Author: Wesley Fryer

God’s Peace

God, prayer

Today we light the Advent candle for God’s peace. We pray for God’s peace to come into our hearts, into our communities, to our nation and to our world. God promises peace, but we have to seek it from HIM. We need to RUN to God, for He wants peace for His people. Consider these words from Matt Jones’ sermon at our church this morning.

I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

(Psalm 85:8-13 NIV)

We find peace as we place our faith in God and His son, Jesus.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

(Romans 5:1-2 NIV)

We have to listen carefully to what The Lord God says about peace. We don’t search for peace in areas where peace is not found. These verses show us the signs to watch for. Righteousness, faithfulness, and love are the signs.

God keeps His promises. Let us seek peace through our faith in God and His promises.

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Nothing Can Separate Us From God

God

These words from Paul remind us that if we are called by God to follow Him and we seek Him in all we so, nothing can separate us from Him.

Romans 8:37-39 NIV

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

See it at YouVersion.com:

http://bible.us/111/rom.8.37.niv

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Daily Bible Audio: PRICELESS!

God, Jesus, technology

I posted this as a review in the Apple App Store for the free YouVersion Bible app:

I use this app every day when I’m commuting to work. This app is a HUGE part of how I’ve been able to read through the entire Bible in a year, the last two years. The daily Bible reading plans are awesome. I love the fact that multiple translations are available in audio format so I can listen while I drive. Thank you YouVersion!!! Get this app and use it daily to read as we’ll as hear God’s Word!

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Keep Knocking

prayer

Keep knocking. God will answer. Persist in your petitions. Like a good earthly father, our Heavenly Father wants to give us the desires of our hearts.

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7, 8 NLT)

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Don’t Blow Your Trumpet When You Give

mission, stewardship

Some clear teaching here from Jesus about the way we should act when we give to others and do good deeds. We should not do these things to seek recognition from others.

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-4 NLT)

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Watch for the FRUIT People Produce

focus, Jesus

These are signpost verses from Jesus, directing us to pay attention to the FRUIT people produce through their words and actions. What does the heart produce?

You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” (Matthew 12:34-37 NLT)

Also:

“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. (Luke 6:43-45 NLT)

Dear God: Form my family and I into bountiful fruit trees which serve you, your Son, and your Holy Spirit in all we do.
Amen.

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Narrated Sermon Art

Jesus, technology

Both Rachel (my 9 year old) and I created some visual notes yesterday during the sermon shared by Pastor Mateen Elass at First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. Today we recorded some audio to accompany our drawings, using the free mobile app and website AudioBoo, to create these “narrated art” examples.

Click the play button (play arrow) to listen to each AudioBoo below. As one is playing, you can “mouse over” the embedded image thumbnail to view a larger version of each drawing.

listen to ‘Followers of Jesus’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Wholly & Holy Together’ on Audioboo

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Generational Sin Punishments & Works Righteousness

God, questions

These verses from the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel establish the important idea of individual and personal accountability for sin. This was a big CHANGE in how the Israelites understood sin & families. It also reinforced works righteousness, however. Jesus would later affirm the former understanding (don’t kill the children for the sins of the parents) but overturn the latter from a salvation / justification standpoint.

It is important to understand that God still calls us to live lives defined by acts of righteousness. We are called to abandon sinful ways: To confess our sins (which by our nature we continue to commit) and ask for forgiveness. We are saved through our confession of sin and profession of faith in Christ. Our righteous acts which follow these events are expected, required and natural, but they are NOT the cause or source of our salvation from God’s condemnation which our past sins deserve.

Then another message came to me from the Lord: “Why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste’? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb anymore in Israel. For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.

(Ezekiel 18:1-4 NLT)

Also:

“‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live. The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done.

(Ezekiel 18:19-22 NLT)

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Lessons from David Dancing Before The Lord

Uncategorized

These are my sermon notes from Mateen Elass‘s message on August 26, 2012’ based on these verses in 2 Samuel 6:12-23 NIV:

Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes. When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

and 2 Samuel 7:1-3 NIV:

After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”

It’s easy for us as Christians to try and live on “reflected glory,” we stop seeking God’s will for our lives because we want to seek our own will. We seek God’s blessing and sanctification of our own plans.

God’s presence should not be treated lightly
– Philistines learned this when they took the ark as documented in 2 Samuel

Love gives itself fully to what it cherishes

Sometimes when we look at others, we are not too please with how we see them worshipping. Our disdain about how others worship may reveal a problem within our own hearts toward God.
– it is hard for us to grapple with this as Presbyterians sometimes… Need to focus, however, on WHO we are trying to please
– God is the one who should be our focus in worship
– let’s not show disdain for others as they seek to open their hearts fully to God

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Powerful Annointing

gifts, God

Powerful words here from Isaiah.

Isaiah 61:1, 2 NLT

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.”

See it at YouVersion.com:

http://bible.us/Isa61.1.NLT

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