Pastor Tommy is the senior pastor of Cross Community Church (PCA) in Deerfield Beach, FL. Rev. Tommy Boland is his official title. Pastor Tommy often seems too formal. Most everyone calls him "Coach".
You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. (Ephesians 5:8)
How are we to “live in the light” in such a dark world? I pray the answer to this question will be a source of eternal encouragement to you today!
First, let’s take a look at the meaning of light from a biblical perspective. Psalm 119:105 tells us that the Word of God is a lamp and a light, directing our attention to the intellectual wisdom and truth found in the Word of God. In Romans 13:12-14, we see that light refers to moral deeds. Therefore, we can conclude that living in the light means living according to the wisdom, truth, and morality of God’s Word. But the question still remains: How do we do it?
The answer is that we are to live out practically what we already are positionally because we are in Christ. Go back over Ephesians 5:8, our verse for today, and you will see how this fleshes itself out. We were once darkness; that was our nature. But no more! We are a new creation in Christ, and our nature has been changed from darkness to light. Notice that we were not “in” darkness; we were darkness. This is the nature of every person before Jesus shows up. But when we are raised from death to life, we become children of light because we have been changed from the inside out. Now, for the very first time, we have the ability to live the life God has called us to live.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness” (John 8:12). He was telling us to walk in His footsteps, to stay on His path, to follow His plan and purpose for our lives. The closer we follow our Lord, the better we will produce the fruit of the light, which Paul described as “Goodness, righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9).
Have you been living in the light lately? Have you been walking in the footsteps of your Lord? What changes do you need to make to better shine His light onto all those you come in contact with in this dark world?
Living in the light is living for the Light, and when we are operating at that level of living, our lives have meaning, significance, and eternal value, and our deeds live on long after we are gone.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
When was the last time you ran into someone you knew and asked, “How’s it going?” To which they responded, “Same stuff . . . different day.” That is a response that a child of God ought never give. It comes from someone who sees life from inside of a rut – which, by the way, is nothing more than a grave with both ends knocked out. But this is not for you! In our passage for today, we have been given a word of eternal encouragement, regardless of where this message finds you.
The past is paralyzing for many of us, which is why I often say that we must Learn from the past, but don’t live there! When we cannot forget the former things and rise above them, we are unable to focus on the new things God intends to do in our lives. We allow ourselves to be trapped in a painful past that is marked by unforgiveness, bitterness, betrayal, guilt, and regret.
Today’s passage provides us with the key that unlocks the door that opens to a new thing : focusing on the faithful One who has promised to do a new thing in our lives. Open your Bible to the book of Isaiah and see what God says next in the same verse: “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). The “wilderness” is a metaphor for any desolate and lonely place we have visited in the past – mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually. Eventually we all find ourselves wandering through such a place. But God tells us something that is designed to change our perspective and ultimately our predicament: “I am doing a new thing!” God is healing our past wounds . . . breaking down strongholds . . . shining light in our darkness.
In all my years as a pastor, perhaps the greatest “new thing” I have seen that God is committed to doing in our lives is giving us a renewed, living hope even when things seem utterly hopeless. That is a wonderful picture of “rivers in the desert.” God is in the business of doing what is impossible with man.
What “new thing” do you need in your life right now? Personally? Professionally? Relationally? Look up and see the heavens open right before your eyes, because your God is about to do a new thing in your life today. You have His Word on it!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
His mercies never fail. They are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
The morning meal is designed to break the fast from the night before, and it is important to begin each day with whatever healthy “break-fast” works for us. But in addition to what you put into your stomach, you also need to be putting God’s Word into your soul.
In our passage for today, we see our faithful God offering us a cup of fresh-brewed mercy every morning. How glorious! No matter how things went the day before – from storms to sin – God sets a meal of new mercies before us each and every morning. This truth is as certain as the sun rising every morning, even on those days when we cannot see actually see the sun because of the clouds that may be obscuring it.
The prophet who gave us our verse for today also gave us these words: “Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17). You see, God is infinitely bigger than any battle we are facing, greater than any giant that is taunting us, and mightier than any mess we find ourselves in. And remember this: God’s divine power, which is available to each one of us moment by moment (Ephesians 1:19), is made perfect in our weakness. Don’t take my word for it; hear the Word of the Lord: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). That is why we need to break the fast each new morning with the Word of God. “He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4).
Remember, whether the day before was bright and beautiful, a bit burdensome, or marred by bitter brokenness, today is a new day, and God has new mercies waiting for you in His Word. Experience has taught me that when we break the fast each day with time in God’s Word, we are restored, renewed, recharged, and repurposed to engage with whatever the day has to offer.
Christian, a cup of His fresh-brewed mercy awaits you this day; drink up!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. (Mark 10:51)
Passing through Jericho, the popular resort city which had been rebuilt by Herod the Great, Jesus and His disciples encountered a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. It was not uncommon in the ancient world to encounter beggars; much of the work in that day was of a physical nature, so any kind of physical limitation would have made it difficult, if not impossible, for a disabled person to find employment. Bartimaeus suffered from blindness, a condition which was widely believed to be a curse from God because of some sin committed by the blind person or his family. John’s gospel recorded that Jesus made it clear this was not the case when His disciples asked that very question about a man who had been born blind (John 9:2-7).
When Bartimaeus called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” the phrase “son of David” identified Jesus as the promised Messiah. Bartimaeus asked in faith and Jesus answered. But notice the response from Jesus in our verse for today: “What do you want me to do for you?” It would seem obvious that the blind man wanted to be able to see, but our Lord was asking a clarifying question. What kind of mercy did the man desire? Did he want to be given money or food? Was he merely looking for another handout? In asking the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus was moving Bartimaeus beyond his broken condition toward his blessed cure.
“Rabbi, I want to see,” Bartimaeus replied (Mark 10:51).
It’s important to understand what had happened just before this encounter with the blind man. Jesus had put the very same question to two of His disciples, James and John, and their response was to request positions of honor in heaven. I picture Jesus shaking His head sorrowfully. “You don’t know what you are asking,” He said to His self-absorbed disciples (Mark 10:38). You see, James and John were also afflicted with a broken condition evidenced by their desire for positions of honor. They too needed a healing from Jesus, although they didn’t realize it, and that is exactly what His clarifying question was designed to do–to bring realization and reptentance.
Regardless of where this message finds you today, how will you answer Jesus when He asks you, “What do you want me to do for you?” Remember, His answer requires only asking, but as it was with James and John, who were truly “blind” and asking for the wrong blessing, Jesus will always answer with what you need, not necessarily what you want.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path. (Matthew 13:3-4)
The soil of the sanctified life can get a bit hard from time to time. That hardening can happen when we face unexpected challenges. It can happen when we face unmet expectations. It can happen when we encounter unforeseen loss. Let’s face it: Life is hard, and it can harden us from time to time. So we must always be on the lookout for any signs of “hard soil” in our hearts and allow God to soften our hearts with the truths of the Gospel.
Here are two simple, practical steps that will help in the process of softening hard soil in the heart.
Examination:
The first step is to make time for self-reflection. This is a time to let the Scriptures search our hearts to uncover any areas within us that may be growing hard, distant, or cold. We must first identify where the hard soil is before we can go to work on softening it.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
In this passage, David was asking God to make sure his hatred for his enemies was not man-centered, but God-centered. David was zealous for the justice of God, and he wanted God to direct him to any wrong motives in his heart so that God could change them.
Excavation:
The second step is to let the Lord do His work in softening the hard soil in our heart by digging down into the depths of the heart through the truths of Scripture.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
Here David was asking God to excavate his heart, which had been hardened through his grievous sins of adultery and murder. He knew it would take a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to till the hard soil in his heart so that God could begin to plant new and better seeds of both thoughts and desires.
When we read our verse for today, we are to understand that, unlike our paved roads today, most of the roads in Jesus’ day were simply hardened, dirt-packed paths. The more they were traveled upon, the more the dirt was tamped down and the harder those paths would become. The consequences were clear: When the “seed” of the Word of God was sown along the road, “The birds came and ate it up” (Matthew 13:5). Perhaps you have been trampled upon by the difficulties of life and your heart has been tamped down into hardness. Don’t let the birds steal the seed of the Word in your heart! Look to Jesus, and He will soften your soil and His seed will take root and produce new fruit in your heart.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
It has been well said that there are no “coincidences” in this world, only “God-incidents.” Nothing happens outside of the sovereign will of Almighty God. If a sparrow does not fall to the ground apart from His will, and even the outcome of a roll of the dice is determined by the Lord (Proverbs 16:33), then we can be assured that everything is happening according to His perfect plan and purpose.
God has left absolutely nothing to “chance.” Rather, He has left it all to Christ, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Author and the Perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Our finite minds simply cannot fully plumb the depths of how God, in His perfect providence, is controlling all things for His glory and our eternal good. Yet we must affirm the divine truth that “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever” (Romans 11:36 NASB). This truth empowers us to move through life with a confidence that is rooted in the One who accomplishes everything according to the counsel of His will, through His perfect wisdom, perfect power, perfect holiness, perfect goodness, perfect mercy, perfect grace, and perfect love, to name just a few of His perfections.
Let us hold fast to the promise of our Scripture verse for today. Regardless of what we encounter throughout this day and every day on our way into glory, we can rest assured that God is in control of it all and is using it all for His glory and our good. Remember, we need not fear what the future holds, because we know the One who holds it. As we receive, rest in, and thank God for His providence in our lives, let us leave the false notion of “coincidence” to the unbelieving world. There are only God-incidents, and He is working all of them for the good of those who love Him.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
When Jesus said we would not get through this life without experiencing pain in a variety of different forms, He was not speaking metaphorically; He was making a declaration of fact. Yet inasmuch as we experience pain on our way into glory, we will not be marked by stain. C. S. Lewis expressed this biblical truth in this most profound way:
“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.”
Lewis was confident that God has armed us to go through our trials and tribulations, but he did not say that God would steer us over, under, or around them. Rather, God takes us through difficulties in order to grow and mature us in our faith; in so doing, He is conforming us to the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus. As soon as we realize we are headed into one of life’s storms, our first prayer should not be, “Lord, please take this trial away,” but rather, “Lord, as You take me through this trial, thank You for making me more like Jesus!”
Many of you are familiar with the Genesis account of Jacob and his twelve sons; Joseph was favored by his father and hated by his brothers. Joseph’s brothers attacked him, thinking to kill him, but instead decided to sell Joseph into slavery. Joseph was taken down to Egypt, where he lived as a slave and a prisoner for 13 years. But God ordained a series of events so that Joseph would interpret Pharaoh’s dreams of seven years of plenty and seven years of famine, and Joseph was taken out of prison and elevated to the second position of authority in Egypt.
During the ensuing famine, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain, where they encountered their brother Joseph without realizing who he was. Eventually Joseph revealed himself to his flabbergasted brothers and uttered these life-changing words: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).
Joseph undoubtedly experienced a great deal of pain throughout those first thirteen years in Egypt, but his statement makes it clear that his pain was without stain. He saw God’s sovereign hand in everything that had happened, he knew that God is in complete control of all things, but Joseph also knew that there was purpose in his pain, and God’s purpose would not leave a stain of sorrow, anger, or bitterness.
May that truth set us all free to echo the apostle Paul and declare, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). God has promised us pain in this life; but He has also promised that, if we hold fast to His divine promises, He will bring us through that pain without the stain of sin. He will lead us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him (2 Corinthians 2:14). How glorious!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:33)
God could not have been any bigger in the eyes of the Israelites. He had freed them from bondage in Egypt after 450 years. He decimated the land with ten plagues, turned the Red Sea into a holy highway for His people, and drowned the pursuing Egyptian army. He gave the people water from a rock and manna from heaven. Now they were ready to go into the Promised Land and receive God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But in that moment of decision, they shrank the size of their God.
God directed twelve men to spy out the land He had promised to the people of Israel. Ten of the spies returned with a discouraging report; they had shrunk the size of God. Two spies–Joshua and Caleb–came came back with a positive report; they magnified the size of God. It was true that the people in the land were big and the city walls were fortified, but God had promised to give it all to them. Ten spies saw powerful people; two spies saw God’s powerful promise. Where ten spies saw insurmountable obstacles, two spies saw inspired opportunities. Where ten spies saw “giant” problems, two spies saw glorious possibilities. Ten spies said, “We can’t!” Two spies said, “We can!” All twelve spies saw the exact same things in the Promised Land. The difference in the two reports was rooted in the fact that ten spies looked through the eyes of the flesh, while two spies looked through the eyes of faith.
What lens have you been viewing your life through lately? When was the last time you shrank the size of your God because you were looking through the eyes of the flesh? Remember, with man many things appear impossible; but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Christian, when God makes a promise to you, you can be certain He will keep it. Nothing can keep God from fulfilling His promises to you (2 Corinthians 1:20). No weapon formed against you shall prevail (Isaiah 54:17), because your God is bigger than any obstacle that appears to be blocking entry into your Promised Land.
So . . . how big is God in your eyes?
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:16)
In the game of checkers, the statement “King me” refers to the point when a player moves a piece to the last row on the opponent’s side of the board and is able to elevate the rank of his piece to “King” by stacking another piece on top of it. In the game of life, the statement “King me” refers to the times when we remove Jesus from the throne of our lives so that we can presume to perch there ourselves.
When we evict Jesus from the throne of our lives and arrogate ourselves to His rightful place, we make everything in our lives all about us. Rather than love for Jesus ruling our hearts and shaping our lives, love for self takes over. We become a demanding king who expects to be served and satisfied by everyone and everything. We are essentially declaring to the world, “King me!” At this level of living, we are looking to get from others only what God can give us. This inevitably leads to frustration and disappointment in our relationships, because no one will ever measure up to these absurd expectations.
But when, by God’s grace, we acknowledge the rightful reign of “King He,” we shift our focus away from the self and put it on our Savior, allowing Jesus to rule our lives. His rule and reign is not always what we expect or want, to be sure, but He always provides what we need exactly when we need it. When we look back over the years, we can see that when Jesus did not meet our expectations, it was because He exceeded them. Jesus is always working all things in our lives together for our ultimate, eternal good (Romans 8:28) . . . and that even includes all those things we don’t like.
Our sin often causes us to question the goodness of God, because we can only see a tiny portion of our lives. But God sees it all from beginning to end–all the days ordained for us were written in His book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16)–and we we can always trust that He is guiding us through all our imperfections into His perfect plan and purpose for our lives.
How is it with you today? Is it “King me” or “King He”? How you answer that question makes all the difference in the world in whether you will experience the abundant, victorious life Jesus has promised to all those who keep Him on the throne of their lives.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36)
When you look at the kingdom of God through worldly lenses, everything looks absolutely upside-down:
The poor in spirit are blessed.
Those who mourn shall be comforted.
Those who hunger for righteousness will be filled.
The pure in heart will see God.
The meek shall inherit the earth.
The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
To live you must die to self.
The exalted are humbled and the humble exalted.
To receive you must give.
Evil will be repaid with blessing.
Jesus honored what the world despises as He invested His time in the hurting, the oppressed, the marginalized, the downcast, and the social outcasts — people to whom the self-respecting “religious people” would not even give the time of day. Jesus hung out with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes; the religious leaders despised Him for it. It was shocking to hear Jesus say, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).
From the world’s perspective, Jesus truly brought an upside-down kingdom into this world; but in all actuality, it was right-side up. Jesus was restoring the original order of things to a world that had been disfigured and distorted by sin. Where every kingdom of the world was established and build upon the bloodshed of others, the Kingdom of Christ was established and built upon only His blood. How “upside-down” is that?
When Jesus stood before Pilate and said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” He meant what He said, and He invites us all to live out the values of His Kingdom each and every day, rather than sinking into the values of this broken, fallen, decaying world.
“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 