Psalm 19:8

Psalm 19:8
'The commands of the Lord are radiant
Making the eyes light up.'

I'm guessing based on Ps 13:3 that this verse could be taken two ways.

The HCSB takes the words as though the Word of God causes the reader
to be happy. Amen! A heart turned toward God will rejoice to be His.
Our happiness will be founded on something solid, not flimsy like the
happenings around us.

But Ps 13:3 would make us think that this phrase points to the
brightness of the eyes refering to life. Again, amen! There is nothing
so dull as dead eyes; there is also nothing so dead as dead spiritual
eyes. Our eyes apart from the Word of God are dead, blind, and without
any light.

God the Father, give us light that we may see.
God the Son, give us light that others may see.
God the Spirit, give us light that Your people may rejoice!

Go to God's Word that you may have enlightened eyes.

Rejoicing together with you,
Pastor Greg

Psalm 19:1-4

Psalms 19:1-4
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
2 Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.
3 There is no speech; there are no words;
their voice is not heard.
4 Their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.

The heavens declare the glory of God yet they have no voice, how then
do redwood trees declare the glory of God?

Awe. Awe is the feeling of one's 'insignificance'. The Amer Heritage
Dict defines awe as a mixed emotion of reverence, dread, and wonder.
When a 6' human being looks at a 275' tree there ought to be awe;
there ought to be a sense of dread, FEAR: What if that thig fell on
me? What if I fell off that thing?

Soon, these thoughts give way to, Wow God made that! How big mist that
guy be! What if He 'fell' on me? Then you start to think, What would I
do to get on the wrong side of God? This is the beginnig of the fear
of the Lord; this is the beginning of wisdom. It all started by
correctly looking at a tree; looking at a tree and 'hearing' it
declare the glory of God.

Father in Heaven, thank you for declaring You own glory because I
couldn't have heard it w/o Your creation.
Son beside us, thank You for putting that declaration in words I could
understand.
Spirit within us, thank You for aawakening my heart first to hear,
then to sing along for Your glory.

Notice your trees today!

Looking with you,
Pastor Greg

Ephesians 1:23

'the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in
all.' (NASB) Eph 1:23

In what way is the church 'the fullness of Him'?

Obviously not in the sense that He is the Church and nothing else; He
would be a frail and wishy washy kind of God if that were true.

Obviously not in the sense that He 'fills all in all' through the
church; there is plenty that (for now at least) has nothing to do with
the human beings that make up His Body: the moons of Jupiter for
example.

We are the fulness of Christ in that we are the repesentation that the
world needs to know Him. We are the Good News written on hearts (2 Cor
3:1-3), we are the fragrance of God to those around us (2 Cor
2:14-17), we are the fleshy representation so others can see and know
what Christ looks like.

Praise Jesus that He is so great that He can use such poor tools to
make His Glory known to all the world.

Father You are so great that You were bursting with life and spilled
over to create the Universe and all the life in it.
Son, You are so great that You gave Life to the dead because death
tried to claim You but could not and for those Who follow You, You
lead from the clutches of death and bring us to Life.
Spirit, You are so great that You energize life; You make atoms and
molecules dance in ways that cannot be explained but can only be
observed.

Praise You Jesus!

How can You praise Jesus this morning?

Living in Him with You,
Pastor Greg

Revelation 5:9-10

9 And they sang a new song:

'You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because You were slaughtered,
and You redeemed people
for God by Your blood
from every tribe and language
and people and nation.
10 You made them a kingdom
and priests to our God,
and they will reign on the earth.'
Revelation 5:9-10

What is the point of life? It is to be prepared to hear this song.

One way to look at life is to say that the whole reason we are here is
to make sure we are 'there' to sing the song: we must be standing near
enough to Christ's throne to hear the Elders singing (Rev 4:8; 5:8).
The peals of thunder and rumblings (Rev 4:5) would scare any who were
not specifically invited to see the spectacle (for that matter it
might send some fear down the spine of some who are).

Perhaps more importantly however, you must be prepared to want to hear
this song. If you are not one of the 'purchased' then you won't want
to hear about the Lamb being slain. That Event meant thedownfall of
your 'father'; it meant the downfall of your way of life.

Lastly, you will want to hear that this Almighty God, about Whom this
song is being sung, only if you are one who longs to be one of the
'priests to serve our God'.

No, I am afraid that Heaven simply will be Hell for those who don't
long to join in with the Elders singing this new song. So, one of the
whole purposes in life is going to be for you and me to prepare our
souls to desire, to long to be able to bear this song sung. May you
be one of those near me.

Father, thank you for this glipse into Your Heaven.
Son, thank You that You made Yourself worthy to take the scroll.
Spirit, thank You that You gave John this experience so that through
it I might have the encouragement of hope (Rom 15:4).

Sing this song in your heart today.

Warming my tonsils along with you!
Pastor Greg

Colossians 2:6-7

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." Col 2:6-7

How did you receive Christ Jesus the Lord? By faith. How are you to walk in Him? By faith? What does walking in faith look like? Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith [doctrine, teachings of the Bible] and abounding in thanksgiving.

Is that all? Yes. That rounds out living by faith quite well. But what does that mean? It means that by looking to Jesus as the source of life I trust Him to be the supremely sufficient reality that I need for life. It means I recognize those things in life for what they are: temporary necessities (or not) and value most what God values most. How do I do this? By spending time with Him in His word so that he can show me what He values.

Father in Heaven, thank You for coming to earth.
Son beside us, thank You for showing us the way to Heaven.
Spirit within us, thank You for moving us there.

Have you spent time in God's Word today?

Rooted in Him,
Pastor Greg

Romans 8:1

Romans 8:1

If there is no condemnation there is nothing to fear. If we will not
be subject to Hell then there is nothing that will keep us from doing
what is most important in life: overcoming self and worshipping God
with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Therefore I will engage
in the battle for purity and holiness. I will fight my flesh and to
the end will (though not always victoriously) strive to enter the
narrow gate.

Praise You Father for releasing me from my deserved condemnation.
Praise You Son for taking that condemnation on Yourself.
Praise You Spirit for applying that salvation to me.

What are you set free to do now that you need fear no condemnation?

Set Free!
Pastor Greg

1 Peter 4:18

"If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"

Prov 11:31

Salvation is a much bigger reality than the church often give it credit as being: salvation very often means salvation during this life that extends into the life hereafter. However, in this case Peter is pretty clearly thinking in the after this life sense. He is referring to the Judgment. One day every man, woman, and child will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and be separated; even our words will condemn us (Matt 12:37).

Peter is looking toward that day and he is concerned to speak to the suffering Christians in his care regarding those sufferings in light of the Judgment to come. The righteous person is one who stands in a right relationship to God: these are those who ultimately will be saved. The ungodly and the sinner are those who do not stand in a right relationship with God and ultimately will not be saved following the Judgment. And Peter is picturing the Christians who have been declared or credited with righteousness and looking at them seeing how little they deserve this salvation (which of course is not at all!) and saying , 'Whoa! I can't believe that guy is getting saved! He made it by the skin of his teeth!' And of course, Peter is right: that guy is only saved by the alien righteousness that belongs to another and is given to him as a gift. The ungodly and sinner doesn't even have any teeth to make it by.

So, how does this relate to the salvation Peter is talking about? Those Christians are suffering. Those Christians are having pain. That pain and suffering are coming about from God through the unbelievers who are persecuting them (or else because of their own sin). This is a purifying judgment so that when they stand in the last day they will not face the judgment the unbelievers will. Instead they will be pure and holy and glorifying to God: because He has made us so.

Father, thank You for fire now, so I won't face the Fire later.
Son, thank You for taking the fire for me, so I won't face the Fire later.
Spirit, thank You for being fire now, so that I won't face the Fire later.

What fires are you facing now? What do you think God is purifying you from?

Facing fire together,
Pastor Greg