Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. Philippians 4:11
This idea was once expressed better by a simple hearted man, a man at peace no matter what the situation, the Apostle Paul who was asked how he managed to live in such a state of constant calm and rest even though surrounded by circumstances anything but pleasant. His answer was as deep as it was simple; I have learned, he said, to cooperate with the inevitable, how to be content.
Though we cannot control what happens in our own little world much less the universe, we can determine what our attitude toward it may be. We can accept God's will wherever it is spoken or written and take toward it a place of worshipful acceptance. If our will is to do God's will, then there will be no question with anything that comes in the course of our daily walk. Stormy weather, unpleasant neighbors, physical handicaps, difficult political conditions, our economic state, all these will be accepted as God's will for the time and surrendered to being in the short term, subject to such changes as God may see fit to make, either by His own sovereign providence or in answer to believing prayer.
Lord, how can I complain in the light of the wonderful gift of Your Son, born to give life, rest, peace and victory? Work Your will in our life today and the whole year long as we celebrate the incarnation and all that it involves. Amen."
In Christ
Sandy Perry
12/26/08
Friday, December 26, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Ignorance a Delight?
If I go out into the field, behold, those pierced by the sword! And if I enter the city, behold, the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge.="Jeremiah 14:18"
No greater evil can come upon God’s people than to be served by ignorant teachers. When those charged with teaching God’s Word neglect their task and teach their own false truths, the Church will decline as God exchanges blessings in Christ for curses.
Everywhere Jeremiah looked, God had taken away His covenant blessings, so fulfilling the promise of Deutoronomy 28:16. The land of abundance and plenty, security and rest, had become a place of famine, disease, and slaughter. Fields that once flowed with olives, figs, and grain now flowed with blood. There was nowhere to flee for safety.
The cause of famine was not to be found in the governing incompetence within the Department of Agriculture. Military downfall could not be blamed on defense budget cuts or bungling generals. The source of the crisis was located with the preachers and teachers of God’s Word. Israel’s problem was ignorant teachers.
It was not that the priests and prophets were simply led astray. Rather they spitefully peddled lies, proclaiming peace, and denying that sword or famine would ever come. God had not sent them, nor had He told them what to say. Yet still they came; their teaching was their own invention, tailored to suit what their audience most desired to hear. And so God’s judgment fell, in perfect retribution, as those who denied that sword and famine would come upon the land were themselves extinguished by those twin destroyers.
The prophets’ and priests’ lack of knowledge arose because God had not spoken to them. But Jeremiah had been taught of God and spoke only that which God had commanded, these teachers neglected God’s Word. Tragically, they continued to instruct God’s people. Their worthless words must have sounded sweet and reasonable; in reality they brought the stink of death.
The opposite is true for the Lord’s prophet; his call for repentance seldom sounds sweet, but contains the very words of life. His appeal, like Jeremiah’s, will worry his enemies. As the fickle and flighty, Mary Queen of Scots once worried, I fear the prayers of John Knox more than an army of 20,000 men. Mary rightly realized her struggle was not against a man, but, the God whom he represented. A nation’s safety or ruin pivots upon its response to the ministry of the army of one the man of God, teaching and preaching the Truth Christ Jesus.
Are not the same lies and false teaching going on in our once great nation today, like in the times of Jeremiah? Have we not taken God’s sovereign rule and made it ours? Ya’ll think about it and get back to me!
In Christ
Sandy Perry,
12/05/08
No greater evil can come upon God’s people than to be served by ignorant teachers. When those charged with teaching God’s Word neglect their task and teach their own false truths, the Church will decline as God exchanges blessings in Christ for curses.
Everywhere Jeremiah looked, God had taken away His covenant blessings, so fulfilling the promise of Deutoronomy 28:16. The land of abundance and plenty, security and rest, had become a place of famine, disease, and slaughter. Fields that once flowed with olives, figs, and grain now flowed with blood. There was nowhere to flee for safety.
The cause of famine was not to be found in the governing incompetence within the Department of Agriculture. Military downfall could not be blamed on defense budget cuts or bungling generals. The source of the crisis was located with the preachers and teachers of God’s Word. Israel’s problem was ignorant teachers.
It was not that the priests and prophets were simply led astray. Rather they spitefully peddled lies, proclaiming peace, and denying that sword or famine would ever come. God had not sent them, nor had He told them what to say. Yet still they came; their teaching was their own invention, tailored to suit what their audience most desired to hear. And so God’s judgment fell, in perfect retribution, as those who denied that sword and famine would come upon the land were themselves extinguished by those twin destroyers.
The prophets’ and priests’ lack of knowledge arose because God had not spoken to them. But Jeremiah had been taught of God and spoke only that which God had commanded, these teachers neglected God’s Word. Tragically, they continued to instruct God’s people. Their worthless words must have sounded sweet and reasonable; in reality they brought the stink of death.
The opposite is true for the Lord’s prophet; his call for repentance seldom sounds sweet, but contains the very words of life. His appeal, like Jeremiah’s, will worry his enemies. As the fickle and flighty, Mary Queen of Scots once worried, I fear the prayers of John Knox more than an army of 20,000 men. Mary rightly realized her struggle was not against a man, but, the God whom he represented. A nation’s safety or ruin pivots upon its response to the ministry of the army of one the man of God, teaching and preaching the Truth Christ Jesus.
Are not the same lies and false teaching going on in our once great nation today, like in the times of Jeremiah? Have we not taken God’s sovereign rule and made it ours? Ya’ll think about it and get back to me!
In Christ
Sandy Perry,
12/05/08
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Should we be scared of God
Rescue the Captives
A Ministry of the Well
Should we be scared of God?
As I drive through the mountains on my weekly runs my favorite places are the many turn outs or the scenic overlooks. I love to look out and see God’s awesome, creation spread before me. Imagine you are sitting there beside me and we can see the beauty, the majesty of the scenery and let it overtake us as the smell the beautiful chilly smell of the pure, crisp mountain air. We can only imagine that we are part of the mountain. One with it, suddenly we have a desire to fly. We are the only one to have sat here on this mountain. Certainly we have the right to it all! We have a grim determination come over us as we crouch to fly away, crouched like a mountain lion before it goes for the kill. Then we launch ourselves from the mountain. The rush of the wind overwhelms us as we fly away. Of course, then, we suddenly realize that we will not be enjoying the rush of the wind for much longer. We are, let’s see now, not really a bird, and going to get really, badly hurt. After all, our body is not designed for flight. This is when we realize that we do have our limits after all. We are at least bound to one law, the law of gravity.
Now as you ride along with me in my 18 wheeler you are caught in the highway in a not so rush hour. One of the few sounds you can hear is this big diesel engine. Ah, the roar. A sense of power flows through your veins as you see a lone car ahead of you, it's a 70's Toyota Celica. A burst of adrenaline fills your blood and you think to yourself two words, pole position. You step on the gas, the roar of that big engine screams as we lift off the ground, and rush to overtake that little foreign car. The little man in the other car is obviously surprised as you whoosh past, but that doesn't lessen your celebration as the Toyota is nothing but a distant speck on the rear view mirror of your brand new Corvette, and you are left basking in your victory! Ahh! How sweet it is!! Not even the squealing siren of increasing frequency or the blue lights flashing can stop your joy. Until you realize that the person in the car with the siren is motioning you to pull over. Yup, you guessed it, you've broken a law of the land.
I know you are thinking what is this idiot trying to say? Well, my friend, in both cases you were breaking a law. In the first story, you were trying to break a law that has been responsible for keeping the atmosphere on earth and helping to sustain life on earth since creation. In the second story, you were certainly not considerate enough to think what might happen to innocent people who might have been in your way or even killed on that road, were you? Without going into further examples, we can say that you were trying to break a law that was put into effect to protect and help people and creatures.
Even if you haven't been in any of the situations listed above, you probably realize that there are natural and physical laws. Are these the only laws? No, there are others. As far as human beings are concerned, I believe that the most important are spiritual laws, the most important laws since they have to deal with your soul. (If you have trouble here, just consider for a moment that most illnesses are related to the mind, something that people are still trying to locate. (Especially my mine) I consider the mind, soul and the heart to be intimately related. When one breaks spiritual laws, one is just as sure to face the consequences. Now the Bible says that this consequence is death (Romans 6:23). This is something that one must realize, and the realization can cause one to fear God tremendously. I myself used to think that if I walked through the church doors again God would send a bolt from heaven and strike me down. Vivid pictures of a vengeful, painful and even hateful God would come to mind. But, please bear with me though as we take a look at the rest of the story.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love, first of all, love God with all one's heart and soul; second, we should love one's neighbor as oneself. He also said that the second commandment was equal to the first. In other verses in the Bible, it is stated that love is the fulfillment of the law. The Bible also indicates that we know that we love when we follow His commandments. 1 John 4:12 says No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:16 says And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. Need we forget John 3:16? For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Why am I providing all these verses? Simply because of this reason, now I know that God is not a God that is out to cause fear, He is a God of Love.
At the same time, I do realize that He is also a righteous God before Who no human can compare, for all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). He is Holy and hates unrighteousness which tries to break the Laws that He set up to benefit His creation. We can definitely expect Him to enforce the laws that He created to help and protect those who love Him, but how can all this tie in to a loving God? Well, love should not come because God causes fear; rather people should fear God because of His love. Think about your loving father or mother for a moment; think about the time they punished you; wasn't it for your good? Yet, when they threatened to punish you, you got scared, didn't you?
We all break the commandments at some point or the other, and as such we must face the cost of sin which the Bible says is death. As the Bible says, all have sinned. But the wages of sin is death: how then can we be saved? This is a quandary indeed, much like the analogy of a camel passing through the eye of a needle, an analogy Jesus recognized. Who then can be saved?, Jesus' disciples asked. Jesus replied and said that with humans it is impossible, but not for God!
Consider this, if our weak human selves prevent us from attaining righteousness, we must look to someone superhuman, someone who can actually fulfill the commandments to save us. That could only be God, since He must be perfection itself. Now according to the Bible, Jesus was the personification of God, the fulfillment of the Law. He lived out His life as a man here on earth, faced the trials and temptations that we go through, and overcame the world without ever sinning. To top it all off, He died for doing that!
Now I hope that this is not too mushy for some of you, because it shouldn't be. Love is beautiful, and beauty is a thing to be admired, especially if there is nothing greater than Love as Paul said. The simple fact is that Christ did it because He loved us (John 3:16)! By bearing the brunt of all of humanity's sin, He reconciled us back to God. So even though God's punishment for sin is terrible, there is a Way out! All one has to do is make Christ Lord of his or her life.
The conquering king establishes his laws in the vanquished land, and the people thereby must abide by these rules. Similarly, when Jesus comes into our lives, the laws that bind our soul to death are changed irrevocably. We are changed as the Bible says, and are new creatures, ones that will still have to endure trials and temptations no doubt, but ones that will have been freed from the bondage to death simply because we believed that the Lord would save us! If this does bring feelings and emotions bursting from the depths of your soul into your heart and erupting with pure joy in your mind! Lord have mercy!
The key word is believe. You simply have to have faith, the very faith given to all who believe by a loving and gracious Father. I can tell you that I certainly felt this love, a love I’ve never known and I'm a very different person compared to the person I once was. It is true; Jesus brings us back to God. This is exactly why I feel that God and I are buddies and Jesus is my hero and my best friend.
Lord, I pray every man woman and child be filled with this awesome love that comes from a loving merciful Father who lives and reigns in every believing heart, soul and mind. Amen.
In His service,
Sandy Perry
10/22/08
A Ministry of the Well
Should we be scared of God?
As I drive through the mountains on my weekly runs my favorite places are the many turn outs or the scenic overlooks. I love to look out and see God’s awesome, creation spread before me. Imagine you are sitting there beside me and we can see the beauty, the majesty of the scenery and let it overtake us as the smell the beautiful chilly smell of the pure, crisp mountain air. We can only imagine that we are part of the mountain. One with it, suddenly we have a desire to fly. We are the only one to have sat here on this mountain. Certainly we have the right to it all! We have a grim determination come over us as we crouch to fly away, crouched like a mountain lion before it goes for the kill. Then we launch ourselves from the mountain. The rush of the wind overwhelms us as we fly away. Of course, then, we suddenly realize that we will not be enjoying the rush of the wind for much longer. We are, let’s see now, not really a bird, and going to get really, badly hurt. After all, our body is not designed for flight. This is when we realize that we do have our limits after all. We are at least bound to one law, the law of gravity.
Now as you ride along with me in my 18 wheeler you are caught in the highway in a not so rush hour. One of the few sounds you can hear is this big diesel engine. Ah, the roar. A sense of power flows through your veins as you see a lone car ahead of you, it's a 70's Toyota Celica. A burst of adrenaline fills your blood and you think to yourself two words, pole position. You step on the gas, the roar of that big engine screams as we lift off the ground, and rush to overtake that little foreign car. The little man in the other car is obviously surprised as you whoosh past, but that doesn't lessen your celebration as the Toyota is nothing but a distant speck on the rear view mirror of your brand new Corvette, and you are left basking in your victory! Ahh! How sweet it is!! Not even the squealing siren of increasing frequency or the blue lights flashing can stop your joy. Until you realize that the person in the car with the siren is motioning you to pull over. Yup, you guessed it, you've broken a law of the land.
I know you are thinking what is this idiot trying to say? Well, my friend, in both cases you were breaking a law. In the first story, you were trying to break a law that has been responsible for keeping the atmosphere on earth and helping to sustain life on earth since creation. In the second story, you were certainly not considerate enough to think what might happen to innocent people who might have been in your way or even killed on that road, were you? Without going into further examples, we can say that you were trying to break a law that was put into effect to protect and help people and creatures.
Even if you haven't been in any of the situations listed above, you probably realize that there are natural and physical laws. Are these the only laws? No, there are others. As far as human beings are concerned, I believe that the most important are spiritual laws, the most important laws since they have to deal with your soul. (If you have trouble here, just consider for a moment that most illnesses are related to the mind, something that people are still trying to locate. (Especially my mine) I consider the mind, soul and the heart to be intimately related. When one breaks spiritual laws, one is just as sure to face the consequences. Now the Bible says that this consequence is death (Romans 6:23). This is something that one must realize, and the realization can cause one to fear God tremendously. I myself used to think that if I walked through the church doors again God would send a bolt from heaven and strike me down. Vivid pictures of a vengeful, painful and even hateful God would come to mind. But, please bear with me though as we take a look at the rest of the story.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love, first of all, love God with all one's heart and soul; second, we should love one's neighbor as oneself. He also said that the second commandment was equal to the first. In other verses in the Bible, it is stated that love is the fulfillment of the law. The Bible also indicates that we know that we love when we follow His commandments. 1 John 4:12 says No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:16 says And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. Need we forget John 3:16? For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Why am I providing all these verses? Simply because of this reason, now I know that God is not a God that is out to cause fear, He is a God of Love.
At the same time, I do realize that He is also a righteous God before Who no human can compare, for all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). He is Holy and hates unrighteousness which tries to break the Laws that He set up to benefit His creation. We can definitely expect Him to enforce the laws that He created to help and protect those who love Him, but how can all this tie in to a loving God? Well, love should not come because God causes fear; rather people should fear God because of His love. Think about your loving father or mother for a moment; think about the time they punished you; wasn't it for your good? Yet, when they threatened to punish you, you got scared, didn't you?
We all break the commandments at some point or the other, and as such we must face the cost of sin which the Bible says is death. As the Bible says, all have sinned. But the wages of sin is death: how then can we be saved? This is a quandary indeed, much like the analogy of a camel passing through the eye of a needle, an analogy Jesus recognized. Who then can be saved?, Jesus' disciples asked. Jesus replied and said that with humans it is impossible, but not for God!
Consider this, if our weak human selves prevent us from attaining righteousness, we must look to someone superhuman, someone who can actually fulfill the commandments to save us. That could only be God, since He must be perfection itself. Now according to the Bible, Jesus was the personification of God, the fulfillment of the Law. He lived out His life as a man here on earth, faced the trials and temptations that we go through, and overcame the world without ever sinning. To top it all off, He died for doing that!
Now I hope that this is not too mushy for some of you, because it shouldn't be. Love is beautiful, and beauty is a thing to be admired, especially if there is nothing greater than Love as Paul said. The simple fact is that Christ did it because He loved us (John 3:16)! By bearing the brunt of all of humanity's sin, He reconciled us back to God. So even though God's punishment for sin is terrible, there is a Way out! All one has to do is make Christ Lord of his or her life.
The conquering king establishes his laws in the vanquished land, and the people thereby must abide by these rules. Similarly, when Jesus comes into our lives, the laws that bind our soul to death are changed irrevocably. We are changed as the Bible says, and are new creatures, ones that will still have to endure trials and temptations no doubt, but ones that will have been freed from the bondage to death simply because we believed that the Lord would save us! If this does bring feelings and emotions bursting from the depths of your soul into your heart and erupting with pure joy in your mind! Lord have mercy!
The key word is believe. You simply have to have faith, the very faith given to all who believe by a loving and gracious Father. I can tell you that I certainly felt this love, a love I’ve never known and I'm a very different person compared to the person I once was. It is true; Jesus brings us back to God. This is exactly why I feel that God and I are buddies and Jesus is my hero and my best friend.
Lord, I pray every man woman and child be filled with this awesome love that comes from a loving merciful Father who lives and reigns in every believing heart, soul and mind. Amen.
In His service,
Sandy Perry
10/22/08
Saturday, November 1, 2008
If ya think you have arrived, ya better think again!
Colossians 1: 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We are all on the path to spiritual maturity as the Spirit opens our hearts to Him day by day. Each day offers us the chance to worship and praise God, to ignore God, or to turn away from the things He lays on our hearts to accomplish in His name that day. We can find in our lives when we worship Him in my prayers, our words, and our thoughts and in all we do that day we are blessed by the fullness, joy and peace of our relationship with the Father. But, if we ignore God and turn from Him or intentionally rebel against the commandments we rob ourselves of His blessings.
Yet, if we daily study God’s Word, if we obey His commandments and live in the midst of His will we will not be like a pond with no outlet that the Word flows into but never flows out and just becomes stagnant. We will instead be growing in our faith and sharing the Word that flows in with others as it flows out of us. That is exactly what God wants for our lives. Many of my life’s most important lessons were painful to learn, but in this pain I have found that spiritual growth does not take place only in times of trouble.
We must seek to grow in His wisdom, knowledge and love of Jesus in every situation in our life. This is what a Biblical worldview teaches us let all our thoughts be taken captive by our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Thankful always that He is there, never changing and never leaving our hearts, when we call His name, there He is.
I find in these quiet times when my heart is open to the Father, the Creator, that made us and continues to make us daily to be more like His Son, our Savior,. Jesus. He gives us direction, His joyful perspective, His wisdom and His courage. And, the perfect time to accept these awesome gifts from a gracious, loving Father is in this moment right now.
Are we as spiritually mature as we’re ever gonna be? I think not, I know I have a long way to go!
But, when it comes to our faith, God does not intend for us to be fully grown, at least not in this lifetime. We are and will continue to be taught many lessons by the Father until we are seen as Jesus is. So let’s wake to every new day we are given asking, Father teach me what You want me to learn today?
Lord, when we open ourselves to You, we are truly blessed. Let us accept Your love, Your wisdom and teach us Your knowledge. Father, show us Your way and deliver us when we make the painful mistakes that we make when we rebel against You and turn from Your commandments. We pray You guide us according to Your Word and help us to grow more in our faith and become more like Christ Jesus everyday, and it is in His powerful name we pray. Amen.
Totally filled with His love,
Sandy Perry
11/2/08
We are all on the path to spiritual maturity as the Spirit opens our hearts to Him day by day. Each day offers us the chance to worship and praise God, to ignore God, or to turn away from the things He lays on our hearts to accomplish in His name that day. We can find in our lives when we worship Him in my prayers, our words, and our thoughts and in all we do that day we are blessed by the fullness, joy and peace of our relationship with the Father. But, if we ignore God and turn from Him or intentionally rebel against the commandments we rob ourselves of His blessings.
Yet, if we daily study God’s Word, if we obey His commandments and live in the midst of His will we will not be like a pond with no outlet that the Word flows into but never flows out and just becomes stagnant. We will instead be growing in our faith and sharing the Word that flows in with others as it flows out of us. That is exactly what God wants for our lives. Many of my life’s most important lessons were painful to learn, but in this pain I have found that spiritual growth does not take place only in times of trouble.
We must seek to grow in His wisdom, knowledge and love of Jesus in every situation in our life. This is what a Biblical worldview teaches us let all our thoughts be taken captive by our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Thankful always that He is there, never changing and never leaving our hearts, when we call His name, there He is.
I find in these quiet times when my heart is open to the Father, the Creator, that made us and continues to make us daily to be more like His Son, our Savior,. Jesus. He gives us direction, His joyful perspective, His wisdom and His courage. And, the perfect time to accept these awesome gifts from a gracious, loving Father is in this moment right now.
Are we as spiritually mature as we’re ever gonna be? I think not, I know I have a long way to go!
But, when it comes to our faith, God does not intend for us to be fully grown, at least not in this lifetime. We are and will continue to be taught many lessons by the Father until we are seen as Jesus is. So let’s wake to every new day we are given asking, Father teach me what You want me to learn today?
Lord, when we open ourselves to You, we are truly blessed. Let us accept Your love, Your wisdom and teach us Your knowledge. Father, show us Your way and deliver us when we make the painful mistakes that we make when we rebel against You and turn from Your commandments. We pray You guide us according to Your Word and help us to grow more in our faith and become more like Christ Jesus everyday, and it is in His powerful name we pray. Amen.
Totally filled with His love,
Sandy Perry
11/2/08
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
What Are The Things That Matter?
that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:10-11In life we can find certain great fundamentals, like pillars holding up the weight of some mighty building. I like to think of these pillars as creation, rationality, order and fear. I’m sure that you could come up with more, but the basics are in these four, if they crumble or collapse the whole building or as we say Christian / Biblical worldview will fall. Yet it is comforting to know there is no danger of that happening, because the pillars are supported by a hand which no one on earth can break the grip.The wise man will simplify his life by going to the center of it. He will look well to the foundations and or pillars and, having done that, he will not worry about the rest. He will have a worldview understanding to discern all the different influences around him.Life as we know it in our painfully complex culture can be deadly unless we learn to tell between the things that matter from those that do not. It is never the major things that destroy us, but always the multitude of small things which are mistakenly thought to be of major importance. These are so many that, unless we get out from under them, they will crush us body and soul with confusion. I think every believer as well as every minister of Christ must decide whether he will put his emphasis upon the majors or the minors. He must decide whether he will stay by the serious truths which constitute the beating heart of the Scriptures or turn his attention to those minor doctrines which always bring division and which, at their best, could not help us much on our way into eternity.
"Oh God, we are so swamped with distracting things and clamorous voices. Deliver us today from the insignificant things and help us to spend every minute of the day on 'the things that matter.' In Christ’s name we pray. Amen."
In Christ,
Sandy Perry
10/28/08
"Oh God, we are so swamped with distracting things and clamorous voices. Deliver us today from the insignificant things and help us to spend every minute of the day on 'the things that matter.' In Christ’s name we pray. Amen."
In Christ,
Sandy Perry
10/28/08
Sunday, October 19, 2008
It Ain’t Ours. Really!
Psalm 89: 5-12
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,and awesome above all who are around him?8 O Lord God of hosts,who is mighty as you are, O Lord,with your faithfulness all around you?9 You rule the raging of the sea;when its waves rise, you still them.10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass;you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.12 The north and the south, you have created them;Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name
Command those who are rich, to trust in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6:17
We are surrounded every day by things that don't belong to us, yet we call them ours. For instance, I refer to the truck I drive everyday as mine, when it really is the company’s truck. Others might call their office mine or the company car mine. But none of this equipment belongs to us really. It's ours to use, but not ours to keep. When our company gave it to us, we both knew what that meant. It was on loan not really our own.
This kind of circumstances is not unique to employer and employee relationships. That's the way it is with all of us and all of the things we call our own. When we speak of our family, our house, or our car, we are speaking of people and things God has allowed us to enjoy while we are here on earth, but they really belong to Him. Notice here the writer of this Psalm’s praise to God, The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours Psalm 89:11.
Understanding who really holds the title to all we possess should change our thinking. Just as we are aware that our company lets us use its equipment to help us do our work more efficiently, so also should we be aware that everything we have is given to us to serve the Lord.
Our time, talents, and possessions are all on loan from God so that we can do His work effectively.
It’s a challenge for all of us whom God has blessed with food for today and even a job to go too; because there is so many that don’t have these things right now. Yet the very people who have been placed in the powerful financial places can not get enough and want more, although they have abundance. It’s why Paul wrote, People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs 1 Timothy 6:9-10.
The very thing that we may think will be the downfall of our lives trouble can actually be the very thing we need to strengthen our lives by forcing us to cling to Jesus and Him alone. And the very things that we think will improve our lives may in fact ruin us. To the wealthy, self sufficient church in Laodicea that didn’t feel they needed Him, Jesus warned that from His point of view they were “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17).
When we are consumed by the stacks of stuff going wrong in our world, we run the risk of missing the true treasures that are found in Christ alone. Do you think He might be trying to tell us something? I surely do.
In His Service,
Sandy Perry
10/18/08
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,and awesome above all who are around him?8 O Lord God of hosts,who is mighty as you are, O Lord,with your faithfulness all around you?9 You rule the raging of the sea;when its waves rise, you still them.10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass;you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.12 The north and the south, you have created them;Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name
Command those who are rich, to trust in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6:17
We are surrounded every day by things that don't belong to us, yet we call them ours. For instance, I refer to the truck I drive everyday as mine, when it really is the company’s truck. Others might call their office mine or the company car mine. But none of this equipment belongs to us really. It's ours to use, but not ours to keep. When our company gave it to us, we both knew what that meant. It was on loan not really our own.
This kind of circumstances is not unique to employer and employee relationships. That's the way it is with all of us and all of the things we call our own. When we speak of our family, our house, or our car, we are speaking of people and things God has allowed us to enjoy while we are here on earth, but they really belong to Him. Notice here the writer of this Psalm’s praise to God, The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours Psalm 89:11.
Understanding who really holds the title to all we possess should change our thinking. Just as we are aware that our company lets us use its equipment to help us do our work more efficiently, so also should we be aware that everything we have is given to us to serve the Lord.
Our time, talents, and possessions are all on loan from God so that we can do His work effectively.
It’s a challenge for all of us whom God has blessed with food for today and even a job to go too; because there is so many that don’t have these things right now. Yet the very people who have been placed in the powerful financial places can not get enough and want more, although they have abundance. It’s why Paul wrote, People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs 1 Timothy 6:9-10.
The very thing that we may think will be the downfall of our lives trouble can actually be the very thing we need to strengthen our lives by forcing us to cling to Jesus and Him alone. And the very things that we think will improve our lives may in fact ruin us. To the wealthy, self sufficient church in Laodicea that didn’t feel they needed Him, Jesus warned that from His point of view they were “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17).
When we are consumed by the stacks of stuff going wrong in our world, we run the risk of missing the true treasures that are found in Christ alone. Do you think He might be trying to tell us something? I surely do.
In His Service,
Sandy Perry
10/18/08
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Be the Salt & Light
In this era of financial troubles and spiritual woes we need to be able to openly demonstrate from the facts how this nation is experiencing the ineffectiveness of its beliefs. We are experiencing a moral and spiritual deficiency because this nation has puts its trust in almost anything but the Lord of the Bible. By the facts I am talking about our past history and heritage as a Christian nation, one nation under God. These are not the crazy ideas of someone’s imagination, these are facts of history which we all hold self evident to be true.. But we have ditched that foundation and with that change has came the present moral decline and the failure of our society to deal with its problems, financial or spiritual. Programs developed by secular humanists and big government to improve society simply have not worked and can’t work apart from faith in the living God. The founding fathers of our Constitution knew this and spoke accordingly.
We live in a time when the world is challenging Christian morals and beliefs and people are crying for answers. It is a time when the fields are ripe unto harvest for the Church. Many Christians, however, are hiding in their caves of greediness and sitting in their pews of comfort, afraid to risk their lives or reputations for our Lord. Or, rather than representing the Lord, we are representing ourselves in games of spiritual king of the mountain, defending our own turf, or simply carrying on business as usual without a sense of God’s mission for us in this world when at this time when we need to be the salt and light to the world. We all see it so many times, I’m sure, a regular church goer stuttering then cutting and running in fright when confronted with a cultist or new age thinker because they haven’t learned God’s word well enough and aren’t secure enough in their faith to stand firm with the Armor of God on. Or, perhaps some are being choked and bound from growth and service by the thorns, thistles, and vines of the details of life, what the Lord called the deceitfulness of riches. But God is still looking for men and women who will count on His presence by faith, represent Him and face the challenges and risks of our day with all its various “isms” (Ezek. 22:29-31). 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.
This is what we became Centurions for is to bring truth and light to the world in a sincere winsome way. Like Mr. Matt said the time is here, and I think of Daniels words, “but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.” Obviously, the big question for the pew sitter is, how well do they really know our God?
Peace & Blessings,
Sandy
We live in a time when the world is challenging Christian morals and beliefs and people are crying for answers. It is a time when the fields are ripe unto harvest for the Church. Many Christians, however, are hiding in their caves of greediness and sitting in their pews of comfort, afraid to risk their lives or reputations for our Lord. Or, rather than representing the Lord, we are representing ourselves in games of spiritual king of the mountain, defending our own turf, or simply carrying on business as usual without a sense of God’s mission for us in this world when at this time when we need to be the salt and light to the world. We all see it so many times, I’m sure, a regular church goer stuttering then cutting and running in fright when confronted with a cultist or new age thinker because they haven’t learned God’s word well enough and aren’t secure enough in their faith to stand firm with the Armor of God on. Or, perhaps some are being choked and bound from growth and service by the thorns, thistles, and vines of the details of life, what the Lord called the deceitfulness of riches. But God is still looking for men and women who will count on His presence by faith, represent Him and face the challenges and risks of our day with all its various “isms” (Ezek. 22:29-31). 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.
This is what we became Centurions for is to bring truth and light to the world in a sincere winsome way. Like Mr. Matt said the time is here, and I think of Daniels words, “but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.” Obviously, the big question for the pew sitter is, how well do they really know our God?
Peace & Blessings,
Sandy
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Buckle up sand traps ahead
I don’t know if you have ever paid any attention as you drive through the mountains but most all the steep grades you drive up there was a long steep grade coming down the other side. Here we see signs that say “runaway truck ramp one mile.” You wonder how in the world a ramp could be built that would stop a truck with no brakes as it barreled down the mountain. Then in a moment you see it, branching off to the right like a spur on the road and slanting only slightly uphill and maybe 50 yards long. But it was all sand. One big mound and then a series of small mounds, It was the soft, deep sand that would stop the truck and as it stops suddenly you are almost thrown through the windshield If not for the seatbelt. God is a lot like that seatbelt , as we are barreling along and suddenly come to a stop in His Word or our faith and trust in Him He is still holding on, never letting go.
The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are like a runaway truck ramp. They stop us when we ought to be trucking right on through the Bible. I wonder how many people resolve to read through the Bible, but instead grind to a stop in the sandy genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1-9. I know for me I just want to run right by them like an open weigh station on the highway. They are very hard to get over.
But the awesome thing is that the highway through 1 and 2 Chronicles is dotted frequently with scenic overviews of God’s gracious purpose, just as the scenic overlooks in the mountains you can drive onto and stop and gaze upon His glory in creation. If we can get through the sands of chapters 1-9, these scenes are tremendous refreshment to our faith. Here’s one example to encourage you to dig yourself out and keep going in the Appalachian mountains of God’s revelation.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. So Hezekiah gathered the people and the commanders together in the square at the gate. If you memorize what he said to them you will know the power of God in a new way. He said:
Be strong and be courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with them; for there is one greater with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles. Then the writer adds, “And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah” (2 Chronicles 32:7, 8)
My prayers for us are that in this trying time today with the whole financial system falling away we can feel His awesome Presence and know God is with us. That’s God’s goal: “the advancement and joy of your faith.” What is the “King of Assyria” in our life? Is it doubts about our financial future or the future of our government? Whatever it is, remember: “there is one greater with you than with him!” If you trust him, the LORD almighty is on your side and will fight your battles! “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today…The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still” (Exodus 14:13, 14).
Father, we humbly thank You for your Sovereign grace and merciful love, knowing You are in control always, and all things work to Your good and perfect will. We ask that in these times You will pour out even more of the Holy Spirit on a world that cries out for You. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
In His service
Sandy Perry
10/11/08
The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are like a runaway truck ramp. They stop us when we ought to be trucking right on through the Bible. I wonder how many people resolve to read through the Bible, but instead grind to a stop in the sandy genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1-9. I know for me I just want to run right by them like an open weigh station on the highway. They are very hard to get over.
But the awesome thing is that the highway through 1 and 2 Chronicles is dotted frequently with scenic overviews of God’s gracious purpose, just as the scenic overlooks in the mountains you can drive onto and stop and gaze upon His glory in creation. If we can get through the sands of chapters 1-9, these scenes are tremendous refreshment to our faith. Here’s one example to encourage you to dig yourself out and keep going in the Appalachian mountains of God’s revelation.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. So Hezekiah gathered the people and the commanders together in the square at the gate. If you memorize what he said to them you will know the power of God in a new way. He said:
Be strong and be courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with them; for there is one greater with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles. Then the writer adds, “And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah” (2 Chronicles 32:7, 8)
My prayers for us are that in this trying time today with the whole financial system falling away we can feel His awesome Presence and know God is with us. That’s God’s goal: “the advancement and joy of your faith.” What is the “King of Assyria” in our life? Is it doubts about our financial future or the future of our government? Whatever it is, remember: “there is one greater with you than with him!” If you trust him, the LORD almighty is on your side and will fight your battles! “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today…The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still” (Exodus 14:13, 14).
Father, we humbly thank You for your Sovereign grace and merciful love, knowing You are in control always, and all things work to Your good and perfect will. We ask that in these times You will pour out even more of the Holy Spirit on a world that cries out for You. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
In His service
Sandy Perry
10/11/08
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