For the believer joy is a fruit of the spirit. To know that our sins are forgiven, our account is cleared, graced bestowed, and hope granted should create an inner celebration for those who have put their faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore, as followers of Christ, our perspective of life should be different than the rest of the world not rooted in the circumstances of life but in the reality of a loving and forgiving God.

My question for us this week: Is your temperament, mood, or attitude towards life rooted in your circumstances or the reality of God’s love for you?  I’ve heard many times the statement, “Well under the circumstances…” For the Christian one must ask, “Why are you under the circumstances?” Your reality in Christ is greater than any circumstance that comes your way in this life. See beyond today through the spectacles of eternity.

Paul writing to the Philippian church from a Roman dungeon clearly is not under the circumstances of his situation where his hope would be minimal and future dreary. No he is rejoicing at the fact  that He knows Christ, he has been recognized by the world as a spokesman for Christ, and is willing to be punished and even die as a prisoner for Christ. Paul would tell us that no matter the circumstances you are in, even if death is inevitable on the immediate horizon of your future, as a believer you have reason to rejoice in Jesus. May we as His followers rejoice in God’s love no matter our circumstances.

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Recently, I was out of town on a speaking engagement and flipped on the TV searching through the channels in the hotel room. A show was on where two people were discussing some problem, and one replied to the other, “You know I’m your best friend, and I’ll tell you anything you want me to tell you.” I immediately thought how silly that was to think that was a friendship. Yet, sadly, that is where our society is in our relationships, politics, and even in our churches. We are no longer interested in the things that are true, but rather what we want to hear. The best of friends is not always saying what we want to hear, but what we need to hear. 

Paul warns Timothy of the same issue. He states there will come, and in our age has come, a time when people will not be interested in truth or sound doctrine but will only be interested in what they want to be true rather than in truth itself. This web of deception has crept into the walls of churches and infiltrated the ranks. It has distorted a true view of who God is for so many because there is so much preaching that is according to “our own desires” verses the truth of sound doctrine. C.S. Lewis put it this way, “If you don’t listen to theology, that won’t mean you have no ideas about God, it will mean you have a lot of wrong ones.” There are a lot of wrong ideas about God, even among believers, because so many have deviated from the truth of Scripture. II Timothy 4:3-4…For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths

Have you had to recently walk through a dark time in your life? Maybe it came in the form of a broken relationship, a unwanted diagnosis, a loss of a job or even the death of a loved one. These periods of our lives can be daunting, overwhelming, and so very painful. We wonder where do we turn or who do we turn to for help and companionship through these times.

Many times we need the companionship of a close friend or even a professional counselor, but no matter what we are going through or how dark the valley, there is always God. We may not understand our circumstances, but we can lean on One greater than our circumstances. He has stated many times in Scripture that ‘He will never leave us or abandon us’ (Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5) God is a God of comfort and companionship during our darkest trials. David experienced this when he faced Goliath. He later wrote Psalm 23 that speaks of God being there ‘even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.’ I imagine when he was penning these words he was reflecting how God had accompanied him into the Valley of Elah to slay a giant enemy. Whatever you are facing and no matter how dark the valley, God is there, even when we don’t feel Him, to be our constant companion to lean on during our times of trouble.

Psalm 23:4 NIV – Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Have you ever had a question about life and someone responded, “just have faith”? In the angst of having a question it can be quite discouraging when someone gives you such a pat answer. So what does it mean to have faith?  

There are two types of faith that we can discuss: Blind Faith & Evidential Faith. Blind faith is how many describe their faith. Sadly, many believers, give this definition which is having no reason to believe something, but believing it anyway. It’s almost like a badge of honor to some. This understanding of faith is absurd, furthermore dangerous, and why people do crazy things in the name of religion!

The Biblical understanding of faith is one of evidence. It is not faith or reason, but rather faith and reason. Reason reveals the bread crumbs to follow and faith sees the inference. We have all watched the CSI shows where one rationally finds the evidence, and then can infer the most probable outcome. It is the same way with faith according to Scripture. As Ravi Zacharias once put it, “God has placed enough evidence before us to make Christianity a rational endeavor, but left enough out to make it a relational experience.” There are in fact reasons for faith such as the reliability of the Bible, existence of God, the person of Christ, and ultimately His resurrection.

Hebrews 11:1 NLT – Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

So let’s begin with a few questions…What or who is guiding your life today in this very moment? Who are you taking advice from? Are they qualified to give advice? Who should we turn to for help?

As a person going through life there are many things that compete to guide our lives. The problem is that only One Person is qualified and that is not even ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit of God. God knows our lives from beginning to end and only He is qualified to be the captain of the  ship of life. When I lived in Nashville and was pursuing music, the drive for my career in music and what pleased me was the guide of my life. I was the “god” of my life, yet so very unqualified. I often found myself shipwrecked with despair and discouragement feeding desires that I had often said I would stay away from. We go to a mechanic to ask advice for our car, a doctor for our body, an attorney for legal matters, so why do we turn to ourselves for the greater questions regarding life? This makes absolutely no sense, but we are all guilty of it. Let God, who is life, guide your life so that you can miss some of the bumps in the road that maybe awaiting you up ahead.  

Galatians 5:16- So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

One of the great debates of our day is whether or not God exists. Many of our day choose to believe that the worldview of Atheism (NO GOD) is the best explanation over and above the worldview of Theism (GOD). So how can one determine which worldview is true? The only answer is in the evidence.

Now many want to point to Darwinism as a support to Atheism, but the reality is not whether one believes in evolution or creationism (another discussion), the bigger question is “Why is there something versus nothing?” Science is in agreement with the Bible in the fact that both state the Universe came into existence. So the question is “Why does it exist now?” From a logical standpoint the only game in town is that there had to be something prior to the existence of the Universe that brought the Universe into existence. This makes sense at every level regarding Cause & Effect. For example, if a book comes into existence there has to be an author.  Therefore, if the Universe came into existence at some point the only logical explanation was that there had to be a Cause behind it. It seems to take greater faith to believe ‘something came from nothing’ than to believe that ‘something came from something prior to it.’ The first statement of the Bible seems to be the most logical, and simply put I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist.

Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

I was talking to my uncle the other day who said that he had been in and out of church most of his life and had never been regular until these last few years, but he was taken aback at how Christians can argue over the silliest of things. I agreed! Over the years as a pastor, sadly, too many of my phone calls are not pertaining to theological questions, but where people have gotten upset over one thing or the other. This is NOT the Christian way!!!

First, I want to apologize to anyone who has been hurt by “church folk” and hope that you never judge Jesus by our brokenness. As a sinful follower of Jesus myself and part of those “church folk,” I may not always represent Him like I should, but that is why I need Him cause I’m still a work in progress. I am just one beggar telling other beggars where the bread is.

Second, if you are a believer, apologize to the world in how you have misrepresented Jesus by complaining or arguing over silly things. The truth be told when we stop and count our blessings there should be no complaining at all, only praise to our King.

Philippians 2:14-16 – Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—.

Matthew 23:37 – How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

Jesus spoke these words in a pretty heavy conversation with the religious folk of His day. He was addressing the push back and hypocrisy of those who said they knew God, yet were poor representatives of God. Can you imagine how it would go over today to have someone be so honest as to call the leaders a bunch of snakes? Yet, that is how honest and truthful Jesus was to the religious leaders of His day a few verses earlier in this passage. He was telling them they have misunderstood who God is and gave evidence in how they have been guilty of leading others away from Him.

In this statement, Jesus, in a context of sadness over these religious leaders, reveals the very heart of God. The Lord longs to gather the sinful to Himself. He gives us a picture of a hen gathering her little ones to herself which is a very comforting and nurturing picture of God versus the picture that many of us have of a God ready to do away with us when we mess up. God wants to pull you in under His wings so that you can feel safe, comforted, nurtured, protected and looked after in a world that so easily can hurt us. Sadly, many miss this invitation of God because of our own unwillingness to see Him as He is, a loving Lord. What is keeping you from coming to Him today?

The 19th-century British evangelist Rodney (Gypsy) Smith once said, “There are five Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian—but most people never read the first four.” The reason so many people doubt Christianity today is because many have not seen the authentic life change in those who claim to be believers. It’s easy to go to church, hear three points and a poem, shake everyone’s hand and bid everyone a good week, but it is difficult to actually surrender the details of our lives to Christ so that He can be revealed in our day to day living.  As the quote above relates, why should people bother with the four Gospels if they can’t get around the life of the Christian believer.

So the question to pose is to the Christian: What kind of Jesus are you revealing to the world this week? Is it your ‘personal pet Jesus’ that overlooks the things you do, ‘denominational Jesus’ that fits nicely within your traditions, or the actual, authentic, historical Jesus of the Bible?  I’m reminded of a story where a young boy named Joe brought his friend for the first time to church. The teacher ask the class, “Who would you like to be like?” The young friend, not knowing who Jesus is, said Joe. The teacher, trying to set the boy up for the Sunday School answer, stated, “Wouldn’t you like to be like Jesus?” The young friend said, “Yes! If he is anything like Joe.” Would someone say that about you this week?

1 John 2:6 NLT – Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am God;

When I was young my mother used to tell me I had “Ants in my Pants” because I wouldn’t sit still much as I was always into something. Sadly, we have become an “Ants in your Pants” society because most of us hate being still. How many people constantly stay on their phone nowadays? We are a culture of little busy-bodies! Over time this kind of approach to life is exhausting to our body and draining to our spirit.

In this little verse, God is calling us to be still, but why? The answer is to know that He is God and not ourselves, or some circumstance or interruption in life. The reason many of us struggle with hearing from God is because our lives are too loud, too busy with our own self-will that we cannot hear as Elijah did ‘the still, small voice of God’ (1 Kings 19:11-13). Sitting in silence, allowing our minds to declutter and detox from the junk of the world is a necessary practice for spiritual sanity. Biblical meditation is refocusing the mind on God unlike the Eastern practice where one attempts to empty their mind which is actually logically impossible. We must learn to recapture the silence and the stillness of life and let the beauty of God rekindle the fire within our hearts. There is a time to be busy, but the joy you get out of the busyness of life will be determined in how connected you are with God in those still moments we create everyday.