Thought for the day...

March 19, 2020
Verse of the Day
Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.
Proverbs 21:21 NIV

 

Speak God’s truth no matter what
By Pastor Mark Jeske
Our world is a mess. People are born disconnected from their Maker. They are ignorant of the Savior, Jesus Christ. And until they come to faith, they don’t have access to the Spirit’s wisdom and power. People need to be converted, born again, regenerated, brought back into a relationship with their God.

How does that happen? By believers sharing the powerful message of the gospel with unbelievers. Does a successful conversion depend on the skill of the proclaimer? Nope. The power inheres in the Word of God. But here’s the thing: though he could of course do all this proclaiming himself, God has chosen to depend on his believers to engage with unbelievers and bring them the message. He will wait and wait some more for us to speak.

This great honor and heavy expectation rests especially on leaders in God’s church. In fact, to spur his prophet Jeremiah to get into motion, he told him that he should fear God even more than rejection: “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them” (Jeremiah 1:17).

What are you and your congregation doing to engage people in your community? Don’t be afraid of people. When you speak words from the Bible, people are hearing not your thoughts but God’s. Let him take care of the converting.

You just take care of the talking

 

Pray for the fools.................................

 

March 20, 2020
Verse of the Day
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalms 51:10 NIV

 

My impulsiveness
By Pastor Mark Jeske
Look before you leap.” Ha! That’s for other people, right? I know when to buy a car, buy a house, sign a contract, or move to another city to take a new job. When I leap quickly, it shows I’m decisive, self-confident, and right.

Er, maybe not. Maybe it shows that I’m too lazy to have done my homework, too deaf to have listened to other people, too impatient to have thought through the implications, and too self-centered to have considered the impact of my actions on other people.

You know, it’s a lot easier to think a little more on the front end than to have to do a lot of apologizing and repairs on the back end: “The prudent give thought to their steps” (Proverbs 14:15). Yeah, baby. They sure do.

Where can I get some brakes for my impulsiveness? First, a little humility therapy. I need to dial down my opinion of my own brilliance. Second, more respect for others. There is huge value in the minds and experiences of the people around me. I need to spend some energy on tapping into that wealth of wisdom. Third, I need to say out loud before I leap, “Father, is this a good idea? Does it align with your ways? Am I missing anything?”

When the pastor is reading my obituary at my funeral, would he use the adjective prudent to describe me?

 

March 21, 2020
Verse of the Day
“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
Jeremiah 17:10 NIV

 

Great thoughts

 

Probably keel over. But then again, the same sort of stuff happened in Rome and before.

 

See where that got them...

 

March 22, 2020
Verse of the Day
The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.
Zechariah 14:9 NIV

 

March 23, 2020
Verse of the Day
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:8 NIV

 

Meditation
Jesus said, “Keep watch with me.” If you have ever sat with a loved one while waiting for that person to die, perhaps you know something of how the three men who waited with Jesus might have felt. He had told them, repeatedly, that he was going away. But now they see him in anguish, and they can see that it is all starting to happen, in perhaps a more terrible way than they had imagined. They could not understand what would come in the next few days, so the waiting was full of dread, the dark kind of sadness that feels unbearable.

Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” But instead they fell asleep. Still, if we disparage the disciples for their inability to stay awake, maybe we haven’t spent enough time thinking about this scene, and maybe we have never prayed to the point of exhaustion. There is a point at which our circumstances can no longer be examined. There is a point after which a person can pray no more. This is when the Holy Spirit must take over for us “through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26), perhaps even while we sleep.

Jesus asked God three times to take away the suffering that was coming, not just the torture and ridicule, but the unbearable thought of facing all of God’s wrath at once, the Father’s hatred for sin all falling at once on the head of his innocent Son. But Jesus followed his request with “may your will be done.”

When we ask God for something three times, and he does not give us what we want, we are often angry and begin to question his goodness. And when our friends fail us, we may want to find new friends. But Jesus, even as he faced the beginning of the most terrible time there ever was on earth, went back to encourage the friends who had failed him and to face his mission before God: the price of our salvation.

Prayer
Loving Father, I gripe and grumble when I encounter painful circumstances. I complain about bad luck or not getting the breaks in life. I wonder why you allow such pain to occur to me and to others. Yet I know that I can take my grievances directly and openly to you. I can admit my confusion and my disappointment. I know I am approaching the only One who can really do something in my times of need. Thank you for your patience and your kindness to me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Taken from Once a Day 40 Days to Easter

Scripture

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
Matthew 26:40‭-‬46 NKJV

 

March 24, 2020
Verse of the Day
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV