Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which when translated, is Peter). (John 1:42)
What a word of encouragement we have before us today! Jesus is so utterly unlike us. Here we see him giving Simon, the son of John, His Almighty affirmation – affirming not what Simon was that day, but what He would one day become: Peter (the Rock).
The name Simon meant “reed,” something that would be easily tossed about by whatever wind was blowing at the time. By changing Simon’s name to Peter, Jesus was affirming him ahead of time. Jesus was telling Simon that He was going to make him, by grace through faith, a Rock, which is a symbol of stability.
I want you to see something very important. Jesus did not withhold this name from Simon until he had proved himself. Jesus was not waiting for Simon to do more and try harder. No, Jesus simply declared that Simon would be Peter, and in time he would grow into his new name. Jesus not only sees people as they are; He sees what we will become by trusting in Him and looking to Him for the strength we need to live out a life of faith and commitment.
How is it with you? How do you see others? Do you see their potential and their possibilities? Do you affirm them as the Almighty affirmed Peter . . . and as He affirms you?
Remember, your name was changed to Christian (which means Christ-follower) when you trusted in Christ alone for your salvation and Jesus raised you from death to life. Now, none of us will follow Christ perfectly on this side of the grave. In receiving the name Christian, we have received the promise that on the day when we cross the Jordan, we will actually be perfect followers of Christ.
Let that Almighty affirmation comfort you today and challenge you to live this day sold out for Him.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
The psalmist gave us words of inspired instruction to teach us how we can rise above our natural tendency to fret.
There are many ways to define the word fret: to become vexed or worried; to affect something as if by gnawing or biting; to chafe or corrode. Fretting plagues every one of us from time to time, and the results can be devastating to the life of the believer — emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Fretting starts as an infection and will wind up a disease if we do not heed the psalmist’s exhortation set before us today.
The first word of instruction is to trust. To trust is simply to place your problems in the hands of your Savior. Give them all over to your Lord. Start with prayer, casting all your anxieties on the Lord, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). And then trust that God will answer you, for He has promised, “Call to me, and I will answer you” (Jeremiah 33:3).
The second instruction is to delight. To delight is to enjoy the Lord — not for what He has done for you, but rather, simply because He is God. True delight is to focus on the Giver of all good gifts, not the gifts themselves. God sits enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3); as you delight in the Sovereign Lord and lift up your praises to Him, you will find that your fretting fades away.
The third inspired instruction is to commit. To commit to the Lord is to be “all in” with every aspect of your life. Do not withhold anything from Him; surrender every area of your life to His wisdom, His will, and His way. “Commit to the Lord whatever you do,” the Wise Preacher tells us, “and your plans will succeed” (Proverbs 16:3).
The fourth and final instruction is to be still. To be still is to center your heart on home and remember Who is in charge of everything. God is on the throne of your life every moment of every day. He is in complete control of the entire universe, and that includes whatever it is you are fretting about. “Be still, and know that I am God,” He tells us; “I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:5). “Wait patiently for [the Lord],” the Psalm 37:7-8 instructs us. “Do not fret — it leads only to evil.”
Many, many people have been blessed over the years by following these inspired instructions. What about you? Are you ready to forsake fretting? Regardless of what it is you are facing, trust in the Lord, delight in Him, commit your all to Him, and be still before Him. Know that He is not just God, as awesome as that is, but He is your God, and He has promised to bring you safely through any storm you are facing now or will face in the future. You have His Word on that.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. (Psalm 119:67)
When the sky is blue, the clouds are fleecy, and the sun is brightly shining, we have a tendency to live unreflectively. By nature, we have a tendency to settle into unreflective ruts of routine when things are going well. We bask in the sunshne and don’t give our lives a great deal of thought. But God wants us to live reflectively, and often He will send a seasonal storm to get our attention back on what matters most in life. Read on and be greatly encouraged today . . . especially if you’re in the middle of one of those storms as you’re reading this!
We know that storms come in all sizes. Some are quick and mild; others rage on interminably. From losing a sale to losing a job to losing a loved one, storms are promised to come our way. Some storms are so great, like those that Paul and Timothy endured, that our despair may be palpable. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth —
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)
We are not given any inspired insight into what the hardships Paul and Timothy suffered actually were, but they were so severe that the apostle despaired even of life. But Paul did not stop there; he went on to provide us with the necessary instruction to help us get through any storm we are facing:
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9)
The storms Paul and Timothy faced were ultimately for God’s glory and their good. It caused them to rely more and more on God, driving them to live reflectively. It never ceases to amaze me just how much more reflectively I live my life when the storm winds begin to blow. Storms have a tendency to set my priorities straight. Storms show us what matters most, and they are designed to lead us back into the shadow of the cross, causing us to reflect on all that God in Christ has done for us.
To be sure, storms are the antidote for living unreflectively. But we don’t need to wait for the storms winds to blow; we can decide in advance that we will set our hope not on what is seen but what is unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18). We can and should reflect on God’s promise that, regardless of the storms we are facing here and now, we will one day live in a city that is to come, “whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10), where all storm winds will be stilled.
So . . . what are you going to reflect on today?
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. (Acts 9:18)
I am using the conversion experience of Saul, who was transformed into the great apostle Paul, as our focal point for a great word of encouragement today. Saul the Pharisee was bent on persecuting the church, “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1), but while he was on the road to Damascus to ramp up his persecution even more, Jesus appeared in the road in a flash of light, driving Saul to his knees and blinding him. Three days later, God sent a disciple named Ananias to Saul to commission the former Pharisee to spread the Gospel; at that time, as we see in today’s verse, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see clearly. This brings me to our promised encouragement of “clear seeing,” not “clear sailing.”
For the very first time, the apostle Paul could see the truth clearly. He had a saving encounter with the resurrected Jesus, and in that moment, Paul was raised from death to life. Now Paul could clearly see who Jesus was, what Jesus had come to do, and what the cost was for being His disciple. It was not long after His conversion that Paul saw that his Christian brothers and sisters feared him because of who he had been, and the Jews who were once his friends wanted to kill him because of who he had become. Paul understood the truth that being a follower of Christ brings the promise of “clear seeing, not clear sailing,” and he explained it this way. First, the clear seeing:
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. . . . For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6)
When God, in His infinite grace and mercy, shines his light into our hearts, the scales of unbelief fall from our eyes, and we are able to behold and comprehend the salvation that is ours, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That is clear seeing. But that does not in any way bring with it a promise of clear sailing! Consider Paul’s own testimony:
I have been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles. (2 Corinthians 11:23-26)
The Lord Jesus never shrank from telling His disciples about the cost of following Him. The more clearly we see this truth, speak this truth, and show this truth in love, the more we will be buffeted by the storm winds that blow. We must always remember that the promise is clear seeing, not clear sailing. In fact, when our Lord was instructing to Ananias to go to Paul, Jesus said, “[Paul] is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15-16).
What storms winds have you been facing lately? Remember these words from Paul, who lived a life marked by suffering and storms for the sake of the Gospel: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Like the apostle Paul, the way through your trial is to keep focused on Christ — seeing Him clearly — and not focusing on the rough sailing of our circumstances. Trust our Lord’s promise to get us safely to our final port of call, and you will experience the love and joy and peace that are the Spirit-filled qualities of the committed Christian life.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
You’ve probably heard of an “exchange rate,” which sets the value of a certain country’s currency compared to the currency of another country. The exchange rate for one U. S. dollar to the euro, for example, is .91. Today I’d like to give you a word of great encouragement as we plumb the depths of the eternal exchange rate: The value of our eternal country’s currency compared to that of our earthly country today.
The deepest, most comprehensive view of our righteous, eternal exchange rate comes into view when we behold the cross of Calvary, where Jesus laid down His life for the lost. That exchange, which is often referred to as The Great Exchange, is set forth in our verse for today, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Jesus exchanged His righteousness for our sin
Jesus stood in the place of the guilty and paid the penalty for our sins, redeeming us by His perfect righteousness. Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet He remained sinless (Hebrews 4:15). To be sure, it would take a lifetime to fully grasp this unimaginable eternal exchange rate, which was freely given to us by Jesus and is freely offered to all sinners, for God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), but desires for all sinners to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The key to living the life God has called us to live is to consistently keep this incredible truth before us.
But that’s not all! Here are three more incredible eternal exchange rates that should rock your world.
Jesus exchanged His blessings for our curses
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Galatians 3:14-15)
Jesus exchanged His perfect health for our diseases
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)
Jesus exchanged His glorious riches for our poverty
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
To think that the sinless Son of God would provide this kind of righteous, eternal exchange rate for fallen and broken sinners boggles the mind. Yet this is exactly what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit planned from before the foundation of the world (Hebrews 13:20). When we keep what Jesus did for us on that cross in view, I am convinced that we will begin to understand what it means to live the abundant life Jesus promised to those who believe. Think about this for just a minute: Before God formed Adam from the dust of the ground . . . He loved you! Jesus Christ had agreed to die for you! You are of tremendous, eternal value to God!
Have you received this eternal exchange rate from your Redeemer? He offers it to you without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1). Simply believe in the Lord Jesus and in what He did on your behalf . . . and you are redeemed. Your sins–all your sins–exchanged for His perfect righteousness.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:12)
You may have heard it said that the only Bible some people will ever read is you. That’s very true! So the question is, What kind of God do they see in you? I hope that today’s message will both comfort and challenge you.
The greatest need in the world today is to see God. Now, we know that God’s nature is visible, for the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). Yet because God is love, the most profound demonstration of God will come through His love in us that we share with others. People will tell me that they just can’t seem to love others as God has commanded them to, so I go right to our verse for today and continue on to the verse that follows it: “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).
None of us by nature are truly loving people. Any love we demonstrate toward others is self-love; our ultimate goal is satisfying our own needs. And thus we are hiding — or camouflaging — the image of God in us, because God is love (1 John 4:16), but apart from a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, our love is directed at ourselves, not at others. But when God in Christ raises us from death to life, we are given the Holy Spirit, who begins the process of making us loving – a godly, sacrificial love that flows from a heart that is beating for the glory of God and the good of others . . . all others.
You see, when the Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, our camouflage is automatically cast off, because “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Now we are ready, willing, and most importantly, able to put God on display to the watching world. Our verse for today makes it clear that the way for others to see God is to see God’s love for hurting human beings flowing through our lives. This supernatural, Spirit-generated love loves at all times, with no thought of getting anything in return. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19); by loving others, we let the world see our loving God.
So . . . have you been camouflaging God’s love? Or are you putting it on display by loving others? This is a choice we make moment by moment, so we must pray continually that God will fill us with His love so that we can pour it out on others.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. (2 Corinthians 10:3)
Whether you are a seasoned veteran or raw recruit, we are all on the front lines of a spiritual battle, not just daily but moment by moment. But the glorious good news is that God has given us His armor so that we can fight against our enemy — not in our strength, but in the strength of Almighty God — and be victorious. Scripture instructs us, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10 emphasis mine). If we attempt to fight a spiritual battle in our own strength, we are doomed to inevitable, abject failure.
Let’s take a quick look at the individual pieces of the full armor of God to make sure we are putting them on each day. By the way, if you are not a regular attender at Cross Community Church, I recently preached on each of these pieces of spiritual armor. You can access those messages here. Scripture instructs us:
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:14-17)
The Belt of Truth – Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). To put on the belt of truth is to put on the Word of God. We must spend time meditating on and marinating in the Bible.
The Breastplate of Righteousness – The Bible tells us that Jesus is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). We do not have any inherent righteousness in ourselves. We need this “alien” righteousness that comes from our Lord. When we are in Christ, we have been clothed in His righteousness to protect the most vital organ in the body: our heart!
The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace – Good footwear is absolutely essential for long marches toward the battle and for staying upright during close combat with the enemy. God sends us into this world with His shoes on, spreading the Good News about the Prince of Peace, who graciously gives us the peace that passes all human understanding.
The Shield of Faith – Roman soldiers covered their shields with heavy animal hides and would then dip them in water so that when flaming arrows fired by the enemy hit the shield, the wet hides would extinguish the fire. Our shield of faith must be dipped in the water of God’s Word each and every day to extinguish the fiery darts of Satan, because “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
The Helmet of Salvation – The battlefield of our mind is the primary place where our spiritual battle is fought each day. We must renew our minds by “setting our minds on things above, not on earthly things below” (Colossians 3:2).
The Sword of the Spirit – This is the only piece of God’s armor that is both defensive and offensive. The best example of wielding the sword of the Spirit, of course, was provided by Jesus during His wilderness confrontation with Satan. When the devil tempted Jesus, our Lord used the Word of God to chop down every temptation; you and I must do the same thing.
Christian, God has placed His armor within our reach, but we must put it on. God will not dress us for battle each day, but when we clothes ourselves in His full battle dress, God will give us victory against every attack of the devil. And on those days when we fail, we do not despair, because we know that we are fully loved and completely forgiven. We have His Word on that!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
Before we dive into the meaning of the comfort provided in today’s passage, don’t “speed read” past the fact that God comforts us in all our troubles. This, of course, indicates that trouble is simply a part of living as broken people in a broken world with other broken people. But we never face those troubles alone. God is always with us (Hebrews 13:5), and He has promised to provide cosmic comfort to sustain us through every difficulty.
Here are three important things to remember about this comfort: First, God is the God of all comfort. There is no other source of comfort like God, and we must always look to Him for the comfort we need during times of trouble, trial, and testing. As Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Our source of comfort and restoration is always God.
Second, God comforts us in all our troubles, both great and small. We never face a challenge alone. We must remember that nothing happens to us that first doesn’t pass through His nail-scarred hands. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And He offers His gracious invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Third, today’s passage tells us that the comfort God gives us is to be passed on to others who are experiencing troubles. There will be times in this life when we go through challenges so that God can use us to minister in the lives of others who are going struggling to bear up under similar challenges. We are to be conduits of God’s comfort to others.
How is it with you these days? Where do you look in times of trouble? Remember, the greater the challenge, the greater the cosmic comfort. God will not leave us wanting when it comes to the comfort we need to rise above every wave of challenge that washes over us. Let that truth set you free to praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who is the God of all comfort.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
During this Thanksgiving (“Thanks-Living”) week, we have given thought to our choice to rejoice always, regardless of the circumstances we are facing. On Wednesday we unpacked what is looks like to pray continually. Today, on the day after Thanksgiving, let spend a few moments in the matter of giving thanks in all circumstances.
Verse 18 — Give Thanks In All Circumstances
Daily life confronts us with any number of difficulties, from a cranky child to a financial shortfall at the end of the month to a fender-bender during rush hour. The key to true thanks-living is to see every obstacle as an opportunity to give thanks to our Lord, because, as Paul said, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20), and one day soon we will be enjoying unbroken, undiminished, and unending fellowship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. And remember, this command to “Give thanks in all circumstances” came from the Spirit of God through a man who had endured tremendous hardship in his service for our Lord. Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, jailed, abandoned, stoned and left for dead, and ultimately executed for his faith in Jesus.
Now, I will readily acknowledge that it is often far easier to grumble than to give thanks. I long ago lost count of how many times I have had to confess that particular sin. Yet when we keep the reality that we are children of God on our way to glory firmly in mind, we can rise above the waves of challenge and give thanks in all circumstances — both the pleasant and the painful.
Remember, if you want shift your focus from the moment to your Maker — lifting your eyes from your circumstances to Christ — pause and look up with thanksgiving for the breath you have in your lungs and the beat of your heart, for in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). God is working all things together for our ultimate good — not just some things or even most things, but all things — even those things we don’t like. There will be times when things aren’t going our way; we will encounter some “bad beats” along the way; at those times we must remember these words from the psalmist:
Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (Psalm 106:1)
We have a good and gracious and kindly God; He cares for us even when we are dealing with bad stuff, because nothing can separate us from the love of God that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39). We need no more reason than that to give thanks in all circumstances, do we? We are His, and He is ours (Song of Solomon 6:3). Now, that is a reason for thanks-living!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
It is the week of Thanksgiving, we are focused on Thanks-Living, and we are using this passage from the New Testament to help us do it. On Monday, we looked at how and why we can rejoice always,regardless of the circumstances we are facing. Today we will give thought to what it means to stay in constant communication with our Lord and Savior.
Verse 17 — Pray Continually
At first glance, this seems like an impossible command. Who in the world can pray continually amidst all the hustle and bustle and noise of daily life and the waves of challenge that can crash over us on any given day? Well, the first thing we need to understand is what Paul was not saying. He was not saying we are to be on our knees in our prayer closets all day long, crying out to God and neglecting the duties of daily living. Because prayer is nothing more than conversation with God, Paul was telling us to live in a posture of prayer throughout the day. This posture of prayer is not physical; it is spiritual. It is living in an attitude of intercession with the Almighty, continually communicating with God about everything, both the majestic and the mundane.
Never forget that God cares about the mundane matters of our lives. God listens to every word we speak, and He is interested in every aspect of our lives. God wants us to talk to Him about everything. In fact, He absolutely loves it when we come to Him for a time of communion during those seemingly insignificant moments of life. Personally, I always go to Jesus and ask for His help in finding my “lost” car keys. If we are going to be people of prayer, we must be willing to bring Jesus with us throughout the day and consult with Him about everything that is going on. Obviously Jesus already knows everything that is taking place in our lives and throughout the universe, but He still wants to hear from us about what we’re thinking and how we are feeling.
Take another look: God’s Word does not command us to “Pray continually . . . unless you are really busy.” It is not only possible to pray continually without making significant changes to your daily schedule, it is practical. I have heard it said that “This is like keeping some music playing in the background as we go about our daily routine.” What a wonderful picture of praying continually! Keeping the music of prayer playing throughout the day will keep us in close communion and intimate conversation with our Master, Jesus.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 