Are you in the crucible of testing?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. 1 Peter 4:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Has something bad happened to you and you said, “Oh, what did I do? I must have done something terrible. Otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened!”

And before you knew it, you fell headlong into a pity party of morbid introspection—taking yourself apart piece by piece to see where you went wrong. If you’re like most people, you have.

But have you ever thought that maybe you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, but God is simply testing your faith? This is an important truth to understand. If you don’t, you may get discouraged. The seeds of doubt and discouragement sprout in the soil of ignorance. Remember, Jesus was tested in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Trials and hardship are a part of life in this fallen world. They aren’t a commentary on your spiritual health. But they will strengthen you, if you lean hard upon Jesus.

So as you face your trial, face it knowing it doesn't mean you’ve done something wrong or are doing something wrong if you're tempted.

ACTION POINT:

Trials and tribulations lead to endurance, and endurance leads to maturity. You see, that's what makes you strong. You grow when you work against pressure. Read Exodus 16 about the testing the Israelites experienced while they were wandering in the desert. It was testing that came from the Lord, and He had a purpose for it in their lives. Do you see an application in your own life?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Isn’t Gloomy

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:10–11)

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). The implication of this text is that God has the right and power to do whatever makes him happy. That is what it means to say that God is sovereign.

Think about it for a moment: If God is sovereign and can do anything he pleases, then none of his purposes can be frustrated. “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:10–11).

And if none of his purposes can be frustrated, then he must be the happiest of all beings.

This infinite, divine happiness is the fountain from which the Christian (Hedonist) drinks and longs to drink more deeply.

Can you imagine what it would be like if the God who ruled the world were not happy? What if God were given to grumbling and pouting and depression, like some Jack-and-the-beanstalk giant in the sky? What if God were frustrated and despondent and gloomy and dismal and discontented and dejected?

Could we join David and say, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1)? I don’t think so.

We would all relate to God like little children who have a frustrated, gloomy, dismal, discontented father. They can’t enjoy him. They can only try not to bother him, or maybe try to work for him to earn some little favor.

But that is not the way God is. He is never out of sorts with frustration or discouragement. And, as Psalm 147:11 says, he “takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love.” So the aim of the Christian Hedonist is not to avoid this God, not to run from him, or tiptoe through the living room lest his gloominess become anger. No, our aim is to hope in his steadfast love. To run to him. To be happy in God, to delight in God, to cherish and enjoy his fellowship and favor.

John Piper 

If I'm tempted, is that a sin?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When you face temptation, remember it is not a sin to be tempted. Temptation to sin is not sin.

If temptation were a sin, then Jesus would be a sinner, because Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus was tempted like as we are. Jesus felt what you feel. He was just as much a man as though He were not God at all, and He was as much God as though He were not man at all. He was the God-Man, and praise God, Jesus never sinned, though He knew those temptations. He faced in His manhood and in His humanity the temptations you face. And He is touched. He can sympathize with you, for He knows what you feel. He knows what you face. He knows.

ACTION POINT:

Are you facing a temptation today that you feel no one has ever faced? Turn to Jesus in prayer, and He will meet you there.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The All-Satisfying Object

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

The quest for pleasure is not even optional, but commanded (in the Psalms): “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

The psalmists sought to do just this: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1–2). “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

The motif of thirsting has its satisfying counterpart when the psalmist says that men “drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights” (Psalm 36:8 NASB).

I found that the goodness of God, the very foundation of worship, is not a thing you pay your respects to out of some kind of disinterested reverence. No, it is something to be enjoyed: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). Taste. Taste! And see.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).

As C.S. Lewis says, God in the Psalms is the “all-satisfying Object.” His people adore him unashamedly for the “exceeding joy” they find in him (Psalm 43:4). He is the source of complete and unending pleasure: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

John Piper 

Can God forget about you?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Comforter.”

Whenever peace enters your heart in the midst of grief...

Whenever joy enters your heart in the midst of a trial...

Whenever you see evidence of His life in yours…

…..you can be sure the Holy Spirit is flowing through your life.

Can He forget you? Never. The seal of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is on your life if you are His child. Whenever you pass through a room or walk through a crowd, His oil of gladness sends a sweet aroma of Christ through the air!

ACTION POINT:

Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-5. How can you show the comfort of Christ to someone who is hurting?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Stopping the Indulgence of the Flesh

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,

19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations-

21 "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"

22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)-according to human precepts and teachings?

23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. - Colossians 2:16-23

13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. - Titus 1:13-16

4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. - 1 John 2:4-6

43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." - John 8:43-47

True Love

How we live out true love!!

Love is patient!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant - 1 Corinthians 13:4

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.

16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.

17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?

20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,

24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,

25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. - 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Why do we need patience?

Man struggles with this.

Everybody is different.

Some are chaotic, some structured, some soft spoken and some loud, some meek and some mild and so on.

Some have a different shape.

We see things differently.

S - spiritual gift

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. - 1 Corinthians 7:7

H - heart

Your passion.

A - abilities

God given talents working together for God's glory.

P - personality 

Different emotional makeup.

This comes from the way you were raised. 

Values taught by your parents and grandparents.

We express things differently.

E - experiences

They also shape who you are.

Working different jobs, parenting, tragedies, triumphs 

God made you to be unique!

Our difference create misunderstandings.

For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. - 1 Corinthians 2:11

Three false assumptions 

1. Words mean the same thing to everybody.

I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you're aware of what you heard is what I meant!

2. There's only one way to see things.

It's not only black and white.

Some see things half empty while others see things half full.

3. My way is the only correct way.

This is true about there's only one way to salvation and that's Jesus!

We all know that there are many different ways to get to a location. 

How can we be more patient?

1. Remember God's patience with me.

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. - Romans 15:7

2. Learn by listening.

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.  - Proverbs 14:29

Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.  - Proverbs 19:11

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.  - Proverbs 18:13

We always think it's somebody else that has the problem.

3. Treat others the way you desire to be treated.

What ever happened to us applying " the golden rule"?

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. - Matthew 7:12

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  - Micah 7:19

Thanks Pastor Kevin!!!