The Small Branch

 "So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him.  For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign."   (Luke 12:17-18) Do you notice why the people went out to meet Jesus?  They went because of the miracle.  We might condemn them for their lack of faith, but how often do we do the same thing?  "God, I will believe You are with me if You get me out of this situation."  "God, I will trust in You if my life is easy, but once it gets hard, forget it, You obviously don't care."  "God, when things go my way, we're good, but when things don't go my way, I'll be mad at You."  We really say those things, or at least think them.  That is NOT faith.  That is looking for a god in our own image.  We have to believe in the REAL God, the REAL Jesus.  That means trusting Him no matter what is going on in our l

 I wanted to add to what we started in the previous post.  If you are wondering if you can be used by God with your past, the genealogy of Jesus is a great place to look.  Noah imbibed too much (Genesis 9:21).  Abraham lied about his wife to save his own skin, possibly sacrificing her, not once, but twice (Genesis 12:11-13 and Genesis 20:2).  Rahab was a prostitute (Joshua 2:1).  Ruth was a Moabite, a hated race (Ruth 1:4).  David was an adulterer and a murderer (2 Samuel 11).  Solomon was a task master and loved too many women (1 Kings 11:3 and 12:4).  The point is, even though these men and women were totally human and made huge mistakes, God still used them to bring the Savior of the world to earth.  You see, it isn't about us.  It isn't about our skills, talents, "goodness", or mistakes.  Everything in life is all about God.  So the question isn't if we have done too much to be lovable and used of God.  The question should be, "is God big enough to change

 Have you ever thought that?  Said it?  Turned your back on God because you believed it?  Looked for life in other places because you were sure you had blown it too badly?  Today I want to look at one example that might help put some of those lies to rest. Acts 7:23-24 says, " When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.    He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. "  So Moses is a murderer.  He was defending someone else, but still, he killed someone.   But then Stephen continues in verses 35-38, " This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.   He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.   This is the Moses who told the Israelit

 In John 9:41, Jesus says, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say 'We see,' your sin remains."  Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, who have been questioning Him about healing a blind man on the Sabbath.  He is trying to make them see the importance of true sight.  Are we as blind as they?   Jesus tells us, as do Paul and the other authors who have written parts of the New Testament, that we are saved by faith.  We must believe in Him.  But, in order to believe, we must be able to see.  We must be able to see our own sin.  Our own need.  If we are blind to our sin, we will be too blind to believe.  If we don't realize we are blind, we won't have the faith we need to be healed.  We need the Lord to open our eyes to see ourselves as we are and to see Him as He is.  We are sinful, dark, lost.  He is perfect, pure, holy.  The contrast is so great that, when we can see it we are brought to our knees in repentance.  But we have to be able to see

 “ 1  To the angel [ a ]  of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.  2  I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.  3  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4  Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  5  Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."  Revelation 2:1-5 I have been a Christian for more than three decades.  I grew up in the church and cannot remember a time when I didn't know and love Jesus.  But lately, I have been very convicted.  Because of the ministries of our church, I have been exposed to more brand new Christ

 In John 5, Jesus encounters a man who has been sick for 38 years lying near the pool of Bethesda.  We are told that, when an angel of the Lord stirred the waters, the first one into the pool was healed.  The man had been there 38 years, though.  In verse 6 we are told, "When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?""  This seems like an odd question.  When we are sick, of course we want to get well.  Or do we?  It is amazing how much we wallow in our sicknesses, whether sickness of the body, mind, or spirit.  Sometimes, when I have a headache, my husband will say to me, "did you take anything?"  In my stubbornness, the answer is often "no."  I don't want to take the medicine that I know will make my head stop hurting.  It seems silly, but that is what happens.  Here Jesus gets to the heart of the matter for many of us.  Do we want to get well?  Do we

 Life is rough.  There is never a doubt in anyone's mind about this truth.  Life is hard.  Sometimes, we get knocked down by circumstances completely beyond our control.  Sometimes, we get knocked down as a consequence of a bad choice.  But, no matter what knocks us down, God is faithful.  No matter how we suffer, God is faithful.   Psalm 119:75 says, "I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me."  Even when the turmoil is a direct result of our own actions, God faithfully allows us to suffer in affliction to bring us back to Him.  It is the discipline of a good, good Father (Hebrews 12:10).   When we are suffering because of circumstances out of control, He is also faithful.  Psalm 119:49-50 says, "Remember the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me."  We are revived by the Word of God.  That means that we need to know it, lov

 John 3:5-6 says, "Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In order to be saved, we must be born of the Spirit.  This is Jesus' answer to Nicodemus.  We are often confused about what this means.  Many people talk about "inviting Jesus into your heart" or "making Jesus Lord of your life" or "praying the prayer" to be saved.  None of these things aline with what the Bible teaches.  God does the work of our salvation, we just have to repent and believe.  Jesus already is Lord of everything, including our lives.  We repent because we have rebelled against that Lordship.  His Holy Spirit chooses to take up residence in us because, by the faith God has given us, we believe that we are sinners and Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay the price for our sins s

"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  Joshua 24:14-15 Choices.  We have so many choices in our day.  When to wake up.  What to do each minute.  What to eat and drink.  Who to talk to.  Choices.  But how often do we choose the things of God?  We need to remember that we are always making a choice.  When we choose to ignore God, we aren't "not choosing yet" we are choosing to ignore God.  When we choose to think about serving Him later, we are choosing not to serve Him now.  There is no fence sitting.  We are making a choice each moment.   We could rewo

 Jesus appeared to many after His resurrection.  Two of those were disciples who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  When Jesus approached them, they didn't know who He was, but they had plenty to tell Him.  They were amazed that this "stranger" didn't know about what had been going on in Jerusalem.  As they told Him about Jesus, they said, "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel"  (Luke 24:21a).  They wanted Israel to be redeemed.  What does that mean?  The dictionary defines redeem as "to save someone from sin, error, or evil."    I think this is what the men meant.  They wanted Israel to be saved from the big bad Romans who were making their lives difficult.  But another definition from the dictionary is "to gain or regain possession of something in exchange for payment, to pay the necessary money to clear a debt."  The Greek word for redeem means "to ransom."  While the word redeem may mean diff

This morning I was pulling weeds and had the very frustrating experience of not being able to get them up from the roots.  I was feeling pretty lazy, so I just pulled what I could.  That often meant just getting the above ground parts.  The Holy Spirit whispered a lesson to me in this.  We can't just clean up the sin on the outside.  We need to be cleaning up on the inside, pulling out the roots of our sin.  RC Sproul talks about this in The Holiness of God .  He mentions the Pharisees' need to look good on the outside, while perpetuating their misunderstanding of the Law that addresses the inside.  Moses talks about this in Deuteronomy.  He makes a covenant with the people and all those who come after them, warning them to serve the Lord only.  Verse 18 of chapter 29 says,  "so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you

 Have you ever felt like asking God why something is happening to you?  Why are you suffering, when you are trying to be obedient?  Why does it hurt?  The world has filled us full of lies about suffering.  The world tells us that, if we are good enough, we won't suffer.  But that just isn't the case.  This morning I was reading Luke 23:32-43.  Take a moment to read that passage. Do you see the different ways Jesus, the women, the crowds, the soldiers, the religious leaders, and the people in general look at suffering?  Followers of Jesus are asking "Why?"  The rest of the people are mocking Him, saying that He couldn't possibly be Messiah because He is suffering.  But how does Jesus look at it?  Jesus sees the purpose of His suffering, so He can suffer with humility, dignity, and honor.  He knows that there is a reason He is suffering, and it is love for us that allows Him to see that reason, the joy of it all (Hebrews 12:2).  Suffering with purpose.  Not asking &