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Count Your Blessings
Count Your Blessings
Psalm 69:30 “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18-19 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and an important time for Christian reflection. A heart overflowing with thankfulness is a central part of the Christian life. It’s a significant part of our worship and a foundational aspect of our spiritual health. God would have us worship Him partly through giving thanks. In this, we recognize the good provision of God in our lives and show contentment with the station in life God has provided for us. When we do not give thanks from a truly grateful heart, we will very quickly spiral into a hardness of heart characterized by covetousness, jealousy, discontent, and general interpersonal distance from God and those around us. As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, this attitude will quench, or choke out, the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Therefore, we must be intentional about giving thanks.
I encourage you over the next few days to make time to sit down with a sheet of paper in a quiet place. Pray and thank God for how He has met your needs, and ask Him to give you a heart of thankfulness. Then sit for a while and do the best you can to fill that paper with everything you can possibly think of that you are thankful for. When you’re finished, pray again and offer your thanksgiving as worship to Jesus for what he has done, and is doing in your life.
Your thanksgiving list should be full of names, as the relationships that God gives us are the most valuable part of life. I next encourage you to text, call, or write many of those names to let them know personally that you are thankful for their friendship. In this way, thanksgiving turns into encouragement!
Know that you, as a church, will be near the top of my list this year. It is a tremendous blessing to be with you all each week. I’m encouraged, instructed, and drawn closer to the Lord Jesus every week by being around you all. It is a small glimpse of what heaven will be like – many joyful followers of Christ together with Jesus, enjoying each other’s presence unhindered by sin or the pressure of time. What a joy that will be!
May you cultivate a thankful heart this week, and all year long.
Thankful for each of you,
Pastor Vic
Losing Your Life for the Sake of Christ and the Love of Others
Losing Your Life for the Sake of Christ and the Love of Others
By Justin Woodruff
Does the word “busy” characterize your life right now? I would imagine that most of us are under constant pressure to get things done, regardless of our stage in life. Even as you read this, I wonder if you are multitasking to be as productive as possible. If I’m honest, as I type, I have a list of 10 other things in my head that I need to get done today.
I want to be a good steward of what God has given me – but how do I effectively manage all of the competing priorities in my life? How do you?
Jesus Christ and his 12 disciples were busy. They were constantly swarmed by crowds of needy people as they proclaimed the Kingdom of God, healed the sick, cast out demons, rebuked hypocritical leaders, raised the dead, and fed thousands with five loaves and a couple fish. Makes my life look pretty tame.
Beginning in Luke 9:18, the disciples enjoyed a moment alone with Jesus. During their conversation, Jesus confirmed he was the Christ, the One they had been waiting for. Can you imagine their excitement? As his closest friends, surely their lives would be marked by success, wealth, fame and good fortune.
But in his next breath, Jesus said that He would suffer, be rejected and killed in order to accomplish His ultimate purpose. And to make things worse, if these men wanted to be his disciples, Jesus said they would have to deny themselves, take up their own crosses and lose their lives for His sake. Based on Peter’s response in Matthew 16:22, it’s reasonable to conclude this wasn’t what they were expecting to hear. In fact, this paradigm shift was something the disciples struggled to understand until after Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Yet, after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, 11 of the disciples did exactly what Jesus said was necessary. They found their lives by losing them for His sake.
As Christians, we are saved by God’s grace through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. At the moment of salvation, we are given new hearts to understand our true purpose in life, which is to love God and others in everything we do. Our Christian response to busyness begins with persistently asking the Lord to reorder our affections and priorities according to what He says matters most. Our stewardship requires personal sacrifice.
But what does it look like to deny ourselves and take up our crosses as we follow Christ in the 21st century?
This weekend, we are going to spend some time talking about a new ministry at Spotswood West that centers around caring for orphans. For many, I suspect the thought of adding anything more to your busy lives seems overwhelming. Before we gather this Sunday, let me encourage you to take at least a few minutes to pray over Luke 9:23-25, and what it might look like practically to lose your life for the sake of Christ and the love of others. Not because you are saved by what you do, but out of an overflow of love in your heart for Jesus and desire to live with His purposes.
Jesus Is King
Jesus Is King
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-10
“Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess,
Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord!
Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess,
Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord!” – Kanye West
These lines are from one of the songs on the latest album of Kanye West entitled “Jesus is King.” Yes…Kanye West – the same Kanye that was known for everything that is opposite of Jesus. The same Kanye who – for decades – has embodied what it means to live a wicked and worldly life. But some months ago Kanye became a follower of Jesus Christ! He has been made new by turning away from his old ways and putting his faith in King Jesus. From all accounts, he is now living for Jesus and making radically different music. Praise the Lord!
How did this happen? It started with a courageous person inviting Kanye to church. Not a flashy megachurch, but a church very similar to ours. He came once, heard the gospel, and kept coming back. As the Lord convicted him of his sin and emptiness, Kanye was reminded of the Christian home he was raised in and came to salvation. This is exciting news. I pray that he will be like Johnny Cash, leaving behind permanently all the drugs, women, and pride of the world, producing a new heritage of Christ-honoring music that will stand as a testament that Jesus can save ANYONE.
My challenge to you: be courageous! I would love to shake the hand of the person who had the evangelistic zeal and personal boldness to effectively invite Kanye West to church. Every one of us has people in our lives who are larger-than-life! And they need Jesus. I challenge each of you to love lost people enough to not be afraid of them and have a big enough faith to believe that Jesus can change ANY heart.
Start thinking and praying and have the boldness to get to know, and then invite to church the most lost and worldly person you know. Through prayer and genuine concern for their soul, you will be amazed at what Jesus does.
May the gospel go forth in power,
Vic
Crucified With Christ
Crucified With Christ
“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.” Galatians 2:20
Many times over the weeks of our meeting together people have gone out of their way to comment on the sense of joy, cooperation, and excitement in the midst of our new church. I also have feel the same way! It’s my favorite time of the week! I want to remind you that this is not without explanation. We pray constantly for the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Every Sunday, in the middle of the service, I pray for more of the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in our service. Without the real presence of the Lord with us, our meetings together would be worse than pointless – they would be a fraud. No amount of music or anything I can say of myself will change your heart or satisfy your soul.
Jesus said that it was to our advantage that he ascend to heaven, because this would result in the sending of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). When we believe in Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit fills us with the presence of Jesus (“Christ who lives in me…”). When many people who love the Lord Jesus gather for the purpose of worshipping Jesus, the sense of His presence in our midst is magnified. We all can sense the nearness of Jesus by his Spirit and the result is joy, peace, friendship, forgiveness, and hope. This is part of the reason why it is good to gather with other Christians for church. It is not a ritual, it’s a joyful gathering for the purpose of exalting Jesus and encouraging one another.
There are a few things we can, and should, do to strengthen and continue the presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our church. First, continue in the truth of studying scripture. Our worship of Jesus must be by spirit (real affections and emotions rooted in the heart) and truth (worshipping Jesus as He requires and according to who He really is). The more we learn of Jesus from the scriptures, the more deeply and truly we will be able to worship Him. Second, we must confess our sins and keep short accounts with God (1 John 1:9). Intentionally hidden and unconfessed sin is rebellion. The Bible is full of stories about those who intentionally hide their sin instead of confessing it and being forgiven. The building up of sin in our midst grieves the Lord. Instead, humble yourself that you may be forgiven and not affect God’s blessing upon our entire church. Third, let us put our faith into action by serving each other and those around us. May we be known by the humble service that we offer others. May we be known as those who do not lose our tempers, do not gossip, but serve the weak, take notice of those in need around us, and give generously to meet needs.
There are a few things we can, and should, do to strengthen and continue the presence of the Holy Spirit in our church.
FIRST, continue in the truth of studying scripture. Our worship of Jesus must be in spirit (real affections and emotions rooted in the heart) and truth (worshipping Jesus as He requires and according to who He really is). The more we learn of Jesus from the scriptures, the more deeply and truly we will be able to worship Him.
SECOND, we must confess our sins and keep short accounts with God (1 John 1:9). Intentionally hidden and unconfessed sin is rebellion. The Bible is full of stories about those who intentionally hide their sin instead of confessing it and being forgiven. The building up of sin in our midst grieves the Lord. Instead, humble yourself that you may be forgiven and not affect God’s blessing upon our entire church.
THIRD, let us put our faith into action by serving each other and those around us. May we be known by the humble service that we offer others. May we be known as those who do not lose our tempers, do not gossip, but serve the weak, take notice of those in need around us, and give generously to meet needs.
May the Lord Jesus increase His presence in our midst until there is an awakening in our area like none of us have ever experienced.
Jesus is Lord,
Vic