Remaining in Jesus- Jesus Culture

In today’s reading, Jesus continues giving his closest followers invaluable information before He leaves them. Jesus said, “Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit.” He is the source of our lives. Through relationship with Him, we will naturally bear fruit in this world, without striving. The life that flows from Him to us is the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to love one another and lead people to Jesus. 

Reflection: What does it look like to remain in Jesus? Jesus chose YOU and appointed YOU so you might go and bear fruit that will last. Today, think about the significant role God has given you in the world.

John 15

He is Present- Darlene Zschech

When we come to the sanctuary of God, when we gather as His church, what is our posture and attitude?

The psalmist doesn’t just see a ragtag army returning from a victory God delivered; he sees God in front, leading the procession.

I love meeting with God’s people—coming together to celebrate, give, and be fueled for service—but if there is one thing that I truly treasure whenever I enter the house of God, it is His presence. Not a symbolic presence, but the knowledge that God himself is with us. What a constant source of strength and hope for you and me, for all His people. In Psalm 68 we are reminded that Yahweh is not an aloof, austere King who stands afar and is unconcerned for the needs of His people. Rather, He daily bears our burdens, providing us a way of escape from enemies and troubles.

Is it any wonder Jesus was called Immanuel, which literally means “God is with us”?

Do you feel defeated, overwhelmed by troubles on every side? Do you feel there is no way of escape? Does victory seem beyond your grasp? The good news is God is beside you, and even if you aren’t strong enough to prevail, He will do for you what you don’t have the human power to do yourself.

As you enter God’s sanctuary, never forget He himself marches in ahead of you. He is present! Our very present help in times of need.

God, renew my spiritual eyes to see you walk before me and beside me as I turn to you in every situation of life. Thank you for being truly present in my worship to you!

Here- Kari Jobe

“God, I’m broken. I feel lost and helpless. My heart God, my heart hurts and I don’t understand where you are or what you’re doing. Help Me.”

This song “Here” was written out of a broken place. Have you ever gotten news in your life where you felt shattered? You felt shaken up? A shaking not of your faith in God, but a shaking of everything you thought you knew to be true in your life. It’s hard. It’s scary. It’s unknown. This is a time that the only thing you know to do is fall to your knees and cry out to God for help.
Psalms 46:1“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea… the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge… Be still and know that He is God.”

Let Him be an anchor for your soul. A gravity that pulls you back and pulls you into a place to comfort you. To strengthen you. To sustain you. He is a refuge in the midst of the storm. He cares for you. There will be things in our lives that we walk through that are hard. But His grace will get you through. Just breathe in His presence and keep moving forward. We hold onto the promises of God and we will make it through the hard moments and have a stronger testimony and a deeper faith in our God. Don’t stay shattered but let God’s grace flood your heart and give you peace. You will find Him here.

Write down some moments where you experienced hard moments but you know God’s grace and strength helped you through.

Advice from the book of Proverbs

Everywhere we turn, we find all sorts of advice on how to live a happier, healthier life. Here are a few recent suggestions from magazines, websites, etc.: 
- Take time to be silly at least 5 minutes everyday to reduce stress 
- Exercise outdoors for at least 10 minutes everyday to improve self-esteem 
- Nap for 15 minutes a day to feel rejuvenated and be more productive 
- Go to church once a year to keep a clean conscience - what??? 

The last one wasn't actually written anywhere, but a lot of people think it's true. The problem is, this couldn't be further from the truth. God created us with a need for others to encourage us, love on us, and just live life with us. This type of community can be found in church, but not if we only go once a year. 

The book of Proverbs in the Bible is a lot like the list above - it's a book full of tidbits of advice about how to live a happier, healthier life. It's known as the wisdom book. Today's reading comes from that book. Make sure you read verse 17 a few times. It says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." As believers, we can spur each other on to be who God created us to be, and to live as he designed us to live. What are some ways that you could "sharpen" someone today? How could you "sharpen" others by being an active part of a local church?

Acts 8:1-25

Have you ever stopped to wonder what the deal is with wearing brand names? We pay a lot of money to wear a company's logo or name on our shirt or jeans, just so people will know how cool we are. But we're essentially paying to advertize for that company! Somewhere along the way, people in marketing managed to completely blind us to their schemes. But in some ways, we humans had it coming to us. There is something in us that would prefer to buy what we want rather than get it the hard way. Take brand names. It's easier to try to buy coolness and the acceptance of our peers by wearing the right clothes than being vulnerable with them and developing personalities that shine through. Simon, the man you will be reading about today, was so anxious to be a part of the church and to have the attention he wanted, that he tried to buy spiritual gifts. 

After you read today's Scripture, take a few moments to ask yourself if you've ever tried to "buy" your way into church. Make a commitment today to do the hard work of building relationships within the church, instead of looking for a quick way to find acceptance.

Acts 8:1-25

God created us for his glory- John Piper

God made us to magnify his greatness, the way telescopes magnify stars. He created us to put his goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom and justice on display. The greatest display of God's glory comes from deep delight in all that he is. This means that God gets the praise and we get the pleasure. God created us so that he is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Isaiah 43:1-7 

The Secret Of Real Living- Billy Graham

Some Christians have learned little of a daily devotional life. Some time ago a policeman asked me what the secret of victorious living was. I told him that there is no magic formula that can be pronounced. If any word could describe it, I would say surrender. The second word I would say would be devotion. Nothing can take the place of a daily devotional life with Christ. Your quiet time, your prayer time, the time you spend in the Word, is absolutely essential for a happy Christian life. You cannot possibly be a happy, dynamic, and powerful Christian apart from a daily walk with Christ. Christians calling Christians today to cleansing, to dedication, to consecration, and to full surrender. It will make the difference between success and failure in your spiritual life. It will make the difference between being helped and helping others. It will make a difference in your habits, in your prayer life, in your Bible reading, in your giving, in your testimony, and in your church membership. This is the Christian hour of decision!

Daily Prayer

I long for a deeper devotional life, living Lord. May I consecrate myself completely to You.

The Mercy of Jesus- Darlene Zschech

One of the most fascinating stories in the Bible is found in the life of the prophet Hosea. This prophet’s life became a graphic drama that showed the relationship of God to His people.

Hosea married a woman who was a prostitute. Though her life had been disgraceful, he loved and honored her, never holding her past against her. He blessed her with love and devotion. But Gomer refused to truly change her ways and heart, and after a time she began to meet other lovers. Despite her infidelity, Hosea loved her and would bring her back into his home when she would come to her senses. Finally, she left Hosea altogether. She loved the glamorous but debauched life she threw herself into. But as her beauty faded, her lovers were repulsed by her and rejected her. She ended up on the auction block as a common slave.

But there was one who still loved her. Hosea. He still saw a beauty that others did not. He paid the price for her freedom and brought her back to his home with all the honor and blessing she had before. What a story of unmerited favor and never-ending love. We recognize who is God in this drama and who are the people that forget the Most High God to fall in bed with other nations.

Yet God is faithful even when we are not. Jesus Christ paid the price to deliver us from bondage to sin and death once and for all. And He continues to offer that to us today even if we have been unfaithful. My friends, let’s keep our devotion to God pure. If we should ever stray, let’s return immediately to His arms of love. What does He want from us? Love me. Recognize me as God.

I do love you with all my heart, dear God. May I ever be faithful and true to you with your grace and power sustaining my promises to you.

Lucky Ones- Lecrae

In the 1800’s a ragged-looking boy walked for miles through the snowy streets of Chicago, determined to attend a Bible class that was conducted by D.L. Moody. When he got there, he was asked, "Why did you come to a Sunday school so far away? Why didn't you go to one of the churches near your home?" He answered simply, "Because you love a fellow over here."

The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:8 that “God is love.” It is not simply that God “loves,” but that He is Love itself. Love is not merely one of His attributes but His very nature.

Many are ignorant as it pertains to God’s love, and because of this there is very little Real love for God among Christians. Most of our hearts don’t yearn for God because we don’t understand His love for us. The more we understand his love for us, the more our hearts will be drawn out into love for God.

“I love Lucy”. I love NY. NBA – “I love this Game”. TV – “I love money”. Everyone uses it, but few understand what depth love has. So when it comes to the LOVE of God or Divine LOVE, we just cut and paste their definitions on GOD.

For each of us, there is always an object of this affection of ours. But, whether we are saying, “I love pizza,” or “I love my wife,” with our love, there is always a reason or condition.

The first aspect of God’s love we must understand is that it is unconditional or uninfluenced. This means that there is nothing about the objects of God’s love that prompt Him or motivate Him to love them.

While we love people for reasons or conditions, God loves freely and spontaneously without conditions. He doesn’t love us cause we are cute or have money, or because we lived perfectly or did something right or pray everyday. He loves us because it’s His will to do so.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 states, “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you…” (ESV)

His love is sovereign. Because God is God, He does as He pleases; because God is love, He loves whom He pleases. God declares, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:19). Yet there was no more reason in Jacob why he should be the object of Divine love, than there was in Esau. We try to earn respect from people, and we fight for peoples’ love. We spend our lives trying to win over people – NOT GOD. THERE was NOTHING in me to attract the heart of God. My heart was deceitful and desperately wicked.

The only thing I motivated God to do was to hate me and throw me into the darkest pit of Hell. I did everything to repel him, everything to make him despise me – sinful, corrupt, no good thing in me.

Love was the reason that Brought Christ to Earth!

“FOR GOD SO LOVE THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON…” (John 3:16)

Christ DIED not to make God love us but BECAUSE HE DID love us!

If you ever doubt the LOVE of GOD you go back to the cross. You think God isn’t loving toward you? Go back and look at the Person of Christ.

East to West- Casting Crowns

God is illogical. When it comes to forgiveness, he makes no sense to our finite and fleshy minds. When I forgive someone, what that person did to me hovers in the back of my mind. I can’t help but react based on my memory of what happened. How can God, whose memory is perfect, be any different? It’s hard to fathom how God forgives without condition and without end.

But that’s human logic. If we forget what God says in his Word, we make assumptions: “I’m not really sure what God’s love is, but this is what my dad’s love is like, so that must be what God’s love is like. Since forgiveness looks like this at work or at school, this must be how God forgives.”

God says he dropped our sins into his sea of forgetfulness (Micah 7:19; Isaiah 43:25). No one else forgets our sin. A sea of forgetfulness doesn’t make sense when everyone else is ready to throw us into a mud puddle of remembrance. The world reminds us of our failure and rubs our noses in it. But Jesus gives peace not as the world does (John 14:27), and peace and forgiveness are inextricably linked.

The most liberating truth in all of Scripture is that we are liberated. God is not bound by human logic. He is not like our spouse or co-worker. He is not like our teacher, friend, or significant other. When God says he forgives us, he is speaking the truth because he is truth (Titus 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). When God says he forgives, he isn’t talking about a sappy, sentimental moment in which we talked him into being good to us. He is referring to a sovereign decree of his will to extend grace to an undeserving person.

He did this by killing his Son.

That’s a blunt statement, but it’s true. John 3:16 states God gave his Son. At the same time, Jesus, who is God, laid down his life (John 10:17-18). Why? So he could offer us the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Jesus became sin for us. Gnaw on that one. That’s how serious God is about forgiveness.

With no equivocation, God says: “I am choosing not to count your sin against you anymore—not because you’re a good person or because you’re doing more good than bad—but because my Son paid the debt for your sin. It is finished. Transaction complete. All you have to do is believe me and give me your whole life and I’ll place your sin upon my Son and credit his righteousness to you. I’m doing every bit of this. You’re doing nothing. Even the faith you demonstrate will be my gift to you. Now live like your sin is gone—because it is. As far as the east is from the west.”

Excellent by PROPAGANDA

I didn’t exactly grow up in a Christian home. But there were a few things my parents got right, which stuck with me. A good work ethic was one of those things. My father used to quote Colossians 3:23 every time I didn't want do my homework, or I didn't finish a task well. He would say, “You should always be proud of what your name is on, and be willing stand by it!” As kid, I though that just meant I was going to have do my homework again, or re-clean the bathroom. Now as an adult, I see the point he was making. My reputation was at stake.

As believers, God has placed his “name” on us. By name I mean His “Reputation.” A good study would be what the Bible means by the phrase “Name of Jesus.” My point is we don’t work for people. We work, submit, and create in service to our true master. Jesus paid a very high price to call us His own. The LEAST we can do is function at our maximum capabilities in our respective arenas.

If anything, to say thank you for paying our debt to the Father! He places his righteousness on us, gave the right to be called the sons of God. He wrote his “name” us. We should function like something he could be proud of. Not because that earns us favor, but to show our appreciation for the favor we don't deserve. The context of this passage Paul teaches how as believers to live and work with each other and submission in the context of family and church. As we all know, some people aren't exactly “submission worthy.” But he reminds us that we aren't just submitting to them or working for them. We work for the Lord. Our excellence is worship.