LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Philippians 3:10  I want to know Christ…and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

(Personal Note:  Happy Birthday to my daughter Rochelle. Please know that your birth and life have absolutely NOTHING to do with the opening line of this devotional.)

I wonder how much suffering I could endure? I asked myself that question over 10 years ago when I joined 19 other men and women from our church on a mission trip to Bayou DuLarge Baptist Church in Theriot, Louisiana. We were headed there to help them rebuild a couple of houses that were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. We established a wonderful relationship with this church and its pastor at that time. He had an amazing heart for Jesus. But it is not an easy place to minister. The church is located in the last village on the road as you travel south toward the Gulf of Mexico on the Mississippi delta. Now you understand why the church has the word Bayou in its name.

But God has started a revival in this area, and the church is being blessed. I want to share with you a letter I received from Pastor Jerry prior to our mission trip.

Dear friends, members of God’s eternal family, and partners together with us in His work,

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is right.” (Titus 2:11-15)

Indeed, we wait for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ… and as we wait for His return, we work in His field. Cindy and I are grateful to the Lord, for God has allowed us to see some fruit in His harvest of souls here among our bayou people. We are experiencing a season of harvest, souls saved, many turning back to follow the Lord, and a general expectation of God’s working like may never before have been experienced here.

Someone asked me what I attribute this to. I can only say it is God’s doing; He is working out His own will to save people from destruction, giving instead to them a sure and eternal hope. We have worked in this field, mostly just to keep our heads above water. We have not known any new or exciting evangelistic “strategy” or “program” to institute. We have simply tried to stay in place, to do what God leads us to do day by day, and to WAIT on Him to do that which we have been convinced is His will.

Many have labored here before. Many have prayed. Practically all have passed on without seeing the fruit of their labor or the answers to their prayers. Over the past few years sometimes life has been difficult, particularly for Cindy. Often, just living day to day is for her a challenge. In times of physical difficulty for both of us, I have sometimes wondered if we would live long enough to see God move as we have been led to pray for and ask of the Lord.

We feel blessed to see what we are seeing today. Others have worked; others have been faithful; and yet they have not seen… but by God’s grace we are living in the middle of the greatest days so far of God’s work here on Bayou DuLarge.

We need physical, as well as spiritual endurance. Pray for us, good brethren, that we may be alert and disciplined to take every advantage of the many opportunities that are being presented to us to serve people in Christ’s name and bear witness to God’s amazing grace.

May the Lord bless you richly as you serve Him. Thank you for your prayerful support.

Jerry & Cindy Moser (Cindy is now with Jesus in glory.)

That’s what Paul meant when he said, I want to know Christ…and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. God uses suffering in our lives to bring us into a deeper dependency on Jesus, who suffered for us.

I have been deeply impacted by the phrase becoming like him in his death. What was Jesus like during His suffering? The author of Hebrews tells us – Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2 – 3)

That’s what I saw in Pastor Jerry’s life. That’s what I want to be true of my life: to endure suffering because it perfects my faith, letting the hope of being in God’s presence someday be my strength.

Press on, my friends – there’s a blessing coming!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Philippians 3:10  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…

All this week we are discussing the benefits of knowing Jesus. The third benefit will be the experience of God’s power.

Power means different things to different people. When I think of power I get several different pictures. I think of the 1979 tornado in Algona, Iowa that destroyed half of the town where we lived. I think of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that I experienced firsthand when we travelled there with 20 people from our church to work with our sister church to rebuild homes. I remember the minor tremors of an earthquake I experienced in Alaska and wondered what a big one would be like.

My pictures of power usually come from nature, where power is mostly uncontrollable. Some of you may define power in terms of people, from powerful weightlifters to powerful politicians. For you, power is control – the control of things, the control of outcomes, and the control of people. Both concepts of power need to be considered and balanced. For power to be true power, it must be uncontrollable. For power to have any benefit to us it must be able to control things, outcomes, and people.

Paul writes that he wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. I believe he is asking to experience both the awesomeness of God’s power that cannot be controlled or duplicated by man, and the benefits of that power being at work in his life to control things, outcomes, and people – namely himself.  Consider for a moment all these aspects of God’s power:

1. Resurrection power is beyond our comprehension and control. God’s power raised Jesus from the dead. That alone would be significant enough, had it not been for the fact that by God’s power Jesus also raised other people from the dead. What makes the resurrection of Christ more powerful than the resurrection of Lazarus? Here’s one simple contrast – Lazarus was raised to his previous state. He would sin again and he would die again. But Jesus, after becoming our sin for us, and having been put to death by God as the total expression of God’s wrath against sin, was raised by God from that sin to newness of life, never to experience sin or death again but instead to reign over it. Praise be to God! God’s power is more than restorative power – it is transformational power.
2. God’s power is controlled by His purpose, and that benefits us by controlling things and outcomes. When Jesus came to earth as man He was still fully God, yet the fullness of His power was brought under the control of God’s purpose. Man had no power to crucify Jesus except that it was granted to them by God for the accomplishment of His glory. Jesus defined Himself as meek, and the Greek word He used means “to have power under control.” It is God’s glorious purpose that controls His power, so that all things and all circumstances are being controlled to accomplish His outcomes.
3. God’s power is able to control people. Our initial thoughts may not have been very pure when we first read that statement. We may have been guilty of thinking about other people and how they need to be controlled by God’s power. But we need to say what Paul said – “I want to know the power.” In other words, “How can the power of God control me?” If we fully understand and believe that the power of God is transformational as in #1 above, then we need to let His power transform us. We have not been raised with Christ to sameness of life, but to newness of life. We are not to identify with Lazarus in his resurrection, but with Jesus in His. When we seek to know Christ and His power in that way, then the flesh and all its sin is brought under the control of the power of God, we are empowered to accomplish the purpose of God.

The power of God that controls all things for His purpose also transforms us so that we become a part of His purpose. Every aspect of our flesh – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – can be controlled by the power and purpose of God.

Our transformation is not yet complete, as Paul explains a few verses later in Philippians 3 when he says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” I’m sure we can all agree with Paul that we have not yet obtained all of God’s power, but can we also say with him that we are pressing on to get more of it every day? I hope so. It’s why Jesus took hold of us – so we could be completely transformed by His power.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Philippians 3:9  ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Happy Birthday to my brother Paul with GoServ Global. Check out their ministry at www.GoServGlobal.org

Profit is what’s left after all the expenses are paid. Whether it’s in your personal or business finances, the goal is to have as much profit as possible. We can increase profit by increasing income, minimizing expenses, or a combination of the two. But what works in the secular world doesn’t necessarily work in the spiritual world. Let’s look at what Paul says about profit in regard to righteousness.

To be righteous is to be declared right. For a long time in his life, Paul believed that if he worked harder spiritually he could earn the right to declare himself righteous. By obeying more of the law, he could improve his standing in comparison to other people. Even if other people didn’t declare him “right”, he was hoping that by personal effort he could somehow attain a level of self-declared “rightness” that would overcome his knowledge of his guilt and the shame of his failures.

Many people today are stuck in the same bondage. Some try to earn their righteousness by obeying the law, while others are rewriting the law so they are no longer guilty. But at the end of the day, the nagging of their eternal soul is not silenced, and they seek other forms of relief from the pain of guilt and shame. You see, the problem with self-declared righteousness earned by doing right things is that in our hearts we still know two things to be ultimately true: we are guilty of wrong things, and we must answer to a higher authority than ourselves.

Paul was introduced to a whole new concept of righteousness when He met Jesus Christ. Instead of God being a judge holding a balance scale in His hand on which he would weigh all our good against all of our sin and reward us accordingly, Paul discovered that as the eternal Judge, God had already imposed the sentence of guilt and its punishment on someone else on our behalf. Jesus Christ had willingly and lovingly accepted our sin as His own, and suffered the maximum sentence of death to pay for its guilt. The justice of God was completely satisfied by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, so that all who by faith receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are declared righteous. We know we are guilty, but the Judge declares us completely innocent. There is no more condemnation left for those who are found in Christ Jesus. He suffered and paid it all for us.

I am so overwhelmed right now with the surpassing greatness of the righteousness of God that is mine in Christ Jesus. I know I am still guilty of sin, and everything in my flesh tells me to make up for it. My mind is filled with questions like, “What can I do to make it right?” and “What will be accepted as sufficient restitution?” The laws of our land and the judicial system have influenced me to believe that I must be on probation for a while so I can prove my rehabilitation by obeying the law. I begin to imagine that God is my parole officer and I am accountable to Him for every action and decision, and if I mess up He will throw me back into prison to suffer the consequences of my sin.

But then I see Jesus hanging on the cross, willingly taking all my sin and its punishment into His own body. I realize that God’s incredible love has designed a plan by which His wrath against my sin is completely poured out against an innocent party so that I can be declared innocent. I did nothing nor can I do anything to earn it. I simply ask for it by faith in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, and it is granted to me absolutely free!

Never again will I have to prove myself. Never again will I have to measure up to a standard so I can declare myself right. Never again will I have to work to earn the favor of God or people. Never again will I have to fear that I haven’t done enough to tip the scales in my favor. In fact, instead of God being a judge holding a balance scale of justice in His hand, He is now a Father personally holding me in His hand. I will never have to walk into the courtroom of eternity, stand before the Judge, and await His ruling on my guilt or innocence. That trial has already been held, and my Savior, my Lord, and my King voluntarily became the Defendant. He was declared guilty, sentenced to death, and the sentence was carried out at Calvary. The Judge was so satisfied that absolute justice had been served that He raised the Defendant from the dead and restored Him to His original position. Then the Judge declared that any future defendants who admit their guilt and ask for forgiveness by faith in what the original Defendant did shall be declared innocent of all charges and immune from any future prosecution. Praise be to God!

Whatever I thought was to my gain in the past, I now consider rubbish that I may be found in Christ Jesus, having His righteousness and not my own. That is the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, June 4, 2018

Philippians 3:10  I want to know Christ…

Years ago, when I was working in retail clothing store management, I would get monthly profit and loss statements from the home office. These statements became the basis for many of the decisions I had to make concerning expenses, especially payroll. If I was managing well, and sales were good, then employees could be given additional hours to handle all the responsibilities of the store, and my work load would be eased. My efforts at management not only profited the company, but there were benefits to me personally as well.

But there were other times when the profit wasn’t so good. Producing a profit was all that mattered to my district manager, and there were times when it hurt me to have to cut employees hours to make sure the bottom line was protected. No one was exempt from layoffs or temporary cuts in hours. As the manager, I was expected to pick up all the extra responsibilities of those who had been cut. I was to consider nothing so important that I wouldn’t lose it for the sake of the company’s profit. No matter how many extra hours I had to put in and how many department cash registers I had to operate, I was making sure that next month’s statement stayed in the black.

When Paul compares his efforts to earn the favor of God with the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord, he uses the same kind of accounting terms I just described. Everything Paul had done in the past had earned him some profit (Phil. 3:4-6), and he had enjoyed the social and personal benefits of his activity. But now he realized that the profit he had experienced from everything he had done in his own strength was rubbish compared to the profit he now received from knowing Jesus Christ as his Lord. He now considered all those efforts and benefits as rubbish compared to the new experience of knowing Jesus.

During this week, we will look at the benefits of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord. But before we do, we must make sure that we understand the three aspects of relationship with Jesus as Paul describes it. It is very significant that Paul combines three names for Jesus into one statement of relationship. Paul says that there is nothing that can compare to the surpassing greatness of knowing his Savior as Christ, as Jesus, and as Lord. This is significant because each name represents a different part of our relationship with Him.

I believe that the reason many of us are not more excited about our relationship with Jesus is because we have not appropriated the profit that is ours from having all three of these parts in balance in our lives.

There were three official offices in the Old Testament that functioned to bring profit to the people:

1. Prophet – the spokesperson for God who proclaimed His truth and the profit that would result from obedience.
2. Priest – the intercessor between God and man who brought forgiveness when there had been disobedience.
3. King – the arm of God’s justice to punish the unrepentant and bring peace and security to the people.

When Paul says that nothing can compare to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord, he is combining all three of these offices into one person, and is emphasizing that the real profit of knowing Him will only be experienced if we are surrendered to all three.

1. As Prophet, Jesus is the Truth, and we must be submitted to everything He teaches because He is the exact representation of the Father to us.
2. As Priest, He is the Way to forgiveness and eternal life because He made the perfect once-for-all sacrifice for sin on the cross.
3. As King, He is the Life, and brings peace and security to us as we humbly submit to His Lordship and control of our lives.

Unfortunately, many people only want part of what Jesus offers: they are willing to settle for partial profit. But to experience the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus we must surrender to all three aspects of relationship to Jesus, and when we do we gain all of the benefits. If we want to be able to say that knowing Jesus is greater than anything else in our lives, then we must be able to answer all the following questions with an emphatic “YES!”

1. Have we accepted everything Jesus said as truth? (Or do we toss out things that are socially, politically or personally unacceptable?)
2. Have we repented of every sin in our lives and brought it to the cross for forgiveness? (Or do we hang on to what I call sins of security because they have some personal benefit to us we think we cannot live without?)
3. Have we turned over the control of every aspect of our lives to the King and do we trust Him with the outcome of every situation in our lives?

If you answered any of these questions with a no or a maybe, then you are living beneath your privilege and not experiencing your full profit. It’s no wonder that you can’t say that your relationship is of such great value that you would give up anything else in your life to maintain it. Maybe it’s time to fix that problem. Submit your whole heart, mind, souls, and strength to Christ Jesus your Lord, and start enjoying the profits!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, June 1, 2018

Philippians 3:10  I want to know Christ…

When our Pastor’s and Spouse’s Retreat ended, Denise and I drove to Madison to spend some time with our grandchildren (and their parents of course). Kylie was 4 months old at the time and I didn’t feel like I knew her. When we arrived, we picked her and her brother Caleb up from their other grandma’s house and had the whole afternoon together with them. I took Kylie on my lap and began to whisper into her ear and play with her, because I really wanted her to know me and I wanted to know her. I wanted to bond.

In a short time, she was gazing into my eyes as I played a little baby game with her, and then it happened – she giggled. Then, from a giggle she moved to laughing. I was overjoyed. All the issues of the world, all the issues of life and work, and yes, even all the memories of yesterday’s golf were gone and meant nothing compared to that one moment of intimacy with my granddaughter. I later discovered, while sharing the moment with my daughter, that she had not heard Kylie giggle yet. I felt really special.

That event caused me to consider how much time and energy I put into trying to know people, and what motivates me to either try harder or not invest in others at all. It is sad in our modern culture that we are so busy we invest very little effort in getting to really know people. But an even bigger problem is this – when we do invest in others, we are tempted to do it only for personal gain.

I know the temptation we all feel to meet people for the wrong reasons. I had the opportunity to meet H.B. London, the pastor to pastors for Focus on the Family Ministries. I shook hands with Dennis Swanberg, the Christian comedian. I know the thoughts that ran through my mind. The worst one was, “If I can say that I know him and that he knows me, that pushes the value of my life up a notch.” Fortunately, none of those thoughts were allowed to take root, and I simply thanked them for their ministry. Some people meet famous people so they can brag about it, because they somehow feel it elevates their social status. Their only claim to fame is that they claim to know someone of fame.

However, there is one relationship from which we gain value – the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. If only we would put as much energy into knowing Jesus as we do into knowing people. If only the thrill of experiencing the giggles of God was as significant as the giggles of grandchildren. I am reminded of one of my favorite Bible verses about God’s response to our intimacy with Him. It is found in Zephaniah 3:17, and it says, The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Imagine that – God takes great delight in our relationship, and he rejoices over us with singing. The word for rejoice that God uses to describe his response to us means to spin around under the influence of any violent emotion, that is, rejoice. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like dancing to me. When we seek to intimately know God, and let Him intimately know us, God dances with joy. He directs the choirs of heaven to sing their most joyous song and the volume crescendos to its loudest level, and God sings and dances with joy. I’ll bet he even giggles and laughs.

I want to know Christ that way. I want to use every minute of every day to get to know Him better. I want Him to have access to every part of my life. I want Him to know every emotion I feel and every thought I think. I want to be the baby on his lap. I want to gaze into His eyes and know that I am completely safe in His arms. I want Him to bounce me on His knee so I can giggle and laugh. I want to experience His laughter as He hears mine. I want to be so overwhelmed with the joy of His presence that I forget all my inhibitions and traditions and I dance with Him.

No matter what happens the rest of today, I’ve seen God dancing with delight because of me, and my heart is filled with joy. I got to know Him a little better today, and He got to know me. Nothing can match that. I’m beginning to understand more deeply the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. All it takes is a decision to spend time with Him. Why not make that decision today?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Philippians 3:8 – 9 …that I may gain Christ  ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

While Denise and I attended the Focus on the Family Pastor’s Retreat at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to which I referred yesterday, I had an opportunity to play golf at an exclusive, professional quality golf course, Thanks to a gift from a dear sister in Christ. We had the afternoon off from the conference, and my incredible wife blessed me with some alone time to go and enjoy the Gary Player Signature Course at Geneva National. I arrived an hour early for my tee time, and went to the driving range to warm up. Next to me was a young man who looked like a very good golfer. He intimidated me a little. I heard him talking to his partner next to him about the courses they have played in the past – big name courses where the pros play their tournaments, like Myrtle Beach. Now I was more intimidated. I began to focus on my own swing, and tried to do everything I could to measure up to his.

I finished warming up and went to the practice green to chip and putt, and was glad to be able to just be me again. I began to enjoy the quality of the course and appreciate the skills I had to put the ball in the hole while putting on the smooth and slick green. When it was time to get to the first tee, I drove my cart over to the starter’s booth and checked in. Pulling up behind me in another cart were the two men I would be partnered with to play that day. Guess what? It was the two guys from the driving range. Now my mind started to work on me. I know I can play golf fairly well, but I don’t play well when I am in competition with another person. I was out there to enjoy a round of golf, and so were they, but in my mind Satan was attempting to ruin the day by causing me to compare myself with other golfers. I had convinced myself that unless I beat them I would not have fun.

When we teed off on the first hole, the self-imposed pressure to perform well overcame me. I focus on my fundamentals, and hit a long and straight drive right off the end of the short fairway into a marsh in front of the green. To make a long story short, I spent the next three holes beating myself up and trying harder, all the while scoring terribly and watching these two business professionals gain a huge advantage on me. After the third hole I stopped and prayed and asked God to forgive me for trying to measure myself by others. I asked Him to calm my heart and just let me play golf according to the skills he gave me. I birdied the next hole, and proceeded to start hitting the ball very well. In the meantime, their games fell apart, hitting balls into the water on several holes, and the weaknesses of their games started to show up. When it was all done, I had shot a three over par 75 and had enjoyed some of the most spectacular golf holes and scenery I had ever played.

How did the two other golfers respond? God used them to teach me a lesson. I never heard a discouraging or frustrated word from them all day. When they hit the ball bad, they still had something good to say. They gave me high fives for my shots and I did the same for them. I don’t know if they were Christians or not, but they sure liked my joke about pastors having a great retirement plan. These were two guys who didn’t play the competitive comparison game in life. They knew who they were and they accepted it. They didn’t try to measure up to someone else’s standards – they just enjoyed life and what they were doing. They didn’t make excuses for poor shots and they didn’t seek recognition for good ones. They just played the game and found pleasure in what they did. I really needed that.

Paul directs our attention to that in today’s Scripture. He was tired of trying to measure up to a standard of righteousness found in the law. He was tired of seeking worth and acceptance he thought would come from playing the competitive comparison game with others. He was thrilled to realize that based on his faith in Jesus Christ and not his works, the Righteous One had declared him righteous. He had learned the freedom of living because he was righteous, rather than living to earn righteousness.

Just as I had to be reminded yesterday that I play golf because I am a golfer not to prove I am a golfer, God wants us to live as Christians because we are righteous, not to prove we are. When we get this settled in our minds and resist the temptation to compare ourselves to others and to prove ourselves worthy, life becomes fun again. We will begin to enjoy whatever comes our way. I would have missed out on a huge blessing yesterday and would have had all the joy sucked from me had I continued to try to prove myself. I would have been so preoccupied with performance that I would have not taken the time to enjoy the beauty of this awesome golf course.

Resting in the declaration of God through Jesus Christ of who we are brings peace, fulfillment, and joy. Isn’t it time you started living that way?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Philippians 3:7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

Several years ago my wife and I attended a Pastor and Spouse retreat sponsored by Focus on the Family. It was held at the Lodge at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. When we arrived my first thought was “WOW!” Denise had to remind me to act like this is normal instead of like a hick, because it was a much different class of living from what I am used to.

Early the next morning, I sat with my laptop in a lounge overlooking the outdoor pool. On the other side of the pool was a spectacular view of an incredibly groomed golf course next to a lake with fountains spraying water up into the air. The lounge is next to one of 10 restaurants in the resort, each one featuring food I cannot pronounce nor pay for. The immaculate building is a Frank Lloyd Wright design. The room we stayed in was impeccably decorated and we were treated like royalty. Again, Denise had to remind me not to embarrass myself or her by acting amazed, and to pretend that we are used to this kind of living.

That morning, in that lounge, I wrote these thoughts:

Last night we listened to H.B. London from Focus on the Family. I confess my mind was elsewhere. I could only focus on one thing – the transformation that this resort has undergone. It was originally built by Hugh Hefner as a playboy resort. Here we are, 77 couples serving Jesus Christ in full-time ministry, sitting in the same room where playboy bunnies once romped in moral decadence. As I look out at the pool I don’t even want to imagine what happened in and around it. But then, in 1981, it was sold, and today its purpose is far different. An indoor water park has been built so families can come and relax and have fun together. Proper attire is required at all events, even around the pool. You can’t even play golf unless you are wearing khakis and a collared shirt – no jeans and t-shirts allowed. Today, in contrast to the past, this facility is highly respected and promotes family values.

To some degree, this is a picture of what God does in the life of a person who decides to sell out to Jesus. Prior to Christ’s saving power transforming their life, the sinner romped in moral decadence, living a life contrary to everything God intended. Everything they did was designed to promote self and discover the pleasures of life. Then, by the grace of God, they gave it all up and turned over the ownership of their life to Jesus. Everything changed. Their purpose was now not self-centered but Christ-centered. They no longer exposed the flesh but instead were clothed with the righteousness of God. They discovered a new purpose and began promoting God’s values with respect for people. What a miracle!

Today, I am asking God to use this retreat to refocus my energy and restore my vitality so that I can continue to serve Him in bringing the good news of that miracle to others. As we were reminded last night by H.B., it’s amazing that out of nearly 6 billion people in the world, God reached down and chose me to be the minister of His grace to the church and the lost. He chose you, too. He went out into the real estate market of human life and bought our sinful resort with the blood of His Son Jesus, and transformed us. He is still in the market for more property. You and I have been appointed as His real estate agents, assigned the task of finding valuable properties that need renovation. There are more miracles to be done, and there are more people who need to say “WOW! I could get used to this kind of living!”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Philippians 3:4 I myself have reasons for such confidence.

In 1972, I thought I knew exactly what I needed to become a man of purpose and worth. Everything about my life at that time was about immediate gratification. If I wanted it or believed I needed it, I got it. Whatever sacrifice it took, I pursued my objective wholeheartedly. My objective this time was to end my relationship with a 1968 Chevy Bel Aire that had once been a taxi cab, and to step up to a sports car with which I could establish my identity. I found just the car – a 1969 Ford Mustang convertible. In order to get it, I had to come up with some cash and a financing plan. I started down a road of very poor decisions concerning school and work that got me my immediate goal but sidetracked me from God’s purpose for my life.

One year later, I made the same mistakes again. The Mustang no longer fulfilled me, so I sold it, along with other things, to get cash. I even dropped a class at college to get more cash. I just had to have the1968 Oldsmobile 442 I found. It had more power than any young man should have under his feet. It was beautiful, and I felt fulfilled, for a time.

I was making sacrifices to get immediate benefits, but for all the wrong reasons. I was seeking to earn my worth, establish my identity, and feel loved. Later I discovered that I was looking for all those things in the wrong places. Jesus alone is able to meet all of those needs, and I had to be willing to give up everything I had to discover it. I had, like Paul, put my confidence in all the wrongs things.

In Philippians 3 Paul says the greatness of fulfillment in Christ surpasses anything else we could ever attain. Paul lists for us all the things that are not worth hanging on to:

1. Don’t hang on to religious rituals – Paul was circumcised on the eighth day, but it now meant nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
2. Don’t hang on to racial heritage – Paul was of the people of Israel, but it now meant nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
3. Don’t hang on to social rank – Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin, but it now meant nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
4. Don’t hang on to denominational identity – Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, but it now meant nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
5. Don’t hang on to public recognition – Paul was a Pharisee, but it now meant nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
6. Don’t hang on to good intentions – Paul was persecuting the church, but it now meant nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
7. Don’t hang on to your reputation – Paul was faultless, but it now meant nothing compared to knowing Jesus.

Whatever it was that Paul had used to bring fulfillment to his life prior to meeting Jesus, he now considered rubbish compared to what he found in Christ.

Take another look at the list and see if you are still hanging on to one of those elements of earth-based value, when you could let go of it and find the wealth of heaven-based worth. I found out the hard way that what the world offers cannot satisfy. You are finding it out right now. Go ahead, sacrifice everything you have placed your hope in, and put your hope in Jesus alone. Then you will be rich beyond measure.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, May 28

Philippians 3:8 I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ…

It’s Memorial Day, and while many people are camping and boating and getting away from work, it’s the traditional weekend to plant the garden and the flower beds for my family. I know some people who spend hours every week tending to their yards and their gardens. They have an established set of daily rituals they go through – pulling weeds and fertilizing and pruning – so that they can enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. They are constantly doing whatever it takes to make their yard more beautiful and get just a little more enjoyment from it. But last week, as I pulled into my parking space at work, I was reminded that no one can duplicate God’s gardening skills.

Occasionally I park my car along the north side of the building, which is a gravel parking area. As I walked toward the building, I happened to look down, and there, growing up out of the gravel right in front of the car’s bumper, was a beautiful blue flower which I had never seen before. I don’t know what kind of flower it is, but I stopped and just looked at it for a long moment, thanking God for His choice to put that flower there. No person planted it, or watered it, or fertilized it, but there it was, in full bloom, bringing simple joy to my heart.

As I stood there looking at it, I thought about today’s Scripture passage. I thought about all the people who are working so hard in their spiritual gardens to try to bring beauty to their lives. They have an established set of rituals they go through because they believe it will produce a harvest of righteousness and peace and gain the attention of God. Some of the rituals have been established by their religion, while others are self-invented. Some of the rituals were imposed upon them, while others are done by their own choice. But the motive for all spiritual rituals is to produce a desired outcome – the gain of God’s grace.

Paul spoke of those rituals when he confessed that prior to his salvation he considered his religious rituals as sufficient for earning the favor of God. He reminded his readers that he had been circumcised on the eighth day according to the ritualistic standards of the Jewish tradition. This ritual had earned him a place in God’s kingdom, or so he thought.

But then, one day, while walking along a gravel road, his journey was interrupted by God. It was as if God had planted a beautiful flower in the gravel, and suddenly everything was put into perspective. Paul was blinded by the awesome beauty of the Lord, and suddenly all his work to earn God’s favor was of no value. He discovered that all of man’s rituals mean nothing to God, and the outcome of all that hard work is rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.

Like Paul, we spend hours each week trying to create a beautiful garden of spiritual life when all we have to do is ask Jesus to be our gardener. The work God does is so much more magnificent than anything we can ever do. So much so that even those who work tirelessly in their own gardens still take drives in the country to see the beauty of what God does.

Who can duplicate the magnificence of the bluebell fields of Texas? Who can ever hope to have a garden that resembles the splendor of the prairie of western North Dakota? Who can recreate the magnificence of the hardwood forests in the fall? And who of us can match the beauty of a blue flower growing in gravel?

The secret is in the contrast. When God creates a garden, he does it in stark contrast to its surroundings, like a blue flower in gravel. When we try to create beauty for ourselves, it is usually blended with our surroundings. God’s work surpasses greatness because it brings beauty out of barrenness. He does the same in our lives.

Stop trying so hard to be a Christian, and let Jesus Christ do all the work. He prepares the soil of your heart. He plants the seeds of faith. He waters and fertilizes the seeds with His Word. He causes the plants of love, joy, peace and hope to grow. He makes them bloom in spectacular beauty for all the world to see. And when God chooses the location for the garden, he chooses the most desolate and barren spot He can find so all the glory goes to Him. He doesn’t need nor does He want our help in making the location fit for His use. He doesn’t require rituals to prepare the soil. He doesn’t even want us to determine whether it is a garden spot or not. In fact, He does his best work in places where nothing else will grow.

Let the Master Gardener do His work in you. He will bring beauty from the gravel.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, May 25, 2018

Philippians 3:8 – 9 I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ  ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Paul understood loss. He wrote the book of Philippians while under arrest in Rome. He had lost his freedom. While on the way to Rome he had been in a shipwreck. All possessions were lost, including the ship. But in both instances, Paul was able to state clearly and emphatically that the greatness of knowing Jesus Christ surpassed whatever perceived benefit he would receive from what was lost.

Paul may have had the shipwreck in mind when he wrote to the Philippian people. In fact, Luke’s description of that shipwreck in Acts 27 contains the only two other uses of the word “loss” in the New Testament. Paul warned the owners of the ship not to sail or they would suffer the loss of all things, and then when they hit the big storm he reminded them that he had warned them about the loss. But in the midst of the loss, Paul clung to Christ, and not a single life was lost. All their possessions were gone, but their lives were saved. So, when Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, he was able to speak from personal experience that the pride and prestige of his Pharisaical position and the pleasure derived from personal possessions were rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of being found righteous in God’s eyes through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Jesus spoke of such loss and gain when he said, For whoever wants to save his life must lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? The world’s philosophy of gain is diabolically opposed to what Jesus said. “Grab all you can the first time around,” says the world. “Make the most of today,” and “Live for the moment,” have become the purpose statements of society. But Jesus uses the verb form of Paul’s word “loss” and tells us that we will lose it all, including our souls, if we live by that philosophy. But if we are willing to lose everything about this fleshly life for the sake of knowing Jesus, we shall find true life and be fulfilled.

We have dealt with this subject before, but it must be repeated until we get it right. There are far too many things of this world that we have added to our lives as necessities to fulfillment and joy. Jesus alone is to be sufficient. Why do we continue to need human experience to validate faith in Jesus Christ? We claim Jesus, but then pursue possessions as the fullness of life. Or maybe we think we need relationships to fill what we perceive is lacking in Jesus. Is it possible that we need the world’s acclaim in addition the Christ’s? Maybe we think we need financial security along with a good dose of Jesus. What are we really saying about the nature of God when we don’t truly believe that faith in Him alone is sufficient?

Dear friends, let us fall on our knees before God and confess that we have not been willing to lose all things for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ intimately and powerfully. Then let us surrender all those things to Jesus Christ and be willing to give them up. We will praise Him for what He gives back to us, and we will praise Him for what He says is unnecessary. May our hearts be humbled to the point that we accept for our lives only what He chooses, and do nothing to provide for ourselves according to our own agenda or the pressures of society to measure up. May we symbolically toss everything overboard so that our lives can be saved.

Pastor John