Do you understand that God knit us together, in our mother’s wombs, to be born at exactly the right place and time — to experience this pandemic together in our various stages of life? God orchestrated it. Let this verse from Acts 17:26 sink in, “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” In other words, we were born at the right place and time.
Click Here to watch Pastor Billy share a message of hope from Romans 8!
As Christians, we shouldn’t be living in fear. We should be living to glorify Christ — especially now. Most of those around us are crippled with the fear of needing to be fully prepared. We know that apart from God, there will never be enough to sustain us.
A while ago, I decided to read my Bible cover to cover. As I read through the book of Daniel, I took my time. I want to encourage you with one application I gleaned from Chapters 9 and 10.
In chapter 9 verse 2, He writes, “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” I appreciate how he understood God’s Word and believed Jeremiah’s writing to be reliable. He believed that God would keep His Word. What he read he believed. What he believed he applied.
When you’re asked to help someone move, serve at church, or take someone a meal, what is your first reaction? Is it, “I don’t want to do that, I serve enough already. Someone who doesn’t already serve can do it.”? Maybe it’s, “Well, if nobody else does, I will.”? For some, it might be, “I’d love to! I thought you’d never ask!”?
The Bible is clear, we need to adopt the heart of a servant. We need to humble ourselves and make a habit of considering others better than ourselves. Consider Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Well, it’s that time of year and tomorrow we’ll celebrate Christmas! We’ll celebrate in our own ways and for me, it’ll be my 35th Christmas. Each one of them has been different. Some have been memorable and detailed in my mind, some have blended together and some of them I don’t remember at all.
No matter how you
celebrate (or how many you’ve celebrated),
each Christmas is a reminder to us that Jesus came to this world and dwelt
among us. It’s an opportunity for us to remember that He came to save us.
We’ve
all lived it and we’ve all seen it. A child doing something they shouldn’t be
doing and the parent telling them to stop. The child either pretends not to
hear (or shoots a look of defiance) before going back to what their parent told
them not to do. What happens next?
After six
years of dragging a hose around the yard to water our lawn, my wife and I
decided to make our summer project be to install a sprinkler system. We saved
up our money and I spent months learning what I needed to know to design and
build my own sprinkler system. I bought bits and pieces on classified sites in
order to cut the costs. I repeatedly drew my little plot of land with different
trench layouts, head types, brands, sizes, etc. I wanted the most consistent
and efficient system I could afford.
A few months ago, I was able to attend a conference sponsored by The Gospel Coalition. Some of our pastors joined other pastors in our region for three days of teachings, seminars, break-off conversations and hours of planning. There were 8,000 people from all over the world there — some of the most well-known theological minds of our day. It was huge. It was overwhelming. It was exhausting.
I was cleaning out the basement a few weeks ago and ran across an old journal. From the few pages I read, it would seem that all I ever did back in 2007 was think about Jesus, talk about Jesus, read about Jesus and write about Jesus. There was a lot of good going on in my life back then. I had just married Ashley, I was a first-year apprentice electrician, I was cranking through the Bible, deciding where I stood on heavy, theological positions, writing down prayers, leading people to Christ and playing in one of the worship bands at The Rock Church.
One thing that stuck out to me in that old journal was a prayer that I had written down. It was for a co-worker named Joe. I prayed that God would save his marriage, reveal Himself to Joe and that Joe would become a Christian. I didn’t even know Joe all that well; I don’t remember praying for him. It took me by surprise to see how full of faith I was back then! I hate to say it, but I don’t pray for all of my co-workers like that anymore. Seeing that journal kind of knocked me back on my heels. It made me feel ashamed that I’m not doing as many things for the Lord as I used to.
A few summers ago, my family and I stayed with one of my wife’s relatives on an Ohio farm. It was a rather large farm at over one hundred acres. Early one morning, the kids were out playing in the yard and the farmer asked if we wanted to take the kids for a tractor ride while he fertilized the crops. When it came time for my daughter and me to go on the tractor, I talked to the farmer about how long he’d already been out in his field that morning. We talked about how much work goes into farming a lucrative crop, some of the problems that a farmer faces with planting too early or too late, etc. It was clear to me that the success of that man’s farm was proportional to the time and work he put into it.
