First Friday Fellowship

The truth is not a popularity contest. The truth does not change, swayed and tossed by public opinion or outcry or acceptability. The truth remains. It will defend itself, and the wise will seek it, with everything in them.

Jesus Christ's resurrection is a time of ULTIMATE rejoicing. For in His triumph over death, we find the ultimate promise of salvation and the assurance of eternal life.

We are entering another time of testing, and it will, more than likely, get really rough, before it gets better. Problems, no matter good times or bad, will ALWAYS be with us.

But, that doesn't mean we should despair. In fact, quite the opposite.

How should we live in this current world?

With vigilance, and prayer. Give it all to the Lord, and His peace will guard you.

Many of us have willingly hurt other people. We've abused relationships, and caused serious, and even in some cases, permanent harm to other people. There's not one person listening to this, particularly me, that doesn’t completely deserve hell. The Bible says, if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, then you're saved. If you’ve prayed that prayer and you meant it, and you believe it, you've just begun a whole new relationship with the God of all creation. You're saved, and you'll begin a new walk into eternal life.

But, you've only taken the first step. Find a good church. Find good people that can help and grow in the BIBLE. Get the Bible app on your phone. Start a simple devotional based on any idea that interests you. Welcome to the family. You belong here. And if you chose to walk this life with Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then, I thank God for your choice. Something to pray on, and grow on, in Jesus' loving, perfect name. Amen.

#jesus #jesuschrist #firstfriday #god #christian #christianlife #love #truth #FFFellowship #fellowship

Why is it that it seems sometimes it seems that God doesn't hear or doesn't answer our prayers?

Are struggles we currently experience, changing us in a way that allows us to see the truth so much more clearly?

If we are in a church that is hard to distinguish from our local Starbucks, or we are treating God’s Word like it is a living document... meaning changing with the times, meaning it’s meant to bend and adopt to our culture, then we have fallen into a trap.

If so, then we should begin working out our salvation with fear and trembling, as the Bible tells us.

This world is incessantly tugging at our hearts, and that's not by accident. That's by design. We are perpetually in a state of distraction,  and when we are distracted, we're usually not remembering how dependent we are on God.

God understands this, and He knows that we frequently need something to pierce the fog, and remind us that on our knees, we will find the help we need. 

We need Him. (Exodus 16:2-5)

We have different opinions of what the truth is, and what truth looks like. But the truth still remains the truth. Our opinion neither changes it, or effects it in anyway. TRUTH remains consistent and steadfast.

Life happens to all of us, and Christians are obviously not immune to the crashes in life. 

When that fear comes, and the anxiety is grows, the best way to get control back, is simply to believe and trust Him, through His Word.

God is  good, ALL THE TIME. He’s our Good Shepherd. We are His sheep. He cares for us. He protects us. He loves us. You can trust Him.

There is example after example in the Bible, of prayers not immediately being answered, or not being answered the way the person praying for them wishes. 

Everything that we will ultimately appreciate in life, takes a real investment in time: Good marriages, raising kids, developing financial resources… and most importantly of all, recognizing God’s hand in your life.   

Micah 7:7 / Isaiah 40:31 Psalm 27:14

The evidence is readily available, If you’ll just look. 

Matthew 7:7 says, ”Seek and you'll find; knock on the door will opened unto you; ask, and it will be given to you.”

The evidence is readily available, If you’ll just look. 

Matthew 7:7 says, ”Seek and you'll find; knock on the door will opened unto you; ask, and it will be given to you.”

Despair is defined as the complete loss or absence of hope. 

Unfortunately, recent world events continue to press upon us, leading most of us to despair.

But it is also a GREAT time.

So… how could this possibly be a great time? 

This is a great time, because we can find out what we really believe. We can find out if we truly believe.

NOT because we will no longer have despair. NOT because we will no longer battle mentally. 

But, because there is hope; Even if not in this world, there is hope in the next.

Psalms 40:1-3

We misplace our faith and hope, by placing it on man, instead of Jesus.

To embrace a Christian lifestyle, is to embrace difficulty.

The path to the kingdom, is to choose to be last; We must choose the role of servant.

Our calling… our sacred duty, is to serve.

Let us all embrace a servant's heart.

Let each and everyone of us compete at being last, so that our eternal place is secured in Jesus’ name.

Every day I wake up with the intent to live my life in a way that God would be lifted up, and His Son, Jesus, glorified.

However… every day, I blow it.

What is it about me, that is so rebellious at the core?

God is not interested in our duty. He is not interested in religious performance. He is not interested in our offerings, if the offerings are not given with a sincere heart. 

These are good things, but it’s not the test of true intimacy with God. 

If you believe in your heart that Christ is the Messiah, is your personal savior, you believe that He raised from the dead; If you believe it in your heart, and you claim it with your mouth? Then, you are saved.

We are finding ourselves in something quite a bit bigger than a culture war; the beginning of things, that seem to resemble major breakdowns in social constructs.

With that, we have to make sure to continue to recognize that:  God is good. His mercies are new EVERY morning, and He is quick to forgive.  

Pray for our nation. Ask God to heal our nation, and let’s turn toward Him. 

Until next time.

What does the Bible say about us deserving to be happy?  

Happiness is often a temporary illusion. It’s a feeling. It fades quickly.   

If we are joyful, we are fully loved, fully cared for and fully redeemed.   

Proverbs 14:12 NIV / 2 Timothy 3:12-13 NLT  

#Jesus  #JesusChrist  #FirstFriday  #God  #Christian  #ChristianLife  #Love  #Truth  #FFFellowship  #Fellowship

When we live a life that is focused on all the things of this world; We create a separation between us and our God. When we separate ourselves from God, we turn off the flow of wisdom that comes directly from Him.

Wisdom is the treasure that we should pursue.

If we seek HIS wisdom, then the true riches of this life, and the life to come, will follow closely behind.

If you follow Him, and you love Him, and you bend your knee to Him in those darkest moments, when things seem their bleakest, THAT’S when He shows up. THAT’S when He reveals Himself.  

When we finally say, “I will come to you on Your terms, not on mine. I truly surrender all.”  

And that’s when we get to know, what GRACE really feels like.

We have this amazing tendency of taking all the credit, for all of the good things in our life.

But, God knows our inner-most thoughts, and He loves us enough to pull us into a truer, deeper and fundamentally more rewarding relationship with Him.

And do you want know how He does it?

Pain!

Pain is how He reaches AND teaches us.

Pain is the greatest teacher, and unfortunately, the more stubborn we are, the more pain we get the honor of experiencing.

If you are going through some stuff right now, if the pain is getting real, and you love the Lord and you are on your knees, know that He loves you, and that He is going to use these experiences, to teach us the deep truths about ourselves.

And I pray that whatever lessons that need to be learned, you or me, we get the opportunity to learn those lessons, quickly, and get through the pain fast.

AMEN!

Since the dawn of man, we have worshipped everything from the sun, to the moon, we have worshipped trees, weather and big statues made out of precious metals. Literally, we have made our own gods, and done everything, from bow to them, to sacrifice our children to them.  

We have a heart bent on worship but we seem to be addicted to worshipping everything, except the one, true God.   

Being a believer in Christ is a bit different.  

We’re not different because we are special.  

We are different, because HE is special.  

The work was done for us. 

Christ already paid the price. It is not possible for us to earn a place in His Kingdom.  

With Christ, it is about what He did.  

The grace that He gives is unwarranted, undeserved, YET, it is available to everyone.  

And when we are saved, God moves into our heart, and amazingly, we change and begin to choose to live a life that glorifies Him; Not to earn our place with Him, but to show our gratitude for the price He paid for us.  

Until next time.   

#Jesus #Christ #Christianity

For many of us that will listen to this, the world would call us believers; People who firmly believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is.  

Somewhere along the way, someone shared the story of Jesus, whether that was a minister or a parent, a close friend, or a perfect stranger… We were told about Jesus; We were told about His birth, His life, His death and His resurrection.   

We were told that He came here for us. That He came here because He loves us, and He came here to save us.  

The facts around the story of Christ, His life and His resurrection, are virtually unassailable. But, none of it matters at all, if the story never would have reached our ears.  

The reason we can have these discussions, and debate whether or not Christ was who He said He was, is because somewhere along the way, we have been told the story of Him.  

It is not enough to believe and keep it to ourselves.   

Jesus is the antidote to eternal death.   

He is the cure for the poison of sin.   

And to keep this cure to ourselves, while we watch others die, is not possible, particularly, if we love them.

We’ve all heard of the phrase, “The writing is on the wall?”  

Being able to read the writing on the wall has come to mean understanding the signs of the times; Seeing things before they happen.   

Can we see the traps that are beginning to ensnare us?  

Everyone of us will face death. We all will be judged, and only Jesus will be found worthy.  

He has told us, that He will stand in for us on that day of judgement, if we are only willing to repent, claim Him as Lord, and bow to His throne, alone.  

For me personally, I have read the writing on the wall.  

I know Jesus is King, and I bow at His throne alone.  

Until next time.

Our faith in a Sovereign God, a God that has our best interests in mind, diminishes, our hope for a future outside of this world also diminishes, as we begin to fearfully hold on more and more to this life, and believe less and less in the life to come.

To walk in faith is to know that the master of life and death, the King of this world and the world to come, loves us, watches over us and has a plan and purpose for our lives.  

We, as believers, are called to model this to those around us that may not believe.  

If our faith in Him is real, then it will be easy to see in how we live.  

I wish each and every one of you, watching or listening to this, a long and healthy life, full of purpose and faith.  

I pray each and every one of you, live fearless in the knowledge that God has us all.

And when our time is over, He has a place prepared for each and every one of you.  

Live in Faith… until next time!

We have all seen the movies where the ancient peoples of this earth would build golden calves, half men half animals, golden demon gods, etc… and they would worship them, make sacrifices to them and pray to them.

We’ve all seen that. But, we don’t that anymore… do we?

This particular little sin, might just be the biggest thing we battle against in our culture today.

What is idolatry, really?

Idolatry is in creating a god, in an image that we're comfortable with.

Today’s Idolatry says: “We define you God. You don’t define us.”

It says that the Bible is good, but it has to change with the times.

Today, idolatry is really about making God in OUR image.

It is making a god that we are comfortable with.

If we can create God in an image that we are comfortable with, then, we can live with that god.

That god won’t put any demands on us, that we are not already more than willing to fulfill.

That god works for us.

But, the God of the Bible? The God who revealed Himself to us over 5,000 years? The God who sent His son to die for us?

That God has already told us who He is. He's already told us, what He expects of us.

We have no right to redefine Him.

He created us.

If we look at God as the creator of all, then we bow our knee, and we accept what he says.

But, if God nothing more than melted gold, that we can mold into whatever we want, well then, THAT god, will do what we say.

Idolatry, says that our culture defines right from wrong; That our culture, our comfort zones and our language define what’s good and bad.

And we will make a god that supports that.

And that’s sin.

Until next time.

When you wake up and realize that everything you believed about something has been a lie or is false, the incredible toll on your psyche is a concept in social psychology called Cognitive Dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance occurs when our behavior is in direct conflict with our deep seated beliefs.

As we challenge our beliefs, as we look to life, and try to determine what is true and what is not, when we do this absent God and absent God‘s word, we can end up anywhere.

Oftentimes, these very events, can actually put your life on course. These very events, can lead you to ask the hard questions.

If those hard questions take you to a scripture like John 3:16, and all you read is… “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but she’ll have eternal life.”… and if that’s a new beginning of a new journey for you, then I promise you this: That those words in that book, talking about the man Jesus, God incarnate Jesus, if you believe in that, He will never let you down.

If you were Satan, and had a deep, unearthly hatred for God’s creation, and you wanted nothing more than to destroy it, and your were here on this earth, how would you access the minds, and the hearts of all of God’s creation?

Well, I for one, would deeply infiltrate media.

And I would make sure that, subtly, all of the time, I would remind you that there is NO God;

Remind you that those whom believe in Jesus coming back from the dead, are nuts;

Remind you of what hypocrites Christians are.

I would pump you full of images that are attractive, but destroy.

The last thing Satan wants you to believe, is that God is real, that his son Jesus came and died for each and every one of us, because He loves us; And because he has a great plan for us.

Salvation is in Jesus Christ ALONE; and that is the last thing the “god of the Air” wants you to be reminded of.

We have transitioned as a society, from demanding high degrees of competency required to increase a person’s self-confidence, to teaching self-esteem in the hopes that it would increase competency.

But when we don’t include the simple fact that we are so special, because we are the loving creation of a perfect creator, we aren’t telling people the real story.

We instead build people that believe they are kings, instead of people who truly know, that they are sons and daughters of the Most High King, and heirs to His kingdom. 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”… 

All of us need a savior. 

All of us are eternally separated from God our Father. 

And salvation, is in Jesus Christ alone.

We are in a constant war with the enemy of humankind, since the beginning of time; A war for our hearts, our minds, and most importantly, for our souls. 

And as a result, we tend to look at the world one of two ways: 

The Human Perspective: Get as much as we can, as quick as we can, live the best life that we can, and when we die, it’s over.  

OR

The Godly Perspective: That He has a plan for us; That our loving, perfect creator designed us to have a relationship with Him, by sending Jesus, His son, to save us. 

Ephesians 6:12

12 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” 

Through the Bible, God has given us the plan for vision and sight, to be able to see the world as it really is; An opportunity to know The Creator at a personal level. 

All we have to do is believe that Jesus is, who He says He is.

No matter how much you trust in God, no matter how much you try to follow Him and seek His face, why does it feel as if the world is always out to get us?

Jesus was hated first, and we are not greater than the master, so we will be hated as well.

We’re going to suffer and have struggles, BECAUSE:

We follow Him;

We love Him;

Our enemy is powerful.

Stand firm, love your brothers and sisters, and PRAY for those that persecute you.

We will do it with prayer and holding firm to His promises and His word. We look forward with hope to the kingdom He has prepared for those that love Him, trust Him, and surrender to the mercy that only He can provide.

“The first to speak in court sounds right, until the cross-examination begins.” ~Proverbs 18:17 

We are the perfect creation of a loving creator, who wants nothing more than to have a relationship with us.

He didn’t make us into mind-numbing robots, that are designed to automatically do whatever he says. 

He gave us free will, and with that free will, we have the freedom to love him, or not.  

Because for love to be true, it has to be free.   

So, if the Bible is correct and God is real, we’re either on his team, or we may be unwittingly working against him.  

Unfortunately, the bulk of what we hear today comes from journalists, reporters, authors, etc… commenting, teaching us, about the world around us as they see it.  

We consistently only hear their agendas, as they are amplified through the media, and through institutions of education.  

“The first to speak in court sounds right, until the cross-examination begins.” ~ Proverbs 18:17  

If we’re not exposing ourselves to the cross examinations, to every idea… then we’re never going to get the full picture.

I had a teacher in high school who would always say whenever you point the finger, three are pointing right back at you. 

We are far more likely to accuse of what we are, than what we aren’t. We are really good at spotting the weakness in other people, and very often, we are really bad at seeing our own.

Hypocrisy is everywhere.

Are you a good person? 

You see, God is the perfect judge. He literally is perfection and he has zero tolerance for sin of any kind.

Moral Relativism: “I have told a white lie here and there but I am no Charles Manson.” “Sure I am bad, but compared to them it's not even close.” 

The difference between infinite and finite - The difference between where God is in holiness, and where we need to be, is an infinite gulf that we cannot cross without help.

God tolerates zero sin.

But the big problem with sin, is that it starts in our hearts before we actually physically commit the sin. So we have actually committed adultery by embracing lust. We have committed murder by hating first. We have stolen by simply taking anything that doesn’t belong to us, like even someone’s time.

James 1:14-15 “14 …but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

So, I ask you again, “Are you a good person?”

If you can’t answer honestly that you have lived a sin free life, and I sure can’t answer that, then God says the wages of sin are death.

All sin!!

Luckily, He had a plan for us. And that plan was to send someone to stand-in, to pay the price for our sin and to take the sentence of death for us.  

There is only one person in the history of time that has ever done this, and that person was God incarnate, Jesus Christ.

We have all fallen short and we are all hypocrites, and we all need a savior.

Matthew 7:3-5 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

A person can be incredibly persuasive, have amazing communication skills, appear to be humble, searching, teachable, and look to truly have your best interests in mind. 

Yet, at the same time, be as dangerous to you as any human could possibly be.

Style is not the same as character. Style is not the same as who the person really is.

Style is how you come across, how you appear to others.

Style is a powerful skill of being self-aware; A skill of recognizing how you look to other people.

Substance is completely different. It is simply character.

You are who you appear to be. What you say is true, even if you don’t sound like a Harvard professor or a primetime anchor.

You are who you say you are.

You may not be beautiful, but the content of your character is rock-solid and reliable, and that of course is where true beauty comes from. 

You are who you appear to be.

Style, on the other hand, can take us anywhere. Style has nothing to do with the truth.

We’ve been trained, we’ve been conditioned to look for style first.  We follow people, we’re attracted to them because of they way they look, how they speak, they way they sound…

The apostle Paul, one of the most influential people in the history of the world, didn’t embrace style.

We have to look for the deep character, which is going to require us to THINK FOR OURSELVES; To not ask what someone else’s opinion may be.  

Highly charismatic, style-filled leaders have taken people to all kinds of bad places since the beginning of time.

But character, substance and authenticity… well, that’s we we need to look for.

What Love Looks Like - Matthew 8:2-3

God will show you how much He loves you, and it will be exactly where you need it to be, for those that trust Him, and look to Him.

Matthew 8:2-3

2. Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” 3. Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

Why the need to physically touch the man with leprosy, when clearly it wasn’t necessary for Jesus to touch him to heal him? Why is this so important and accounted for in Matthew?

Jesus was more than just interested in healing the man physically - Do you think it is possible that he spotted an even deeper need that the man was struggling with and that was the man had no human contact? Lepers were considered pariahs they were kept away or at the very minimum only in groups with other lepers. They were unclean and needed to be kept from the healthy population.

We don’t know how long this man had struggled with leprosy. We also don’t know the real reason that Jesus touched him. We can only speculate.

But one thing we do know, and what all of us should attempt when we read scripture, is do our best to put ourselves in the situation being described, and watch God’s word unfold as if you were an eyewitness seeing the heart of God being revealed in His word.

How often do we just gloss over scripture and don’t fully immerse ourselves and miss the real teaching?

When we play this movie out in our heads and we see the leper with his disease afflicted arms and legs and we watch him kneel and beg the Lord to be healed and watch in our mind’s eye.

Jesus look deeply in the eyes of the man who is afflicted and maybe hold his hands or hold the sides of his face and say “I am willing,” “…be healed”.

Then watch how the man responds, as not only his skin is instantly made whole, but the direct warm contact from someone who clearly and affectionately loved him PERSONALLY.

You see, the Bible is telling real stories of real men and women who lived, loved and died. We have to make sure that we do our best to see what the truth really might have looked like, and avoid the sterility of words on a page.

We have to work hard not to miss the real story, as we do any Bible studies or daily devotionals.

I know I am guilty of frequently being more concerned about checking things off a list, than getting the insight that I need from God’s Word; Which is why a daily devotional is on the “list” in the first place!

WE HAVE TO GET THE INSIGHT.

WE HAVE TO SEE WHAT GOD IS TRYING TO TEACH US.

GOD LOVES US!

He literally will move heaven and earth for us.

He only asks us to recognize, respect and honor that love by trusting Him, following His commands (for our own good) and thereby TRAINING OURSELVES ON HOW TO LOVE HIM BACK.

Make no mistake, Jesus was every bit as interested in showing the man with leprosy that he loved him, and was willing to heal his body and the even deeper needs of his soul.

Every word in the Bible can be used to learn something.

Something to think about - until next time.

700 years before the birth of Christ, the book of Isaiah was written.

The prophet Isaiah's writings are probably best known for their prophecy about Israel’s coming savior, the promised Messiah, who Jewish scholars call "The Suffering Servant."

These words have not changed in almost 3000 years. Religious scholars, historians and kings have poured over these words since they were first pressed to a scroll, long before Mary carried Jesus in her blessed womb.

Let’s revisit some of these words now as we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus the Savior, the Christ and our Messiah.

During this Easter Season, surrender your heart to the only one who saves, the only one who restores, the only one who redeems and our true King - In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be His, and be saved.

One of the greatest tests of our faith, is when we are confronted with our own mortality.

When we truly believe that God has already prepared a home for us, then why should we fear?

A much higher authority stated in 1 John 4:16-18:

16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The Consummation of Love

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

So go forward, live in love ~

FFF

The book of Psalms were written 1000 years before Christ was born, and was written, primarily, by King David.

The 22nd Psalm opens with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Three of the Gospels, Matthew 15:33, Luke 23:44, and John 19:28, all share this particular expression of, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

What was David thinking when he wrote those words? Were the words meant only for David? We do know that David experienced extreme trials in his life.

In Psalm 22:1-15, is David meant to only refer to the challenges in his own life?

Psalm 22:16-18 states, “(16) The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands in my feet. (17) They look and stare at me. (18) They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

David’s hands and feet were never pierced. But yet, he chose to put this in the book of Psalms, 1000 years before Christ walked on this planet.

When the 22nd Psalm is read, and you think about Jesus, those images look just like him. It’s a perfectly clear vision of Jesus on the cross. With his hands and feet pierced.

This is what can be called, “The Fingerprint God.” And it shows up all over the Old Testament.

Only an infinite creator, outside of time, could actually put something in the book, that will clearly point to the future.

God is real. Jesus is his son.

Salvation, is through Jesus Christ alone.

Until next time…

By any measure and any account, 2020 was a tough, strange year - And that might be the understatement of all understatements. 

However, it has led us as a nation to a place we haven’t been in a long time...

* 100 Million copies are sold each year

* Made up of 66 books

* Written over a period of 1000+ years

* 35+ Authors

* 3 Continents 

MATTHEW 7:7 - Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.