is to say, theology is the act of peering into the light and glory of a Person.

Yet because of this, because God is a Person who has come near, the impossibility of the task of considering God need not prevent us from trying.  To children with limited understanding, God has chosen to reveal God’s self.  The great councils that gathered in antiquity, the list of faithful pilgrims in the book of Hebrews, men and women in history who have dared to do the work of theology–each of them, each of us, is squinting at the mystery of light.  But that theology exists, that we are able to speak of God at all, is because the Christian God is one who has come near to us.  In this sense, theology is one of the most practical disciplines.  Peering into the light, looking at the Person of God, coming to know who it is that has been revealed to us, we ourselves are changed, reoriented by the one we encounter.

This one has been encountered since the beginning.  The people of Israel were shown the power of God to save in Egypt and given the powerful command of the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).  The early church professed the same shema, the same confession of God as one, along with the encounter of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, through whom they believed they saw the Father.  “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  To this encounter, the early church was also touched by God at Pentecost, where “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting….All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:2-4).  The encounter of a saving God in history, the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit came together in the lives of believers in what they were eventually convicted to call the Trinity–the presence of three in one.

The doctrine of the Trinity further reminds us that the subject of theology is uncircumscribable, but this is not to say that our squinting is fruitless except in its capacity to blind our eyes.  On the contrary, there is much of God to find in this divine mystery, much that is both compelling and instructive.  The divine community that exists between Father, Son, and Spirit is a community, bonded by love, having created humankind in God’s image, and even now seeking to bring all of creation into this life-giving fellowship.  We discover more of who God is by looking into this image of unity in community; we see the truest qualities of God’s nature by considering the love and relationship God models in the Trinity, and we are further shown the attributes of God as revealed in Scripture–God’s grace and holiness, compassion and justness, omnipotent power and omnipotent love, omniscience in wisdom and in patience, eternality and gloriousness, among others.

Guided by the witness of Scripture, I believe we find these qualities at times mysterious in their tension, at times incommunicable, but other times quite profoundly shared with creation.  When we experience certain virtues such as love and justice, we are experiencing a taste of God and God’s reign, the heaven for which we were intended and the one who called the heavens into existence.  As we grow more in likeness of God, as people that are being restored by God and God’s communion, God’s moral attributes are something in which we in fact participate.

In this way, we are not only squinting at light, we are being changed by it.  Our union with Christ and communion with the Trinity add a certain and heavenly dimension to our lives, and it is indeed one that correctly and profoundly orients us here and now to the world around us.  We are at our best a reflection of God when we are drawn into relationships with one another, modeling the love that has been modeled to us.  We are at our best a reflection of God when we live in community that expresses God’s concern for all of God’s creation–from the downcast and the powerless among us, to the oppressed and the least throughout the world.  If God is light, how are we reflecting it?  The hope of theology is always that, like Moses, we may come down from the mountain glowing.

For the Christian today, illumination begins with Light itself, God unobscured, though incomprehensible, revealed by the Spirit through the glory of the Son.  There is indeed a source for all illumination, and this God is one: the Father who called light into existence, the Spirit who illumines, and Christ who is the light of the world.

Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias
International Ministries  in Atlanta, Georgia.   © 2008

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Receive His Perfect Gift
Steve Troxel

We are often encouraged to share the wonders of God’s love through the uncompromising truth of His Word…those around us are in great need! We live in a lost and dying world full of people who desperately need to know God’s plan of forgiveness and restoration.  But as we share the truth and minister to others, let’s also remember to make the time to personally receive ALL our Father has to offer.

When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink of water, she thought the request was quite odd since Jesus was clearly a Jew, and Jews did not associate with Samaritans; “How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9).

Rather than explain His radical views on social interaction, Jesus took the opportunity to introduce the woman to the gift of God.

John 4:10
“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.’”

If we only knew!  I often imagine a loving Father who has given the greatest gift the world has ever known.  We approach and examine the gift.  We ask questions and study the gift.  We even shake the gift and then proudly display it on our shelf; but we never actually open the gift and receive what’s inside.  If we only knew!  “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:7).  His gifts are perfect; and if we only knew, we would open and receive them with abounding joy!

His gift of living water is still available today.  This gift refers to our Salvation by the Spiritual transformation of our heart, but it also refers to His on-going gift of a victorious life of peace and contentment; “Everyone who drinks this water {from the well} will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (John 4:13-14).  His gift of Salvation is free through faith in Jesus Christ, and peace is assured through a humble submission to His will.  But we continually rebel and pump from the wells of this world – we drink polluted lies and continually thirst for more.

Approximately 650 years earlier, God gave the same message to the people of Jerusalem: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).  If we only knew!  We sit beside a Spring overflowing with the best tasting water imaginable, but we turn away and pump sludge into our broken pots.

God has great plans for each of us – and His plans are much bigger and brighter than anything we can accomplish through our own effort.  Let’s rediscover the gift of living water and put an end to our thirst!  Let’s return to the Spring and continue our journey in obedience.  Let’s drink freely and daily receive His perfect gift.

Have a Christ Centered Day!

Steve Troxel
God’s Daily Word Ministries

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“Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.”

Oswald Chambers
My Utmost For His Highest

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This is something I came across the other day.  Wasn’t this guy in a TV sitcom called Growing Pains? not to mention the Left Behind series.  J7

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MATTHEW 4:18,19
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two
brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They
were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers
of men.”

YOU FOLLOW ME
(The Chance To Believe)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

You follow the Lord wherever He went,
Stay close to the Son our Father sent;
Listen to His Spirit and go where He goes,
Keep moving forward as you follow.

Love the Lord with all your heart,
Preach what it means to be set apart;
Hold onto the faith that will lift you up,
Don’t deny others a chance to love.

Believe in the Lord whatever He says,
Humble yourself, consider yourself less and less;
Tell someone about Jesus before they wind up forever-dead,
Remember, Jesus warned of Hell more than anything He said.

Trust the Lord with all of your soul,
Learn the Truth that makes man whole;
Talk well to others in peace and gentleness,
Invite them to follow the God whom you trust.

There’s One Truth in life that will set you free,
Repent of your sin, turn to Christ and believe;
Do not be afraid, open your heart and receive,
Don’t deny yourself the chance to believe.

J. E. POLLOCK
AUG. 06, 2OO8

At once they left their nets and followed him.
MATTHEW 4:20

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Be Prepared To Follow

We are often reminded of our need to pray and study God’s Word. These essential disciplines allow us to abide in the presence of God and “hear” when He calls; they are also necessary for strengthening our faith in order to obediently follow where He leads.

God’s Word encourages us that when He calls, He also provides the tools to accomplish our assigned task; “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). We are also comforted that as we respond, we will never be alone; “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). But God’s call also carries responsibility. His call says He has made His choice – He has chosen us to take part in His wonderful plan, and, in faith, we must respond.

After delivering many of God’s messages to the people of Israel – calling them to repent and return to the worship of the One True God – the prophet Jeremiah became impatient with God’s timing: “I would speak with You about Your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” (Jeremiah 12:1). Jeremiah complained about how long he had to wait for the wicked to be punished. He was following God and calling others to do the same, but the ungodly seemed to continue living the “good” life – sounds like our complaints today. But God’s response wasn’t what Jeremiah was hoping to receive.

Jeremiah 12:5

“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”

God told Jeremiah that the situation in Israel was going to get worse in the coming days, and He asked Jeremiah if he was truly ready for the challenge. Jeremiah had been called to be God’s messenger and now was not the time to complain. This was the time to be a soldier and trust with ALL his heart; it was a time to renew his strength and push toward the assigned goal.

Our Heavenly Father dearly loves us and desires an eternity of intimate fellowship. He is a God of great comfort, but He is also our Commanding Officer who challenges us to prepare for the spiritual battles ahead. This world often appears corrupt and unjust, but the conditions of today are preparing us to fight in the trenches of tomorrow. We must trust now more than ever that God chose the right person when He gave us our assignments. He has made His call and promised to provide all the necessary tools at the proper time.

Let’s spend more time worshipping at His feet and loving Him with all our heart. Let’s rely on His strength and trust His understanding. Let’s draw closer to His side and always be prepared to follow.

Steve Troxel

God’s Daily Word Ministries

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