Sustaining anything requires maintenance. To stay alive we need to eat and drink; to stay fit we need to exercise; to stay effective at our jobs we need to maintain our skills. In the same way, to sustain our faith we need to spend time with other believers, grow our knowledge of God’s word, and show praise and gratitude for what God has done for us. We do this by attending Church services.

In the Old Testament, the Jewish laws dictated when to go to the temple, and all the rituals needed to please God. Jesus Christ removed the burden of these rituals and Old Testament rules; so going to church is no longer about doing good deeds to win favor from God, it’s about engaging with other Christians to worship God, learn, sustain and support each other.

Acts 2:42 says about the early Christians, “They joined with the other believers in regular attendance at the apostles’ teaching sessions and at the Communion services and prayer meetings.” TLB

Our churches are the places we do this. We all need a church that is comfortable for us so it can be a core part of our lives.

Dear Lord, help us each find a church home, and attend regularly to sustain our faith in You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

If you have learned to read music to play an instrument, or sing, you are familiar with the many small characters, accents, symbols and notations on sheet music that tell you to play faster, louder, with different techniques, or how to navigate the sections of the piece. It is kind of like a code, and if you don’t know it, you cannot really understand how the music should sound.

In a way, this is like the situation in Matthew 13:10-13, “Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?” He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.”

The parables are like a code that can only be deciphered by someone who has his or her heart open to receiving God’s message. The more open our heart is to hearing the message, the more understanding we are granted.

Dear Lord, We praise and thank you that you have given us the ability to understand your parables, and have given us the Holy Spirit working in us. Help us use this ability to become more knowledgeable and use this knowledge to help others come to understand as well. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The Old Testament book of Jeremiah, records the prophecies that Jeremiah the prophet was told to give to the people of Judah. The people had turned from their belief in God to idolatrous practices. God was using Jeremiah to try to bring them back.

In Jeremiah 6:16, he tells the people, “This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’

As a result of the people of Judah’s rejection, as prophesied by Jeremiah, their cities were destroyed and their people captured and taken away in exile in Babylon.

It seems to me that the people of our time have come to crossroads, known what the godly way is, and many have said like the people of Judah, “No, that’s not the road we want.”

I imagine during Jeremiah’s time there were still a few who followed the godly way, but the decisions of the majority of individuals to follow their own way rather than God’s moved the whole nation to their demise.

Dear Lord, you show us the right path in your word, the Bible, and in our hearts through our consciences. Help us remember that it is the combined action of each of us, individually, that shapes the path of the nation. Each of us, therefore, has a responsibility to contribute to the godliness of the whole nation. Help us listen and follow your guidance. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

There is a popular author whose thesis is that in order to achieve things in life, we need to make ourselves vulnerable. We have to put our ideas out in public and risk being criticized. For most people, this is a frightening idea.

In a similar way, to grow and be everything God wants us to be as Christians, we need to do the same thing; to live our lives openly as Christians without excuse or apology. The difference is that we know God is there supporting us when we make ourselves vulnerable for him.

Psalm 25:3 says, “No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.”

Dear Lord, Thank you for the assurance that you, the most powerful force in existence, are there to support us when we honor you. Help us trust in you and live our lives as Christian examples, glorifying you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Today is my Dad’s Birthday, so I am using one of his favorite texts in this message.

Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Paul was telling the folks there that the rules and “law” that the Jews relied on as their path to God was replaced by Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection. As a result, we don’t follow rules to be saved, we have Christ in us. We live by faith, and as written in Hebrews 12:2, “Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith.”

What a blessing to know that “God saved us, through Jesus.”

Happy Birthday Dad for leading our family to Jesus and His salvation.

Dear Lord, thank you for my father and bless him. We are grateful for all you have done for him, and all he has done for us. What a blessing it is to know that we don’t have to follow the rules well enough to be saved, Jesus Christ in us is our Salvation. In His name we pray. Amen.