Epaggelia

Saccharin, Stevia or Sugar, which is real? The food industry has studied, tested, proven and promoted all kinds of sugars. But which is really the best for your body? That is a much debated topic. But let no one argue about which kind of sweetness is best for our soul. God says, “and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6-8). What could be sweeter than the kindness of God in Christ Jesus. His grace still inspires millions to be kind & gentle, even towards enemies undeserving. This is true love, it is sacrificial love and the most love any one could have, that is, to lay down their life for a friend. It is God’s design for His sacrificial love to inspire our human affections to grow. For most of us, Valentine’s Day is a time to show affection and kindness to those who are close. But if we are called upon to make a real sacrifice for those close and dear to us, could we do it? This reminds me of an anonymous poem my aunt gave me. “God has not promised skies ever blue, flower strewn pathways always for you. God hasn’t promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. But He has promised strength from above, ongoing comfort, unfailing love”. This truth was long ago expounded upon by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:35-38.

Some Christians get real upset, when they are told what to do, other Christians, just get on with it. The latter, usually knows the truth about who really rules. Regardless of the request, we all usually want to know ‘who put you in charge?” In the Church, Jesus Christ is in charge, our Lord of lords and King of kings. He is the one who ordained the powers that be. This past week we have heard of two people who didn’t like being told what to do, so they took a gun and killed the ‘ruler’. Robert Butler Jr, was suspended from School for driving on the sports field, so he shot & killed the Assistant Principle Vicki Kaspar on Wednesday, at the same time our 112th Congress took their seat of power. I wonder if any politicians can see the link? Is God making a statement? Our society needs to reassert trust in God, instead of Government, so that peace instead of chaos can reign. Until that is done, we will suffer the malaise of irresponsibility and ignorance that eventually kills our democracy. In the meantime, we must pray for “all that are in high positions” (1st Tim. 2:2) Make sure you’re the type of Christian that does what we are told. Who rules who, or do we think we rule our selves?

We know God’s word claims His control over our care. Peter proclaims that we must cast our cares on Him because He cares of us, (1st Peter 5:7). We often hope a person’s word is good, especially when we are trying to get something fixed, replaced, or when we are signing a contract! But sometimes we find failure. God’s word is different, He never fails us, and even when it feels like He has, look closer at this word and He will shine brighter and truer to His word than you ever imagined. His word is living and active, he never stops helping us and will never forsake us, just as he promises in Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you”. Jesus has his Spirit right here in our fellowship and in our hearts! In this new year, it’s going to be alright! Yes we have a bumpy economy and a terrible unemployment problem in our society, but God is at work and His word will empower us to make everything alright. We have His Word and it has been proven good.

According to an ancient legend in Lystra Greece, two gods, Hermes and Zeus, had once visited their city with a promise to return. When the Apostle Paul and Barnabas arrived doing miracles, some of the people were certain that those gods had come back. With patience and confidence, Paul let them know that no mythical gods had bestowed goodness on Lystra, but it was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who had blessed their land – as a testimony of the very real Spirit of Christ in their midst all along. Today, most people in our society believe in the spirit of Christmas, instead of the Spirit of Christ. It was Christ, that God The Father of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob promised to us. It was Christ in God that fulfilled that promise. Therefore, Christmas is here and we are thankful ! We are thankful for a real God that keeps real promises, because He really came and made another promise to come again. The Lord’s brother, James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). How many good & perfect gifts have you received in past Christmas mornings? God just keeps on giving and giving, He is good all the time, Christmas or no Christmas. God didn’t promise us Christmas, but He did promise us His Son. Thank God, He keeps His promises, and gave us His Spirit of Promise, (Galatians 3:14).

God had made many promises in His work with us throughout the ages past. The most important promise for us, is that He would come to live with us in our heart. Read Matthew 28:18-20 & Romans 5:1-6:14 to understand how He made the promise and keeps it. Our God is both powerful and loving to do this for us.

God is Love, He is Spirit and He is The Father of Jesus Christ. Every true Christian learns that He is the best Father, they could ever ask for. Better than the wildest dream of any child, dreaming about Father Christmas! The Apostle Paul says, “For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15) God is our Father, and he is best at giving us what we really need. God is good all the time and He gives us The Spirit of Christ. His Spirit pours out His love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5) This helps us discover His love and learn about how much better He is than any other kind of Father. We can emulate and experience and share His love. We become true lovers. God takes this picture to it’s greatest height, when He compares Christians to the Bride of Christ in Eph. 5:30-32 & Rev. 21 –22. Spiritually we become lovers of God and for love, there is no limit! His wisdom and His word helps us value Him above everything and everybody in this world. A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver. God has given us an indescribable gift in Jesus Christ. Please read 2Cor. 9:8-15. The more we learn about this and grow in faith, the more we discover his innumerable gifts for here and into eternity.

Elias Boudinot was the head of our Continental Congress for 1782-1783 and served as a Representative for several years from New Jersey during the formation of our Federal Government. Elias also is the founder of the American Bible Society (ABS) which was led by such famous men as John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and John Q. Adams & James Fennimore Cooper. The ABS always appointed one Sunday a year to publically venerate the Bible, and to this day, makes a special effort to give thousands of Bibles away, especially to our Armed Services. Traditionally the ABS has chosen the Sunday before Thanksgiving in preparation of our Nation’s focus on God’s grace. Today the ABS asks the public to pay special attention to the Bible. Do you think the public will listen? If Elias Boudinot was alive today, do we think he would be impressed with how the Bible has affected our society? More importantly, do we know how the Bible has affected our society? Elias once wrote, “Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of people degenerate, their political character must soon follow.” The character of our politicians today is a reflection of their families moral character, that is for sure! God says, “Bad Company Ruins Good Morals”, (1st Corinthians 15:33) The only way to correct this is for each of us personally to feed on and promote God’s Word publically ! God tells us to pray for “all those in authority” ( 1st Timothy 2:2). Combiming the power of God’s word with personal prayer is effective and can help us overcome evil with good. Have you written your Representative recently? Have you prayed for our President? Christians should be making time to do this and keeping this a priority as a Christian duty. If every Christian took this godly duty seriously and fulfilled it, our Nation would be blessed in greater ways than any of us can even imagine!

Everybody loves the change in weather and cooler fall temps, but no one wants the sun to stop shining! We need light, it’s essential. Yes it’s fierce at times and even dangerous if we don’t take precautions. But without light from the sun, two terrible things would befall us all. Our food would stop growing and we would gradually grow sick. Secondly, our society would be instantly very dangerous and fall into frightening rates of violent crime. Many people do not realize it, but just as physical light is taken for granted, there is great benefit from spiritual light. Spiritual light is from the one and only living God, who provides wisdom and strength to protect us from a dark evil that invades every human soul, it’s the very nature of sin. However, God gives light and reveals what is wrong and dangerous in our life. Without God as our Light, and His word as a lamp, we would be hopelessly groping for safety and strength to do what is right. Isaiah called God our permanent source of light and His splendor would shine on us, (Isa. 60:19-20). When John the Immersionist publicly introduced Jesus to the crowds, he called Him, “light” and a “lamb”, (Jn. 1:3-5, 36). Why? Because the truth would be proven and revealed in The Revelation, “Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God, the All-Powerful, and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.” Can anyone get enough of this kind of light? Have you got just a glimmer? (Rev. 21:22-23)

God knows how much we need His light. If you do not enjoy this kind of light, it is most likely because you have not entered into Christ. He is the only true light for all humanity, read of this claim by Himself in John 8:12. We are promised entrance into the resurrected body of Jesus Christ by faith right now, if we will take his command of baptism seriously. This means we must trust & obey Him in baptism for the specific purpose He assigns to baptism, read Acts 2:38 & Romans 6:1-7 for yourself and see if you are not enlightened?

For many of us, those are strange words. But they are real descriptive of how God looks on a true Christian. Jesus said “if anyone would follow me, they must deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow me daily”, (Lk 9:23) Following Jesus every day means we are refusing to call this world home, because Jesus never did. Jesus was a transient teacher and when he ended up in front of the governor Pilate, he said “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.” (John 18:36) The disciples of Jesus never fought their enemies, they prayed for them and loved them. Today, our enemies still need Jesus. Enemies come in many different forms, so-called friends that tempt us into abusing drink or drugs are actually enemies. Co-workers that tempt us to take home products or money from work are not helping us, they are hurting us. Even family members that demand we take trips away from church on Sundays, are not loving, they are actually ignorant of God’s love. “Enemies against God” is a phrase that describes you and I at one point in our life, before we became a Christian. Before Christ, we were exiles from God’s promises, love and wisdom. We were aliens from His Kingdom and spiritually set against His law of love and faith. But after we became His disciples and put on Jesus Christ, we became exiles of this world and gained a citizenship in Heaven. We should love our enemies no matter how ignorant they are of God’s love and His wisdom in our life. With God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, so let us journey together.

The Apostle Paul suffered from stress. (Read 2nd Corinthians 11:28) Sometimes we think it’s only something modern humanity wrestles with, but stress has hurt humanity for ages. Here is some wisdom that works if you believe God can use past examples for today.
Jesus did !
1. Wake up early and pray every day, (Read Mark 1:35)
2. Write your blessings down so you can count them (Read Php. 4:8)
3. Remember this is a lost world & be ready to forgive (Eph 4:32)
4. Get at least 20 minutes of moderate exercise daily (1st Tim. 4:8)
5. Make a budget and don’t forget it or God (2nd Cor. 9:7)
6. Make friends with positive godly people (1st John 1:3-7)
7. Keep a small Bible handy and read it while waiting on people, or simply keep notes posted up around you of relevant verses, however you read the Bible, make it daily & prayerful! (2nd Peter 1:12-15)

Anxiety is not dismissed, nor ignored, or even prayed away, it must be faced and handled with God’s wisdom. Let Him use this wisdom in your daily life and join Him in His peace that guards our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:7). Last but not least, God does use doctors, if you need one, do what they say! It is more than interesting that God used a doctor to write the gospel of Luke. (Col. 4:14) Dr. Luke also recorded the Acts of the Apostles which gives us the best example of what God expects a church to look like. Do you believe God uses doctors? You know he does! There are bad ones and good ones, so use prayer and faith to distinguish between them.

Spiritually there isn’t a better doctor than Jesus Christ, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) His words will judge us in the last day, (John 12:48), and until that day comes, we need to heed THE Doctor’s advice. If we do, our faith will pass ANY test. This is good news!