Promise Five To Lift You Up

IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY

This is my day to get nostalgic. You see, I spent much of my youth living in Valentine, Nebraska, the Heart City. Every year, Valentine's day was big. We had a coronation of a King and Queen, as well as Prince, Princess, and other royalty. I was never chosen for any of it. I wasn't on any ballot. I...was a peasant! I didn't even have a girl friend, though I tried. I mean, my prom date even took off after the banquet to hang with her friends. Man! I used to hate Valentine's Day.

So, I moved. I split. I left the Heart City and took my heart with me. And then I met her, the girl of my dreams. First she made my heart throb, and then she stole it.
For more than thirty years she has made my heart beat faster. Not that it's always rosie. Sometimes she makes me mad, and the heart beats more rapidly. But I get over it, becaue I'm usually the problem. The ole ticker always skips a beat when I see her. That's what love does. Happy Valentine's Day darlin.

One of the aspects of marriage that is difficult to grasp is humility. It is so hard to humble yourself before your lover, at least it is for me. You see, I'm a chest beater...a true blue grunter...you know, the great white hunter type who has no femanine side and doesn't want to find one. But being humble is a must, so I keep trying and failing, and trying again.

That cycle describes how we walk with Jesus at times. We get full of ourselves, and the times and circumstances of our lives tend to drop us down a few notches. Too bad it is so hard to humble ourselves. We generally have to be cut off at our prideful knees. However, Jesus promises to lift us up in the proper way if we just break through in humbling our heart before him. Listen,

Promise FIVE
1 Peter 5:6-7
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Do you want to know how I interpret that verse? Okay, here goes. "Even though you are an expert moron, I still love you and care for you. So, get over yourself!"

His care is the best. His friendship is the change agent I need. He is the King, not I. I must poke myself to remember that fact. Guess what, he cares for YOU too! Happy Valentine's Day.
Pastor Jim

Promise Four To Give You Rest

"Ahhh," you sigh as you sip ice cold tea sprigged with a piece of lemon, "this is the life." Waves slide toward you over crystalline sand. The gentle roar of the ocean soothes your soul. Your feet are at eye level at the other end of the hammock, and sunglasses dim the brightness of the the afternoon just enough to allow your eyelids to join in blissful rest. Too bad my fat belly causes the ropes to snap and the nap is abruptly ended on the ground. (What a way to end a great daydream.)

I love to sleep, but my idea of rest is bigger than night time unconsciousness. Do I have to describe it again?

God is so cool...when the world heats up, and the pace is frightening, we are promised rest. I speak not of global warming, but the expenditure of physical and spiritual energy in our trek to overcome the world. We get weary, don't we? We need that little vacation from time to time. Even a hammock in the back yard works as long as the mosquito's are controlled.

Read Promise FOUR and let your heart float to that beach, or mountain stream, or wherever you find rest. The best place is in the sweet, quiet presence of Jesus himself. Find it!

Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest." (NCV)

"Ahh," you sigh.....

Promise THREE To Help You Cope With Life

I turned 50 this week. Okay, some of you snicker, others scoff, still others look at me and say, "Oh my God! Lord don't let that happen to me, please, please, please." It makes you pray harder for Jesus to come and rapture the church.

Age is like anxiety (or causes anxiety for some:) It's going to happen. The difference is, you can't do anything about the years ticking by. You can do something about the inevitable moments of worry. You want to remain young, or prosperous, or blessed, or safe, or comfortable, or happy. But circumstances appear on our horizon that threaten to undue what we have come to enjoy. So, we worry and fret. Jesus said, don't do it...not as a sin thing, but with the understanding that it is a total waste of time and energy.

Promise Three
Matthew 6:34
"So, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Live in the moment. Serve Jesus now. Don't fret about turning 50, 60, 70, or 110...you have an eternity awaiting you if you know the Lord. Don't attempt to relive what you were when you were 22. Take your 50 and run with it. The little story that follows is a great attitude to have.

Old age is great

A guy is 70 years old and loves to fish. He was sitting in his boat the other day when he heard a voice say, 'Pick me up.'

He looked around and couldn't see any one. He thought he was dreaming when he heard the voice say again, 'Pick me up.' He looked in the water and there, floating on the top, was a frog.

The man said, 'Are you talking to me?'

The frog said, 'Yes, I'm talking to you. Pick me up then, kiss me and I'll turn into the most beautiful woman you have ever seen. I'll make sure that all your friends are envious and jealous because I will be your bride!'

The man looked at the frog for a short time, reached over, picked it up carefully, and placed it in his front breast pocket.

Then the frog said, 'What, are you nuts? Didn't you hear what I said? I said kiss me and I will be your beautiful bride.'

He opened his pocket, looked at the frog and said, 'Nah, at my age I'd rather have a talking frog.

There you go! We have great promises in Jesus, though they may not include talking frogs. Don't worry...just live!
Pastor Jim

Promise TWO To Provide For You

What goes through your mind when you think of the word feast? I recall images of Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or New Year's Dinner, or Easter, or Sunday's, or Friday night dates with my wife. I think of FOOD....lots of FOOD.

It is now safe to say that we live in a gluttonus society. Americans are the most overweight people in the world. We are gettin fatter by the gram. Big Mac's abound. Hardee's quadruple monster burgers are sucked into throats like dust in a vacuum. Backsides expand disproportionately with brains. Flab flops. Fat cells fuse at alarming rates. What used to be injections of sugar in the veins has become bucket loads. No, don't get angry. I'm speaking of myself, or what used to be me. We live to eat rather than eat to live. It is a sign of decadence in the culture, and emptiness in the heart. What would happen to America if a real depression actually hit us in the mouth, or stomach as it were? Food lines at McDonalds? Come on! Yet it could happen.

Jesus has a promise for us.
Matthew 6:31-33
"Don't ever worry and say, 'What are we going to eat?' or 'What are we going to drink?'Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them. But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you." (GWT)

One thing is clear: We don't need as much food as we consume...I speak physically. Not only do we have stores where we can buy food, we have stores of processed food in our systems. If food actually became scarce, we could all go a few days with duct tape over our mouths, and outside of a rebellious, overly ravinous stomach, we would survive just fine.

But one thing we lack is the consumption of the spiritual food offered to members of the kingdom. We don't consume as much spiritual food as we need...just the opposite of our physical diet. Hmmm Jesus promises us a great combo meal. It involves the provision of physical nurishment as well as real spritual meat. Can we not balance both types of diet as we move toward more difficult times? I'm pretty sure I can.
Pastor Jim

God's Promises In Tough Times. Promise One

As I sporadically tuned in to President O's press conference concerning the massive Government Bailout, I was reminded that all things are not as they seem. Yes, America is in a recession and people have lost jobs, but to describe our current conditions as catastrophic misses the mark by a long shot. Catastrophic is what is happening in the Congo, where hundreds of thousands of Christians are living in refugee camps or jungle hideouts. Over one million have died in the fighting, yet none of it is being broadcast over the airwaves because our American Economic crisis is so horribly bad. Again, things are not as they seem.

However, should we find ourselves in a real crisis, God wants us to remember a few of his promises, faithful covenant blessings which prove that things are not what they seem. For twenty-five days, I will shoot a new promise your way. If you are hurting, God never discounts your suffering. But he does give you a promise that will sustain you.

PROMISE ONE
Matthew 6:28-30
"And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

How easy it is to get hooked on the comforts of the current culture. Standards of prosperity seem to have been set in fashion and status rather than what is happening in the heart. Yet, I have found that the ones who love the Lord with all their heart shine like the lilies of the field, even when it appears their level of prosperity falls short of today's standards. How sad when we box ourselves into a temporary and meaningless lifestyle. Eternity calls for more, much more. Still, in the most difficult of times, the Lord promises that he will clothe us.

Clothing is important. It provides covering us in our nakedness. It gives warmth and comfort in the cold. It protects from harmful rays and snags that come along from time to time. We need it. God knows this. He promises to clothe us, even when there is little ability to provide for ourselves.

But spiritual clothing is important as well, and I believe it is included in the promise. God vows to cover our bodies with needed attire, but he also clothes us in such spiritual garments that whatever is on our bodies is overshadowed by the glory emanating from within. Even though we may not glow with Sack's Fifth Avenue or Donetelli, we shine with a glory much brighter than a field of lilies. Hold to that when pay stubs get shorter or, God-forbid, a pink slip comes your way. You will never see anything out of the government's attempt to bail out the world, but God will provide for you and your family!
Pastor Jim